Viper as a daily driver questions............

[426Hemi]

Was it a Sap. Blue Viper? Could of been me. And yes can drive around the capital beltway its not that bad.

I believe so. Are you a middle aged black (African American, not sure which appropiate these days, no ofense either way)guy? I use to try to follow him/you but a Jeep is not the ideal vehicle to trail a Viper in. I usually would be there for a mile or so then.....bye bye.

 

[426Hemi]

Slaughter's tranny issue is unique. The way he drives who knows what he's doing to that car.

I have 83K on my 98 RT/10 with no major issues. 30K track miles on my 97 GTS with even fewer issues.

Did you buy it to drive it or just look at?

83K wow, your my hero. When I finally get mine my goal is to enjoy every single minute of it. I think cars are meant to be driven, and this is why I will never own somthing like an original 427 Shelby Cobra, cause I would drive it and have to strangle the fool that hit me in traffic.

However a replica made to specs..... that I could do.

 

[426Hemi]

I would think living in the Maryland area you should be able to drive 80-90% of the time. Good tires are the great equalizer once the weather gets even slightly crappy. And you could not pay me to take it on the DC beltway, you would shake the fillings right out of your teeth. My M5 did not like that road either.

Short of Gravedigger I don't think that there is a car that would like DC roads. Have to be in the top 5 in worst roads for major cities.

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

BTW my RT/10 is for sale. $1 for every mile on the odometer. Buy now while it's still cheap.

 

[Matthew Howell 97 GTS]

Only 2 problems:
1-SNOW
2-ICE

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[slaughterj]

Slaughter's tranny issue is unique. The way he drives who knows what he's doing to that car.

I agree my circumstances were probably unique, and since the clutch was fine just worn after 40k+, I'm not really sure what's up...

 

[sleepersn95]

Quote:
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Was it a Sap. Blue Viper? Could of been me. And yes can drive around the capital beltway its not that bad.


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I believe so. Are you a middle aged black (African American, not sure which appropiate these days, no ofense either way)guy? I use to try to follow him/you but a Jeep is not the ideal vehicle to trail a Viper in. I usually would be there for a mile or so then.....bye bye.


Black or African American is fine, But I am offended by being called Middled Aged, geez I'm Only 35.

 

[genXgts]

that pic hurts me.

 

[RobHook]

If you're over 40 or have a bad back I'd say don't drive the Viper every day. I'm 30 and live and work in the DC area and even though I have 2 other cars I haven't driven them for months now. I just can't bring myself to drive a ****** when there's a Viper sitting there waiting to be driven!

On the other hand, I don't drive in downtown DC on a regular basis and if I did I probably wouldn't drive the Viper as much. Traffic doesn't bother me but the potholes do.

When it comes to reliability, remember, we're not talking about a Lamborghini here. The Viper is a much sturdier, much more reliable car. It can take much more use than other exotics and not penalize you.

1. If we're talking about an RT/10, get a good top that doesn't leak. Vipermania tops have the best reputation around and Biff (the owner) is a great guy.

2. Put very sticky tires on it and stay off the throttle most of the time and you'll be fine. Just remember that even sticky tires aren't sticky when they're cold.

3. There are lots of jealous people out there. Don't park in a poor neighborhood or on a college campus. I found out the hard way when someone poured sand all over my car. Could've been worse I guess.

My car has over 50K miles on it now and so far I've only had to put a clutch, plugs and wires and a MAP sensor on it (all myself). Other than that and piddly things like stereo speaker wiring, oil changes and TONS of gas, it's been great.

Overall, I vote yes on the daily driver question, even in the DC area.

--Rob

 

[Andrew/USPWR]

I drive my 2000 GTS as much as I can. Never a problem. Always runs strong. But I don't drive it If, where I going doesn't have adequate parking. I'll take the Z71 Suburban and dream of taking the Viper out when I get home. But the car always runs like a champ.

Have fun with it.


2000 GTS Steel Grey
6 piston Baer claws up front, Front brakes in back, Quaife differential, GKH half shafts,
Alloy fly wheel, Short throw shifter, Polished aluminum intakes, K&N air filters,
Optima battery, Sterling silver key.

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

If you're over 40 or have a bad back I'd say don't drive the Viper every day.

*** is that supposed to mean? I'm over 40 AND have a bad back. Let me know when you've got over 100K Viper miles logged.

Damn kids these days.

 

[Saleen-Explorer]

Don't park on a college campus. There are lots of jealous people out there.

Luckily, kids on my campus are driving Aston Martin's, Ferrari's, Bentley's etc, I think I'm the jealous one . I'll have to make do with our lowly Viper and Mountaineer (though the truck will pry end up being quicker then it and any other car on campus if I go through with my plans lol)

I plan on driving our GTS everyday even though we have two other SUV's and maybe a soon 2 be mean 65' convert Stang. Honestly, I don't really see a drawback to driving the Viper daily, hell it gets better city mileage then H2's do on the highway. The only thing I could see people being worried about are parking etc but I'm not worried. I find the seats to be perfect, clutch is actually softer then the SVT Cobras, a/c works very well in South Florida heat so I have no friggen idea about why people talk about the a/c sucking, and I actually find the way it rides to be comfortable lol , then again I'm the type of person that'll have headers, no cats, and Mopar exhaust and maybe head/cam (depending on amount of track useage) and love every second of it while most people wouldn't stand to drive the car for 30 minutes with it being that loud and mean lol.

As for back problems and driving, my friend and his dad drive their ACR all the time from Kentucky to South Florida and his dad has bad back problems and doesn't complain, except that it's a little hard for him to get out of sometimes but he still has a grin on his face, heh.

 

[426Hemi]

My bad on the "middle age" thing. Middle age to me means 1.Your not old. 2.Your not 20 somthing.

It is kinda cool to actually "talk" to someone that I saw on the road once. I wanted to give ya a thumbs up the times that I saw ya but the traffic never allowed it and I wasn't gonna do anything dumb on the road just to get next to ya. Which I'm sure that you appreciate. But if you ever did notice a maroon Gr. Cherokee behind ya, it was me. Props to you for driving it daily as well.

 

[426Hemi]

Softer than the Cobra huh? Thats pretty impressive. I had a nice test drive in the Cobra last year. I was gonna buy the car but the numbers never got to my liking. On the test drive though, I think that I had the coolest salesman that I have ever met. He actually encouraged me to "get on it" as much as I liked. I think that he did clinch a little when I turned off the trac control before I did the U-Turn. Hung her out there pretty nice but it was still really easy to catch and control. That being said I noticed that the car had about 100 miles on it, all of which were probably like my 5 miles worth, so had I bought one it wouldnt have been that one.

But now the family thing has kicked in, new car, kid, and house in same year so I will have to settle for the '03 Impala for a while.

 

[Saleen-Explorer]

Softer than the Cobra huh? Thats pretty impressive. I had a nice test drive in the Cobra last year.

I've seen other people on here say the same thing as some owners on here also have 03' Cobras and also some Cobra guys that have driven Vipers said it also. I love driving my friends 03' Cobra (504 rwhp with bolt on's and sounds amazing) but was pretty suprised at how noticeably stiffer the clutch feels then the Vipers, definitley has the stiffest clutch out of any car I've ever driven. Though neither bother me at all, guess I just have performance in my blood lol. Granted I'm younger at 21 then most owners, but I'm really suprised at how comfortable the Viper is b/c all the mags make it out to be the most unbearable car ever.

1st time I went for a drive in my friends ACR, the 1st thing I said was "this actually doesn't ride bad at all" and it's stiffer then the GTS R/T cars. I was waiting for it to feel like it had no suspension travel from what the Mags made it out to be, but was really suprised at how comfortable the car was to me. Sure it's no Lexus, but I think a lot of people would change their mind at how "unbearable" a Viper is if they went for a ride.

1st thing you do - remove/add high flow cats, at the time he only had a muffler delete in the rear with stock cats and the sonofa!@#$% singed my leg getting out after a long hard run lol. Now with no cats you can touch the sills w/o a worry on his car.

 

[joe117]

So I guess when someone asks about using their Viper as a daily driver, what they really are asking is,"can I drive my Viper to work on nice days when I feel like it"?
The answer to that is, yes.

I've seen so many of these "daily driver" questions and the usual question is this, "can I get by with only one car if that car is a Viper"?
If you have backup cars why bother asking the question?

 

[426Hemi]

Well in this case I was trying to seperate the magazine bs and reality. I do not own a Viper yet and when I do I will have another car. Living in this state it would be irresponsible not to have another car for the wintery days.

 

[DodgeViper01]

I agree with SapphireGTS. I purchased my car with the intention with driving it everyday but after a while it looses that specialness that you bought the car for. It just start to sleep like a "normal" car. I also can't drive mine in the winter since we get snow so other than the winter and rain I am always driving it. Gotta love the spring and summer. I would suggest that if you are looking to get this car as an everyday driver that you thoroughly evaluate the situation questioning your weather, where it is going to be driven, etc. Believe me, you do not want to take this car to a mall, supermarket, or any other place with lots of people. I have been there and it is not a good feeling.

As for cost effectiveness. You must way in the fact that this car can be pricey to drive.

Oil changes are about $100 every 3,000 miles if done at the dealer. Yourself it can cost around $50-$75.

You also have to weigh in tires. Although the rears have come down a bit to around $200 each on eBay the fronts are still $300+ each. They must be changed (assuming you drive normally) around every 15K miles. This is assuming you are not doing burnouts everyday or every month.

Gas is a big one. This is not a practical car with gas. With 12 in the city (which you are lucky if you get LOL!) and 20 on the highway it is a guzzler. If you drive on the highway to work everyday it would not be that bad; unless it is stop and go the whole way.

Traffic! This car stinks in traffic. You will hate it if you get stuck in 2 or more hours of traffic. That clutch starts to really challenge your leg and there is no foot rest/dead pedal.

Parking. You must choose where you want to park wisely and then when you park you will always think is the car OK. I bought mine thinking this is just a car and I will drive it and park it carefully; but will take it everywhere. After a few months I realized it just was not the best idea. People get jealous sometimes and mess with the car, a door could be swung into your car, you begin to feel it is an exotic and should be taken car of as on, etc.

I am not trying to make your mind up for you but I just want to give you some information that I think is helpful. When I wanted to buy my car I came to this forum and the people here helped me a lot. I am not just trying to return the favor. Hope this helps. Now I have not outlined everything but this is what just came to mind. I wish you luck with your decision and let me know what it is regardless. I love hearing about people buying their first Viper. Also let me know what you think of the information I just gave you.