Chevy Corvette as a First Car: Brilliant Idea or Accident Waiting to Happen?

Can a C4 or C5 Corvette be the perfect first car for a younger driver or is a boring Toyota Camry the smarter choice?

The lust for owning a Corvette typically starts at a very early age. However, there are several hurdles that a young driver must clear before jumping into Corvette ownership. Some of those hurdles include the high price of entry and performance levels that are often too much for an inexperienced driver to handle. However, the C4 and C5 generation Corvettes represent an amazing performance value right now and are affordable to even young enthusiasts. Does that make them the perfect first car? Well, not so fast.

YouTuber Brad Hansen recently posted a video on his Retro Cars Forever channel that asked the question if a C4 or C5 generation could be the perfect first car. He speaks to several compelling reasons as to why it could be the right car. But he also covers several of the downsides to handing the keys to America’s sportscar to an inexperienced driver. What do you think of the idea? Let us know in the Corvette Forum forums. But before you answer you might want to watch the video below.

Value and Performance

First of all, when we are looking at the C4 and C5 we are ignoring the special performance editions. No ZR-1 or Z06 variants for the point of this discussion. But that is OK because even a garden variety vette offers plenty of performance. A 1995 C4 Corvette will get you to 60 mph in about five and a half seconds. A 2003 C5 Corvette will do the deed about 1 second faster and run all the way to about 170 mph. That is plenty of performance, especially for a new driver. And the speed comes cheap. Hansen feels that a decent example of one of these cars could be had for between $9,000 and $17,000. Those are a couple of points in favor of a Corvette as a first car.

Feel Good Image

The good news continues for young Corvette fans. There is something undeniably cool about being able to say you drive a Vette. It is an image car, and everyone knows what a Corvette is. Nothing wrong with a little ego boost. There is also nothing wrong about having some pride and feeling good about what you drive. Young people have enough challenges to navigate in life. So having a cool car that they can be proud of and love to drive can be beneficial. Every drive in a Corvette will make you feel special. You can’t put a price on that.

Safety Concerns

Owning a C4 or C5 Corvette as a first car is not all rainbows and sunshine. Safety is a major concern for everyone but especially young people. A teen driver is far more likely to be involved in an accident. And an early C4 doesn’t even have airbags or antilock brakes. The C5 has more safety features but still sits low to ground. That makes it dangerous when going up against a modern SUV or pickup truck. A Corvette also has unique handling characteristics compared to a typical front wheel drive car. These handling characteristics can be tough to master for a young driver. And while Hansen doesn’t mention it in the video, we would strongly recommend some high-performance driver training to anyone that buys a Corvette, young or old.

Insurance and Maintenance

Insurance. The bane of all teenage drivers. Insuring any car for a teen is expensive, but for a Corvette you can expect to spend 40 to 50 percent more. And if the insurance costs don’t get you, the running and maintenance costs might. A C4 or C5 Corvette is not exactly a fuel sipper. And the price for premium fuel nowadays is eye watering. And if something goes wrong with your vintage Vette you can expect to pay a pretty penny to get it repaired. These cars are now decades old, and things are starting to wear out at this point. Keeping a Corvette on the road could be a challenge for a teen working part time at Burger World.

Manual or Automatic?

If you decide that a C4 or C5 Corvette does make a perfect first car the next thing to decide on is the transmission. Hansen recommends the automatic for young drivers. His reasoning for this is that teens need to focus on other aspects of driving without the distraction of shifting gears. He also points out that the manual transmission in the C4 or C5 is not the easiest to drive. We would probably go against the advice of Hansen in this case. While a manual transmission could be a distraction it is not nearly as distracting as a cell phone. It is much more difficult to text while driving a stick. We think drivers of manual transmission cars are paying more attention to driving overall than an automatic transmission driver.

Conclusion

At the end of the video Hansen concludes that in most cases a C4 or C5 Corvette does not make sense as a first car. A young driver is not likely to have the budget or skill required to start with a Corvette. But he does concede that it could work for some, and he encourages it for those that can afford it. Do you agree? Would you put your kid in an older Corvette?

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