I understand the people who say I weigh too much and need to loose weight. Fair assesment. I cannot argue.
My only point being that I have sat the Ferrari 430 and the new 458 and I fit in all of them fine, no problem. ( never owned a ferrari, just sat in them) . Ferrari figured it out years ago that to expand your market base of buyers you need to make the car a bit roomy. All I am saying is that if I feel VERY comfortable in the new Porsche, and C6 Corvette and if Gilles wants to expand the market of who buys a Viper then you need to make the car more roomy and NOT just expect to upgrade the interior and expect buyers to come running. Even GM with the Corvette knew their C4 was an ergo nightmare and as soon as the "roomy"C5 came out sales almost doubled. I was just expecting the new 2013 Viper to be void of the previous mentality of no room inside and inabilty to look out the windshield unless I duck down. Its 2013 and sorry but it is so unacceptable.
Fact. I bought my 1997 NEW off the showroom floor back in 1997, and was willing to deal with the somewhat compromised interior room because no car could touch it as far as performance. Today the 2013 Viper is no longer "untouchable" in the 1/4 mile and around the track
Fact. I sat in the 2013 Viper at Security Dodge in Amityville NY and felt that when I closed the door that my left shoulder and left arm was pressed between my thorax and the door panel with NO room to move it around. I did NOT feel that my gut, belly or abdomen or any point BELOW my chest or thorax was tight. SO there is plently of room for FAT guys but NO room if you have wide shoulders and are broad.
Fact. I went home and sat in my 1997 Viper GTS and it had more room in the shoulder and left arm area and I can move my left arm freely.
Fact. The new 2013 Viper has less head room ( about one inch less) than my 1997 Viper GTS. I checked by feeling above my head in both cars. Both cars have enough headroom that do not cause a problem for me at 6'2'' but anyone taller might be an issue,
Fact. Both my 1997 GTS and the 2013 have a issue (for me) with the roof overhanging too low and causing me to need to bend my head down and duck down to fully look out the windshield. This might have been acceptable back in 1997 but this is UNACCEPTABLE in 2013. Sorry.
Sorry, but I Love the Viper and wanted to buy the GTS Launch and was even willing to overlook the fact that at this point the car has a manual transmission whereas every other high dollar performance car has gone to paddles. ( my OPINION ONLY-- , just that at this price point I rather have paddles like every Ferrari and even the GT-R)
But once I sat in the car I was fustrated that the car had less room across the shoulders where my left arm was pinned and the pesky windshield visibilty overhang issue is still there after 16 years.
I was super excited about this Viper and love the brand. I collect all things Viper and have for the past 16 years. I have the Viper pinball machine, all the factory leather jackets, the Viper posters in the garage hanging next to my car, and all the diecasts. I was not to happy with the styling of the gen 3 and 4 and was all jacked up when I saw the 2013. But will have to pass on this car unfortunately.