Raven, perhaps I am uniquely qualified to chime in with somewhat of an "expert" opinion in this matter. I purchased a 2014 Corvette Stingray with z51 package and 3LT and all the bells and whistles at the end of January. This past week I traded in that very same Corvette for a new base SRT Viper and haven't regretted it...not...one...bit!
I haven't driven the Viper enough to create a thorough review however I do have somewhat of a list of pros and cons for each. I'll try my best to be succinct.
The primary reasons I decided to trade-in the Vette and purchase the Viper (sight unseen, I might add) are for starters, I really wanted the Viper to begin with. I just happened to head down to a local Vette dealership and checked out the inventory they had. I saw a Velocity yellow Vette and fell in love. It's such a hot color and with the black and carbon fiber accents this car just screams speed. The local Dodge dealerships had nothing...well, they had a red one and I wasn't interested in that color. The price difference between the two was also something that made me immediately discount the Viper. Well, that and the following...
1. Vette reviews were simply out of this world positive and uniformly negative for the Viper.
2. Price point of $70k for the Vette versus the Viper's $125k with what I felt were necessary options.
3. Local dealers (all but one, anyway) were selling new Stingrays with z51 packages at MSRP. No dealers in my area had Vipers I could be interested in.
4. My purchase was spur of the moment. I walked in the dealershp and walked out having reserved a Stingray just 2 weeks away from delivery.
The day after I purchased and took ownership of my Vette my name was put on the list for the z06. I felt the Vette just left me wanting...more. More acceleration. More torque. More noise...just more. A week after that and the color just started to look...blah. I just fell out of love with the Vette and the color. Interestingly enough, I was on a Corvette forum when I heard about the troubles the Viper were having. There were several threads about the plant closing down and the seemingly tons of left over new 2013 Vipers just sitting on dealer lots, collecting dust. Once I got a wiff of how much some people were getting off MSRP on both left over 2013 AND 2014 I decided to start seriously looking.
Three weeks later and my new baby girl is sitting in the garage. I found several dealers willing to give me close to MSRP on my Vette and my particular deal I worked out with CarlBurgers was over 20% discount. A couple other deals I got from other dealerships were over 25% discount for 2013 GTSs. I ultimately went with the base model.
Over the course of the first 4 days of ownership here are my impressions (versus ownership of the Vette):
Viper PROS:
1. Styling (it's such a wonderfully designed car. In my opinion, it easily beats the new C7 design.
2. Exclusivity (In the two months of owning the Vette I saw countless new Stingrays, everywhere. Most didn't have all the options that mine did and while I did enjoy watching them as they passed by, I felt I was starting to see too many too quickly)
3. Sound (My Vette had the performance exhaust and while it sounds awesome, it just doesn't sound as raw, threatening, and threatening as the Viper. Yeah, the drone is a little much but man do I love the rumble that breaks it up)
4. Interior (My Viper has upgraded leather and man is it superior to the Vettes. I love the cockput styled interior of the Vette and the sound system is top notch and full of decent base but the leather felt cheap and many other areas of the dash, seats, etc felt thin and like Chevy was trying to save money. Also, the interior stunk. I don't know why...it just smelled bad.
5. Power (the extra horse power, extra torque, wider tires and everything else makes the experience driving the Viper completely different and totally better. The power is just...there and its ready at a moment's notice. There's so much there that it can scare you. You feel like the Viper will break loose at any moment but it doesn't and no matter what your speed is, there's torque right there to take you to the next level)
6. Exclusivity (I immediately felt like I was in possession of something raw and special, like a diamond. It's a feeling that everyone is looking at you and if they aren't they should be. Each day driving my Viper I see at least one new Vette. I've yet to see another Gen 5 Viper. That matters to me.)
7. Speed (Best I could do in the Vette was 4.2sec, 0-60, and I tried numerous times on closed roads in different parts in town. On the second attempt in the Viper, I hit 3.9sec in a 0-60 and I was just playing around. It is and just feels that much faster than the Vette)
Corvette Stingray PROS:
1. Efficiency (man does this car have it down. It does an excellent job of making you feel like you are driving something raw and at the same time like you are driving a top of the line economy car. It's so good at switching from 4 cyclinders to 8 and back again. The new Vette can teach you to be a better driver and save money.
2. Amenities (The C7 Vette does a good Porsche impressionation. The heated seats are there. The cooled seats too. Power seats are at your finger tips and man is it cool to have the Vette's seats move back by themself when you want to get out and when you get it they move you right back into the position you were in. The HUD is crazy useful and effective. The different driving modes are not just for show.)
3. Comfort (The C7 is just plain more comfortable than the Viper. There's more room for both the driver and passenger. It feels like an inspired design and is a superb attempt at being ergonomical, comfortable, useful. Passangers having their own controls is useful benefit)
4. Value (There isn't much else that can touch it here. Th CTS-V, maybe. Boxster S or Cayman S, perhaps. Even with the massive discounts being offered on unsold Vipers, not much can touch the sheer value you get for your money when you purchase a new Stingray over any of the competition).
Corvette Stingray CONS:
1. My Vette had already gone into service 3 times in less than 2 months. Issues like broken door buttons, deteriorating steering column finish that needed fixing and horrible orange peel coupled with bad, uneven paint areas meant my Vette was away from my garage for nearly a week for repair.
2. Too much torque and not enough weight/tire. I had never seen a car that broke loose so much. Can the Vette corner like it's on rails? Sure it can...unless it looses grip and slides out from under you. It was bad enough I knew I would have to buy better tires and soon.
3. Design. Ultimately, the design and paint color just got on my nerves. Sure everyone loved my Vette and gave me tons of compliments but I knew there were tons of Vettes out there and soon to be spinning their wheels on the streets. I guess I just apprecaited exclusivity more than I thought.
I hope this helps. I didn't realize I wrote so much. Got any specific questions about the Vette or my experience with it or either car?
