Depends on how the 2 cars compared were treated.

I've had my 5.0 for 2 years and broke the factory plastic clutch quadrant, that's it. My mom has an lt1 fbody that in 85,000 miles lost 2 water pumps, the distributor, a few motor/tranny mounts, a couple window motors and the car was bought brand new in 1997. I still wouldn't tell you to definately get one or the other, but in this case where a used 87 5.0 was more reliable than a babied 97 lt1 from the day it was bought.

... I never realized how much stuff has gone wrong with the z28 until I just formulated that little list. Seems like a lot for a car that was bought brand new and babied from day one.