SRT Viper inventory....

Ferzerp

Diamond Member
Oct 12, 1999
6,438
107
106
So, amid the recent news stories of poor sales, I did a search near me.

Near me there are 6 of these things sitting on dealer lots, and one dealer has 4 of those 6.

Ouch.
 

Viper GTS

Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
38,107
433
136
It makes me wonder - Is demand legitimately this low or are dealers still trying to gouge on them? I see them pop up in viper forums and they all seem either super heavily optioned or heavily 'market valued,' up into the $145k range.

http://www.glendalechryslerjeep.net...st-louis-1cfd0c2f0a0a003068b3685629c069a4.htm

That is MUCH too expensive for a Viper considering its $50k price in 1992. The base barely slipping in under $100k is still too expensive.

Viper GTS
 

halik

Lifer
Oct 10, 2000
25,696
1
81
Yeah it's one of the top stories on autoblog. Bit sad, but they IMO they screwed up on the strategy on the car; the whole thing with viper was it was raw and just insane. If you take that away, what do you have left?
 

LTC8K6

Lifer
Mar 10, 2004
28,520
1,576
126
It has the same HVAC/NAV/RADIO as the Dart...

I mentioned this to a dealer while looking at a GC Summit to replace my 08 Limited...I said I should get a better system than the Dart...
 

Ferzerp

Diamond Member
Oct 12, 1999
6,438
107
106
They aren't asking over MSRP, they're actually asking 6 or 7% under.

Maybe in 6 months you'll be able to get them for a decent price.
 

JulesMaximus

No Lifer
Jul 3, 2003
74,580
982
126
I've never driven one but have you read the review Road & Track did a few months ago?

http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-rev...es-13-questions-viper-april2013?click=main_sr

Some snippets.

Who is this Viper made for?

Chrysler thinks the Viper's freshening means it will suddenly appeal to people who own cars like Ferraris and Lamborghinis. We're not sure about that, but when we assembled the group of vintage Vipers below, the new car definitely appealed to their owners.

Is the interior as nice as non-American supercars, like Ferraris and Lamborghinis that cost twice as much?

Ah. Well. Hm. Sorry, no.

Would you want to live with the Viper every day?

Could you live with a venomous pet snake? Probably. Would you want to? Climbing aboard a Viper is less challenging than, say, squeezing yourself into a Lotus Elise, but once you're in, all comfort ends. Chrysler boasts that the Viper's Kevlar-lined seats are made by Sabelt, an Italian supplier to Ferrari. Sabelt is owned by Brembo, which supplies Ferrari with carbon-ceramic brake discs. The latter are probably no less inflexible and comfortable to sit on than the Viper's rock-hard thrones.

You don't so much see out of the Viper as make an educated guess as to the location of its four corners. On top of that, the base Viper rides like a skateboard on gravel. The more expensive GTS model uses two-mode Bilstein DampTronic dampers, and in street mode, they allow a slightly more compliant ride. Should you make the mistake of pressing the Track button, the shocks automatically fill themselves with Quikrete. Or at least it feels that way. SRT's development team admits that the mode was developed with no consideration for ride quality whatsoever. It shows.

Then again, it's not like the button says "Sport." And it's not like anyone expects a pillowy ride from a Viper. For the most part, the Viper has morphed into a real car. It has power windows (the original Viper didn't have windows at all, just plastic-windowed side curtains). It also has keyless start, satellite radio, a universal garage-door opener, a navigation system, and Chrysler's Uconnect touch-screen multimedia interface. Some of those features are optional, but they're at least available. So, too, is a four-subwoofer sound system.

Still, those woofers can't come close to drowning out the immensely unsatisfying moan coming from the side-mounted exhausts. Because the new Viper lacks the exhaust crossover pipes found on some earlier models, each of your ears is treated to the separate, boomy bark of a 4.2-liter, odd-firing five-cylinder. The sound is even less pleasant in the high-end GTS model, which carries 40 pounds of additional sound deadening.

Counterintuitively, the sound deadening actually makes matters worse; it drowns out both the engine's semimelodic mechanical noise and the exhaust on the other side of the car. At full song, from across the street, the Viper sounds bad-ass. In the car, especially while cruising, it just sounds bad.

Can tall people actually fit in the Viper now?

Klaus Busse, Chrysler's head of interior design, is six feet, eight inches tall. Chrysler says he can drive the '13 Viper. What the company doesn't specify is which tool it used to cut off the car's double-bubble roof so that he could fit inside. A plasma cutter? A reciprocating saw? An H-bomb? Or is that a hint that a convertible will be coming?

No matter. Indeed, big guys can fit better than before: The seat is now height-adjustable, and thanks to a thinner back, it slides farther rearward. But the steering wheel doesn't telescope, so the driving position is awkward for tall drivers. Even a sub-six-footer like R&T's Road Test Editor Robin Warner (above) ends up looking through the top third of the windshield.

Can you use the Viper to go shopping with your high-maintenance significant other?


The Viper's cargo capacity is within a cubic foot of a Toyota Camry's, but the compartment is an irregular shape, so it won't hold many grocery bags. Its shape is better suited to lots of little things, like those cute turquoise Tiffany boxes. That could get expensive, and quickly. So could ripping off the painfully low front spoiler every time you pull into a shopping center. Proceed with caution.

Will it still try to kill you?

You bet your ass it will. But it will at least start gently, drawing a small amount of blood. See, the space between the side of the optional power seat and the doorsill isn't quite big enough for your finger. Unfortunately, that's where the seat controls are. As the seat moves, your finger will slide along the razor-sharp edge of the plastic sill trim, cutting you. That's your first warning.

Next, the Viper will break your kneecap with its impossibly heavy clutch. And then, if you think for a second that you can rely on the new stability control to save you from that monster V-10, you risk taking an excursion across your neighbor's lawn. Any overzealous application of power-and in cold, rainy conditions, that includes merely looking at the gas pedal-and the steamroller rear tires will slither sideways.

The Viper's stability control is, with some margin, the most liberally programmed system we've experienced. Even fully on, it allows enough wheelspin and yaw that the driver remains a vital part of the equation. It will stop the car from spinning out, but it's the driver's job to keep the Viper aimed straight-this is not a stomp-and-hope kind of car. That's not a criticism; it's a perfect match for the Viper, which remains the most gloriously intimidating car money can buy. Thing is, the old Viper had a big secret: It also scared everyone, but on the track, with sufficient room to play, it turned into a plush teddy bear.

The new Viper is even better at that same trick. Whereas the last car never really settled down-it varied endlessly, though harmlessly, between understeer and oversteer-the new Viper is unfailingly neutral. The front and rear do the same dance at the same time, thanks to a wholesale suspension rethink. The layout is almost identical, except the rear toe link has been moved from behind the axle centerline to in front of it. What has changed is how the suspension moves and when.

Once a truck in a sports-car shell, the Viper now handles like a proper sports car-it's predictable and manageable. The steering ratio is the same as before, but revised hydraulics and reduced compliance help it react more quickly to inputs. It's not a particularly communicative system, but like the steering on any good racing car, it's dependably accurate.

On the track, there's nothing much to criticize. The stock brakes are prone to fade, but that particular problem is easy to solve-get the track pack's upgraded and unkillable brakes, and you'll be fine.

Once you become used to its enormous speed potential, the Viper simply becomes an extension of you and disappears. But the best part is the car's personality. Even after a session of ten-tenths lapping, you'll pull out onto a public road and be scared to death again.

So, it might make a great track car but for normal driving I think I'd much rather have the new Corvette.
 
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Viper GTS

Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
38,107
433
136
I'd much rather have the new Corvette.

Sadly I think I would too. Or the Z06/7 variant of it at least.

I love the throwback Gen II looks of the Gen V Viper but the C7 is the better performance bargain by a wide margin.

Viper GTS
 

sgrinavi

Diamond Member
Jul 31, 2007
4,537
0
76
I've seen that Viper - it is pure sweetness, I can honestly say the only thing I don't like about it is the manufacturer, but that's just a personal pet peeve from years gone by, I really don't have any reason not to like them.

Meanwhile the Chevy dealership down the street started C7 deliveries - I saw two go out today. According to the service manager the first 39 are sold and they probably wont have one on the floor for months.
 

Gillbot

Lifer
Jan 11, 2001
28,830
17
81
Here they are asking well over MSRP. I looked, saw the sticker and laughed. I was seriously contemplating one, a ZL1 Camaro or a new Vette. In the long run I opted for none of the above and put the $ into saving instead.
 

Fenixgoon

Lifer
Jun 30, 2003
33,285
12,847
136
Here they are asking well over MSRP. I looked, saw the sticker and laughed. I was seriously contemplating one, a ZL1 Camaro or a new Vette. In the long run I opted for none of the above and put the $ into saving instead.


smart man :(
 

lavaheadache

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2005
6,893
14
81
Here they are asking well over MSRP. I looked, saw the sticker and laughed. I was seriously contemplating one, a ZL1 Camaro or a new Vette. In the long run I opted for none of the above and put the $ into saving instead.

Savings get spent eventually, whether you do it or somebody else. Having extra money is good. Having too much extra money gets you un-needed attention.
 

JulesMaximus

No Lifer
Jul 3, 2003
74,580
982
126
Most old people with some saving will buy a Corvette, it's more comfortable.

Most people don't want to get beat up driving their car. I've driven some pretty raw cars and they leave you feeling beat up and tired after an hour behind the wheel. It gets old fast.
 

madoka

Diamond Member
Jun 22, 2004
4,344
712
121
I was seriously contemplating one, a ZL1 Camaro or a new Vette. In the long run I opted for none of the above and put the $ into saving instead.

Last year at this time, I thought that by now I would have paid off the GTR and should have enough to put half down on a R8. Instead Newtown happened and I spent $100K on firearms.
 

JulesMaximus

No Lifer
Jul 3, 2003
74,580
982
126
Last year at this time, I thought that by now I would have paid off the GTR and should have enough to put half down on a R8. Instead Newtown happened and I spent $100K on firearms.

What a colossal waste of money. Why on earth did you do that? :colbert:
 

smackababy

Lifer
Oct 30, 2008
27,024
79
86
Last year at this time, I thought that by now I would have paid off the GTR and should have enough to put half down on a R8. Instead Newtown happened and I spent $100K on firearms.

I can't imagine a bigger waste of money. A few thousand on a decent AR15 and some accessories and you'd be set. Maybe a 1911 to go with it, and you've nothing to worry about.
 

Zargon

Lifer
Nov 3, 2009
12,218
2
76
What a colossal waste of money. Why on earth did you do that? :colbert:

I can't imagine a bigger waste of money. A few thousand on a decent AR15 and some accessories and you'd be set. Maybe a 1911 to go with it, and you've nothing to worry about.

firearms lose relativley little value

and if they had succeeded in a ban, his inventory would be worth its weight in gold..


I know a guy that owns a few vintage porches and put 3 kids through college on a crate of M16's he bought before the full auto sales ban
 

Topweasel

Diamond Member
Oct 19, 2000
5,437
1,659
136
firearms lose relativley little value

and if they had succeeded in a ban, his inventory would be worth its weight in gold..


I know a guy that owns a few vintage porches and put 3 kids through college on a crate of M16's he bought before the full auto sales ban
This, used even the cheapest handguns lose at worst a third of their value used as long as they are maintained. But post ban they would have exploded in value. The hardware on an M16 and a colt AR15 has very very small differences, but one goes for 20k 30 years old and the other $900-$1500 new.

Depends on how the ban is structured if it did come out. I mean assault rifles had a ban before and while it was at the tail end of the ban, my brother in law got pre-ban well maintained colt AR15 for $800.

Maybe it was because Bush stated that he was going to let the ban expire when he first got into office.
 

Gillbot

Lifer
Jan 11, 2001
28,830
17
81
how the hell did this become a discussion about guns?

Who cares, we were talking LOUD FAST CARS FFS!

2013-Dodge-Viper-GTS-R_SRT_Image-08-1600.jpg
 

madoka

Diamond Member
Jun 22, 2004
4,344
712
121
What a colossal waste of money. Why on earth did you do that? :colbert:

1. CA is about restrict gun rights. I can always buy a newer, better car.

2. Cars depreciate like a rock; guns do not.

3. It's not like I suddenly stopped making money. I can always make more.

4. I've spent over $300K on cars since 2008 and I'm out of space anyways.

I have no regrets.
 

madoka

Diamond Member
Jun 22, 2004
4,344
712
121
What a colossal waste of money. Why on earth did you do that? :colbert:

1. CA is about restrict gun rights. I can always buy a newer, better car.

2. Cars depreciate like a rock; guns do not.

3. It's not like I suddenly stopped making money. I can always make more.

4. I've spent over $300K on cars in the last five years and I'm out of space anyways.

I have no regrets.