call me stupid, but I have no idea what that "bad news for the wallet" means. Aren't gears cheap?
The FEDs and their gas-guzzle-tax helped Team Viper choose your OE gear ratio. A 3:07 made the FEDS happy, not Team V or Owners.
You are not stupid.... you even noticed all the SEARCH answers on the topic!!! After all, "Bank For Buck" is a dicussion of
relativity.
You can spend 10K on a blower, labor, upgrades, and tunings for it; or 6k+ on heads and paraphernalia: or $4K on exhaust and labor.
But if you want to go 15% faster in all gears, cheaply, do a 3:55. "Feels Like 15% More HP, and better braking too."
And if you want to go 22% faster in all gears, choose a 3:73. "Feels Like 22% More HP, and better braking too."
"Poor Man's Supercharger" in relative terms...... 6-7 hours labor; $600-$750 parts THE YEAR MATTERS.
You should be down the road under $1500, so YES, I think that is CHEAP PERFORMANCE....
Pros-Cons.
Wheelspin / Tire wear due to faster-download of torque. Be careful-er going WOT.
You **** more gas...... but so would the $$$$ mods.
You lose some top end....but would you ever have used it? How much? Again, relativity at play.
Wrinkles....... face wrinkles emerge from grinning so much after you re-learn your "NEW" beast!
There are quite a few owners of S/C Vipers with 3:55 gears. It makes them 15% faster too, after hookup.