Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
My brother had a '99 convertible for many years. He bought it from Carmax and was bone stock. I'd probably have left it stock, but he started with a short shifter. Then had it supercharged. Then stuff started breaking because of that and he had to upgrade other parts (clutch, half shafts, etc). It was a fun car. In its final form before he sold it, you could hardly shift it fast enough to keep it off the rev limiter in the first three gears (and the tires were hooked up). I think he had 295-series Nittos on the rear. We went out on a deserted road where he lived in southern Arizona one Christmas. I chickened out at about 138 mph. We had the top down. It was breezy.
Expect a lot of interior rattles and squeaks -- lots of plastic inside that isn't even up to Tupperware's standards. The ride on his was sort of spongey -- it could have used a set of dampers (and it didn't even have 50k miles on it). Maybe that's how they all were, I don't know. And it's why I chickened out at 138 mph -- the car started to wag back and forth a little bit like it was skating on ice. It was underdamped, but I don't know if that was by design or premature wear.
They're excellent performance values, and the basics of the car are good. Again, lots of cheap trim, standard issue of '90s GM cars, but great bargains if you're looking to go fast for cheap.
I see a lot of people complain about the interior of the C5. I've driven 5 or 6 different C5s now and I don't get the criticism. Maybe people are comparing it today's car interiors, but compared to other vehicles produced in that era, the C5 interior is fine. It fits like a glove when you get in, and everything is laid out nicely and is right where it needs to be. I also didn't notice any squeaks or rattles in any of the ones I've driven. My only complaint is the leather they use on the seats isn't very durable and it usually wears out fairly soon...other than that, I don't get all of the complaints...