1st post - Buying a Viper soon need advice

[Lundqvist]

Hi everyone! I have spent the past weekend reading any and everything on this forum. The funny moments, arguements, the beautiful pictures of the vipers (my fav) anyway heres my situation and i submit to you guys on what to do next.

im 28 from southern cali, spec orange county cali. Im finally able to afford a 2004/5 viper and im planning on buying one this month just in time for christmas. The problem is theres a few issues and although i really and i mean REALLY want this car bad , i also want to be safe on the road as well as my wallet.

so that being said, i wanted to explaine my situation and see if you guys think i should be one this month, wait till the summer or basically im asking on what to do because i trust this forum (from everything iv read) then anyone out on the street.

The good
1. im a very safe driver, i want the viper to enjoy on the weekends with cruises by the beach, occiosonal ladies, and of course car shows and last but not least take part in the local viper chapter events. I dont plan on racing it and I DIFF will not race this car on the streets. to dangerouse, i havent even if ever taken my own car above 110 on the steets.

2. willing to listen and learn, put in the time to learn my car and the effort it takes to truely learn my car to the best of its abilities.

3. great driving record, in 12 years of driving, just a few tickets, a few parking tickets, and no big acccidents to speak off, got rear ended a few times but nothing bad that required repeairs. overall very safe and experienced driver on auto (ill get to that later)

4. i plan on buying an extar warranty on the car

5. not a big ego at all and dont care about beating poeple on the street who have fasters cars or think they do.

The Bad

1. Probebly the worst thing i have goin for me, othern then driving in a parking lot iv only driven auto my whole life. NEVER driven manual on the street and will go further and say infact i dont how too. Basically, if i buy this car, i personally wont be able to drive it home. (trying to be as honest as i can here)

2. No place to really park it, what i mean by that is, i take care of my parents, and they live in a not so great street, althogh the area i live in is great, the condo i live in the street isnt very good. Theres no garage, and i would have to park it outside. I can cover it and the weather down here in southern cali is great so it never snows, but im worried about what the nieghboorhood kids or someone that has bad motives might do to it.

3. I dont even know how to change the oil on my own car.

so thats it, iv tried to be as honest as i can, so im putting my viper faith in your hands/advice. The community here seems amazing, and im kind of hoping a local viper driver locally can take me under his wings, and maybe come with me to look at the car im buying, and listen to for any sounds and which tech to take it to and so forth. If theres any souther cali or orange county guys please hit me up!

THanks for everyone who read this.

Lund

ps. im a bit of a foreigner so please excuse my english and grammar.

 

[CPPRHD265]

If I had to park it on the street... forget about it. Everything else is trivial (except maybe the: learning stick thing). Try and get an insurance quote for it while being honest about the parking situation.

Have you seen the threads where folks just take the car out once in a blue moon, and have it key'd or something dumped on it? Imagine leaving it outside and available everyday to all the *ssholes in your area...

I guess the one thing you will have going is that todays typical car thief can't drive stick either... It doesn't mean they wont try, just the cops will have an easier time catching them, if it isn't in a ditch already

 

[Lundqvist]

CPPRHD

glad to see someone up as late as me! yeah the parking does worry me a lot, the manual driving does as well BUT I KNOW i can overcome that, have a few ideas regarding that, was thinking buying a 700 ****** and practicing on it etc..

the parking, worst case scenerio i can always rent a garage for the car, or are they really expensive? Just a quick heads up, my next door nieghboor drives a vet and he leaves it outside but he always covers it at night.

 

[CPPRHD265]

I just wouldn't do it if I didn't have a garage. And um, it's 6AM here

 

[ViperGTS]

How about renting a garage nearby?
I would never leave the car outside.

And, the Viper is not a beginners car to learn driving a stick IMHO but, you can always go to driving events to learn that!

 

[Lundqvist]

Garage nearby is a very good option, just wondering how much the price is, i should say though my condo is on the first floor, there a bit like townhomes so the parking space to my bedroom window is like 10 feet. i can litearly pull the shades and spit on my car from where im. Nonethless it is outside.

viper, what driving events do u mean? where can i find these driving events?

 

[ViperGTS]

events of the SoCal VCA...

http://forums.viperclub.org/california-southern/630937-dec-7-fontana-srt-event-fyi.html

http://forums.viperclub.org/california-southern/621699-button-willow-february-2-20-2-22-a.html

 

[2snakes4us]

1. Do not buy one till you learn how to drive a Manual
2. Do not buy one till you have a safe place to park the car
3. Do not buy one unless you can do your own service on the car or have a fat wallet.

Call your insurance agent to find out what your rates would be so you know upfront.

Good luck.

 

[slysnake]

Rent a space. Outside is not a good option. Even covered it will just make people more curious.

Rent or borrow a manual car and try it out for a weekend. Really not too hard to get the hang of it.

Viper is the easiest car to service. They are also built pretty well and can take a lot of abuse. Really, if you just take it to the shop for regular maintenance it's not that expensive. You don't want to get the oil changed at one of those ****** places however, Even for a simple oil change you will want someone that knows Vipers.

Another expense people don't think about is license and registration. In my state they base lisence fees on the KBB value of the car. So even if you get a great price you still have to pay at the court house.

 

[Lundqvist]

1. Do not buy one till you learn how to drive a Manual - Check!
2. Do not buy one till you have a safe place to park the car - Check!
3. Do not buy one unless you can do your own service on the car or have a fat wallet. question on this one, do u mean service like oil chance, flued change, or change out the whole engine kind of a thing. The first two i know i can learn how to do, 3rd one not so sure lol

 

[06blueviper]

You can learn how to drive a manual transmission and the Viper isn't a hard car to drive, but parking on the street (any street) would be a bad idea, IMO. It simply draws too much attention.

Best to wait until you have a safe place to park.

 

[slysnake]

Suprisingly the cheepest thing about owning a viper I found was the insurance. $50 bucks a month for me (State Farm). I think even Giko (however you spell it) is about $70 a month. I could be wrong on that one though.

I've heard a few companies won't insure them. Again, not sure about that.

 

[Newport Viper]

. : : SoCal Viper : : .

 

[Lundqvist]

You can learn how to drive a manual transmission and the Viper isn't a hard car to drive, but parking on the street (any street) would be a bad idea, IMO. It simply draws too much attention.

Best to wait until you have a safe place to park.

yeah one idea i had was to buy a 800 ****** to practice, but gosh i really would rather spend that 800 on my viper, im sure 800 could get me a few nice saftey mods on my car like ps2 tires.

need to find someone to teach me manual fast! lol

today gonna call my insurance company (agian) and local garages.

thanks for everyone who responded so far!

 

[PatentLaw]

Disagree with the driving manual thing. While others, again, try to make it sound like the "Viper is a car for professionals" and "The car will kill you" type stuff, it is just not true.

If you are a careful person, learning to drive the Viper (your first manual car shift), is easier than other cars. The band that you can shift the car within is more forgiving, therefore you don't have to be in a specific gear at just the right time. You don't stall out. From the learning point, I cannot find an easier car to learn on. The transmissions are very stout. When you do have to fix it, it will cost you lots.

If you drive like a maniac and don't know how to shift, then you can kill yourself.

Never had the car over 110 mph in Orange County? Seems very fast to me. Slow it down and live some.

 

[CPPRHD265]

I do not disagree with PatentLaw about learning to drive a manual with a Viper... It would be very easy to learn on, not a problem. But the learning to drive a standard on a viper task will go hand in hand with the "Learning to drop the transmission to replace the clutch in a year" route

I think it's pretty common to burnup one clutch while learning to drive a manual. It takes awhile, but it will eventually fry. Mine was a 77 Honda, I delivered pizza for a summer in my highschool days. After I killed that clutch I sold the car for 300 bucks.

My biggest concern out of all the stuff the OP posted is the parking situation. Make sure to get full coverage with a good insurance company, and don't BS them when you get the policy. Let them know it's going to be outside. If you fail to inform them, they may have grounds to ignore your claim when it gets stolen or vandalized.

 

[albinonile]

garage a must--I wont even take mine to the movies. I promised myself I was not going to be like that "this time" but you just cant help it. I restrict myself to restaraunts where I can see it from a window, and big parking spaces are a must

 

[Lundqvist]

I do not disagree with PatentLaw about learning to drive a manual with a Viper... It would be very easy to learn on, not a problem. But the learning to drive a standard on a viper task will go hand in hand with the "Learning to drop the transmission to replace the clutch in a year" route

I think it's pretty common to burnup one clutch while learning to drive a manual. It takes awhile, but it will eventually fry. Mine was a 77 Honda, I delivered pizza for a summer in my highschool days. After I killed that clutch I sold the car for 300 bucks.

My biggest concern out of all the stuff the OP posted is the parking situation. Make sure to get full coverage with a good insurance company, and don't BS them when you get the policy. Let them know it's going to be outside. If you fail to inform them, they may have grounds to ignore your claim when it gets stolen or vandalized.

CPP

Yeah will diff NOT practice on the viper, im sure its great for learning, but id be to scared to screw up and might get into an accident or worse, blow a clutch and transmission on my baby lol..

as far as insurance, got that covered, as i will NOT be leaving it outside, basically as everyone is saying, garage or nothing..

 

[rudedawg]

Does your Condo complex have garages. If so some people buy them just for resale,maybe you can put a flyer in all the mail boxes there informing them you are looking to rent a garage in the complex if anyone is intersted in renting one. Somebody might be looking to pick up a few bucks a month if there not using it for there own car. After all your in calif. so it's not like you get bad weather, someone might have one avaible.

 

[CitySnake]

I would agree with the consensus here. Even if you planned to sleep in the car, do not park it anywhere but in a controlled garage. It will be damaged ... eventually and you'll feel absolutely sick to your stomach. If you can't afford a garage of some sort, don't buy it until you can.

I wouldn't buy a ****** to learn a manual. See if you can find a rental car company with a manual. Take a few weekends and learn by yourself. The difficulty comes while in traffic and on hills. Hard to practice in traffic, but that will come easily as you gain experience and confidence. Hills need to be practiced (see: handbrake).

Side note: use spell check

 

[Lundqvist]

Citysnake

You want me to go play in traffic by my self in a manual car i dont know how to drive? lol..

just kidding iknow what u meant.. yeah im searching for garages here as we speak, hopefully it wont be crazy expensive..

 

[WILDASP]

Lund,
Let me put in a few words of advice here. First of all, I really think you should look at garaging options for your Snake; see if that is affordable for you. If not , wait; I have to agree with the advice you've gotten from others here about parking a Viper on the street; just not a good idea.

Second, I would not worry too much about you learning to drive a stick in a Viper, especially a Gen 3 like you want. It's really a pretty forgiving car in that respect, provided you restrain your right foot, and remember not to ride the clutch (a common novice mistake with a manual).

Third, budget the cost of a new set of tires into what you plan to pay for the car. A used Viper of that vintage is likely to have a five-year-old set of runflats on it; if so, change them IMMEDIATELY! Old, hard runflats (no matter how much tread depth they have) on a Viper with a newbie driver are a "Viper bite" waiting to happen! This point cannot be over-emphasized; tires are CRITICAL on a Viper, and a new set of proper sized ps2s (front and rear), is a must-consider it life insurance, for you and the car.

If you haven't already, go read the "Keeping new Viper drivers safe-a how to" thread. Then read it again, and believe it. This may help save you from learning what many before you have learned the hard way. The Viper is a very safe car, IF properly driven; but it does not like sudden inputs, especially with the throttle and steering. Specifically, DO NOT suddenly go wide open throttle, especially on cold (or old) tires; this is how the dreaded "Viper bite often happens. You appear to have a relatively safe driving attitude; please keep it that way.

Last but not least, go to a good driving school. Even if you do not plan to track your Viper, a day or two of professional instruction will make your experience with the car more enjoyable, and safer as well.

 

[Lundqvist]

WIld

diff getting new tires ps2.. budgeted it, just got of the insurance agian, and my agent sais since im getting full coverage including theft it will be cheaper for me to park it in front of the house and if anything happens its covered.. if i move it to garage, ill loose the 2 car discount since there not parked at the same address.. the good news is for both including full cov for viper including theft protecting it comes out to 130 a month for both. which seems pretty decent. but i just cant go against the one universal advice im getting here which is get it garaged.. so ill be calling garages next.

wild do u reccomend any driving schools in southern cali? that specialise in vipers i mean. thanks

 

[Lundqvist]

just called a local parking/storage ..crappers.. almost 180 a month for UNCOVERED parking.. im screwed..

 

[Leslie]

1. Do not buy one till you learn how to drive a Manual
2. Do not buy one till you have a safe place to park the car
3. Do not buy one unless you can do your own service on the car or have a fat wallet.

Call your insurance agent to find out what your rates would be so you know upfront.

Good luck.

what 2snakes4us said that's exactly what I was thinking when I read your post.

good luck to you, keep the dream alive for a Viper and it WILL happen!

 

[Venomiss]

. : : SoCal Viper : : .

Double this as it's the link for the SoCal Vipers.
California: Southern
website

Be sure and check it out for contacts/emails and talk with someone from your area first.
They can tell you about possible driving events and all the questions you have.

 

[eucharistos]

what 2snakes4us said that's exactly what I was thinking when I read your post.

good luck to you, keep the dream alive for a Viper and it WILL happen!

what she said about what he said

time may not be right.......yet

vipers can be cheap to operate, almost always expensive to fix - vandalism = fixing

 

[Pythonpete]

I would agree with the consensus here. Even if you planned to sleep in the car, do not park it anywhere but in a controlled garage. It will be damaged ... eventually and you'll feel absolutely sick to your stomach. If you can't afford a garage of some sort, don't buy it until you can.

I wouldn't buy a ****** to learn a manual. See if you can find a rental car company with a manual. Take a few weekends and learn by yourself. The difficulty comes while in traffic and on hills. Hard to practice in traffic, but that will come easily as you gain experience and confidence. Hills need to be practiced (see: handbrake).

Side note: use spell check

When I needed to learn, I bought a used Mustang and drove it for about 9 months. Once I was comfortable commuting into Manhattan every day, I knew I was ready.

I agree 100% with city on the garage. Can you rent a place to keep it?

 

[Lundqvist]

Great news guys!! well for anyone who cares heh... CREDIT UNION APPROVED MY LOAN! just got the call a little bit a ago.. alright time to get serouse..

first things first, gonna inquire about renting a stick.. Bah!! i wont be able to drive the damn thing out of the parking lot.. lol

anyway iv come to far to give up now.. gonna post in the southern cali website and see if any southern cali/orange county viper guy is kind enough to come with me to check out hte car i wanna buy.

um stupid queston, we put 91 gas in the vipers right? uggghhh im such a noob

 

[MichaelP]

I wouldn't worry about leaving it outside BUT I would NOT leave it outside on the street.

Had my Viper for 3 years I think it was 2 or 3 years old when I bought. Way over half of it was outside and not in a great neighborhood. Not bad but not great. Drove it to the movies, Home Depot and Walmart(yes I know SHUDDER )and just parked it like a regular car didn't even bother parking it far out like some do.

I put about 20,000 miles on it

I never got a door ding let alone any scratches from other cars, people etc.

Never did any work on it except I changed the spark plug wires oh yea and Zaino it a few times.

I would never buy a Viper with a loan but that is personal preference.

As to using it to learn stick can't address that one.