As I’ve noted before I’ve put my car into the Club Sportiva point share program which allows them to rent it and me to swap the time for any other car they have. Over the last two weeks I’ve tried the Aston Martin (covered that earlier) and then the Viper and have the SLS AMG this weekend.
Viper
The Viper is a beast, wicked quick but likely like that really hot and overly friendly girl in High School you wanted to date you can’t live with it. Seats are really comfortable but manual, transmission is manual, and with the current car you don’t need superman’s leg to push down the clutch (the original had something like an 85 pound clutch which got old really fast in traffic). It has a carbon fiber body, loud side exhaust and a wonderful sound system. However, both road and exhaust noise are crazy loud at freeway speeds so you really can’t enjoy the sound system, it has no backup camera and really poor visibility out the rear so parallel parking is a bitch (it is a long car) and all of this makes for a great one day short distance driver but not something you ever want to live with.
It does get people’s attention though, and I’ve never had a car that literally everyone seemed to want to race, particularly those in Toyota sedans (weird). I will say this, one guy on a motorcycle tried to race me getting onto the freeway, with traction control on the car broke free on the shift to third (scared the crap out of my wife, but put a grin on my face) and by the time I got into the fast lane the motorcycle was a tiny blip in their rear view mirror. The F-Type is easier to drive, nearly as quick (I have the beast of a V8), quiet at freeway speeds, it has both a better view out of the back and an backup camera, and the sound system is as good or better (plus you can hear it). The active exhaust gives you the best of both loud sound and quiet cruising.
Having said all of that, if you get a chance to drive a new Viper take it. For a short period of time it is a blast, just don’t plan on driving it any distance without ear plugs. (Engine Noise and passenger screams).
SLS AMG
The SLS was a big disappointment. It drives heavy. It feels like you are driving a tank. With horsepower more in line with the Viper it performs more in line with my old XKR. It is quick but not Viper or F-Type quick, at least it doesn’t feel quick. This is likely because it is so quiet inside you can’t hear anything from the outside other than the exhaust (I fire truck with sirens and lights went by, I pretty much couldn’t hear the siren and my wife tried to yell at me while in the car and I could just see her lips move. It is comfortable but the seat controls likely require a PHD and I’ve never seen so many. Unlike other current generation cars I’ve driven it doesn’t connect to your phone’s music system and uses a cable (which was lost) for MP3 sources). Strangely it has a PCMCIA slot for music (these were popular in higher end laptops early last decade, never seen one in a car). Trunk space is a bit bigger than the F-Type and it has a lighted trunk release button for the midget or small child that might actually fit in it (strange feature). The gull wing doors are a total pain in the ***. They are both too high and too short. Too high because if you are under 6’ you likely can’t reach the handle to close them, too short because if you are over 5’5” you’ll hit your head on the damn thing regularly (I’m up to 4 times now).
I watch folks to see if they notice the car and except for a BMW driver who almost hit me head on in the garage not so much. Most of the cars from the club get a lot of attention, the SLS not so much. Germans really over engineer stuff and do strange things, for instance it is a keyless car but the ignition switch if you need to use it is in a cubby back behind the center console which would be incredibly awkward to use. One of the least intuitive cars I’ve ever driven.
So far we continue to prefer the F-Type over every other car in the club which has my wife looking at me like I’m an idiot. Greaaaaat….

 

OK I've been driving this thing for several days and I've started to get the hang of it. Throttle isn't very responsive but the power is there if you wait for it. Got a ton of attention today and I think the problem is the color. Silver just doesn't stand out that well on a Mercedes (everyone and their brother has this color around here). I'm not hitting my head anymore and I've found that if I grab the door as I slide into the seat I can elegantly slide into the seat and close the door in one movement. It is kind of fun. This would be a decent distance driver if you can get over the gas mileage. Once I got tunes into the sound system it is pretty spectacular as well. I think the tires are too small in the back for all of this power which is why it is slow off the line, think traction control is kicking in. But at speed it moves right out, there is just this delay from when you pound the peddle to the floor and it takes off. For the money though, the Jag is a better deal and doubt I could live with a car that you couldn't even get a sun roof in (California Native).


If you get a chance to drive one though, it is worth the experience. I just wouldn't buy one new. This car has 800 miles on it and the club bought it for $60K under the new price. Depreciation must be frightening. If the two cars were the same price I'd take the SLS over the Viper, it is far more livable.


Oh the one button I haven't figured out is the AMG button. Must be a trick because it hit it and nothing seems to happen.

 

By the way here is a picture of the car in my garage.

 

You touched on many of the reasons why some buy and love the Viper so much, and why others don't. Owners love them for their exotic looks, extreme nature, and a driving thrill that they can't find anywhere else. Most rarely drive them, not surprisingly, but when they do it's fireworks and smiles ear to ear. The F-Type would be a much better choice for most of us as a weekend car, or the XK if you need more room when having fun.

It sounds like your club's Viper is the SRT, and not the GTS. The latter comes standard with back-up camera I think, and more sound deadening and comfort features. I'm interested in one mostly for track days where I've been enjoying the XKR for the last two years, and selling a couple of other track cars I no longer use to free up the space and spouse's support! Keeping the XKR for my more regular fun stuff.

Bruce

 

Definitely sounds like their club has a base SRT Viper with very few options. The back up camera and a few other standard features from the GTS trim level are available in an option package on the GTS.


As to how Viper owners use their cars, it varies widely. I daily drove both of mine with an occasional track day or run to the drag strip but there are plenty who only take the car to the track and who only drive it here and there on weekends.


Unfortunately, the new Viper is overpriced and the GTS level is grossly overpriced. This was a big reason as to why I canceled the order I had for a GTS. Add to that the problem that you have to take your $100k+ Viper to a Dodge dealer used to servicing Darts and Caravans, the quality on Vipers isn't the greatest, etc. and it all led me to look around at other cars.

 

After I wrote that one of the car magazines I get did a piece on whether you could live with a Viper. They pointed out the differences, strangely enough they said the GTS actually sounded worse even though it had 40 pounds of extra insulation. Said it took all the good sounds out and just left the annoying stuff. But on any car with this limited a rear view the backup camera should be on the base car which is far from cheap.


On the dealer, my wife had the same problem when we went to look at Corvettes. Here we were looking at a $70K or so car and the dealership, which was very nicely done out, looked inside like it was where Duck Dynasty's girls hung out with their many babies. People were nice just couldn't picture actually sitting in the waiting room. Oh god I've become a snob in my old age...