Going from 12 Second RX7 to 95 Yellow RT-10

[ACELLR8]

Hello all,
As you can tell I am new to the forum as well as the Viper.
Anyways, I am ready to move up to the next level of car. Right now I have a 94 Rx7 that runs 12.8 @ 111mph, and I just made a tough decision to get rid of it and get a Viper. If all goes well I will be picking it up this weekend.
I am curious what a virtually stock 95 Rt-10 will run in the 1/4 mile, the one I am looking at does have a full 3" exhaust.
I did drive my first Viper this past weekend, WOW it was fun, I have to say I love the torque!!!! Totally differant experience than driving my RX7.
Any advice on buying a used one or things to look out for with the 95 RT-10s would be great.
Thanks,
R2Silver

 

[phiebert]

You should run in the low 12's, some guys make it into the high 11's on a stock Viper, usually not stock tires though. But it will go a lot faster top end than your RX-7!

 

[NascarDave]

R2Silver,
Welcome aboard! You'll probably see a mid to upper 12s depending on weather, traction, driving ability ect. Once you get used to the power, you should run low to mid 12's. Remember, this is an entirely different kind of power than you're used to.

You'll definately see a torque curve that'll blow your mind. I had an FD and driving a viper is a different ballgame. Gone are the days of rapping up to 4K for power.

You'll also notice the the Viper is much, much easier to maintain. No more looking for vacuum leaks, broken line adapters or watching A/F ratios religiously.

Vipers are brute, be careful your first couple of full throttle runs and have fun!

Dave
96 R/T

 

[dmora]

Not to be excessively nosey, since i dont know what your personal finances are, but the RX7 is waaaay cheaper to mod than a viper. For example, to slap on an average size single turbo and all the neccessary parts would run you about maybe 10k after parts and labor. Then it would be a whole lot faster and cheaper than the admission fee for a stock viper. Whats a used 95 viper going for these days? low miles(30-50k miles maybe?) should run you maybe $60-50k For that much money you could have 2 11second rx7s. Sure its a viper and all, but what are you going to do with it? Are you going to turn it into a drag racer? Its not the best platform for that. The viper has scary ugly ammounts of torque, and it'll dominate 95% of stuff on the road (depending on where you live) but dont make it a drag racer. If your into racing, turn it into a road racer since its got great handling on top of power. But if your buying one becuase your 12.8 sec rx7 is not fast enough in the 1/4, your getting the wrong car.

I'm not telling how to run your life, its your money, i'm just saying look at the whole picture before you make a signifcant investment. If you are dead set on a viper however, be aware of the car. Miles on vipers are usually harder miles than other cars. "Some" owners like to run it hard since thats what its designed to do. First thing to do is when looking at a prospective purchase is research all the bugs within a model year. Then when you have found one you like, make the owner have a reputable dodge dealer run a buyers check and a compression check on the vehicle/motor. get a third party like lemon busters to look at it as well, as with all cars, check the VIN and never buy a car sight unseen.
Good luck with your purchase and with time, information, and patience, you will find one you will like.

 

[ACELLR8]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by illy:
Remember, you can get a primered peice of crap to run in the 9's for a FRACTION of the cost of any Viper/Supra TT/or RX-7 ... There is SO MUCH MORE to life than stupid 1/4 mile times, it's fun and all, but it isn't the pinacle of automotive achievement.

Get what you like, and enjoy it, you can't lose with a Viper...

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That is very well put!!! I agree with you 100%

 

[garolittle]

Go with the Viper. Chicks dig it!

 

[Qualitywires.com]

hey r2 silver, I talked to you a couple of days ago. I had the rt/10 for sale. I'm glad to see you are looking to get the viper. As far as Dmoro comment, ignore it. He doesn't have a Viper and giving advice on something he doesn't have first hand experience on. This not to bash Dmora, but liked we talked about, I too was in the import scene. A viper isn't about just going fast, but the way it makes you feel too. Sure there highly modded supra's out there that could beat a Viper, but..who cares. When you see a Supra or for most part any import, they loose and you win on looks and admiration for the machine. I get compliments from 5 yr olds to 80 year old people. Kinda of cool. Plus you will be different from the average car crowd. I'm going on my 2nd Viper and I know it won't be my last..but it's a ton more fun than my 450 hp 300zx twin turbo. One thing you won't see a lot of is the smack talking among the people here...very helpful. try to find that in the import sticker scene...oh, by the way..I'm asian too and you won't see me jumping in the air for toyota! I support the country I live in..buy american!! except for GM and Ford. hehe! j/k

 

[scottgf]

Not to slam anyone but...
dmora knows not of what he speaks...
First off, you can pick up a 95 Rt/10 for alot less than he said.
I bought my bone stock 94 with 15k miles for around 40k....and it was/ is in excellent shape.
Most Viper owners arent very ******* them....the cars are sooo strong one would have to really beat it up to hurt it too much.
I have had mine for almost 2 years miles and have only had to change the oil...
Listen to the guys/girls on this board (Viper owners)..They are a great bunch and will help you alot.
If you have any questions, I dont consider myself an expert or anything, buy I would be glad to answer any questions you may have, if I can, e-mail me.
FYI, I saved every nickel I had to get the down payment for mine, so I am not some rich guy(I wish I was)so I had to be careful on the car I bought cuz I would be making payments on it for a long time,
Good luck in your quest,
Cheers,
Scott

 

[dmora]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Steve Segal:
dmora you just don't get it and won't until you drive a Viper.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I drove an ACR viper... check out my website. http://homepage.mac.com/dmora/ It was fun for about 5 minutes. I'll have to do it again to get a better feel but i think ive already got all the data i need. Perhaps if i ever get a significant promotion or come into lots of money i might give it a second thought.

BSchillinger:
I thought vipers held their retail value better than that!? I guess i'm just used to the supra where some of the nicest examples are selling for the same or more than what they were new.

I will agree with my detractors. I have no personal experience owning a viper but i have driven one. Take my opinions with a grain of salt. The people to listen to most are viper owners themselves. Looks are subjective however...I get compliments on my supra as well. I think both the viper and the supra look ugly. I like the lines of a Ferrari, or Lamborghini and the fishy looking McLaren. Different strokes for different folks.

 

[MES]

R2Silver congrats on "possibly" getting the RT-10 let us know how it turns out. Just from reading other people posts I would guess a stock gen 1 RT-10 will run about what your RX7 does - high 12's 112-115 but depends a lot on the driver.

Also consider there are over 100,000,000 cars in the United States with less than 15,000 of them Vipers. When they say this car is not for everybody it no joke, but if its right for you you will know it. Everybody has their own opinions (dmora) and thats fine if he wants to express them, but go with what you like and you will make yourself happy.

 

[ACELLR8]

I will now be the proud of owner of a Yellow viper. I made arrangements last night to fly out to Colorado and pick it up tomorrow. I do not know if any of you guys know Cody. I believe he was an active member of the viper clubs in the Florida area, he is who I am buying the car from.
It is pretty sweet. He has custom wheels for it HRE wheels, and he has got quite a bit of other stuff done to it too.
Unfortunately I do not have the money to fly out and ship it back on a truck, so me and my wife are going to drive it back to Pennsylvania. Should be a fun trip though!!!

How do you post Pics on this forum? It seems a little differant than the RX7 forum.

 

[ACELLR8]

Hey Airbornerx7:
I will agree with you that the RX-7 is in my opinion the best sports car you can get for the buck. Let alone it is one of the purest and sweetest looking cars ever made&lt; (this is just my opinion). I love the RX7 and always will, I would keep both if my finances allowed me. Maybe one day I will get another one.
It appears to me that you like the viper too, well honestly I never thought I would be buying one.
-For one I particularly do not care for American cars, I am all for support our country buy American and all. But when it comes down to it the Europeans and Japanese cars are better in reliability and ergonomics. For all American car lovers out there I am not bashing American cars, I am stating the facts, all you have to do is pick up any consumer reports mag.
The Dodge Viper is the only car I would have traded my RX7 for, with the exception of cars that are way out of my price range.
-second I never thought I would be able to afford one. Luckily for me my RX is paid off, I can get 20 k for that and then finance another 20k and have your average car payment on a Viper.
Either way I would not bash anybody's car, unless it was joking around or they were a complete *** and deserved it.
I do not think anyone here was bashing the RX7 or imports, but merely defending against some comments on a car they have a passion for.
You know for a fact if you want to see car bashing all you have to do is go to the RX7 forum, there you will see car bashing. Mainley I think because there are more young people buying the RX7 that just have not grown up.

This is just my two cents worth.
PS HOW DO YOU POST PICS?????PS HOW DO YOU POST PICS

 

[Scott J]

I think the knock on imports is more of an expression of pride than any form of disrespect. An RX7 owner is contemplating a swap for the Viper and one person decided to ***** the idea even though he doesn't own a Viper. The fastest Japanese car available is the NSX and after driving it, I was not impressed. When I crank the engine I want to hear the power beneath the hood burbling at me and I prefer getting pushed into the seat-back versus steadily letting a turbo spool-up and give an extra kick.

R2Silver: You asked for advice and have already expressed your interest, thus dmora is being a ******* by deviating from the question with unfounded comments! Yes, admittedly I am biased and will never like Japanese cars. I prefer cars with passion and soul, which is a subjective judgement that can only be felt. The Italians and Americans have it - other nameplates do not. You will not regret buying a Viper and you will get more kudos in one year of ownership than you would with just about anything else.

 

[dmora]

To post a picture, it has to be hosted from a server on the net. they you will type where ever you want the image to appear,
[ I M G ] http : / / www . your server . com / name of image .jpg [ / I M G ]

remove the spaces i had to type it like that because it wont output otherwise.

I never bashed the Viper like Steve bashes on my car. I think the viper is a nice/niche car, and it does not fit my niche, i guess that makes me a bad person or just a typical ricer for having a contradictory opinion. Oh well

Steve, congratulations on being a better driver than me.

 

[Steve Ferguson]

I guess I have a question for dmora? If you have no interest in Viper, then what are you doing on this web site? This is not intended to be mean, or to start a flame. But it appears that you are here for no other reason than to try and bash the car that provides this site?

I have no interest in Supra, and to this date have never entered on site that pertains to them, since there is no reason for me to do so?

The worst part is that you are off on everything you tell people asking questions about Viper, and then others have to come in and clean up what you start.

 

[dmora]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Scott J:
I think the knock on imports is more of an expression of pride than any form of disrespect. An RX7 owner is contemplating a swap for the Viper and one person decided to ***** the idea even though he doesn't own a Viper. The fastest Japanese car available is the NSX and after driving it, I was not impressed. When I crank the engine I want to hear the power beneath the hood burbling at me and I prefer getting pushed into the seat-back versus steadily letting a turbo spool-up and give an extra kick.

R2Silver: You asked for advice and have already expressed your interest, thus dmora is being a ******* by deviating from the question with unfounded comments! Yes, admittedly I am biased and will never like Japanese cars. I prefer cars with passion and soul, which is a subjective judgement that can only be felt. The Italians and Americans have it - other nameplates do not. You will not regret buying a Viper and you will get more kudos in one year of ownership than you would with just about anything else.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I did not ***** his idea. From reading the original post, it seemed that the only reason he was getting the viper was because his RX7 wasnt fast enough at a drag strip for him. I guess i missed the original intent of the post, but thats what i took from it. Following that idea, my opinions are not unfounded. Just because i dont own the car doesnt mean im not entitled to know anything about it. The viper is setup as a sports car, not a drag car. I fully congratulate him on his new purchase and will assume he got it for the right reasons and not just because he wants a drag racer. I like his RX7 too.

 

[dmora]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Steve Ferguson:
I guess I have a question for dmora? If you have no interest in Viper, then what are you doing on this web site? This is not intended to be mean, or to start a flame. But it appears that you are here for no other reason than to try and bash the car that provides this site?

I have no interest in Supra, and to this date have never entered on site that pertains to them, since there is no reason for me to do so?

The worst part is that you are off on everything you tell people asking questions about Viper, and then others have to come in and clean up what you start.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I like reading the information provided on this site. I like all things automotive and i'm a lot of different auto specific forums. I have no intrest in buying a viper. I like the car though. Its something different in a crowd.

 

[BWoodbury]

I agree 100% Steve!

Daniel,
If you have "no interest in buying a Viper" then why are you on this board???

 

[ACELLR8]

You must be registered for see images

Ok, Here we go, my attempt to post a pic of the car here.

 

[ACELLR8]

OOPS sorry the Pic is so big!!
Here is two more.

You must be registered for see images

You must be registered for see images

Man I cannot wait until tomorrow to pick it up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[MES]

WOW that's one of the nicest looking yellow RT-10's I have ever seen, sweet. Congrats

 

[Vreracing]

I had a 93 RX7. It was a fun car. I traded it for a Porsche 993C4 and was a little disappointed. I felt the RX7 was a lot faster and much more fun to drive. Part of that had to do with the 4 wheel drive system on the Porsche. The RX7 seemed to have a U shaped torque curve. It came on all of a sudden, there was a little dip, and then it went wild.

I agree with the part of not getting it with a Viper until you've driven one. When I first drove the Viper it was an experience I have not forgotten. When I first drove the RX7 it felt like an improved version of the 944T I had.

 

[-RUNNR]

I have been waiting to see a yellow engine, before I have mine done up in yellow...

Now if I can only find a shop here to do it.

Looks great. You'll love it compared to your RX

 

[Russ M]

Dmora,

I have been once a very active member of the supra community, and arguably had/have one of the if not the fastest supra and have proved it on many occasions. Before you go start flaming me about how wrong I am look up the results of the vegas 99 supra meet and you will see what I mean, the next clossest car was over 1sec slower than mine in the 1/4 mile. I am not saying this cause I want your respect just so that you admit that I know supras.
That being said, I am going to acknoledge that supras/rx7's/3000gt's are nice cars for what they are, no arguments from me. But you would have to be very clossed minded to think that even for a second they are even in the same league as a viper. Lets face facts, the viper is faster/handles better/looks way better/and is frankly less troublesome than your average *** supper car.
Ok I know what you are thinking ya but the viper costs way more, here is where you are wrong, you are considering new vipers vs used supras. A new supra back in lets say 95 was about 50k, well guess what a viper was only 54k or so. And stock to stock a viper will make a supra seem like an anemic attempt at a sports car. Modified to modified, the supra closses the gap in drag racing however in overall the viper once again makes the supra look pathetic. If you dont believe me bring your supra to the next viper days and race even a stock viper around the track with a totaly moded supra, you will see what I mean.
As to your comment regarding a supra holding its value better than a viper, here is some common knowledge that you may not be aware of. lets use 94 for comparison since its the year of the viper the other guy just bought. Supra in 94 50k +/- 2k depending on options, value today=20-25k if its in very good shape with under 50k miles depreciation 40-50%. Viper 94 50k according to publications, today 38-45k in simmilar condition 10-26%. And remember the new model of the supra is coming soon, and as I recal all supras go to the toilet on resale when the new model comes out, ie 93 supra 4k if your lucky.

Sorry for the long post, but I just had to straighten out some of your comments. And once again dont think this is a flame, just an observation. If you had said buy a supra over a c4 corvete or a saleen mustang, I would totaly agree with you.

 

[FRANK RT/10]

I have to say there are a lot of cars out there that are very nice to look at fun to drive and very fast. The Viper however is the best bang for the buck when you add everything up. If you like looks, speed, fun and sex appeal the viper is the way to go. You can put a $35,000 viper next to a $100,000+ exotic and both would get the same admiration and awe and with the viper it wont cost you $20,000 a year to maintain.

 

[scottgf]

Do you guys realize this thread was started in August of 2002...
I started reading this and noticed I had posted on this thread back then, Who knew???
.....hmmmm I wonder if the parties involved are even here now.
Cheers,

 

[Craig 201 MPH]

HOOLY OLD BUMP!

The last post before it was bumped was sept 2001!

 

[scottgf]

geeezzzz, I thought it was 2002.......holly molly!!! it was 2001!!
Cheers,

 

[lleone]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ACELLR8:

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Check your PM...

Lou

 

[MR VENOM]

As with any auto there is a lot of "emotion" involved. All I can tell you about the "Viper" is......it's about as much fun as you can have....with your clothes on!