Impressions - Corvette to Viper

[Turbo63]

Man, I just LOVE my new Viper!! I know I have haunted and taunted this site for about a year but my god the SRT 10 is the king! I have owned 6 corvettes in the past including 2 C6's (coupe and convertible) and they are nothing, I mean absolutely nothing compared to the Viper SRT 10. As Woodhouse unloaded my 05 SRT 10 I got to drive my C6 down the driveway to load it away - it felt cheap - the paint, the interior, the clutch, the gear box, the cheesy navigation system - it all felt whimpy and aspirational to the Viper. The fit and finish on this car is as perfect as I have ever seen - the car is so easy to drive and in my opinion the clutch is smoother and it flows gear to gear almost effortlessly - the Vette was very jumpy and springy especially out of 1st gear -The sound system is a bit lacking as the Vette had a Bose in it (can you tell me what balance setting is dead center and what fade setting employs all the speakers - I keep cycling through them but cant get a good feel for it yet). The power goes hands down to the Viper - even with the new Z06 coming out it will still be in a cheap vette skeleton - its tough for vette owners to get a perspective of how much nicer the Viper is all the way around - anyway, I am simply thrilled with this car - cant wait to go home tonight and cruise around - I put 150 miles on her the first weekend - might do another 50 tonight!

 

[dirk989]

Turbo63, welcome!
I had all of the same reactions when I first got in my 04. The good news is that you'll continue to feel that way for some time. I use mine as a daily driver. I've driven in rain and even snow. It's just so much more fun to drive than anything else I've had.

As for the stereo, you may just have to give up. Unless you are wanting to dump $10k in audio equipment then you aren't going to get a very good sound. The engine noise (I've got Borlas) overwhelms everything else. I also think that even though the cabin is small, it has an odd shape. The area behind the seats where the top lays when down makes for really bad acoustics.

Except for very long trips, the engine sounds better than something from the stereo anyway.

Again welcome!!!!


Dirk

 

[viking]

Had the same thrill coming from two prior vettes. If your driving doesn't include a lot of braking and stopping the car is a great daily driver. Taking a curve hard in the morning is a greater jolt than espresso! I changed my stereo in the first month and have a better nav/audio system than the C6 and best of all its easily changeable as it becomes obsolete in the future.

 

[wormdoggy]

Man, I just LOVE my new Viper!! I know I have haunted and taunted this site for about a year but my god the SRT 10 is the king! I have owned 6 corvettes in the past including 2 C6's (coupe and convertible) and they are nothing, I mean absolutely nothing compared to the Viper SRT 10. As Woodhouse unloaded my 05 SRT 10 I got to drive my C6 down the driveway to load it away - it felt cheap - the paint, the interior, the clutch, the gear box, the cheesy navigation system - it all felt whimpy and aspirational to the Viper. The fit and finish on this car is as perfect as I have ever seen - the car is so easy to drive and in my opinion the clutch is smoother and it flows gear to gear almost effortlessly - the Vette was very jumpy and springy especially out of 1st gear -The sound system is a bit lacking as the Vette had a Bose in it (can you tell me what balance setting is dead center and what fade setting employs all the speakers - I keep cycling through them but cant get a good feel for it yet). The power goes hands down to the Viper - even with the new Z06 coming out it will still be in a cheap vette skeleton - its tough for vette owners to get a perspective of how much nicer the Viper is all the way around - anyway, I am simply thrilled with this car - cant wait to go home tonight and cruise around - I put 150 miles on her the first weekend - might do another 50 tonight!

Turbo............welcome and glad you have seen the light. There's a great bunch of guys on this forum with a lot of knowledege and extremely helpful information. The car only grows on you more and more. I was the first one to purchase the Viper amongst my friends and now most of them have or are looking for one. Better get used to a lot of people gaukling............ Let the mods begin!!!!

 

[NK BREKR]

Welcome! You'll find that the great feeling will stay with you for a long time.

 

[ulllose]

Well I figured I would drop my .02

I myself am a new srt owner that came from 2 previous vettes (c4/c5). I found that the viper is hands down a better looking car and its very rare for me to see another viper going down the street, so thats cool. But for the daily driver or the more comfortable ride the vette kills the viper if you ask me. No cruise control/ no lumbar/ horrible heat on the feet/ terrible radio reception/ a shifter thats eye level while seated in the car...lol
But I love the car and i didn't buy it for all the fancy stuff i bought it as a 3rd car for pleasure use and it looks bad ass. I drove a C6 and thought it was very well balanced very comfortable and had great seating position.
And did not hesitate to hammer on it in the road course that GM had set up. When i picked up my viper i was afraid of it and didn't feel real comfortable in it and now after 1K miles i do feel alot more comfortable hammering on it but still not as comfortable as my c5 or the new c6.

 

[Mopar426]

You made the right choice.

 

[05RedSRT]

I have had my Viper since Jan 2005. 1200 miles so far.

Every now and again I get tired of the bumpy ride, lack of amenities, and the annoyance of people congregating around my car as I approach my car after coming out of the movies. I get tired of the 9 miles a gallon I get because 99.9% of my trips are 3 miles or less. I get tired of not wanting to leave it anywhere for any period of time, and always checking the weather and praying for it not to rain.

But each and every time I put my foot on the gas and floor it, go around a corner pulling more than a G, need to slam on the brakes and stop instantly, or get a big thumbs up from another Viper fan, I get a huge smile on my face and remember the reason I have always wanted a Viper. Oh and it's a convertible too, yay!!

I give GM respect for coming out with the new Z06 and trying to compete with the Viper, but when I bought my 2005 Viper, I knew that eventually other cars down the road would equal or surpass my 2005's performance.

Everyone should just enjoy their Viper. If you need more power, then mod your car. For like 10k for a Paxton, you can have more power than any production car.

Welcome Turbo63, may we all enjoy our Vipers like the days when we first started driving them!!

 

[DSR207]

WELL SAID "05RedSRT"

 

[Vipermann]

Welcome! ... I too had a Vette (C5) absolutely no comparison. Funny thing is that I recently showed my '05 SRT to a friend with two 911s (an '02 Cabrio and '04 Carrera 4S) ... he thought my SRT was out of this world, and he asked what it cost, and when I told him, he almost got sick ... there is no better convertable exotic sports car anywhere ... hehe

 

[DocAdam]

I too looked at just about every sports car out there, even the 911 turbo, and the viper left me with a very easy decision.

I've had mine 5 days, put 150 miles on it the first weekend as well. My only problem is that I will not park the car anywhere public for anything more than 5 minutes for fear of something happening to it.

 

[Casey]

Yeah, Vipers are OK!

 

[Inferno]

I have had my Viper since Jan 2005. 1200 miles so far.

Every now and again I get tired of the bumpy ride, lack of amenities, and the annoyance of people congregating around my car as I approach my car after coming out of the movies. I get tired of the 9 miles a gallon I get because 99.9% of my trips are 3 miles or less. I get tired of not wanting to leave it anywhere for any period of time, and always checking the weather and praying for it not to rain.

But each and every time I put my foot on the gas and floor it, go around a corner pulling more than a G, need to slam on the brakes and stop instantly, or get a big thumbs up from another Viper fan, I get a huge smile on my face and remember the reason I have always wanted a Viper. Oh and it's a convertible too, yay!!

I give GM respect for coming out with the new Z06 and trying to compete with the Viper, but when I bought my 2005 Viper, I knew that eventually other cars down the road would equal or surpass my 2005's performance.

Everyone should just enjoy their Viper. If you need more power, then mod your car. For like 10k for a Paxton, you can have more power than any production car.

Welcome Turbo63, may we all enjoy our Vipers like the days when we first started driving them!!

You park your viper at the movies and leave it for a couple of hours??? I traded in my c5 for an almost new 02 gts, and none of the creature comforts or baby sitting devices mentioned above matter to me. I bought a race car for a toy, that is one of the most beautiful cars ever made. The only thing I miss about the vette is finding another car that is competitive speed-wise, now I destroy everything.

 

[Viper X]

Hey DocAdam,

You will learn to park the car where you can always see it or you will worry ry. I wouldn't take mine to the movies, but do dinner several times a week.

Turbo 63,

Still can't get enough after 20,000 miles. Work can get in the way of driving. Just keep modding, Tracking, Dragging, Cruising, etc.

 

[SweetRed04]

I've had my '04 Viper 2 months and have driven just over 2000 miles. I absolutely love this car! I love the way it moves out, corners, stops, and rides. I like that it is not overloaded with electronics. While not the easiest to get into or out of it is clearly worth the effort. I test drove a C6 Corvette and while a "nice" car it offered acceleration only comparable to my '69 Corvette but lacked its thrill, let alone the TOTAL joy of driving a new Viper.

The SRT-10 is the most fun and exciting car I have ever experienced. The 2006 Z06 Corvette will not be offered in a convertible and will be packed with failure prone electronics so it was not even a remote option.

I drive my Viper to work most days, but alternate occasionally with my classic convertibles ('69 Corvette, '68 Impala, and '61 Corvette). I do drive to work when it is rainy, since the Viper does not leak, but will not take it to work when severe thunderstorms are predicted (hail is not a good thing) or if it's pouring when I leave for work. I do not expect to drive it when the roads are salty, snowy, or there are sub zero temperatures.

My goal is to get full use of the 7/70 warranty.

 

[dirk989]

ViperX, glad to see another person with 20K on an 04. Mine turned 20,000 on the way to the office this morning. I'm sure you'll agree that they just get better and better.

Dirk

 

[KaiPL]

ViperX, glad to see another person with 20K on an 04. Mine turned 20,000 on the way to the office this morning. I'm sure you'll agree that they just get better and better.

Dirk

I got 20,000 on my 04 last week.

Anyone who says you can't use the SRT-10 on a daily basis is wrong. I've got other cars that are more comfortable, but the Viper is just so much more fun, and we have so many sunny days here in Colorado that it's hard not to take advantage of the chance to drive my red convertible.

 

[GTSPOWERED]

When I started looking for a high performance car my good friend started letting me drive his 1999 FRC Corvette (fixed roof coupe)I loved the power and handling. I chose to buy my 1997 BLUE/WHITE GTS and he freaked on me saying that I made a poor decision. Then I let him drive it and that his hole opinion changed. He is still a Corvette man but he stayes behind me at all the time.

Patrick Mathias.

 

[NOTV8]

I myself change my mine after sitting on her. I got to cancel the vette that I ordered. Now the only problem is I can't stop smiling every time I take her out.

 

[VENOMAHOLIC]

Got a ride from a friend in a 2004 Z06 today. It had mods and was chassis dyno tuned to 391 wheel hp. It was impressive on the short run we had. I gave him a ride in my stock 2000 RT/10 and even though I was taking it easy he still was blown away. He plans to get a paxton supercharger soon. He recantly tested a 04 Viper and he told me he preferred the creature comforts and ride of his vette. He is a cool guy and I respect him but I wonder what he is thinking. Even minor mods on a Vipers make them unbeatable and he clearly is a competitive person.

 

[JJB500]

I was going to wait for a 06 Z06, but i always wanted a Viper. Had a 02 Z06 and before that a 94 ZR-1, I drove a few 01 Vipers GTS & RT-10. I was set on a GTS until I drove a 05 SRT-10 which I made the mistake of parking next to the my Z after my test drive. The Z looked like a toy parked next to the Viper so I took the Viper home. What do I miss about the Vette? Nothing!

 

[Mopar426]

Got a ride from a friend in a 2004 Z06 today. It had mods and was chassis dyno tuned to 391 wheel hp. It was impressive on the short run we had. I gave him a ride in my stock 2000 RT/10 and even though I was taking it easy he still was blown away. He plans to get a paxton supercharger soon. He recantly tested a 04 Viper and he told me he preferred the creature comforts and ride of his vette. He is a cool guy and I respect him but I wonder what he is thinking. Even minor mods on a Vipers make them unbeatable and he clearly is a competitive person.

Guess it all depends on the person, some people like myself can have a spartan interior like my Stingray, or like a Viper and be fine. If I want luxury I'll drive my Vanden Plas Jaguar, sure as Hell won't be a Vette. While the Viper is a SWEET ride I wouldn't say " Even minor mods on a Vipers make them unbeatable". The way it looks w/ DC dropping the ball, the SRT's will need mods merely to "catch up" w/ the stock C6 Z06.

Gotta love DC, no HP for Viper but a Mercedes has 600hp and 700tq+.

 

[MaxedGTS]

in love welcome

 

[Turbo63]

Some thoughts - isnt the total number of Vipers produced since the beginning about 1/2 of the ANNUAL Corvette production? I think it might be if infact Dodge only makes 1000 to 1800 per year.

Corvette T-Shirt .... $5.00
Corvette Convertible .... $55,000
Look on a Corvette Owner's face when they see your SRT 10...... PRICELESS!!

 

[sween]

lol

 

[Wifey's Viper]

The lower production number of the Viper(2000-2500 yr) do make the car a bit more exotic.

The upside to higher production numbers is the amount of money that gets thrown toward the Vette program and the racing program. Most of the improvements on the C6 Z06 are coming from the C6R. That money is also contributing towards the LS3 & LS9 powerplants in 2008. The stock vette in 2 years will put out 450hp in the LS3 and the Z06 will probably come with a factory supercharger and 600hp in the LS9.

It would be nice to know what DCX is planning with the Viper other than special editions and stripes.