Silver Chevrolet Corvette C5 Z06 Le Mans Edition, three-quarter front view

Corvette Z06 (C5)

2001–2004 · 5.7L NA LS6 V8, 405 hp · manual only · 1,415 kg
7.6 / 10
Involvement 8.0 / 10
CorvetteC5 Z06C8C8 Z06
Miles actually driven6.0
Bought to drive, not to flip6.5
Track-day sightingscontext · not scored7.5

Reference — shown, never scored

Handling · LS6 5.7 NA V8, manual8.1
Power-to-weight · commitment zone281 hp/t
405 hp · 1,439 kg

Why 7.6: Manual-only, lighter than the base car, and two decades later still the cheapest way to embarrass modern metal on track. DougScore 57; the paddock disagrees with Doug on this one.

DougScore 57 / 100Weekend 33/50 · Daily 24/502002 Z06 (C5) · dougdemuro.com

Market value

Median asking price, good condition · $50k (2003) → $45k (2026), trending down · illustrative data

$25k$50k200320162026$45k

The long version

This spent the better part of two decades as the practical joke of the used-car market — a genuine track weapon selling for beater money through most of the 2010s — and the ownership base that formed during those years never really cared what any scoresheet said about it on paper. Recent price gains have not pulled it out of club-race paddocks, because the people who bought in at the bottom bought it to use, and using it is most of the reason values eventually moved. It remains the cheapest ticket on this list to genuinely quick lap times, and its owners know it.

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