Buying a Viper

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Discussion

e8_pack

Original Poster:

1,384 posts

181 months

Saturday 24th December 2016
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Always loved them since playing some computer game I can't remember!

I've read up all the FAQs on the VOA site and watched lots of you tube vids.

Where did everyone buy their's? Is there a forum that sells them? Don't really want to buy from a dealer. I've seen the yellow RT10, but no replies and wonder why it's been up for so long! I don't want to have a problem selling if I need to, I dislike selling cars at the best of times. What's desirable or not?

In this day and age are they a bit underpowered?

My other short lists are an Ultima and charged Exige. I think if I bought one of those id sell the Westfield, but I'm not sure a Viper will replace it quite so well as I still want to do track days.

deVAS

30 posts

121 months

Sunday 25th December 2016
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Underpowered..!!!!!!!!!!!! Where do i buy one.....!!!!!!!!!!!..Best you stick to your computer game....

e8_pack

Original Poster:

1,384 posts

181 months

Sunday 25th December 2016
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Eh?

Unless you haven't noticed, 400hp is easily attainable these days and they aren't carrying any weight advantage. Whilst they are no doubt fast, how do they compare to other stuff on the road. Maybe you can talk about the power delivery, torque and dynamics or compare it to other modern cars of similar power.

My Porsche is 700hp and my westy is 270, though I'm expecting 300 once iremap on new timing.

Can't say I've ever had time for computer games so I'll ignore that idle remark, hopefully there are better owners about.

deVAS

30 posts

121 months

Sunday 25th December 2016
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shooti hear forza is quite good on the xbox.....You can even garage your car and mod it so you can gain high figures as that obviously turns you on...smash

e8_pack

Original Poster:

1,384 posts

181 months

Sunday 25th December 2016
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Do you own a Viper?

fatboy18

18,947 posts

211 months

Monday 26th December 2016
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Not that I want to get into a colour thing, but the Yellow cars are like Marmite, some love the colour some hate it.
1996/97 Gen II GTS's set the bench mark in Blue with white stripes. Iconic colour scheme.

Then of course there are the other colours, Black, Black silver stripes, Silver, Silver Blue stripes, Fast Red, Even Faster Red with Silver stripes, Yellow, Yellow Black stripes, Grey, + Stripes, Sapphire blue.

Gen II GTS prices seem to be currently on the rise in the USA with up to an added 10k on what was the usual mid market price.

I think dealers in the UK are looking at the prices of the USA market and upping the prices over here and also trying their luck increasing the prices of the RT/10 but being honest there are plenty of RT/10s around, particularly in France but not that many GTS'S.

If you do look on the VOA USA forums www.driveviper.com, there is a classifieds section on the top of the pages, also on the VCA website too. But with the pound against the dollar + shipping and duty you may be better off searching in europe. Check out the French and German used car websites.

deVAS

30 posts

121 months

Monday 26th December 2016
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An expected well measured response from fatboy...However it all comes down to opinion and personal taste...for me the rt10 has never been duplicated in later models and has something special about it...if your after a garage queen the early rt could be the one to go for as it could become very collectible...this topic could go on forever,what makes me laugh is people who worry about selling before they even buy and figures on a piece of paper..you only live once just do it....ps,youve posted some great how to's fatboythumbup

oxam

309 posts

173 months

Monday 26th December 2016
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I am the owner of the yellow rt10 on ebay. As fatboy18 said, the yellow color is a marmite and being an RT makes things worse. Furthermore it really doesn't help that the car has been modified (although it was more taking care of the weak spots and sorting out the handling and the brakes) - I had quite a few people asking if she can be returned back to stock (why would you?). Another thing you have to consider regarding reselling at some point - most of the people would buy from a dealer so they can get financing, there are not that many people around who would happily pay 30-35k cash for a 15 year old car with no warranty. I have been trying to sell mine for over an year now (not very actively though) and I have turned many ridiculous offers in the range of 25k. As it looks like I will keep her and just start enjoying her again.

fatboy18

18,947 posts

211 months

Monday 26th December 2016
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Personally Max I like your car, but having a Viper already and being skint I cant afford another one smile

I hope to see you out and about in it smile

If anyone is interested in OXAMS Viper, PH did a carpool feature on the car smile
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Iva Barchetta

44,044 posts

163 months

Monday 26th December 2016
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I had to look on the Viper Wikipedia to see what model is what, didn't know there was so many.

I'm none the wiser.....confused

e8_pack

Original Poster:

1,384 posts

181 months

Tuesday 27th December 2016
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fatboy18 said:
Personally Max I like your car, but having a Viper already and being skint I cant afford another one smile

I hope to see you out and about in it smile

If anyone is interested in OXAMS Viper, PH did a carpool feature on the car smile
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
It's a great car, nice mods, decent power well kept, perfect ride height, personally i love yellow. I've watched all his vids and read the article. Bit disappointed the progress thread was removed though? If i had that, first thing i'd do is get a low level spoiler and a black stripe. Only gripe would be the lack of forged internals, shouldn't be an issue NA i'd of thought thought, just future proofing really as i tend to get carried away with upgraditus.

Anyway, still looking at all my options.

fatboy18

18,947 posts

211 months

Tuesday 27th December 2016
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You do realise you can go up to 600 bhp with the stock internals its only after that that they recommend pulling the engine apart! And then you are into a Whole different ball game spending thousands on mods, poor fuel consumption taking the car away from its GT class (Grand tourer). If you only intend to use the car on a Drag strip then fine but if you intended to use the car on a circuit, supercharger would not be my choice.

All you need on these cars are a decent exhaust system and good air intake. Then just Drive the things.

My Viper is probably the most driven Viper in the UK and I actually have fun in the car, The modded Vipers I know of in the UK hardly get used. So why go to the trouble of spending thousands and then tuck the car away? Were only here once, Get out there and have fun. smile

e8_pack

Original Poster:

1,384 posts

181 months

Tuesday 27th December 2016
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I am, they appear to be very under stressed engines in standard form so no doubt.

Viper Ad

19 posts

107 months

Wednesday 28th December 2016
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Hi e8

Hope the image upload worked..... shows the table of year vs colour combo!
Bets thing I would suggest is to look into what car you want, (Gen 1-5), colour combos you are interested in and then ask about on here.

That's what I did, I wanted a Gen 2 GTS, the one I bought wasn't for sale on any sites at the time.
Knowing what you want can be difficult, hopefully finding it won't be as bad.

Good luck with the search


sonicbloo

637 posts

150 months

Wednesday 28th December 2016
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There are quite a few sites listing info such as colour combo vs production numbers

Here's an example https://theviperstore.com/Information_Viper_Produc...

The problem is finding the exact car over here without importing (poor exchange rates at the mo') unless you want one of the more popular Vipers such as gen 1 or 2, and aren't too fussed about the colour

I got lucky and bought the exact car I dreamt of, 1 of only 2 in the UK I believe.

oxam

309 posts

173 months

Friday 30th December 2016
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fatboy18 said:
You do realise you can go up to 600 bhp with the stock internals its only after that that they recommend pulling the engine apart! And then you are into a Whole different ball game spending thousands on mods, poor fuel consumption taking the car away from its GT class (Grand tourer). If you only intend to use the car on a Drag strip then fine but if you intended to use the car on a circuit, supercharger would not be my choice.

All you need on these cars are a decent exhaust system and good air intake. Then just Drive the things.

My Viper is probably the most driven Viper in the UK and I actually have fun in the car, The modded Vipers I know of in the UK hardly get used. So why go to the trouble of spending thousands and then tuck the car away? Were only here once, Get out there and have fun. smile
if you go the N/A way the stock non forged internals are good for 650+ at the wheels wink and as it happens I just dug out the long forgotten heads I bought 3 years ago - extremely ported, flow benched, big valves and stronger springs. with a streetable Greg Good cam I should be able to see 600-620whp...and since I am leaving for the US and A on the 11th of Jan for couple of months I might as well buy one (together with the head gaskets and the roller rockers needed). From what I have read so far the cam is still totally driveable and the fuel economy (what a nice expression for a viper lol) doesn't get hurt.