Vipers and the 10,000 mile threshold

[YouWish]

My Viper is a 98 GTS it has 38k on the clock and the only regret I have is that in 5 years of ownership I haven't been able to put MORE miles on it. The best therapy money can buy while dealing with this insane world. Do yourself a favor and get your Viper right now and don't shy away from a higher mileage Viper because once you buy one you wont ever want to get rid of it!!!

 

[agentf1]

Venomholic and YouWish, I am trying.

 

[KepRght]

its a car not a 401k, $40k, $60k, what??

drive the f--ing wheels off it and smile the whole time

 

[Tom F&L GoR]

The financial calculation will never hold. If you buy it and rarely drive it, then you must have a "******" to drive instead. The appreciation of the Viper then has to overcome the small amount of miles you put on it plus the cost of ownership of the ******. In the meantime, you've substituted miles in the ****** for miles in the Viper... ummm.... say again why you force yourself to drive the second-best (or third or fifth-best) car you own?

What do you think a $25,000 Viper will be worth in 20 years? $250,000? If so, that's a 12% annual appreciation. A $50,000 car going to $500,000? Same thing. A $50,000 car going to $1,000,000? You've earned 16% per year.

Those $500,000 Cobras were $10,000 in 1965. 10% per year.

Someone will say that's still better than a $50,000 car being "only" worth $50,000 (or less) in 20 years, which is obviously true. But then you've paid $0.50 mile to drive that ******, which is $7500/yr. A $7500/yr investment for 20 years at 12% has a future value of $540K, which is now a lost opportunity.

Rather than have fun with the numbers, have fun with the car.

 

[InjectTheVenom]

There's a sweet looking mint condition '92 on Ebay with just over 10k for a good price:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Dodge-Vip...090792856QQrdZ1

 

[treed]

There's a sweet looking mint condition '92 on Ebay with just over 10k for a good price:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Dodge-Vip...090792856QQrdZ1

Nice looking car. . . I didn't know that 92's came with a "glossy" motor? is this true?

$44k seems a bit high. . .

 

[PDCjonny]

There's a sweet looking mint condition '92 on Ebay with just over 10k for a good price:

Yes, 17K is just over 10K..

 

[InjectTheVenom]

Yea I need a pair of new eyes, lol .. will take a better look next time.

 

[C O D Y]

Yes, '92s came with a 4 rib gloss painted intake. They also had a BUNCH of other cool one year only parts....

~Serial Numbered Hoods
~One year only head lights (no specs stamped in them)
~2 piece exhaust manifold
~Rear Antana
~Nothced quarter panel for gas filler lid (all others went to a reverse design)
~One year only hood latch design
~One year only passenger side mirror woth no writing on it


Many, many , MANY other things. VERY cool year if you are a collecter type that likes rare one off stuff. Most parts on a 1992 can not be found, bought of even still exist no matter how much money.

There's a sweet looking mint condition '92 on Ebay with just over 10k for a good price:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Dodge-Vip...090792856QQrdZ1

Nice looking car. . . I didn't know that 92's came with a "glossy" motor? is this true?

$44k seems a bit high. . .

 

[S-JC]

Mine's got 28K on it and I can't tell the difference between now and when I bought it (at 4K).
Buy one that is already over 10K, is obviously well-maintained, and you will enjoy every new mile!

This winter was the worst I've ever seen in Colorado and it just ***** because I've only put about 600 miles on the car in the last 4 months. Finally some dry roads!

 

[RobZ]

Wow, such great responses from everyone here. I agree, buy it to drive not to look at, that's what the posters are for.

I bought my '97 GTS with 64K on it. The seller had a HUGE collection of receipts for oil changes, tires, brakes, etc so I knew the car was sound. It recently put down 422 RWHP and 466 RWTQ with K&N's and smooth tubes so I know the engine is still fine. It's almost at 69K now and I'm dreading the 70K mark for some reason. I don't plan on selling it so I will just pass right on through and see how high I can go. When something breaks I will just replace it with a better part.

I feel the same way about future collectability, the cars at BJ today may have over a hundred thousand miles but the buyers could care less. Drive them now and enjoy it, remember you could be gone tomorrow...


Rob

 

[RobZ]

The financial calculation will never hold. If you buy it and rarely drive it, then you must have a "******" to drive instead. The appreciation of the Viper then has to overcome the small amount of miles you put on it plus the cost of ownership of the ******. In the meantime, you've substituted miles in the ****** for miles in the Viper... ummm.... say again why you force yourself to drive the second-best (or third or fifth-best) car you own?

What do you think a $25,000 Viper will be worth in 20 years? $250,000? If so, that's a 12% annual appreciation. A $50,000 car going to $500,000? Same thing. A $50,000 car going to $1,000,000? You've earned 16% per year.

Those $500,000 Cobras were $10,000 in 1965. 10% per year.

Someone will say that's still better than a $50,000 car being "only" worth $50,000 (or less) in 20 years, which is obviously true. But then you've paid $0.50 mile to drive that ******, which is $7500/yr. A $7500/yr investment for 20 years at 12% has a future value of $540K, which is now a lost opportunity.

Rather than have fun with the numbers, have fun with the car.

I will admit that my Viper is not my daily driver. I drive a '90 Miata to work because it gets 37 mpg, drinks 87 octane and I don't have to worry about someone scratching/hitting/vandalizing it or excessive UV rays damaging the paint or dash. I take the Viper out for fun so every mile is meaningful rather than just for transportation. Plus it makes the Viper feel that much better, although ever Monday morning I think the clutch slave cylinder in the Miata is broken.


And yes, my Miata is a ******, you would not think for a second that I had a Viper at home in the garage if you saw me driving in it. Haha

 

[Les Quam]

Venomaholic,
Very well said.
Driving a Viper is like no other driving experience either new or old. Parts are drying up. Wise buyers are picking up as many gen. 1 and 2 parts as they can afford and store. I also agree price is near the bottom and in a few cases appreciating.

 

[Silver_Snake]

As a "new" Viper owner (2 weeks), I can relate to the 10k question. I too seemed to focus on low miles, but I had a specific reason - I didn't want to wonder if the car had been well maintained and driven properly. As a result, I took my time and finally found my dream in Dallas - a Silver 1999 RT/10 with 3742 miles. Probably purely psychological, but I have a little more confidence in the probability that surely very little damage could be done in so few miles. In any case, I got what I wanted. I probably paid a smidgen more than I should have, but I could dust this baby off and put it on a show room floor and only someone knowledgeable could tell it had been driven.

BTW - kudos to those participating in this forum, I have learned a lot watching your conversations / debates / information sharing, and it seldom gets ugly.

 

[agentf1]

As a "new" Viper owner (2 weeks), I can relate to the 10k question. I too seemed to focus on low miles, but I had a specific reason - I didn't want to wonder if the car had been well maintained and driven properly. As a result, I took my time and finally found my dream in Dallas - a Silver 1999 RT/10 with 3742 miles. Probably purely psychological, but I have a little more confidence in the probability that surely very little damage could be done in so few miles. In any case, I got what I wanted. I probably paid a smidgen more than I should have, but I could dust this baby off and put it on a show room floor and only someone knowledgeable could tell it had been driven.

BTW - kudos to those participating in this forum, I have learned a lot watching your conversations / debates / information sharing, and it seldom gets ugly.

This is pretty much my thinking also but we still need to be sure that the cars we buy are not 3700 track miles or a 1/4 mile at a time.

How long did you look for your car before you found it?

 

[malcoll]

[

And yes, my Miata is a ******, you would not think for a second that I had a Viper at home in the garage if you saw me driving in it. Haha

Dang... I thought for sure that Miata listed in your sig had to be the wife's or girlfriend's car...............

But seriously... with all this talk about the "10K mark"... I guess I shouldn't worry any more about approaching 50K.... and by all accounts (Chuck)... I'll be safe for another 50K at least!!

Lance

 

[Freddog11]

When I was looking, I found a 94 with just under 10k but the deal fell through. I came out a lot better with the 96 I bought with just over 20,000. Got A/C and a hardtop and a car in much better condition. They must have been 10,000 tough miles, it looked more like 50,000. I'm lucky the deal fell through, the extras are nice.

 

[Silver_Snake]

I shopped for about a year (following the sale of my last XJS convertible V12), and got real serious the last 8 months. On the one I finally found, I checked everything over thoroughly. Thankfully, I had plenty of opportunities to research (aka "listen") what I should watch for...... and I ended up with basically a brand new car that is 8 years old.

 

[Zan186]

I just bought my 2002 FE, and one of my criteria was it had to have under 12,000 miles. Reason is fairly simple. The car is about 5 years old, and if you figure putting 2k miles on it a year being a nice weather driver and not a daily driver. This tells you a ton about the car before you even look at it. You know it was not taken out in bad weather for the most part. You know the engine is pretty much brand new. You know the seats for the most part have only so much wear on them.
When you get up over 20k miles you are going to see some natural wear and tear. My choice was to buy something immaculate and if their is gonna be a scratch or a ding, I want to be the one who put it there! (shoot self later, but at least you know you did it).
I think mile's on the car only matter for the first 20 years of the vehicle.
Let's face it! IF you are buying a 1969 Mustang, are you really going to look at the milage? A vehicle that is close to 40 years old is going to have an enormous amount of milage on it. However the difference is that is an old vehicle. Vipers are new ! They have only been out for a little over a decade!

I live in the NY so I am not worried about putting miles on my new viper. Simply because once winter comes the car goes into hibernation! I am guessing I will put between 2k and 3k miles on it a year.

Thing is I bought the car because I love the way it looks and the muscle that the car touts! I do not ever plan on selling it!

 

[RoadiJeff]

That 2k miles per year figure is about what I plan to average on mine. It has a little less than 18k miles and is 8 years old. The previous owner said it had never seen a drop of rain. I've only had it since last July and of course I had to drive it around to show off to everyone I knew for the first few months. I'm a little over the 2k/yr average because of that but I'll have it back down to there within the next year.

I view mine as a special treat that only gets taken out on special days a few times per month. If I drove it like a daily driver I think some of the fun factor would wear off. I pedal more miles on my bicycles each year than my Viper. I don't park it for 4-5 months during the winter like many people and no battery tender is needed for me.

 

[EA6BPilot]

I've got 69,000 miles on my 98. I bought the car with 37,000 miles on it and have had it just shy of 4 years. I have put the car up for sale for $36,000, and I have had very few responses/interest. It seems that the miles are just too much for most people. The funny thing is, with pushrods and a fairly proven/primitive drive-train, the miles should make little difference provided that the standard servicing was performed. Now, for a car well over 100,000 miles, that tends to change. Also, as long as you garage the car, keep it clean, and avoid as many *** holes as you can (dang low front fascia!), the exterior can stay fairly immaculate.

Bottom line is, I had a BLAST with my car and drove the hell out of it while I've had it. If I have to sell a little lower than I like, so be it. It was worth every penny.