OPTIMA Presents Corvette of the Week: From a Miata to a ‘Vette

This week’s Corvette of the Week comes from “FinalJenemba” whose story has made me appreciate the Corvette even more, which is huge for me because I thought I already had my foot planted pretty firmly on the Corvette appreciation throttle.

FinalJenemba says he’s “always been a Miata guy”. The Miata he recently sold was pushing 250 horsepower at the wheels, and it had racing suspension. With that much juice being pumped through the little Mazda, FinalJenemba says, “It was a lot of fun, but at those levels, Miatas can get pretty hard to drive and uncomfortable.”

Enter his new acquisition: a 2002 Millennium Yellow Corvette Coupe rocking a six-speed manual. If this C5 looks younger than its 12 years of age would suggest, it should — it only has 51,000 miles.

“It’s in really clean condition and I’m loving it so far,” says FinalJenemba. “It’s just as fast as the Miata, but a million times more livable. I’ve never owned a V8 before, and I’m loving the sound and torque.”

I’ve driven a few Miatas in my day. The last one I drove was a 2006 model with a 170-horsepower 2.0L I4. It was an amazing car, but if it had an LS swap, it probably would have acted like a toddler on a caffeine/sugar high. The fact that a C5 Corvette can be liveable with an LS1 under the hood is a testament to the C5’s quality of character.

Head to the forum to congratulate FinalJenemba on his new toy. >>

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