Disrespecting the Viper

[Jack B]

In the last two years in the major car magazines there have been at least 20 shoot-outs between various pairs or groups of cars. Virtually very comparison had the vette included. In general the viper has been left out of these comparisons. I believe in most cases the viper would have been the victor. A virtual snubbing, almost total disrespect of our cars.

Then, in this months R&T there was a very respectful set of articles, almost a love story about the final edition viper and the hopeful rebirth of the car. There were two articles and they are worth saving. One discription called the viper "America's greatest muscle car". The writer actually drove in the ACRX race series as one of the guests.

I still cannot believe how they made the viper invisible in the last two years.

 

[jasontiff]

I need not a magazine to tell me my car is great.

I just laugh when I see the way the rags are written. "Viper wins in every performance test, but we'd buy the 'Vette. Why? Because we're into blending in, cupholders and traction control." They can have all the love in the world for their flavor of the week/weak, but park anything outside of a Lambo, Ferrari or FGT next to my car and it disappears. Line up next to my car and it definitely disappears . I don't need an idiot with an English degree and a chip on his shoulder to validate my passion and my car.

 

[DrumrBoy]

Agreed. Alot of the press is influenced by the factories' PR department. Not that the mags only write about what the factories want, but they are definitely influenced by the car companies "lobbying" efforts.

For example, if C&D wants a couple of cars for a comparo and they need to be in Vegas tonight, maybe Chevy will fly a ZR1 in or buy one from a NV dealer (with the promise of replacing it).....while Chrysler (or Fiat) might take a pass on that additional cost figuring that its not a worthwhile investment in a discontinued brand.

Additionally, the heavy advertisers/sponsors are more likely to get the nod over non-advertisers and Viper hasn't been in a great positin to be a super booster recently.

Not sayin' its right, just offering some additional rationale for why Vipers don't get their fair share of press and kudos.

 

[plumcrazy]

the magazines also love hennessey and promote him.

 

[Viper Wizard]

the magazines also love hennessey and promote him.

You want a good article, all you need is....

 

[ViperTony]

You want a good article, all you need is....

Yep...it's difficult to get attention when PR spending on the Viper is virtually nill compared to GM and others. Money talks. GM advertises (read SPONSORS) heavily in the auto rags and they will/do get attention over those manufacturers that don't sponsor in the rags.

 

[Vipuronr]

You know, its funny you bring that up. I came to the same conclusion after reading numerous R&T, Motor Trend and Car and Driver. I noticed that it was always Vettes, Mustangs, Porsches, Camaros always referred to as the big time cars and never a Viper. I came to the conclusion that it was (in part) the sheer number of units produced. Vette sells somewhere around 40,000 cars a year, while Viper maybe has sold 30,000 cars since 1992 (pardon if my numbers are off).

That said, they could be viewing the Viper as a "limited production" car due to units and hand building.

I think for what it is and how it performs, it certainly should have gotten more press coverage...certainly relative to Porsches.

It is just a bit irritating that a car of this caliper is not covered. I do understand the impact of PR $ on articles, but motor heads in the U.S. automotive media should be more interested in covering just for the appreciation of the machine!

Just my opinion.

 

[SkyBob]

I don't need an idiot with an English degree and a chip on his shoulder to validate my passion and my car.

I agree, Jason. I look at the car magazines for the pretty pictures and don't care at all what the anonymous writers' opinion is.

 

[slysnake]

I believe in most cases the viper would have been the victor

Yes and No. The Viper would be superior in most respects but the reporter would still declare the other car superior because it has back seats, or traction control, or cup holders, or ............ That's the way it has been for a long time.

 

[viperbuck93]

We have all seen the comparisons, what makes me laugh is that just about every one between the vette and viper (regaurdless of how the Viper performs) comes down to them prefering the Vette, usually because the Vette is more forgiving, or easier to drive and so on. The Viper is a beast and that is what we love about it!! It's all about the passion baby!

 

[AZTVR]

I agree. I couldn't care any less what a magazine review says about the Viper. But, it does help sell cars to those on the fence.

Having said that, their opinion is probably swayed by trying to represent the majority of their readers. I would bet that most of us would agree that the majority shopping the American high performance two seater market would say that the Corvette is the best compromise solution for their needs (versus desires). That's why there are a gazillion Corvettes on the street and why we love being Viper owners.

 

[GuitarSteve]

Another solution would be the magazine editor/writer asking one of you individuals to participate with compensation provided. Go to where they need you with your Viper, YOU drive YOUR Viper, you go home. I'm sure the owners here that really know how to drive their cars would make any of these *rival* cars look slow.

-Steve

 

[Bigsalgt]

During the late 90's, Motor Trend magazine loved the Gen.II RT-10 and GTS.
It seems, as the Viper progressed into the Gen.III/IV, it was forgotten about. Less media attention for sure! Maybe because it would have so many out right wins, such as the GTS in this video, that it would make for less sales of that magazine. After all, who wants to read about a single vehicle winning over and over and over. Except us of course, lol!
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6BsoFv3yE4&p=DBE354428650420B&playnext=1&index=77[/media]

 

[Bigsalgt]

^^After watching the video now for the 200th time, you actually get that feeling!! They are almost tired and frustrated to say that the Viper won yet another catagory of their tests. They are almost bored with the victories and want some other vehicle to win!

 

[Vipuronr]

I've never seen that, so it brings a smile to my face everytime he said "the Viper wins again". However, they had to close the show by saying the Vette is #1 in "bang for the buck" because it is the cheapest of all those performance cars.

Written or not, covered by the media or not, the Viper is the baddest street production car...PERIOD! I've owned Vettes most of my life, and there is just no comparison in just "balls to the wall" performance.

Just my opinion!

 

[eucharistos]

thanks for posting the vid

I've never seen that, so it brings a smile to my face everytime he said "the Viper wins again". However, they had to close the show by saying the Vette is #1 in "bang for the buck" because it is the cheapest of all those performance cars.

Written or not, covered by the media or not, the Viper is the baddest street production car...PERIOD! ....

Just my opinion!

what he said

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

If you're willing to loan them your Viper to test with they'll be happy to include it in the next article.

 

[RTTTTed]

If you're willing to loan them your Viper to test with they'll be happy to include it in the next article.

LOL. Chuck said it.

Top Gear wrecked (several?) Vipers and the was told "NO" everytime they asked for another Viper. They burn a set of $1,000 tires of the car and say "thanks", it's the fastest but we prefer the cushy Z06 seats. I watched Top Gear do a Gm, Caddilac to dodge comparison. They used a ZR1 and a Caddy supercharged car against a Challenger? Losers. When they stopped in the desert and had a burnout contest, they kept the traction control on in the Challenger and then laughed because it wouldn't spin the tires??? "It won't spint he tires because it's an automatic," they decided. Too stupid, but they were funny too.

I think that's a compliment to Dodge since they could have bought a Viper and kicked the GMs off the road. They could have bought a Mustang SuperSnake (700hp) and spanked the GMs easily, but they didn't. There is obviously an Agenda.

I write my own articles and I've never lost to a GM.

Since the Viper is the heaviest car on the proffessional race circuit and has the largest intake restrictor plates - it seems pretty obvious what the fastest car is, isn't it?

 

[RTTTTed]

I saw on Top Gear last week that there is a $1,200,000 Ferrari 599XXX that did the N. Ring in 6.98sec. You can buy the car but you can't have it. You probably can't even drive it and can never take it home. That's supposed to be a "PRODUCTION CAR"? Not according to any definition I ever read.

But if a one off (?) Ferrari that the factory keeps in house can be considered a Production car then I guess the ACRX should get Acolades when it runs the Ring in ... any guesses? ... say 6.90???

Ted

 

[Bigsalgt]

thanks for posting the vid

You guys are very welcome!

 

[Vipuronr]

Clearly its money talks.

 

[white out]

Jesus, now I know why Top Gear is the only motoring show I watch. That hurt my head to listen to the commentary.

Awesome b/w '98 Viper too. . .

Nick

 

[RTTTTed]

I like Top Gear. It's too bad they dis Dodge and the only ones that rate the Viper about 15th on a road course. Guess the stig was having a bad day driving the Viper?

They are full of sh*t and I don't believe any of their "tests". Their Motorhome races were probably fixed. The car/boat conversions were great and they sunk.

They are sooo stupid and ridiculous that I enjoy the show too.

Ted

 

[Twister]

The brt10 was a smidge faster than the ZR1 and dominated the nsx back in 1992 performance wise...

The 1996 GTS and 1997 RT10 till 2002 dominated EVERYTHING

he 2003 srt10 domintaed till 2006 when the Z06 came out (yes belieave it or not the gen3 srt10 ran a 11.77 to the FGT's 11.78)

But 2005 and 2006 were the first years were the Viper was completely on top. 2007 was a no show and now from 2008-2010has been the top dog..even besting the ZR1 on one then more ocassion...

Why it's not included is beyond me...They all showed that the 2008 Viper could beat a 2008 Z06 and then figuered that was good enough it seems...That should have just been the beginning

 

[v10enomous]

Consider it a compliment... Think of a car as a celebrity that is in your face on every magazine cover and every TV channel. After a while you get sick of them. Every Viper ever made is a special hand crafted unique automobile that was built to kick sand in the face of every other car on the road. They have been produced in limited numbers and they get limited duty for the most part so they have a somewhat legendary mythical quality that was built more in video games and TV and movies than sightings on the road. The Viper is not a mainstream kinda car and as an owner I think that's a great thing...

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

Since the Viper is the heaviest car on the proffessional race circuit and has the largest intake restrictor plates - it seems pretty obvious what the fastest car is, isn't it?

That's it.

 

[jay01m]

Who cares? Magazine articles and videos/TV shows with vehicle comparisons are subjective just like anything else produced by mainstream media because it's written or filmed by someone who will almost always have a bias. Not only that, you'll always get differing opinions on which car is "better" because one comparison will have different criteria than the next. Different strokes for different folks. It's all good!

News flash: not everyone favors the Dodge Viper, but that's ok, because if everyone did we'd all be driving the same car. I love my Viper, but I also love my Corvette ZR1 too, not because it's a better car but because it's different. Hell, I love anything with wheels, horsepower and a skirt, so maybe my opinion is a little skewed . The way I see it, I don't care who the car maker is, all I care about is the car itself, and I think most of us here think that way too. Let's face it, if you had stupid money and a 12 car garage, would you have 12 Vipers? If so, then you're ate up! I for one would have all kinds of different fun toys to drive.

I'm grateful that the Viper flies under the radar at times, makes for a much more dramatic showing whenever the spotlight falls on it. Forget those articles and shows that downplay the Viper because the fact of the matter is, most people do appeal to the Viper because of it's **** looks, stand out performance, and to some extent, mystery because they are so rare. If it weren't for that, the Viper would be just another car.

Just my $.02.
Jason

 

[LaViper]

I can live with the fact that there's more corvettes out there. I also like vets & a lot of other cars. I take my car to vet shows,never win anything, butleave with a smile on my face, enjoying every minute of driving a work of art. And I would throw my money away before I wasted it on those B/S Magazines.

 

[plumcrazy]

where is 1BadGts when we need him ?

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

where is 1BadGts when we need him ?

Vipers are junk. Evan Smith trashed one in one lap at the Glen.


How was that?