Genx - I can't agree with you more. Some times I just want to head out and enjoy the car - Friday and Saturday nights around here are VERY tough for that. If I head out on those nights, within 5 minutes I'm fighting off a street race or attracting the attention of every single cop around.
I'd buy a Vette if it was faster than the Viper. No question. The current Z06 isn't quite there yet.
But I love the Viper - I won't ever replace...I'll just have to build a bigger garage.
For me, it is all about performance with each of the cars I own. I know I'll get some shaking heads for saying this but there are times I wish that the Viper was more widely accepted and not stared at all the time! It attracts all sorts of attention - some good, some bad. I'm probably one of the few here that are uncomfortable with the amount of attention it receives at times. I like that it makes some peoples day - I don't like that it's the measuring stick by which every other car seems to need to compare against on the street nor do I care for the police escorts late at night when I just want to play by myself.
I love to look at the Viper...don't get me wrong. But driving it is 99.8% of the reason I bought it. 0.01% is about future collectibility. The remaining 0.01% is about how it looks to me.
My ZR1 isn't all that much slower than my near stock Viper and it gets zero attention on the street - it's just another red C4 to most people. I LOVE that combination myself. I'm not always out looking for a race or out to turn heads - when I'm out, I'm usually out to just enjoy my machine and often other people's attention gets in the way of that. Gotta see about building that private track some day...
But like someone else said above - people buy these cars for all different reasons...it's pretty cool that the Viper offers enough of them to satisfy a lot of different folks!
lol at RedSnake...exclusive in what zip code?