Mileage and Vipers

[Vanquish]

Guys,

I have been hearing various opinions on the amount of mileage a viper should have before it is considered too high. So I'm posting the question "What is the right mileage you should put on your car before it is deemed to much". Based on the following Categories:

A) Keep it as a collectable
B) Non daily driver (Only on Weekends and sunny days)
C) Daily driver

For example: I read in one thread that there was/is a 2002 GTS with 15,000 miles, this was considered to be too high for the year, thus would not command the best price even though it was well maintained.
Thanks in advance for you feedback.

 

[George Murray]

I've accepted a few late 80s/early 90s Toyota 4 cyl. pickups as trade-ins, with 220 - 270K miles. All but one continued to run well (22R engines are good, and I don't even like imports).

I'd say that if a cheap 4 cyl Toyota is still worth buying/selling/driving at that kind of mileage, then our Vipers shouldn't be considered high-mileage until something like one BILLION miles.

Yellow Vipers, of course, run a few googoogazillion miles.

Vanquish - it seems like anything over 5K miles on a Viper can have a case made for it being "too high mileage-wise." Biggest variable is how well the car care has been. I think almost everyone agrees that over 20K is high for a Viper.

That's my 300,000,000,000,000,000 Iraqi Dinars (two cents) dollars).

 

[garolittle]

"Non daily driver (Only on Weekends and sunny days)"

This is the category that I fell into with my '94 RT/10. I owned the car for two years and put 14,000 total miles on it. However, I remember reading somewhere that the average Viper owner puts about 3,000 miles per year on the car.

 

[Jack]

1) Keep it as a collectible

You only live once. The only reason I could see somebody taking the first catagory is for bragging rights. So in 20 years you can brag your Viper is worth 3 times what you paid for it. Big deal. You can make way more than that from real estate or investing wisely in the stock market. I sold my '73 SD-455 Trans Am for 2.5 times what I paid for it. Then I looked at how much more I would've made if I'd bought Coke stock instead (about 8 times what I would've paid for that).
But I didn't care. I have memories flying into Las Vegas on hwy 95 with a Camaro and turbo T-Bird in tow, big smiles on everyones faces. Or how about the time driving through Phoenix that I blew away a guy in his '65 fuelie Vette on I-10 (he must've thought he was racing a smogger late '70s TA).
Vipers are about attending VOI, hanging out with other Viper owners, sitting in the garage staring at it and thinking you wouldn't trade it for any other car even if you hit the lotto tomorrow.
I fall into the B catagory I like to enjoy it, but driving it every day, would to me, take away some of the special-ness of it. I suppose if I could afford to spend $50K in addition to the Viper I would have a Z06 or Boxster as a daily driver (I consider those cars more expendable than a Viper). My .02 cents.

Jack Janney

 

[joe117]

I have the highest miles Viper in the world. It's a 94 with 105k miles. The engine was changed under warranty at 95k miles due to head gaskets. I've done a fairly complete, inside, outside, mechanical rebuild. I'd say mine is as good as any of the other 94s. I guess any car is going to start to deteriorate the moment it drives off the production line. You can worry about every little thing or you can drive it wherever you like. It's more fun to have one that you don't have to treat like a museum piece.
By the way, anyone is free to dispute the highest miles Viper claim. I've never found one with more than mine.

 

[Vreracing]

Mine has 23K miles on a 98 GTS.

Runs like new.

Had the airconditioner compressor go out at 18K miles.

Otherwise its been flawless.

Doesn't squeek or rattle any more than it did with 2K miles on it.

Engine pulls strong. Clutch engages well.

Not what I would consider high mileage.

Main reason for this is that I'm the only driver and drive it pretty much as a daily driver. Car hasn't seen any major abuse.

Basically it has to do with how its been driven.

 

[Tom and Vipers]

Boy this hits a tender spot with me.

Regarding Collectible:

A turbocharged 89 Pontiac Trans AM may fetch $25-30k if it has less than 1000k miles. Less that 100 miles probably add another $5k. Less than 10 miles, add perhaps another $5k.

One with 120-150k you can get for $5-8k.

So if you want to invest in a collectible, buy a 03 SRT and do not drive it whatsoever. Treat it like bullion or a full scale model.

If you don't particularly like Vipers, this is OK.

If you do like them, this is crazy unless you also have a couple to drive.

=======================================================

Cars Only 1-3 years old:

No matter how many miles, these are sill "new" cars.

Unless you bot a Viper taxi or pizza delivery vehicle, if the oil was changed and it wasn't "beaten," the car should be fine with 75000 miles.

=======================================================

Daily:

Condition, care, and maintenance are a big factor.

You can have a car that was fussed with continuously.
Or one that was maintenanced properly and never cleaned.
Or one was beaten to death (which is somewhat unlikely.)

The Viper drive train is very robust and if the engine does not burn oil or knock, it should last indefinitely if adult driven.

Again, a car with 100k on it could be a fine daily driver.

I think Markus in Bavaria has an obscene amount of miles on his GTS. 200k? I could be imagining this however!

===========================================================

Non-Daily Driver:

This would be a car in the sweet spot of perhaps 5k miles a year. Again, condition is paramount. You can destroy the front end finish if you tailgate in 10k miles.

=============================================================

Bottom Line:

MILEAGE IS IMPORTANT ONLY FOR A COLLECTIBLE.

ALL OTHER CASES, CONDITION IS THE IMPORTANT FACTOR.

(The BMW, Porsche and Mercedes guys know this because their cars can go well over 250k if maintained properly.)

 

[Jerry Dobson]

Vanquish,

It's strange that the magic number is always around 20k miles. More mileage and the resale goes down. This is true for any Viper including the early ones.

About 3k miles a year appears to be average.

"2002 with 15k miles".....WOW!!! I can assure you that car took a hit in resale.

 

[Vanquish]

Guys,

Thanks for all your feedback. I would categorize myself as a weekend nice day driver. I have approximately 12,500 miles on my 96 GTS so it comes to about 2000 miles per year. But I don't plan on selling it any time soon so, my 2000 mile average isn't bad.

Thanks
BR

 

[Bernard]

I have 45K on my 2000 RT/10, so it's a daily driver. I would equate driving my car to having a beautiful woman, enjoy it as often as you can.

 

[Tiepilot]

I've got 34k on my '96 and I fuss over her constantly both mechanically and appearence.

I love my Viper!

 

[Lawrenzo]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Tom and Vipers:
Boy this hits a tender spot with me.

Regarding Collectible:

A turbocharged 89 Pontiac Trans AM may fetch $25-30k if it has less than 1000k miles. Less that 100 miles probably add another $5k. Less than 10 miles, add perhaps another $5k.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

You must be referring to the very few hardtops/cloth interior cars made that year- the 2 t-tops/leather cars I owned were low mileage and never commanded those prices when I sold them?? But that was a few years ago.

 

[Tom and Vipers]

You had the Anniversary 89 with under 1000k miles and didn't do well?

 

[Bonkers]

If you are concerned about resale buy a honda. If it doesn't get at least 5k a year I won't touch for fear of what may have dry rotted.

The saddest thing I have ever seen was a Yenko Chevelle with 3200 orginial miles. Why not just shoot the poor thing now and put it our of its misery?