Okay Oppo friends, I’m looking to bounce an idea off you all and get some other opinions. Yes, I’m actually considering selling my Corvette. It isn’t that I’m tired of it, or that I don’t love it anymore. But there are some reasons, so let me explain.
When I bought this car about 2.5 years ago, it was with the intention of getting back into autocross, track days, and fun mountain roads after several years of mind-numbing Nissan Cube driving. Since that time, my partner has made it abundantly clear that I will die in a horrible, fiery crash on the first turn of the first lap on a track. Even autocross makes her nervous, because I don’t know...hitting a cone at 20mph will somehow be fatal to me, despite having done at least 100 autocross events over the years and going as far as a tiny bit of door-to-door racing in the past (Spec E30). Anyway, our opinions on the matter don’t jive, but I also don’t want to make her feel like crap by going out to do laps anyway.
That basically just leaves mountain roads. While fun, it sort of feels like kind of a bummer to have such a car for just the occasional trip to Tahoe or the coast. On top of that, the Jaguar is also great fun on the same roads. Maybe not quite as quick through sharp turns, but with the same amount of power output as the C5, it’s no slouch.
One other reason, cargo space across our fleet (C5, Jaguar XE, BMW 1-series) is minimal at best. If the two of us and our doggo go on a camping trip, we take the Jag. It is the most roomy, but even then it gets cramped with all our gear.
On the other hand, driving the Corvette is just flat-out fun. The look, the sound, the low seating position, it all adds up to smiles. So I’m stuck. Keep a seriously enjoyable car that I can only get some of the potential enjoyment out of, or sell it and use the money to buy a much more practical vehicle for us?
Whatever I replace it with will be on the opposite end of the spectrum as a Corvette. Something like an older Range Rover, LR Discovery, Isuzu Trooper, Mitsubishi Montero, Nissan Pathfinder, or something like that. A vehicle I can take down dirt roads/fire roads, have a roof rack and cargo area full of goodies, and haul the occasional load of random stuff with. I’ve also considered pickup trucks as well, but the reality is I would get more use out of having the back half of the vehicle covered than I would an open pickup bed.
Basically stated, going from this...
...To something like this...
Alternatively, I could just keep the Vette and let it sit covered in the driveway for weeks at a time. What would Oppo do? And no, finding a new partner is not an option. If I’m willing to give up my Corvette for her, it must be love.