For those that have low mileage Vipers, how do you do it?

[SSR9999]

Just curious, for those that have low mileage Vipers, how do you do it? I mean, how are you able to not drive the car or take it out more often? Are some of the people that have low mileage cars afraid of racking up the miles for fear of lowering the value of your car? Inquiring mind wants to know. Thanks.

 

[Dexter]

My '02 had 2,500 miles on it when I bought it 3 months ago. Now it has 8,000 + and I even had it delivered. I don't know how they do it either.

 

[Joseph Dell]

When I lived 1.8 miles from the office, i'd drive the car every day, but still never racked up the miles. Oh yeah... i traveled for business and this wasn't my airport car. so 20 miles a week wasn't much. I _felt_ like i drove it all the time, but in 2 years, the odometer had less than 4k on it.

now i've had the car for 7 years (7 years tomorrow, actually) and it has just over 17k miles on it. and it has been a fun 17k miles!

JD

 

[Tom F&L GoR]

Bought mine with almost 20K miles on the odometer (30K kilometers, actually) around Thanksgiving 1998. Seller was in Montreal, so my first drive was the 300 mile trip home. Now has ~85K, so averaging 8K/yr. Its like taking a vacation every time I drive it, so why not drive as much as possible?

 

[pocketAA]

I have a 99 RT/10 and the orig owner put 4700 miles on the car. I have had it since April and the car now has 6300 miles on it. I am looking to put about 2000-3000 miles a year on the car. I would prefer to put as less miles on the car as possible just because with more miles come more rock chips, more blemishes, etc. The car has been a dream of mine to own since I was 14 or 15, and now that I have one I want to keep it in the best condition possible. Aside from that, as long as it is nice out, the car is going for a 20 - 30 mile ride hands down, so I do drive it when weather permits.

 

[96GTS]

In 1998, I got a 1996 Mystic Cobra Mustang (only 2,000 were produced) with 1,600 miles. My father drove from D.C. to Pennsylvania to pick it up, and I drove it from D.C. to Little Rock when I returned from Korea. It now has 3,994 miles, and I do regret not driving it more because I don't think it will really ever be worth more than I paid. I had a black Cobra that I used as a daily driver, so it made it easy not to drive the other one. For those of you that don't ever drive yours, I think you're depriving yourself of one of lifes greatest pleasures and 10 years from now you'll have regret as I do now. It's a car, and its sole purpose in life is to be driven!

 

[BlueGTS]

I normally put 2k a year on the car but this year I am down to 1k. It is not that I do not want to drive the car it is that I do not have any time. I drive the Corvette to work and leave the Viper for the weekend. However, every weekend something comes up and leaves me with no time to drive. If it wasn't for the 2-3 Viper meets I went to this year I would have only put 200 miles on it. I think time is most people’s problem, or at least it is mine.

 

[Mccarlin]

That is something i will never understand either. unless you are a car collector and keeping the car for monitary value, DRIVE IT. So many people i know let the cars sit there in the garage and never drive it, what a waste or an awesome machine and money.

I bought my car in may 06 with 9800 miles and now she has just over 11,500 That INCLUDES the car beging down for 1 month while the Roe SC was being installed.

I dont even store the car in the winter. if its sunny, no salt on the roads in january i will take the car out for a cruise.

 

[Brian 95 RT]

This is the 3rd year I've owned my Viper - 1st year put on 3,000 miles, 2nd year 2,500 miles, and only 500 miles this year. I'm in Michigan - so the weather plays a big factor - and the second half of our summer sucked bad! Plus I live in Saginaw (which is worse than Detroit) - so you have to be careful where you take it. So I just use it as a weekend driver.

 

[Knight Viper]

I can't stay out of mine either, I purchased my 02 RT/10 a year ago with 5,500 miles put it in the body shop for 5 months and I still have 13,000 miles on the snake. I know what it’s like trying to find time, I’m a single dad with three kids but I look for or generate opportunities to give myself the awesome feeling of piloting a Viper!

 

[PDCjonny]

I'm with Mcarlin, if the roads are dry I don't care what the temperature is, in fact colder the better. I only get to use it on weekends, and use it I do. I put on 100 miles or more every weekend if it's decent out. The GTS's are so hot that to me it is MORE enjoyable in the 40-50 degree days than the 80. What you give up in traction is made up for in more enjoyable cruising conditions.

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

I don't see how anyone would want to drive these cars. They should stay in the garage like a piece of art hanging on a wall. That's just the way I feel.

 

[wastntim]

Just purchase an 02 viper with under 1,500 hundred miles. My problem is I feel guilty driving it. I am supposed to go get a three piece hardtop next week which is about four hours away. I actually considered renting a trailer to take it up there...and I haven't ruled it out yet.

 

[Mccarlin]

Just purchase an 02 viper with under 1,500 hundred miles. My problem is I feel guilty driving it. I am supposed to go get a three piece hardtop next week which is about four hours away. I actually considered renting a trailer to take it up there...and I haven't ruled it out yet.

it's only a car. it's depreciating value everyday whether you drive it or not. Might as well enjoy it.

 

[whitebluevipe]

well i have a 2002 fe with 1800 miles on it. almost half of those miles are from going to Tator's picnic last year and going to cars at Carlilse this year. I'm on the fence about this whole mileage thing. On one hand do i want to be the guy that you hear about that has a 20 or 30 year old classic with only 2 or 3 thousand miles and is worth a fortune or do i want to be the guy who ran the wheels off the car and got my money out of it by sheer enjoyment? i do also have a 96 rt/10 but i'v only put a few thousand miles on it as well. i guess part of my problem is that it took me 6 years to buy my 96 and another 2 years and a trade of my harley davidson to buy my second. i guess my biggest fear is something happening to the cars because the really a my dream cars. one other problem i have is i work 6-7 days a week and many times don't even have the time to take one for a drive.

 

[crazyspeed]

I, like many others, have other cars/ motorcycles/hobbies and with the limited weekend use and short driving season in the northeast it's not easy to put on miles.
I work one mile from where I live and it wouldn't be right to start-up an engine and then drive it one mile without reaching proper op temperature. Also, the parking lot at work is crowded and not very friendly.
Besides, on a nice weekend would you rather do 160 mph on a motorcycle or in a car?
I just sold my Porsche and I think I only put 1500 miles on it in the two yeears I owned it ( but had some very nice 200 mile weekend drives)
Sometimes people look at the odo on one of my bikes and make comment on why the low miles/ why don't I use it more? Well many have 3 or more motorcycles

 

[troyrt10]

I think my problem is that I just don't trust leaving my Viper unsupervised when I park it! I always fear that someone will do something stupid. Plus I am a coach at a high school and those high school kids can be very unpredictable!
Honestly, I do all the basic miantenance my self and I love working on it and saving$$$. I think part of me is scared about putting too many miles because that might mean more maintenance issues or more $$$.
I think once I pay it off I will put more miles on it!

 

[kcobean]

For me the problem is finding time to just go out and drive it around. I work out of my house, and I'm very uncomfortable driving TO places where I would have to leave it unattended...the world is just too full of disrespectful people. Call me paranoid.

I would imagine another thing that limits peoples driving is that lots of folks have their car on a Agreed Value insurance policy, most of which place restrictions on how many miles you can put on the car in a year.

 

[my viper]

4000 miles in the first 40 days of ownership before it started raining pretty much everyday. Yeah, I live 5 mins away from work.

 

[Ken Lally]

I do about 2k a year on mine- the answer for me and prob most others is that we have other cars to drive . I have a Honda to beat up for my commute (and save the planet), an SUV for fam trips, a SRT8 for nights out, and a classic so I can go to cars shows, chill in a beach chair and get smashed. The Viper is my pick-me-up drug. No matter what kind of day I have had, a quick drive cures all-and that most often is on the weekends....not much time left over to drive the car.

 

[GTSPOWERED]

Time - Weather - famly everything is always geting in the way. I put less than 1000 miles on it this year and that was with 2 VCA trips that were around 250 miles each.

 

[pdmracing]

36k on mine in 8 years is low miles to me, I used to drive daily, but my customers gave me too much sh#t, so I stopped. I really dont see low miles giving much price premium anyways. Drive & enjoy!

 

[V10SpeedLuvr]

I bought my car with 51,300 on it in April 2005. I didnt see a point in paying a premium for a low mileage Viper when I knew I was gonna drive mine. I now have 67,000 on it. Thats about 842 miles/month. Its a weekend playtoy, but I go out of town a lot and its my favorite travel car. Noway could I go to beach and leave my Viper at home

 

[RoadiJeff]

My '99 RT/10 had 16,072 miles on it when I bought it back on July 2. It now has around 17,100 miles, including the 300 mile drive home from Indiana. Larry, if you still read the VCA forums you've made one very happy Viper owner here in St. Louis. The smiles never end.

I would like to keep averaging around 2,000 miles/yr, like the previous owner, to keep it looking nice and the value high. Of course, when I first brought it home I had to drive everywhere to show it off, so I'm probably slightly ahead of the 2,000 miles per year curve right now. It has never been driven in the rain and I plan to keep it that way.

For reference, I sometimes pedal over 7,000 miles per year on my bicycle. That gives me thrills too but for a different reason.

 

[mad0953]

Got mine in June 06 and it had 9900 on it. Today it has 11,350. I hope to get a 99 GTS red with white stripes with higher miles on it to drive all the time and keep the B/W completely stock for special occasions. I told my kids that when I die they can fight over my cars cause I won't have much money left after the Gallardo, GT40, F40 etc. Yes, I am a dreamer....but I'm not the only one.

 

[SuperSaiks]

Bought my car in November 05 in SC drove it up to NC (300 miles) then shipped it up to Canada stored it for the winter and I only put another 400 miles all summer 06...

Betweeen work, weather, cottage, plus I don't like parking it, I only parked it once this summer and I made sure I sat on the patio so I can see it...

It's a 2000 RT/10 steel grey/cognac interior 1 of 99 with only 6000 miles on it right now...

 

[IL96RT10]

I can't stop driving mine either. I purchased mine in 2004 w/ 19,000 miles on it and I am up to 36K and I only drive it in the summers. I love it.

 

[Steve 00RT/10]

The first 4 years we had the car, I drove 40,000 miles per year in my 4x4 just getting back and forth from work every day on all 2 lane roads, yet we managed to still get almost 10,000 miles per summer season on the Viper. We bought it to drive......9,500 miles this season plus another 1,300 miles on the 2001 we just picked up. The new bumble bee will only see about 1500 miles per year and I consider that barely running it. I don't know how you could own one of these cars and not pile the miles on.......way too much fun!! We have both summer and winter daily drivers so all the Viper miles are just pure pleasure

Steve

 

[roofum]

i dont think it matters much .nobody wants to give ya [*****] 4 these cars any way .drive it who cares about the milage. enjoy

 

[mad0953]

Well said Roof Boy, understandable to a point and gee, almost no profanity. B+