[MikenOH]

as others have suggested, buy the one that makes you feel the best.

Our Corvettes were fun cars and we got into P cars only because GM decided not to honor a warranty claim. Our old '99' was definately a step down in HP from our '96' LT4 but it made up for it in so many other ways:
-Balance
-functional design
-ergonamics
-more efficient overall package.

The biggest change I think was that the car was so comunicative to the driver; you always seemed to know what was going on at the wheels and there weren't any unhappy suprises when you started to approach the limit.

With our '06', all of the small issues with the older car have gone away; enough HP to get into trouble, stiffer chassis, better interior, better gearbox..., the list goes on.

Having said all that, we looked seriously--at least I did--at the new C6. I like the styling a lot and performance wise it has a lot going for it. After we drove the 987, though, it didn't matter--we were thoroughly hooked on the P car again.

One small issue which entered into the decision making was the way that a few Chevy dealers treated prospective buyers. We tried to drive a 6spd and were told that Vette buyers wanted 0 miles on their cars so they didn't allow for a lot of test drives. Our local P dealer on the other hand let us drive both a base and an S; another P car dealer did the same. Seems to me if you want people to plunk down $45-50K on a car, they should be allowed to get it out on the road to see if they like it.

You probably know what features are the most important for you and by driving these cars extensively, you'll figure out which one hits the mark and which one doesn't. Best of luck with it.

BTW, this a terrific time to buy a performance car in OH--I've seen a lot of inventory on certain lots and would expect traffic to be slow. That Chevy dealer in Elyria had a few cars in stock the last time I went by; Freddie Baker in Bedford had a number of 05's.