Are Vipers too big to drive in Europe.

[Vreracing]

There was an article in Autoweek about how Corvettes just don't seem to fit in Europe.

I wonder how the Viper would do?

Here's a link to a professional survey.

What Europeans think of the Viper

Don't take it seriously.

 

[GR8_ASP]

'bout sums up my thoughts of the lederhosen crowd.

 

[Viper89]

The Vipers here in Sweden have a lot of space

/Jocke

 

[Viperfreak2]

If I had a choice, I would get an M3 for Europe. Try parking a Viper in Munich....WAY too big. Those Smart cars sure are cute! Can't believe it's the same company that builds the snake. I like visits there, but gas at close to $5 a gallon is insane.

 

[Jim Hodel]

What? There aren't any 'big' cars in Europe?

I saw the article in Autoweek and thought it might be kind of a load, but I've never driven in Europe. I can see that a bigger car is less convenient to park and to drive in tight places, but aren't big Mercedes, Jaguar, and BMW sedans popular in Europe? What about 'big' Exotic cars like the Ferrari Testarosa and 550 Maranello, and the Lamborghini Diablo?

Fortunately, I'm driving my Viper in the good old USA.

Jim

 

[Heysie]

No,they are not to big.
A vette in the Netherlands is a car witch is related to a **** car (so are the most (big) American cars).

The only problem here are the speed bumps for the Viper. Sometimes the max speed for those bumps is 2 MPH...

 

[Fred(DrivingSchool)Kinder]

Europe is a big place and all countries and cities are not the same.

Florence has many narrow streets Paris seems okay but the local buyer will likely know the lay of the land and the streets to avoid.

 

[Neil - UK]

Europe is a big place and all countries and cities are the same.

you never been to Wales then !

I've done a lot of driving in Europe, a only a bit in the
USA, (the usual tourist things, Orlando then south etc) I found the some of the US roads I came across to be quite badly maintained, bumpy/rough surface where as most of the main European roads are a lot better groomed and suit a viper at speed.

Our roads in the UK are generally poor compared to the rest of Europe, twisty and narrow not ideal for a viper, but certainly fun. Been on the wrong side of the road, put some people off from owning a left hand 'largish' drive car

 

[Fred(DrivingSchool)Kinder]

Sorry Typo - all cities are NOT the same.

 

[Snakester]

There are places that I've driven in England and France where the roads are very narrow, where a Honda Civic feels big.

But as usual, people ignore the fact that the Viper is comparable to the European exotics in terms of both performance and size.

And the same people who complain that the Viper and Corvette are too big for European roads, conveniently never mention the larger Murcielago, Ferrari 575, Maseratis, Jaguars, Aston Martins, and other Europen origin supercars that they can find no faults with.

 

[DR VIPER]

Forget the size of the car or the narrow roads,that's liveable.
It's the price of gas in Europe that is absolutely skyrocketed.Does anybody know what a gallon costs in England these days?

 

[Neil - UK]

Forget the size of the car or the narrow roads,that's liveable.
It's the price of gas in Europe that is absolutely skyrocketed.Does anybody know what a gallon costs in England these days?

an arm and a leg, between 75-87p per litre, 95-97 ron, i heard a guy at a show this weekend with the oversized Ford Explorer (forget the name of the thing) was paying $270 for a tank full of diseil !

 

[Vip-RT10]

I live in Italy for .5 of the year and I can tell you this.......
there is enough room, but not in the smaller towns of Italy. The people are not as respectful to the car and therefore would lean on it like it is theirs. As we all well know, the turning radious of the Viper is a bit short. This would cause some problems in some places. I have had to make several maneuvers in some towns with an Audi A6 SW to get out of places. Parking spots are tight to say the least and the people in Italy just turn on the hazzards and park in the middle of the street. To answer the ?, I feel better driving the Viper in the states because there is more room there.
Parking techniques here are "bump and drive" It would be analogous like having a nice car in NY, (correct me if I am wrong) dents all around the car.
Older towns = smaller roads

 

[Snakester]

I almost mentioned in my last post about gas mileage.

It is one of the other similar issues raised about the Viper is poor gas mileage.

But both the Ferrari 360 Modena and 575 Maranello are rated at 10/16MPG. And the Lamborghini Murcielago is rated at 9/13MPG!.

Where the SRT-10 Viper is rated at 12/21MPG.

I average around 16MPG and I've gotten 26MPG twice on a couple long trips. My neighbors H2 averages 8MPG!
And yet the Wall Street Journal claims that the Viper is a "Gas hog".

Give me a break! Half of the "cars" out on the road today are trucks and SUVs that average far worse gas mileage than I get.

And the magazines conveniently exclude the European supercars (with their lower gas mileage) because they are "exotic" cars.

 

[MichaelP]

Forget the size of the car or the narrow roads,that's liveable.
It's the price of gas in Europe that is absolutely skyrocketed.Does anybody know what a gallon costs in England these days?

an arm and a leg, between 75-87p per litre, 95-97 ron, i heard a guy at a show this weekend with the oversized Ford Explorer (forget the name of the thing) was paying $270 for a tank full of diseil !

So the guy has a gas tank that holds about 55 gallons or is diseil more expensive?

 

[Torquemonster]

This is BS. There is an arrogance within certain elements of Europe where anything American is "****** and obnoxious" and everything the same size or similar in intent from Europe is pure class, has "soul", blah de blah bla bla!

If you rebadged the Viper and called it a BMW M10 or a Lamborghini Muiria V10 or an Aston Viper - you'd see a lot more positive press from Europe about its mountain of torque, its race track qualities etc. The Diablo takes up a lot more room than a Viper and I'd dare to say the Aston is about the same footprint as a Viper, the Jag and F575 similar, a 600 Merc is bigger as is a 7 series BMW...

Listen, the European and British auto industry and press have spent millions of dollars trying to convince the rest of the world and themselves that their cars are the only final word in prestige and that their pooh doesn't stink.

They do make fine products - but they are not head and shoulder above everyone else. But in their eyes, their cars are the benchmark and the **** - after building technically superior cars for years - have finally been accepted as an acceptable second best, while the American cars are all - well you know.... like NFL front rowers - not too bright, but able to lift heavy things.

American cars always got badgered for their handling - but they are made for American roads - and they are perfect for that. Put a Cadilac on an Apline twisty and it'd be a pig, but along the interstate its more plush than a BMW - so horse for courses.

Same with Jappers. Drive a Lexus V8 then any European sedan you like and take all the emotion out of it. The Lexus was every bit as good wasn't it? Quieter, just as smooth.... and unlike the BMW - it will still be like that after 120,000 miles with the engine still like new.

The Skyline GTR has an AWD system second to nothing in Europe. They broke the record at the "Ring" circuit to the shock of Europe by running under 8 minutes stock - in a 2.6 litre car! It beat the GT3 for goodness sake! It took a GT2 to retake the record running 188 more hp than a GTR, and the GTR is a comfortable 4 seater coupe....

A Vette or Viper will be happy anywhere an Italian exotic would be!

I make a motion that we here on the Viper board do not have to accept any arrogance from Europe about the Viper. We like it, they don't have to, let them play with themselves in their little GTI's and be happy.... a big scary 8.2 litre V10 would only terrify them anyway.

 

[Vip-RT10]

Diesel is cheaper in Italy when compared to gasoline, so that is why there are many diesel versions of cars and small liter engines with turbos. The problem with the gasoline is that it is badly refined and dirty here in Italy. The quality of the gas is next to garbage.

Just as an example....I drove a Mitsu Eclipse 2.0 turbo from Ancona to Zurich for a vacation 2 yrs ago...It took us 1.5 tanks of gas going up to Zurich. We filled up in Zurich and drove back, and only took us 3/4 of a tank to get home. We cruised at the same speed going and coming. The gasoline burns dirty. On the rear bumpers of the Ferrari's, there would always be a cloud of black carbon-like material from the burning of the gasoline.

 

[Viperfreak2]

I still say it depends on where you drive. The autobahns and autostrada generally are like pool tables. Smooth, gentle high speed turns, no speed limits....a joy for a Viper. BUT, if you live in a city and need to find parking to go to a club or out to eat, even daily commuting like I do in my Viper 5 days a week, it is just too annoying to park. The house in the country? I guess if you've got millions to spend, you could find one, but they are almost banned unless you're a farmer (in Bavaria anyway) It's not like America where you just drive past a nice looking piece of real estate and say 'gee, a house over there would be perfect'. It just doesn't happen. They won't let you. ever. So the cities and tiny towns are where you'll drive most.

 

[ViperGTS]

NO.