Viper owners must be rich ?

[Chrissss]

I've never heard that. While it's not an inexpensive car it's certainly not a super rich car. Some of the wealthy people I know don't drive Vipers. I don't think Vipers make people think you are rich. Now if you are driving Ferraris and the type, then well......

 

[RevHeat]

Just tell them something like.... I am rich, rich in debt.

Rev

 

[KNG SNKE]

I've never heard that. While it's not an inexpensive car it's certainly not a super rich car. Some of the wealthy people I know don't drive Vipers. I don't think Vipers make people think you are rich. Now if you are driving Ferraris and the type, then well......

Has the looks of a million bucks though. You have to remember more people are car illiterate then car savvy. I was gassing up my Audi TT last weekend and a guy approached me and said "You must be rich to drive a car like that." The car is in super condition, but it is a 2001. He paid more for his van then I paid for the car. Looks expensive, but is inexpensive.

 

[ferraritoviper]

Why is it people think just because you own a Viper you must be rich? .

Buying a new Viper is chump change, compared to the thrill receive...and the glory perceived!

 

[Chrissss]

Has the looks of a million bucks though. You have to remember more people are car illiterate then car savvy. I was gassing up my Audi TT last weekend and a guy approached me and said "You must be rich to drive a car like that." The car is in super condition, but it is a 2001. He paid more for his van then I paid for the car. Looks expensive, but is inexpensive.

Good point. I think its also that you see so few of them that when one does pop up, people think it must be super expensive. I suppose where one lives has a lot to do with it also. In my area (no I am not wealthy) a Viper would not be considered a rich car. Rare though. I think you are right about the looks of the car though. One of my best friends, who is wealthy, has an amazing car collection. He has the Porsche Carrera Gt, a Mclaren SLR and a Ferrari 599 GTB and Scuderia (drives a Toyota as an everyday driver?). With what those four cars cost you could what, buy 15 or 16 new Viper ACRs? When he takes one of those out and I take my Viper, for those that don't know cars, my Viper gets just as many looks. For those that do know cars, it doesn't. I agree the car looks more expensive than it is.

 

[Wyoming_54]

One crazy thing is here in Wyoming $60,000 Dually pickups are the normal every day drivers for alot of the people. My daily driver is a Sunfire. I know vipers get alot of attention, so I'll get use to the commits. I'm not the only Viper in town but you rarely see the others out.

 

[slysnake]

Most are shocked how affordable they are.

I was one of those people. The Viper was always my dream car but I thought I never would be able to aford one. Then, two years ago, I decided to actually look and see if I could pull it off... and it turned out I could!

 

[dodgefever]

People making that comment to me has always rubbed me the wrong way. I am a very middle class, federal worker who just budgets and allocates my spending in a way I can have a nice house and a few nice cars with the Viper being one of them. When I built my house a few years back, I thought nothing of how nice it was or elegant it looked. I took pictures of it to work to share with my "friends" and started hearing comments about "rubbing my money in their face", and "showing off how much money I have". and these were my "friends"! I learned to just keep what I was proud of to myself around some people. It all started over again when I got the GTS. I don't drive it to work and I don't mention to anyone I meet I have it because of those comments. It's usually my friends who tell them...."he has a Viper!" I have to admit I don't understand the mentality of someone, friend or not, who feels the need to point out your money status.

 

[FrankBarba]

I actually try to hide my cars. Everytime i unload a car a few will come over to check it out. MY neighbors actually think i show off. When i first moved into my neighborhood i would have visitors come over all the time to ask about my cars & what i do for a living. I usually tell them that i help others make money so they too can have toys like i have. When people finally realize how much you have they tend to look at you in a different light. What they don't see or fail to realize is the work that was put forth to be able to have the vehicles that i love. If they only knew....

 

[georgethedog]

I buy Vipers because I like them and have had them 15 years. I could afford more expensive cars, but have no desire to buy foreign (no Fiat jokes) I traded my one non US car, an M5 for a CTS-V.

I have no desire for a Ferrari or Lambo. I like the fact that Viper owners come from varied backgrounds and from many income levels--real cars for real people.

You are rich... Must be nice...

 

[georgethedog]

i think the problem is alot of people think vipers cost alot more than they really do. if they ask, people are shocked to find out i dont pay $10,000/month in insurance too.

Don't fool me big-n-italian, you are rich... Proof: You have a Sheriff Taylor car and I'm damn jealous, rich guy.

 

[Crompton]

I think its great.I am a second year soon to be a third year plumbing apprentice.And if no one knows that i got my car with money i got from a car accident then they always ask how long i sold drugs for or how much cash my parents have even if i am over thirty.Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy to be placed up in the higher class bracket even for a few minutes befor i come back down to working class person and tell them how i actualy got it.lol

 

[Bird325]

I'm new to the pack and have been blown away with all the comments at work about me being 'paid too much'. My wife's CTS cost more last year and I can PROMISE you that she doesn't smile near as much when she's driving it.

I don't think it's so much the car as the attitude and loving owning something that not every neighbor has. I remember seeing the first production Viper at the State Fair Auto Show years ago and standing there appreciating it with my son (about 6 or 7 at the time) for about 20 minutes with neither of us saying a word. I know he was appreciating it as much as *I* was and thinking 'I'll never be able to afford that'. Times change ... lives change and I made a promise to myself that I would SOME DAY have a Viper. Thank God I finally got there and married a woman that can appreciate the 'BECAUSE I WANT IT' in the pro's vs. con's list.

Are you rich ... you BET! If not on the balance sheet that the bank has, having a dream come true is something that many will never experience because they are too short sighted. I'm at an age that causes me to think about what I should have done in the past differently. Getting my Snake is something that I've wanted for way too long and I finally did it and am LOVING it.

 

[jcaspar1]

When I tell them you can pick up a Viper for 35k$ most of them are shocked....

 

[Chrissss]

When I tell them you can pick up a Viper for 35k$ most of them are shocked....

I think most people are thinking new ones, not few years old.

 

[ticketmered]

I usually tell people I sell drugs; that shuts them up cause they don't what to say.
Now, when I first decided to get a Viper I was not sure if I could pull it off; but i did. Driving the car home was uncomfortable because even here in SoCal you don't see Vipers every day and people tend to look; a lot.
It took me a while to get to the point where I could afford a Viper, I busted my @@s going to school and establishing a career. I am not rich bit I do have a job that pays me enough to afford to drive my Viper.

 

[Bonkers]

I have to admit I don't understand the mentality of someone,
friend or not, who feels the need to point out your money status.

I have come to learn that this is one of those nasty side
effects of owning a viper. Granted, 90%+ of the people I meet
are genuinely enthusiastic about the car and are pure joy to be
around, but there are a few who think you're driving it just, as
you so elegantly put it, "to rub their noses in your money," To
make matters worse, if you don't happen to make a lot of money
there's a completely different group who can't understand why
you, a viper owner, won't just cut a check today for that new
set of PS2s or that Arrow Rebuild ect...

The reality though is that (right or wrong) people don't need
any reason at all to judge you and the Viper is as big, flashy,
expensive a reason as anything else. For me though, any
negativity I may get will never, ever compete to the feeling of
a single warm summers night dash on an empty stretch of beach
highway. But that's just me.

 

[Leslie]

I THINK because the Viper CAN be a very uhhh...'limiting' car for the average family of 4...

2-seater car
gas guzzzzzler
usually can only drive it 6 mos out of the year
tires are HUGE and expensive
parts are more $ than the average daily driver, ex: the HOOD!
none of the nannys required by the average sedan driver
creature comforts may be lacking for some


for me, those are all the reasons I DID buy a Viper hahaaa!

 

[Wyoming_54]

I raced Stock cars ( dirt oval ) for 13 years. I quit last year, paid off some debt. Saved up some money, found a Viper, got a loan. Got the car shipped to me and there it sits. I can't wait for summer. Also vipers are cheaper than racecars. Better resale value too. No one ever thought I was rich when I was racing. I don't see the big deal if someone is rich. There are rich people, and alot of them worked a life time to get there.

 

[2000_Black_RT10]

My job puts it into perspective rather quickly.. Most recent stuff I worked on.. the supercar from the customer costs around $2M USD ea. and there was a gentleman who ordered 3, another gentleman ordered 2, one to drive and the other car is going to be hung on the wall like a painting inside his home.. then again.. perhaps it's a palace..

I am definitely not rich.. my favorite quote..

"He chose to be rich by making his wants few.." - Ralph Waldo Emerson eulogy for Henry David Thoreau.

 

[J&R3xV10]

I am rich....it must just be you.

People all the time ask me what I do for a living and I try to be very vague and just say I am in the trade show industry. When I talk to people at work about cars (every day) it doesn't take them long to get that perplexed look on their face when they start realizing I have several cars. Then they try to add them up and say "wait, how many cars do you have??" Yes I have five Dodges, three viper vehicles, a mega cab, and a caliber. Hell my Mega Cab is worth more on paper than my Gen 1.

I make about the same as most of the people in my position at work. Even people that make more than me ask where I get all my money so I tell them "hookers and blow, we have party packages". Truth is I just don't spend my money on things that I can live without and vipers isn't on that list!

 

[Brian GTS]

I bought my first Viper, a 94 R/T10 back in 1998, and could barely afford it. I made so many other sacrifices just to have the car. I crammed it in my tight one stall garage...couldn't even open the door the whole way to get out. Oh, but it was worth it...every penny.

I know what you mean though. A lot of people do perceive Viper owners as rich. That's the only part I don't like about it.

 

[eucharistos]

I have come to learn that this is one of those nasty side
effects of owning a viper. Granted, 90%+ of the people I meet
are genuinely enthusiastic about the car and are pure joy to be
around, but there are a few who think you're driving it just, as
you so elegantly put it, "to rub their noses in your money," To
make matters worse, if you don't happen to make a lot of money
there's a completely different group who can't understand why
you, a viper owner, won't just cut a check today for that new
set of PS2s or that Arrow Rebuild ect...

The reality though is that (right or wrong) people don't need
any reason at all to judge you and the Viper is as big, flashy,
expensive a reason as anything else. For me though, any
negativity I may get will never, ever compete to the feeling of
a single warm summers night dash on an empty stretch of beach
highway. But that's just me.

I THINK because the Viper CAN be a very uhhh...'limiting' car for the average family of 4...

2-seater car
gas guzzzzzler
usually can only drive it 6 mos out of the year
tires are HUGE and expensive
parts are more $ than the average daily driver, ex: the HOOD!
none of the nannys required by the average sedan driver
creature comforts may be lacking for some


for me, those are all the reasons I DID buy a Viper hahaaa!

among others, well said

 

[snakem04]

Basically it all boils down to this. people that dont own vipers or any type of car above average will never understand. Specially if there not car crazy. Like others have said its all how you spend your money. some take lots of vacations, some buy huge homes, others buy land, etc. But someone like me likes to live in a normal bi-level home, take 1 vaction a year, and own the car of my dreams. Ever since i was a little boy i dreamed of owning a viper one day. I just never really thought it would happen. Its funny the reaction i get when people find out that im in my low 20's and its not my parents car and that my parents didnt buy it for me. They never believe that i work 60 hours a week at a regular blue collar job and can have a viper. The car makes me look and feel like a million bucks. Someone in another thread said they wished there where a couple thousand vipers where made every year. I simply love them just the way they are. Thats why i didnt buy a corvette, everyone and there uncle has one. Trust me theres 4 vettes in my family And just like someone said above about how friends or not it gets anoying when other people come out and say he has a viper. my friends do that all the time when we are out. I dont even put pictures of my viper on facebook or myspace. Id rather not let everyone around me know i have a viper. Then i have to worry about people wanting to steal it or break into my house. I bought my viper for my own satisfaction and noone elses. It truely is a dream come true.

 

[pteam]

i have recommended this book to countless people over the years

the book "The greatest miracle in the world" by og mandino was just recommended to me as being like the best book ever in this category, so I'm gonna read it next when I get back from hawaii

 

[bdelass]

I always look at it like this...

I'm the one who spent 9 years in college, took on the student loan and business loan debt, worked countless hours to create a little success in this life to build a business from scratch, all the while watching friends and relatives buying cars, boats, motorcycles and homes long before I ever did. So at 31, if they see my '97 GTS or '08 SRT-10 each as million-dollar cars....I let them. They don't need to know that both were "new-to-me-cars" or that I've got less than 100K in the pair....which; by the way, is still less than the student loan debt that I took on to make these cars possible.

 

[PDCjonny]

im a fancy man, i deserve a fancy car.

+1 Plum fancy pants.

 

[plumcrazy]

jon, you know im a fancy guy...

if i were any fancier, id have TWO vipers.

 

[Flash Gordon]

jon, you know im a fancy guy...

if i were any fancier, id have TWO vipers.

And if I was any fancier, I'd have what's under your hood in my Viper... Actually, you've got more in your engine than my entire car's worth...

p.s.. that car still scares me man...

 

[plumcrazy]

lol, dont get me started... i got all kinds of stories to tell about YOU, Mr fancier pants...