What is the stereotype of Viper? Surely it couldn't be worse than that of the Corvette (mid-life crisis car).

 

I went to the last VCA IL viper meeting for the year last Wednesday and there were a few new ones. The new ones went back to the original bubble looks which makes it looks great and also the clam shell hood. Although the Gen 3s looks nice, I do like the new ones with more of the rounder look. Was a great turnout as I heard officially 68 Vipers turned out.

 

What about the F type? Drive the 495 HP F-S and then get in a viper. They are rough riding, gas guzzling, cheap-interiored, fast in a straight line but lousy handling cars. The two they had at ALMS last year at Road America both didn't finish due to mechanical failures, but were slow when they were running. The Jaguar automobile is the finest combination of class and performance on the planet. BTW, used vipers bring terrible money on the used car market.

 

Careful... vipers are built on a tube [racecar] chassis and handle VERY well. Its a race care more so than sports car. Its made to be fast- not nice.

 

Similar stereotype, but the Corvette is not as much a "trophy" as the Viper. Average person can buy a Corvette. You really have to go out of your way to justify a Viper. Corvette makes more sense for someone wanting an American sports car.

 

Doesn't appeal to me at all.

 

Yea, but that doesn't change the fact they are cheaply made. They should handle and do everything else just as well.

Most German rivals outperform it on track with less hp and more weight.

And, when Car and Driver performed the testing this year for Best Drivers Car, the drivers seat got loose in the Viper, the gas pedal broke off and the hood vent flew off the car. Embarrassing for $100,000+ car.

 

Which German rival outperforms the viper on the track? I'm not a huge viper fan, but its one of the fastest cars at the track. A viper acr had the fastest ring time until recently (faster than any Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, BMW, MB, etc)

 

Name a racecar that costs less than 100k or has better build quality And less rattles than a kia.

You can't. Those who bring these up simply don't understand a viper. The viper wasn't meant to have street tires either. Again, its built on a tube chassis... this is a HUGE deal. So much so that it eliminates itself from many racing classes short of those for purpose built cars.

This is like a gtr or sti forum critisizing us for our 0-60 times and crummy infotainment. Neither are why we bought these cars.

 

BTW, dodge is having an extremely hard time selling them right now.

 

No thanks.

 

That's too bad, this iteration of the Viper is by far the best looking to date.

 

again it's a RACECAR that they slapped some turn signals and street rubber on to. That SLS has better fit and finish for 2.5X the price lol.

It is a purpose built car for a very small market segment.

 

The SLS AMG is just as much of a racecar, built for the track.

The engineering that went into the Viper is just laughable. It's 500 pounds lighter and significantly higher in power, yet slower on the track than the SLS AMG.

Sticking a big engine in the car unfortunately doesn't work any more.

 

The GTR is a prime example of such a thing. Launch control and pushing an electronic button is all you have to do with many modern "sports" cars. The SLS is performance based but its luxury oriented. One could argue that a new mclaren is much faster than the SLS... Proportionately they are closer in price than the Viper SLS also and from an "engineering" standpoint the Mclaren is light years ahead of the AMG.

The viper has fine engineering but you have to actually drive it

 

Watched the video... The SLS is 3X the price of the viper and with risking if x car had y mod... if the viper had the flappy paddle gearbox then it would be faster - especially in a drag race.

 

The Viper is suppose to be a brute and if that "slows" it down, so be it. I think the buyers/drivers of the Viper wouldn't want any other way.

 

One of the major car mags. this month did a compara of their pick of "Best Drivers Cars". The F-Type was included which made No. 3! I believe the Viper was 10th or last.
115K is a lot for just a big engine. They don't sell well because people don't buy many track cars. Buy a two year old 911. All the quality , easy to drive, comfortable, great track car and cheaper.

 

I'm a newbie of the first order here, so my first posts should probably strive to contribute a little content... before I launch a couple of my own threads full of questions.

So: to the OP, yes, the Gen V Viper should appeal to SOME performance-oriented Jaguar owners. I've been in a few and the interior has been significantly upgraded. I own a 2009 ACR, and the trappings in the cabin can be optimistically characterized as "utilitarian". But that's not why we buy them ;-)

Just as I'm looking for a GT car that's a bit "softer" than a Viper, I would think that there are some XKR/XKR-S owners that are interested in taking a step further toward raw performance. The new Viper is clearly still a handful, Randy Pobst's comments in the various Motor Trend features define the Gen V as (still) difficult to drive at the limit. Which is one of the car's attributes that many of us value, oddly. Sort of the antithesis of the GT-R, to over-simplify.

Viper's simplicity has translated into rock-solid dependability; it's built to run hot laps all day long. Will a window motor crap out after a while? Maybe. But just feed the snake fuel, tires, and pads... and it's a fantastic driving experience. At the track, a constant grin... even if it does scare you from time to time.

The optional Stryker Red is glorious in person... not sure I'd pony up the $14500 it costs, but it's a no-brainer if you have the $$$$.

Rich

 

RW99,
I agree with your assessment of the Viper, with a slight exception, the Viper will run hot laps all day long on a track provided it's a dry one. All that torque and power on the rear wheels spell disaster on a moist track. I attend Audifest every year up at Infineon Track in Sonoma, CA. Each year I see a late model Viper prepared for the track who will not go out in the rain. I took my '72 Pantera and spun out twice on one wet lap and that was enough for me. Yet R-8's, S-5's, S-4's. etc. are out there at full speed because they're all 4 wheel drive. As we hear that some future F-type is going to have a 700 hp engine, if it doesn't have all wheels driven, it will not be able to harness that power even on a dry track. I think that both the Corvette and the Viper will eventually offer 4 wheel versions.