So what happens to the pilot cars?

[Craig 201 MPH]

now that the production cars are almost here what happens to the pilot/engineering cars?

 

[Jay Herbert]

Some become engineering cars, some are used for certification testing, most are usually crushed when they are "used up".

 

[Craig 201 MPH]

Thanks for the info Jay, I had a bad feeling that they were crushed

 

[viperweb]

Why do car companies cruch pilot cars? Just wondering...seems like a waste.

 

[Viperfreak2]

Truth is, pilot cars are just guinea pigs. Would you ever want to find out you paid the same amount of money for one of these as a customer who gets a car with all the latest, highest quality parts? There are so many changes and revisions to every tiny detail during the development and testing phase, it's actually cheaper to crush the early build cars than to spend hundreds or even thousands of man-hours reworking them. Most of the time you can't anyway due to changes in the body welds after crash testing.

 

[viperweb]

Why can't they go into storage or something? I'm sure if they need a place I can find one

 

[Mike Brunton]

We do some R&D at my company. Most of our R&D parts go into storage for later analysis or gutting if we need parts. Alot of folks would say "well can I buy one at half price?".

They wouldn't want one. They are usually not very finished. Imagine if you got an SRT and it had holes in the dash where they screwed a computer on while they tested it..and the rims were different finishes, and weren't as strong as the production ones... and it didn't have the bright headlights, etc, etc.

People think "what a waste", but it's really not. They are evolutions of the car leading up to the finished version - many times they are not "SRT's", they are just works in progress which begat the SRT.

 

[Craig 201 MPH]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Mike Brunton:
We do some R&D at my company. Most of our R&D parts go into storage for later analysis or gutting if we need parts. Alot of folks would say "well can I buy one at half price?".

They wouldn't want one. They are usually not very finished. Imagine if you got an SRT and it had holes in the dash where they screwed a computer on while they tested it..and the rims were different finishes, and weren't as strong as the production ones... and it didn't have the bright headlights, etc, etc.

People think "what a waste", but it's really not. They are evolutions of the car leading up to the finished version - many times they are not "SRT's", they are just works in progress which begat the SRT.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


ahh yes but...
hacked up pilot car &gt; my car

 

[viperweb]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Craig 201 MPH:

ahh yes but...
hacked up pilot car &gt; my car


<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I was trying to say something like that without saying "life isn't fair, I don't have a Viper, boohoo!" But yes, that is what I was thinking too.

 

[Joseph Houss]

I believe Pilot cars do not have valid VINS as well.... pre-certification + no VIN = USELESS (other than a centerpiece in your living room!).

 

[snowmann]

It is not the same car as production and cannot be supported in the same manner. Dodge dealers might not know how to fix it, insurance might not know how to insure it, it doesn't go through the same QA process. If you have a horrible accident due to the engineering Dodge would have a nightmare explaining that this is "not" really one of their cars and that other Vipers should not experience these problems. How would they keep track of recalls to avoid getting sued up the ying yang... Lots of good reasons to crush...