On the original subject Mike-in-Denver raised -- are there people on the internet who don't know how to use a pull-down menu? I think most do, including the fact that there may be a default selection. Anyway, based on the comments, I see only 1 inadvertent vote for Mopar orange. True there could be others from those who didn't write comments, but it looks like the percent is small, so a recount shouldn't be necessary.
Personally, I wouldn't have voted in the poll unless I had seen a picture of my choice, and I like the car in black way better than red. I would never have thought to vote for orange, but who knows, if there had been a picture of each of the choices, the results could be very different. I wouldn't have thought the car looks as good in black as it does if I hadn't seen the pictures done by folks on this forum. So, who knows, it could look great in Mopar orange, but nobody's done a rendering, so I wouldn't vote for it.
Mike/Steve,
I agree with Mike that some people are casting votes to stir the *** (e.g., GTS Bruce: "Who cares? Car is ugly."). However, that vote was an "other" and I don't see comments showing that people voted for colors with malice in mind. Now the issue about casually voting for a color in this poll vs. having to back your vote up with a check for $65K (we can all dream, right?
) is a good one. That concern is outweighed, however, by the much smaller sample we would've gotten by limiting the vote to cert holders. Typically in a pole, you could get the effect you desire by wording the question appropriately. I think this question is worded pretty well. It's not vague like "What color would the SRT-10 look good in?" but "What color would YOU choose for YOUR new SRT-10?" It could be made stronger by adding "and would be willing to back your choice up with purchase agreement for a car in that color"....
Steve,
I tend to agree with JMcGuire, but maybe I read his comments a different way. Saying that the Viper philosophy should not be compromised to the desires of the public majority does not mean the Viper should never change, sometimes in ways that are desirable to the majority of the public. To me, it means the "edge" that the Viper has (in styling, performance, etc.) should never be softened because of some marketing survey or the like. E.g., adding A/C did not compromise performance of the car in any significant way (a few pounds of extra weight) but was a real plus in the comfort that some enthusiasts get out of the car. Me, I'm like you, I never use my A/C unless I'm giving a ride to someone who's a wimp.
But I don't feel the A/C compromised anything in my enjoyment of the Viper as America's greatest sportscar.
On the other hand, the styling of the 2003 does
not have the same edge as the current styling (my opinion and that of many others), and it was a mistake to make the design more mainstream to appeal to more people (my hypothesis of why the final design selection came out the way it did, especially given some of the more "edgy" alternatives that were created). Unless DC plans to make 10,000 of these per year, who cares if they get a million more people who like this styling better? They're only going to sell 2000 or fewer per year. I bet if we did a poll of cert holders as to why they got a cert, fewer than 20% would say because of the styling of the SRT. I got a cert and will (probably -- depending on price) take delivery of my SRT because of performance only.
To pick another example, going to a smaller-displacement V8 would have been a big mistake, even though it might have appealed to a broader audience. I thank God that DC did not make that mistake, even though that was apparently the original concept.
Now, I know you were talking about "comfort" features that appeal to the majority in the SRT, and I assume that means stuff like dead pedal and maybe that it's a true convertible, and I don't believe that performance was compromised to add those features, so I'm not opposed to them.
