It's definitely because of the pricing. In my mind, yes the Vipers are classic and rare, and even the older ones with lower miles
should be worth ballpark $50K.
However, in the minds of people who are going to be spending ballpark $50K, when they figure out they could practically a brand new one 2003-2005 for somewhere in the high $50K's to low $60K's, they're likely going to buy the newer car.
Even if the difference was $15K in price, when you're already talking that much money, for a car that's a luxury toy, and you're likely financing it, the difference in the payment is peanuts.
The only way the earlier cars will start moving is if there is a
huge disparity in the price, then it would be enough for someone thinking about a Viper to say to themselves 'hey, for this much less I might as well check out the older model and see if I like Vipers before I spend double on a newer one'.
If you look at any similar high performance sports car, you'll see that the difference in price, even for low mileage cars, doesn't make sense with the Vipers.
For example, you can buy a 1999 Ferrari 360 coupe with about 5-10K miles for about $110K. Move up 5 years to like a 2004 (last year of the 360 technically) and you're talking $160,000 for the same car, a difference of $50,000 which is a big chunk of change.
Look at a 1999 Viper vs. a 2004 Viper the 1999 is going for $45-$50K and the 2004 is going for $58K - a difference of $8,000 - so who is REALLY going to buy the 5 year older car only to save $8,000 ???
[numbers taken from
www.dodgevipersforsale.com as well as
www.dupontregistry.com]
And when you start getting into 2004's and beyond some of these cars all have warranty on them, and the warranty can still be extended as long as it's still within the original period, so just having warranty, especially the
option to extend, now who is going to want to buy the earlier car?
I mean if you're just dead set on the look of those earlier Vipers then go for it, but the average guy looking to get into a Viper only has to do a little research to realize the best deal is getting the latest model Viper possible.
I don't the think the new cars will effect the Gen III pricing much at first. It would likely take a year. The 2008's will be slow to come, and from the exterior they look very similar. I talked to the dealer (who still doesn't know pricing) but said tht they expected the 2008's to sticker at $100K - if that's the case even $70K for a 2006 is still a heck of a deal! (Especially if it's in a color they're not making in 2008)
I think what the 2008's will really effect is the Gen I and Gen II cars. Since as the pre-2008 Gen III cars rack up some miles and get older in years, the price will go down, and then where will the price of the earlier cars go? They'll have to go down. I couldn't see a situation where 2003-2006's are selling
below the Gen II cars? But who knows, maybe that will happen...
So what did you buy?
