KIHMO\'S VIPER EXPERIENCE (LONG)
I finally got to drive a GTS. I've never driven a Viper before. Up until about a month ago I never even touched one (showroom floor at dealer). I have an F-150 Lightning that I'm perfectly happy with and has never given me any trouble but I've always wanted a Viper. I decided that the best way to figure out if I liked the car would be to spend a day driving one. I realize that there are a few guys here on the board that would have been happy to let me play with their car but not for 24 hrs. There are no exotic car rentals with Vipers here in Georgia so I flew out to Vegas with my woman for the weekend to rent one. Why Vegas? I just like it there, lot of open road, and I saw a few Vipers for rent when I was there last. I picked up the car Saturday morning 6/1/02 at 8 a.m. The test mule was a completely stock '97 red GTS here's a picture I took of it near Lake Mead.
My thoughts... It was a little awkward getting in and out of at first but by the end of the day I got pretty good at it. It took some getting used to but as my seat time progressed things got to be more and more fun. The acceleration is incredible. A couple of times as I was already rolling at about 30mph I'd give it some gas and I could feel the rear sliding from side to side just a little and I couldn't believe it. I've never been in anything that had so much power. I like the way the interior seems to wrap around you. There is a lot more room inside than I expected. The handling was great. I barely touched the brakes and the thing would **** my head forward I liked that. I also had to learn to press the GO PEDAL gingerly because it was sooo sensitive. I pressed it a couple of times just as I would in any other vehicle and got a big surprise... head slamming against the head rest. I smiled at that too. I took it out to Hoover Dam and saw this thing so I had to take a picture thought you guys might like it.
Later we took it out to the desert on the way to Red Rock Canyon I think it's called. Out there I got it up to 120. I didn't want to push it for too long because I didn't know if there were any cops around. It seemed to get to 120 before I even realized I was going that fast. I had a great time. I found it easy to drive around town. Finding the proper angle when entering and exiting parking lots came fairly easy to me. The only things that I didn't like were that d@mn skip shift and the clutch. I like to push the clutch all the way to the floor. I've read that some of you don't but I feel more comfortable doing so. I know that Mr. Roe has something of a fix for this but I don't think that one inch is enough to compensate for how far you have to press it before it hits the floor. Is there anything else that can be done? I've decided that I'm gonna sell my Lightning and get a Viper. GO ME!!!! I think that I will be very happy considering that my first experience with a Viper was in a poorly cared for rental. The doors dropped when you opened them, the knob for the pedal adjustment was missing, they disconnected the a/c because they said the car over heated in stop and go traffic and because of the Nevada heat, the rear hatch wouldn't stay open in a breeze, the seats were tattered and torn, and the interior door panel was separating from the door. Despite all this I still had the most fun driving that car, more than I've ever had in anything else. If a Viper is this great to me after it's been beaten up I can't imagine how I'll feel when I get a well cared for low mileage monster machine of my very own. I was very happy with the '97 model but I'm still leaning towards a '99. We'll see. I'll be asking questions later.
I finally got to drive a GTS. I've never driven a Viper before. Up until about a month ago I never even touched one (showroom floor at dealer). I have an F-150 Lightning that I'm perfectly happy with and has never given me any trouble but I've always wanted a Viper. I decided that the best way to figure out if I liked the car would be to spend a day driving one. I realize that there are a few guys here on the board that would have been happy to let me play with their car but not for 24 hrs. There are no exotic car rentals with Vipers here in Georgia so I flew out to Vegas with my woman for the weekend to rent one. Why Vegas? I just like it there, lot of open road, and I saw a few Vipers for rent when I was there last. I picked up the car Saturday morning 6/1/02 at 8 a.m. The test mule was a completely stock '97 red GTS here's a picture I took of it near Lake Mead.
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My thoughts... It was a little awkward getting in and out of at first but by the end of the day I got pretty good at it. It took some getting used to but as my seat time progressed things got to be more and more fun. The acceleration is incredible. A couple of times as I was already rolling at about 30mph I'd give it some gas and I could feel the rear sliding from side to side just a little and I couldn't believe it. I've never been in anything that had so much power. I like the way the interior seems to wrap around you. There is a lot more room inside than I expected. The handling was great. I barely touched the brakes and the thing would **** my head forward I liked that. I also had to learn to press the GO PEDAL gingerly because it was sooo sensitive. I pressed it a couple of times just as I would in any other vehicle and got a big surprise... head slamming against the head rest. I smiled at that too. I took it out to Hoover Dam and saw this thing so I had to take a picture thought you guys might like it.
You must be registered for see images attach
Later we took it out to the desert on the way to Red Rock Canyon I think it's called. Out there I got it up to 120. I didn't want to push it for too long because I didn't know if there were any cops around. It seemed to get to 120 before I even realized I was going that fast. I had a great time. I found it easy to drive around town. Finding the proper angle when entering and exiting parking lots came fairly easy to me. The only things that I didn't like were that d@mn skip shift and the clutch. I like to push the clutch all the way to the floor. I've read that some of you don't but I feel more comfortable doing so. I know that Mr. Roe has something of a fix for this but I don't think that one inch is enough to compensate for how far you have to press it before it hits the floor. Is there anything else that can be done? I've decided that I'm gonna sell my Lightning and get a Viper. GO ME!!!! I think that I will be very happy considering that my first experience with a Viper was in a poorly cared for rental. The doors dropped when you opened them, the knob for the pedal adjustment was missing, they disconnected the a/c because they said the car over heated in stop and go traffic and because of the Nevada heat, the rear hatch wouldn't stay open in a breeze, the seats were tattered and torn, and the interior door panel was separating from the door. Despite all this I still had the most fun driving that car, more than I've ever had in anything else. If a Viper is this great to me after it's been beaten up I can't imagine how I'll feel when I get a well cared for low mileage monster machine of my very own. I was very happy with the '97 model but I'm still leaning towards a '99. We'll see. I'll be asking questions later.
