First off, I bought the Corvette for myself, as I did my previous one, an 87 Convertible.
Not to race someone at a stoplight or to impress anyone, especially some chick.
Or some poser in a Honda or other riced-out clown car.
And I've never been stopped or pulled ove r in it either.
Also, I didn't buy it new, I let the original owner take the depreciation hit and bought it when it was about 15 months old, and for about 16K less than the previous owner did.
Regardless, when you spend that much money on a car, one tends to be responsible with it.
I'll open it up here and there, but without a passenger and where there is no traffic on the road.
Also, I live in the San Francisco Bay Area,
Marin county to be exact, and Corvettes are considered redneck cars among all the newer BMW M3's and MBZ AMG's around here.
100K cars around here are common.
It all depends on what part of the country you live in.
Around here, a Corvette doesn't get any attention.
Secondly, any car will cost you money and maintanence.
I used to have a 94 BMW 325is, and that car nearly broke me.
Spent thousands on it and it was always in the shop.
The point of the older BMW's (mid-80's 3-seies) is that they are more reliable than just about any other car from that era and in that price range.
Not to be insultive, but I know far more about these cars than you do, as I did lots of reasearch before buying it and have since learned tons more about these cars.
And if it blows up tommorow, so what? - I've already gotten my money's worth out of it.
These cars are easy to work on, and I do almost all my own work, unlike most newer cars which are a PITA to work on, and you need all kinds of specialty tools.
Parts are easy to find locally and on-line, and can be delivered overnight if needed.
All I need to work on it is some basic tools and a multi-meter.
I wanted an inexpensive daily driver that I could rack the miles up on, but also wanted something dependable.
I was hesitant after my previous BMW experience, but I did my homework and found the car that would fit the bill.
The bottom line is that if the original poster wants inexpensive, dependable transportation, I would highly recommend a 83-89 3-Series BMW