Purchasing help between SRT or ACR

[Arvin03]

First time poster! I have been eyeing to get a viper for like 6-7 years now but my money just didn't stack right. I window shopped since 2017 and watched the prices on Gen V vipers practically double across the board. The viper for me would be a long term purchase that I would get to enjoy and drive as much as possible.

I prefer an ACR everything about it specifically the Aero is something I must have.

I am torn on which route to go and was looking for educated opinions or even feasibility on my options.
1. Any idea when a good time would be to buy one, should I wait for this so called used car market to drop once new car sales catches up, or will viper prices likely stay where they are since they are discontinued now.
2. Should I purchase and SRT due to cheaper pricing, more availability, likely more aligned to colors and creature comforts I would want for longer drives. And add OEM ACR aero parts to it which I know are expensive, not sure if they are even readily available. Likely will get a lot less depreciation vs getting ACR and putting high mileage on it. Not that I would get it with the intention to sell for a long long time.
3. Sell a kidney and get ACR

Appreciate everyone's help and opinions, hope to join the club soon!

 

[MoparMap]

I have a feeling prices probably aren't going to be getting better any time soon, especially on ACRs, so I'd try to keep my eye out sooner than later. You also potentially have some options even there depending on what exactly you are going for. There were really two or three different levels of aero on the gen 5 through the years, so if you're not going for the max effort ACR-Extreme, you might be able to get something cheaper with just the standard rear wing. I feel like there was even a smaller wing yet earlier on, something like an aero group TA, not strictly an ACR, but I might be confusing that with something else. I recall seeing an "aero group" option on maybe the gen 4s, but maybe that's just the ACR aero without the ACR suspension? Someone else hopefully knows more than me.

Buying stock and upgrading isn't a bad idea, but the ACR parts themselves might be more expensive than you think and not worth the effort in the long run. You would likely need to swap out at least parts of the stock suspension anyway. At minimum you would need larger springs to handle the downforce, and at that point you'd probably also want different shocks with valving designed to work with higher spring rates. It's not impossible, and it's something you could collect over time, so it could be cheaper, but it's often easier to buy the whole package at once.

Timing wise, winter usually brings price drops as people aren't driving ******** race cars in the snow very often. When spring comes around everyone wants to go fast again and you usually see some increase in price as the demand hits the market harder. Maybe not that significant of a different for collector cars, but every little bit can help. Similar story with buying cars from different regions. A car for sale in California would probably have similar value year round because it's a year round driving kind of place. It might make it more difficult to test drive something if you buy in the dead of winter out of Minnesota or something, but you can work something out. It's not like a Viper will self destruct if you drive it when it's 30 degrees outside, you just have to be smart and careful about it. ACR tires are probably a really bad idea in that temp, but the "standard" style Michelin or Pirellis would likely be fine to "run errands" on in the sense of a test drive to see how the car acts and suits you.

 

[Steve-Indy]

Short version of an old fart's (me !!) opinion:

Buy exactly what you really want when it is feasible. I would not suggest building up a clone on a lesser model as it is unlikely that you will be able to sell it as easily or for as much money as if it was an OEM ACR-E.

Best regards !

 

[Arvin03]

Appreciate the responses! I hadn't even considered the suspension implications of the downforce. From my research the rear wing is like $20k, 10K for Front Splitter, 8-9k for fear diffuser. These were my initial upgrades I had thought of nut even then that brings a typical SRT which is going for roughly $130k USD to almost $180k.

I most recently saw an ACR selling for about $220-$230k so all of the above comments make sense!

 

[WHY U TRY]

I have been watching the ACRE market for the last couple of months telling myself when they got near $200k I'd buy one. I saw the $229K with 16k miles in Texas, maybe that's the one you were talking about. I passed on it because it's not a true ACR but a GTC with all the ACR options from the factory. I wanted the ACR VIN from the factory. I believe these will be less affected by market on the downside and when I put a lot of miles on it! Other options I would pay attention to are interior and exterior carbon fiber options and the 18-speaker system was a must for me since I'll be driving it a lot. Just my personal opinion and search requirements.

That being said, I don't think the prices are going to come down much and since I'm a long term buyer and wanted one to enjoy and drive for the next 10-20 years, I jumped and bought a 2016 ACR Extreme last week. I didn't want to be kicking myself for waiting another year only to see them go up another 10% or more in price.

 

[Steve-Indy]

CONGRATS !!

 

[TA Hawk]

I turned my TA into a “fake” ACR. It cost about $35k ,that includes the entire Aero and coil overs . In my opinion if your buying it to drive it it’s a much better option than buying an ACR unless you have money to throw around

Here is the write up I did on the other Viper Form

TA to ACR conversion - Page 4

Hi Guys I have converted my TA into an ACR with the advanced Aero kit from Xtreme Super cars. The kit came with no instructions however Wayne was great with the communications and answering questions to assist me with the installation. The templates he provided were precise and...

driveviperforums.com

 

[viperkim]

I have a feeling prices probably aren't going to be getting better any time soon, especially on ACRs, so I'd try to keep my eye out sooner than later. You also potentially have some options even there depending on what exactly you are going for. There were really two or three different levels of aero on the gen 5 through the years, so if you're not going for the max effort ACR-Extreme, you might be able to get something cheaper with just the standard rear wing. I feel like there was even a smaller wing yet earlier on, something like an aero group TA, not strictly an ACR, but I might be confusing that with something else. I recall seeing an "aero group" option on maybe the gen 4s, but maybe that's just the ACR aero without the ACR suspension? Someone else hopefully knows more than me.

Buying stock and upgrading isn't a bad idea, but the ACR parts themselves might be more expensive than you think and not worth the effort in the long run. You would likely need to swap out at least parts of the stock suspension anyway. At minimum you would need larger springs to handle the downforce, and at that point you'd probably also want different shocks with valving designed to work with higher spring rates. It's not impossible, and it's something you could collect over time, so it could be cheaper, but it's often easier to buy the whole package at once.

Timing wise, winter usually brings price drops as people aren't driving ******** race cars in the snow very often. When spring comes around everyone wants to go fast again and you usually see some increase in price as the demand hits the market harder. Maybe not that significant of a different for collector cars, but every little bit can help. Similar story with buying cars from different regions. A car for sale in California would probably have similar value year round because it's a year round driving kind of place. It might make it more difficult to test drive something if you buy in the dead of winter out of Minnesota or something, but you can work something out. It's not like a Viper will self destruct if you drive it when it's 30 degrees outside, you just have to be smart and careful about it. ACR tires are probably a really bad idea in that temp, but the "standard" style Michelin or Pirellis would likely be fine to "run errands" on in the sense of a test drive to see how the car acts and suits you.

If your not in the game for $200K plus, and you are not a big track nut. Stay out of an ACR E my GTS is a great road car. You can get into a loaded low milage GTS for under $150K. Price is not going down find what you like n make your best deal. Parts are getting to be more n more expensive.

 

[Goggles Pizano]

@viperkim please start looking at the dates of the threads you are replying too. You are getting better at it as this one is only 2 years old and not 5 years old like that other thread reply.

If you are just trying to get your post count up, their are better ways of doing that.