And so it begins *** DEALER MARKUP***

[Jay M]

It's bad enough that east coast dealers insist on putting ugly badges normal cars, but it's a crime on a Viper!

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[BlackSnake99]

^^^^That tacky plastic chrome stick on dealer nameplate is graphic illustration of the difficulty SRT faces with some dealers. Call them what you like but they are the same polyesther clad minivan hucksters that they were before they bought the SRT name.

 

[ViperSmith]

LOL, I know that one would work you guys up!

 

[PDCjonny]

This will be a fun thread to revisit in a year or two.
Dealers will be undercutting each other just like the good ole days.

 

[PilotaX]

Here's another LE now for sale at MSRP if anyone is interested.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...51037076573&ssPageName=ADME:X:SCO:MOTORS:1123

 

[mnc2886]

I bet this thread will show up on a Google search with this dealership and the Viper. The internet is sweet ain't it?

 

[Newport Viper]

I haven't been to a dealership (yet) that has a Viper on the floor.

Did they upgrade the area around the Viper? Displays? Is it standardized from one Dealer to the next? What did the $25K buy um (not tools) from SRT to help sell them? Anyone with pics?

I don't see the Porsche guy (The new customer? says SRT) telling his buddies how great the SRT... errr Dodge sales experience is.... He is going to have to make up some BS story about how good the bottomless cappuccino was and, how hot the gal in finance is....

The average guy on the street has no clue about Woodhouse (shave your legs Bill? to attract the "new" Viper customer) and a few others..(that can be counted on one hand) So, his (Porshe guy) sales experience is going to **** **** ****! Wait till he has to get it serviced eeek! We (multiple Viper owners through time) have just put up with poor Dealer sales/service cause we love the car. The "new" customer dropping $140K+++ won't! And most likley won't repeat.

SRT was way better off doing it ALL on internet orders and, IMO if they couldn't get the online orders to make it work (profit) they brought the car back too darn quick...(yes we are lucky they brought it back at all)

Anyways... in my experience and my experience only... I'm not spreaking for anyone else ...Dodge dealerships make me want to PUKE! (where is that pukein smiley when you need it)

At the end of the day I hope the Dealership experience dosen't kill off the car.... again.

 

[doctorbob]

I missed that the first time.....frankly I am buying a car for myself......not as a moving advertisement for them and THAT IS REALLY TACKY to do that to a viper.....another reason you know the dealership knows nothing about Vipers.

 

[johniew398]

It's bad enough that east coast dealers insist on putting ugly badges normal cars, but it's a crime on a Viper!

You must be registered for see images attach

That is absolutely a dealer that doesn't understand Vipers or Viper owners. No one in their right mind puts a dealer tag on a Viper. I have never had to worry about that even with two Z06's and a ZR1.

 

[copperhead007]

Dodge & the dealer owners have done nothing to generate a more quality driven image to the SRT brand name.

Lets see how Viper customer support & dealer Service Reps & certified Viper technician competancy proves.

Hope Dodge trys hard keep dealers in check so it works out well for new Viper owners.

 

[Mamba52]

Now some chump on flebay just got bid up too 140k. Bidder has (0) bid history??? Reserve not met

 

[doctorbob]

I cannot believe it.......there are several LEs on Fleabay and at least one is asking sticker and the one I mentioned in Scottsdale now has a bid of just over sticker and you can buy the car from another dealer on the same site for less money.....am I missing something here? That begs the question on who is bidding on these cars.........I suspect the dealers themselves are bidding the car up.

 

[ViperSmith]

Dodge & the dealer owners have done nothing to generate a more quality driven image to the SRT brand name.

Lets see how Viper customer support & dealer Service Reps & certified Viper technician competancy proves.

Hope Dodge trys hard keep dealers in check so it works out well for new Viper owners.

Im just waiting for the first post here "dealer tech wrapped my Gen V around a telephone pole while I was getting my oil changed" - to see what dealers took from their SRT training.

It is inevitable

 

[Mamba52]

That is absolutely a dealer that doesn't understand Vipers or Viper owners. No one in their right mind puts a dealer tag on a Viper. I have never had to worry about that even with two Z06's and a ZR1.

That Criswell badge is huge, but what's with that trunk gap?

 

[Coloviper]

Trunk gap is fine, it's just that dealer badge is so big and heavy, it is pulling the rear plastic panel down.

 

[Mamba52]

It looks like the dealers have caught on and now dumping them on Flebay. A total of (5) GTS LE's. Wonder if they read this thread.

 

[Indy]

That is absolutely a dealer that doesn't understand Vipers or Viper owners. No one in their right mind puts a dealer tag on a Viper. I have never had to worry about that even with two Z06's and a ZR1.

I hate it if dealers put their stickers or logos on cars....personally I don't understand why people can stand driving around with this on their cars. Hairdryer and 5 Minutes will get these off, but 95% of cars on the road still have these...same goes for licence plate surounds....at least dealers should pay you for advertising their business or give you some free service.

 

[redtanrt10]

So many people getting spun up about dealers trying to hit a home run on a viper. You'd think their selling government cheese to poor people or gouging gasoline in a crisis. I'm not in support of the mark up but it's 10-30% on a luxury iten marketed to a privledge few.

I don't know the Steven's Creek dealer but I do know he's in a very affluent area that has all kinds of Silicon Valley $$$'s. Just like in '92, there are athletes, actors, or wealth individuals who want their viper now, price is irrevelant, they want to drive it today.

The market sets the price, not the dealers. A few folks have mentioned ebay, nobody's killing it. Contrast that by what pricing looked liked when the Ford GT's and ZR-1's were brand new. The dealers with the big mark-ups will either sell to the local folks with $$$'s who gotta have one now, or begin to discount back to MSRP. There are lot's of great viper dealers like Tomball and Woodhouse who are very fair, and, who kept viper alive by buying most of the '09 inventory. Give them your business if you're in a market where the dealer is gouging.

An ironic part will be down the road when some of these dealers get tired of sitting on a viper for over a year, then sell one below MSRP. Then the person who buys will post on this board that his local dealer is much better than Tomball or Woodhouse since they gave them a better price. I've seen that here many times.

 

[DMan]

There are lot's of great viper dealers like Tomball and Woodhouse who are very fair, and, who kept viper alive by buying most of the '09 inventory. Give them your business if you're in a market where the dealer is gouging.

An ironic part will be down the road when some of these dealers get tired of sitting on a viper for over a year, then sell one below MSRP. Then the person who buys will post on this board that his local dealer is much better than Tomball or Woodhouse since they gave them a better price. I've seen that here many times.

So true. I've had 3 vipers and yet to have the privilege of buying from tomball or woodhouse. My ideal scenario is to buy my gen5 from woodhouse and have Mark setup my car, and make this Viper the most perfect I've ever had. Makes me giddy to think about. Tom Sessions is coming by my house this week to wrench my gen4 with me, awesome. So much to look forward to, 2014 will be a good year, meanwhile no shortage of fun to be had.
Dave

 

[Paul Hawker]

It may be a dealer strategy to keep a Viper in their showroom until another arrives to replace it. They will put a premium price on it, so that if someone really wants it, they will pay a bit extra to drive it away, otherwise it will stay in the showroom to attract attention. When another Viper is on it's way (as per allocation) they will reduce the price to market to move it and make way for the next showroom model.

 

[PilotaX]

I haven't been to a dealership (yet) that has a Viper on the floor.

Did they upgrade the area around the Viper? Displays? Is it standardized from one Dealer to the next? What did the $25K buy um (not tools) from SRT to help sell them? Anyone with pics?

Until two weeks ago, I hadn't been to a Dodge dealer since maybe 1987? But I don't think the dealer where I purchased has upgraded its showroom. It's pretty basic, blue collar America. IMO, however, there's nothing wrong with that. From my experience, it seems that the more high end the showroom, the more you get reamed on the cost of service.

I don't see the Porsche guy (The new customer? says SRT) telling his buddies how great the SRT... errr Dodge sales experience is.... He is going to have to make up some BS story about how good the bottomless cappuccino was and, how hot the gal in finance is....

I think you are right that Viper won't appeal to the majority of Porsche owners, who at this point buy Porsches because of the image more than anything else. But I do think that the Viper will appeal to the subset of more traditional Porsche guys, many of whom are just plain ******** gear heads and racers. Most of these guys also buy other brands. And anyone nuts enough to still be driving a rear engined car for high performance fun in 2013 will likely consider other similarly extreme ideas, like big block, front engine, RWD cars.

The average guy on the street has no clue about Woodhouse (shave your legs Bill? to attract the "new" Viper customer) and a few others..(that can be counted on one hand) So, his (Porshe guy) sales experience is going to **** **** ****! Wait till he has to get it serviced eeek! We (multiple Viper owners through time) have just put up with poor Dealer sales/service cause we love the car. The "new" customer dropping $140K+++ won't! And most likley won't repeat.

I can't speak on Dodge sales or service at this point, other than to say that my experience has been surprisingly good. But, it may be that Porsche, Mercedes and BMW have helped to lower my expectations over time? Other than one sales guy and one service guy that I've known for several years, the others I've dealt with are generally pretty mediocre. I won't take my Porsches to a dealer for service, other than for warranty service (and only then because its the only way to get a defect fixed for free). In fact, the last two times I've taken my 911 in (to two different dealers), they didn't even know how to read the dipstick. I s*it you not. Both service reps claimed to know that the distance from top to bottom (on the electronic display, as there is no "stick" any more) is 1 qt. But it's actually 4 qts on the 991. Worse, neither dealer's technician bothered to verify whether or not the half quart they added actually moved the reading at all. (It finally moved one of four bars after both dealers added a half a quart to "top it off".)

One other thing that's kind of interesting. My 2013 911 had two quality issues right off the bat. The Viper has none that I can find.

P.S. I'm beginning to think that German cars are headed in a similar trajectory (down) to Japanese cars a decade ago.

 

[Policy Limits]

surprised to see that about porsche. German engineering is generally above average. I like the 991 4s cabrio. Every time I think to get one though I'm reminded of the cayenne and panamera that are causing, imo, brand dillution. I suspect that the Levante and Ghibli will do the same to Maserati.

 

[ViperSmith]

surprised to see that about porsche. German engineering is generally above average. I like the 991 4s cabrio. Every time I think to get one though I'm reminded of the cayenne and panamera that are causing, imo, brand dillution. I suspect that the Levante and Ghibli will do the same to Maserati.

While the Cayenne maybe diluting the brand, it is a cash cow for Porsche.

I want to like the Panamera, but I just can't get over its styling.

 

[MoparBoyy]

and this is why my dealer NEVER puts there name on the car. plate ring sure, but never a ****ty decal like that.

 

[PilotaX]

surprised to see that about porsche. German engineering is generally above average. I like the 991 4s cabrio. Every time I think to get one though I'm reminded of the cayenne and panamera that are causing, imo, brand dillution. I suspect that the Levante and Ghibli will do the same to Maserati.

Definitely a lot of brand dilution w/ Porsche. Wait until the Macan hits the street at a lower price point than the Cayenne.

 

[PilotaX]

While the Cayenne maybe diluting the brand, it is a cash cow for Porsche.

I want to like the Panamera, but I just can't get over its styling.

I keep hoping they restyle the Panamera soon. It's really unattractive to say the least.

 

[TrackAire]

I keep hoping they restyle the Panamera soon. It's really unattractive to say the least.

I'm actually ok with the styling, its a car that to me looks way better in person than in print. Wife and I went to test drive one this weekend and also test drove a 2007 Mercedes CLS63 AMG they had on the lot for a decent price. Although I really wanted to like the Panamera, both my wife and I found the V8's power to be a little lacking, the ride was louder than the CLS and the visibility was crap (tiny mirrors and very little rearward vision because of the rear seat headrests). We checked that model off the list of cars to look at for my wife, neither one of us loved it.

We were actually more impressed with the CLS63, smoother and quieter ride, great road feel and that motor really has torque for days.

George

 

[Coloviper]

Funny you guys talk about the Cayenne in such a light. It is actually the ONLY Porsche we own or considered. Have a 04' Cayenne Turbo and a 05' Cayenne Turbo X.50 (pre-turbo S)! Test drove many other models, 911 all variants, Caymen, Boxster, and Panamera. The Panamera Turbo S was an amazing car, but you have to drive it with a bag over your head as it is very unattractive.

All the Porsche cars, except the Panamera and Cayenne were kiddie and cheap feeling inside. Biggest let down ever the first 911 Turbo S I was in. Fast, yes, but just not for me as I was very unimpressed to say the least. Status car only I guess, but not for us at all.

We now have 98k miles on my Cayenne Turbo S and 60k miles on my wife's Cayenne Turbo. They are our stand up daily drivers. Been very impressed with both which we have owned my wife's since 2005 and mine since 2008.

We are waiting on the the Macan and the new Lincoln MKC over the next few years as we would like to change our Cayenne's out at some point. Been flawless but getting up there in miles and for daily drivers we want to not stretch it too far. If we don't like the Macan, them we will probably look the Jeep SRT-8 way again. Hard to get over my bad experience in the '07 Jeep SRT-8 but this new one, EVERYONE seems to like. If Jeep finally factory supercharged it (to 550 or 600 hp) and added a very unique and custom like paint job like Stryker Red, I might have to pull the trigger on that instead of the Macan.

Porsche is pretty proud of service and parts charges but they have really stood behind these Cayenne's. Too bad they have depreciated to nothing now.

 

[chorps]

The Panamera Turbo S was an amazing car, but you have to drive it with a bag over your head as it is very unattractive.

This is getting off topic but the Panamera is pretty ugly, but the wagon concept really does look good to me:

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Much better than this:

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[PilotaX]

We've had a bunch of Cayennes over the last 10 years. They are solid cars.

I'm surprised the V-8 Panamera was sluggish... but then again, compared to an AMG I can see why. The AMG's have monster torque.