Dodge Viper Most Costly To Repair..

Interesting.

Most Expensive Cars To Repair - Forbes.com

"Similarly, the Dodge Viper, though not defined as a luxury vehicle, is a high-powered sports car that has a start price of $84,460. Dodge spokeswoman Kathy Graham says that technicians who work on Vipers have to take a special class to learn the nuances of repairing them. Dodge only makes 1,500 Vipers each year, so parts are scarce. Most owners like to race their Vipers on tracks, and to help the vehicle better handle such an environment, Dodge added a front sporter that hangs low on the car and is easily damaged if it scrapes a cement parking-lot block. The cost to replace it is $1,800, says Graham. Overall, the Viper has the highest estimated repair costs of any vehicle over a five-year period, at $1,641."

MEh...problem is that they never heard of Chuck Tator and his generous VCA discount on parts.

"Parts are scarce" keeps parts cost high. Just like the Gen 2 fan tripled in $$$ by a pencil whip, they could make more Viper parts by whipping their pencil. Keeping cost down when parts are needed because then every part is not a 1 of 1.

Everything is getting expensive to repair.

A friend just lost the fuel pump on his Chevy Avalanche. Dealer said $950 to replace!

Wierd, I usually like Forbes' stuff. When compared to mustangs, toyotas and Hondas, DUH... yeah it's expensive to repair, but wierdly enough, I see no Porsche, Ferraris, etc. on this list... I guess it's all relative.

Wierdly enough, my vipers are all pretty cheap to repair (they haven't needed many). I think I've spent less than 1k on every one of em, same as my H2 really

Rapair cost of $1600 for five years ?! That't nothing. This is what I spend per month
How did they get it ?

Most parts are oversized on the Viper. There is nothing to repair unless race it.

BMW are way more expensive and fragile. Then don't talk about the engin. To repair a BMW engin you need a Ph.d. in VVT (Vanos). The Viper engin is way more simple. BMW has only 6 cylinders but headers costs $1800 !!! Viper headers are only $1600 for 10 cylinders.

Then replacing a brake pad on an Audi costs more because it has a wear sensor ?! Where did they get it ? That prouves that some dealers really overcharge their clients.

What is funny with the German cars that when you go to the after market you can get the same OEM for 50% less. The worst are the BMW dealers. By the way should you need German car parts this is the site to check: OEM and original car Parts For BMW Mini cooper Porsche Mercedes Audi Volkswagen Saab Volvo| BimmerSpecialist.com


I think this is a just the usual journalist staff ....

>>>The Viper engin is way more simple.<<<

Not any more!

And, I paid >300 Euros for 4 (official Chrysler/Dodge Viper) brake pads here. Multiply it by 1,6 and you get the US$ number...insane!

ViperGTS,

That's sounds a bit high.

You should get to know JonB at Parts Rack.

Dan

Socrates said:

Interesting.

Most Expensive Cars To Repair - Forbes.com

"Similarly, the Dodge Viper, though not defined as a luxury vehicle, is a high-powered sports car that has a start price of $84,460. Dodge spokeswoman Kathy Graham says that technicians who work on Vipers have to take a special class to learn the nuances of repairing them. Dodge only makes 1,500 Vipers each year, so parts are scarce. Most owners like to race their Vipers on tracks, and to help the vehicle better handle such an environment, Dodge added a front sporter that hangs low on the car and is easily damaged if it scrapes a cement parking-lot block. The cost to replace it is $1,800, says Graham. Overall, the Viper has the highest estimated repair costs of any vehicle over a five-year period, at $1,641."

Click to expand...

Thats nothing. I pushed in my bottom rocker panel on a curb. Its the bottom piece of the car. Its aluminum and weighs maybe 10 lbs. I was thinking 1k or so. The part alone was over 7k . Paint and install was over 8k. I ended up getting the part much cheaper from John B. (I think $3800) but I damn near had a heart attack. Thats a ton of dough for one piece of aluminum, heat treated or not!

I owned a couple Volvos that make owning a Viper seem cheap to repair. That article takes a giant leap with little data. I only wish my Volvos would have been that f...ing cheap to repair!!!!! That's why I don't and won't EVER own a Volvo again! Actually, from information I got from the local import repair shop (not a dealer) he said BMW's were the worst. He also said that almost all cars from Europe were the most expensive to fix and broke the most often. I'll take his advice before some Forbes writer who probably knows little or nothing about cars and spent little time getting real facts.

You could have custom made that rocker panel for $1000 ...

I now race a BMW and it is one of the cheapest car tha I ever had. BMW dealers are way too expensive. Parts' prices are beyond imagination. Lets take a brake rotor: It costs $160 at dealer, same rotor at speed shop is $70 and brembo once are $78 and it brakes 10/10.

Let say that Vipers well below the most expensive cars. In addition parts are oversize and they can last many thousand of miles. Body parts are another history ....

Schulmann said:

Rapair cost of $1600 for five years ?! That't nothing. This is what I spend per month

Click to expand...

I agree... I spend twice that amount on tires alone for my daily driver (Mustang GT) in a 5 year period...

Peter

Each of us have different values. I do an oil change for $50. Some people have to drive 80 miles and spend $300 to be happy.

Socrates said:

Interesting.

Most Expensive Cars To Repair - Forbes.com

"Similarly, the Dodge Viper, though not defined as a luxury vehicle, is a high-powered sports car that has a start price of $84,460. Dodge spokeswoman Kathy Graham says that technicians who work on Vipers have to take a special class to learn the nuances of repairing them. Dodge only makes 1,500 Vipers each year, so parts are scarce. Most owners like to race their Vipers on tracks, and to help the vehicle better handle such an environment, Dodge added a front sporter that hangs low on the car and is easily damaged if it scrapes a cement parking-lot block. The cost to replace it is $1,800, says Graham. Overall, the Viper has the highest estimated repair costs of any vehicle over a five-year period, at $1,641."

Click to expand...

Love it!!!!

$1500 over five years. That is $300 per year! Come on! On a repair cost average as opposed to purchase price cost, that is one of the lowest cost averages out there. Honestly, where do they get these automotive experts or journalists from? Do their checks say "TMZ - Automotive Department" or something?

At the time, my 3 year old 2000 Saleen XP8 Ford Explorer steering rack cracked. When it was all said and done, it cost over $1,100 to replace along with the other parts that failed in just that one event. Our 1998 Range Rover 4.6HSE never seemed to run without a constant flow of money into it. They might as well have put a credit card swipe ignition on the damn thing.

Other than regular maintenance and my Viper Tranny which died at 17 miles, which was replaced under warranty, the costs have been almost nil in my first 1.5 years. Our 2004 Porsche Cayenne Turbo has 34k miles on it and other than a $800 30,000 mile service, and regular maintenance, we have had NO additional costs.

Maybe I am luck in my vehicles in getting some good ones from the fatcory and good support, but this Forbes article might as well read. "Let's see if we can kill the Viper this way". The Viper wave to people that don't own a Viper shouldn't be the fangs, but more the middle finger.

Anyone that judges to buy or not buy a vehicle based off of any written article doesn't deserve to drive. IMHO