Have the Z all detailed so my dad and I went for a spin. We wound up over at Foriegn Cars Italia. It's Porsche, Ferrari, Maserati, etc. dealer in the middle of freakn' Greensbro NC. I think they're here b/c of it's central location in the east coast, who knows, but they have some killer cars (had an Enzo this summer!).
I walk around and there's two vipers. One is a silver '97 GTS and the other is a '01 RT/10. I inquire about the red one and seeing as I roll up in the vette they take me seriously (I'm 22). Salesman was cool and was asking me question all about the Z, and even about the viper. I've drooled over those since I was little so I know all the stats and info etc (way more than the salesman, but he was very cool). We go for a test drive and here's my observations.
1. First I was shocked w/ how cheap and ugly the interior is! Makes the vette look like a Bently. The layout and dash design was butt compared to the vette (which has gerat ergonomics and looks IMO).
2. If you're over 6 foot you can't own one of these (I'm 6'4" and the vette is great for me) I was hitting my head on the roof, and while the seat went back plenty far for me, my left knee kept hitting the dash when I'd engage the clutch. To make matters worse there's no dead pedal or room at all to the left of the clutch. This means that you have to hold your foot up in the air the whole time!
3. The view from the cockpit isn't that great. You can't see much of the road, whereas in a c5 you have a very low hood line and great visibility.
4. The shifter feels like crap, I almost stuck it in first on a 2-3 shift, but so does the stock one in the vette so nothing against the viper there.
5. Probably the most disapointing thing of all was the sound. There was NONE! I figured a 488 c.i. v10 would make some noise, but not only did it sound bad, it was so quiet.
6. Driving the car was hard b/c I just plain didn't fit in it, but it is pretty fast. But, nowhere near as fast as I had expected. I guess I had built it up in my head over the years and just didn't realize how fast a Z was! Granted I didn't get it up over 100 and I hear that's where it'll walk away from a Z06. The car has amazing torque, but w/ no sound it's not that much fun. Also, the clutch is mechanical and much harder to push in that in a vette.
All in all it's a cool looking car, but seeing them side by side I really prefer the looks of my Z. It's much sleeker. I've always wanted a Viper, but man that car was dissapointing! I guess if you could make special brackets to lower the seats or chop my feet of then it might be better. If you're under 6' tall don't let this deter you, go drive one! But make sure you drive a Z06 too it you haven't :cheers: