Once again, while beginning my research for this C5 edition of CorvSport’s Bargain Hunting series, I was surprised to find so many cheap fifth-generation Corvettes for sale. I initially set my Autotrader search parameters at $12,000, and 47 units surfaced. Filter out salvage/rebuilt and other branded titles, and that number falls to 26. Once I upped the challenge to $10,000 and less and kept the “clean title” filter, we were down to only 9 C5s in the country.
Here are the best 5. And by best, I don’t mean perfect or even close to it. But the good news is, you can get into one of the best performance bargains for cheap, so take what you can get! [Author’s Note: This article is FREE and not behind a paywall. If/when any popups occur, please click to make them disappear and continue enjoying the article.]
But before we get to our list, let’s again use this opportunity to dive into the vast CorvSport catalog and look at an interesting article that featured the fifth-generation Corvette from our long-time contributor, Simon Bertram.
The Best Daily Driver Corvette
“There are three generations that we think fit the bill as a perfect daily driver. We also understand that this might be a controversial selection, but please do remember, this is just our subjective opinion and it very likely will not match yours.
C5 Generation
The C5 Corvette is really the first generation that could be considered as a daily driver. For sure, earlier generations were used by some as daily drivers, the C5 took all that was learned over the years and added modern reliability to the mix. This isn’t a criticism of build quality of previous generations, it’s that the LS1 was, and still is, a pretty much bulletproof V8.
The C5 also added in a whole new way of laying things out inside, with a very driver-centric dash, lots of legroom, and quite plush seats. It wasn’t the greatest in terms of practicality, but it still had enough storage space and a decent trunk to be able to safely go on long-weekend getaways without much issue.
The only thing about the C5 that knocks it down a peg is that it was made in the time when fuel efficiency was starting to become important, but wasn’t a main concern yet. It was fairly thirsty even at highway speed, and despite its fairly hefty tank at 18.5 gallons, it would only get about 400 miles to a tank if driven with mileage in mind…” Continue Reading or Save For Later
Now, without further ado, here are the top five C5 Corvettes we found for a $10,000 budget.
#5
1999 Corvette Coupe
152,913 Miles
Asking Price: $9,995
Title Status: Clean
Number Of Owners: 6
Number Of Accidents: 1
Offered By: Dealer
Listed At: Autotrader
Deeper Dive: Click here for the full listing (Note: We have no affiliation with this seller. All images and information are credited to Autotrader.)
#4
1999 Corvette Convertible
148,334 Miles
Asking Price: $9,900
Title Status: Clean
Number Of Owners: 10
Number Of Accidents: 0
Offered By: Dealer
Listed At: Autotrader
Deeper Dive: Click here for the full listing (Note: We have no affiliation with this seller. All images and information are credited to Autotrader.)
#3
1999 Corvette Coupe
131,018 Miles
Asking Price: $9,850
Title Status: Clean
Number Of Owners: 3
Number Of Accidents: 2
Offered By: Private Seller
Listed At: Autotrader
Deeper Dive: Click here for the full listing (Note: We have no affiliation with this seller. All images and information are credited to Autotrader.)
#2
2000 Corvette Coupe
113,000 Miles
Asking Price: $8,600
Title Status: Clean
Number Of Owners: 5
Number Of Accidents: 3
Offered By: Dealer
Listed At: Autotrader
Deeper Dive: Click here for the full listing (Note: We have no affiliation with this seller. All images and information are credited to Autotrader.)
#1
1998 Corvette Convertible
210,535 Miles
Asking Price: $7,800
Title Status: Clean
Number Of Owners: 7
Number Of Accidents: 0
Offered By: Private Seller
Listed At: Autotrader
Deeper Dive: Click here for the full listing (Note: We have no affiliation with this seller. All images and information are credited to Autotrader.)
As always, thanks for joining CorvSport today! Would you purchase any of these C5s? If you want to keep up to date with all the fresh Corvette news and maintain a pulse on the lifestyle and culture of this exciting, iconic brand, CorvSport has the fastest-growing Corvette community on our Facebook page, with over 172,000 followers (53,000 since January 2023!). Come join other hardcore enthusiasts and say hello. This is Douglas B. signing off–click here if you would like to see more of my features.
