Whatever You Do Dodge Please.....

[Jeff Torrey]

With reference to the current SRT-10 Poll here is what I have to say.
Whatever you do please; Keep it up. The last thing I would want to see is the end of the Viper.
Some days if you follow this board all you see is criticism. Negative feedback from disgruntled owner. I too have had my moments of frustration with my car. Days when I have felt that I was wronged. But I would not trade my experience for anything.
The car is a dream.
Dodge rocked the world with these cars not once but twice. I say the GTS is over the top. You would be hard pressed to top that car. A pretty tough act to follow.
Its just part of my personality to resist change. Growth is important.
So what I have to say to Dodge, a car company that describes itself as "Different" (and all you have to do is drive a Viper to prove that); Keep on Keepin' on! ... and I will take my snake for a ride.
Thanks again.

 

[-RUNNR]

Well said Jeff

 

[Roland L-Ocala FL]

Agreed! Although I will never be able to afford to "touch" a 2003 or newer Viper, all Vipers,including the GenI, GenII and the new GenIII, are akin to what the Rolling Stones were singing about in the song "Emotional Rescue!" Any form of the Viper is a remarkable car that can really bring out the emotion in anyone. Awesome, Dodge, awesome!

 

[Lee00blacksilverGTS]

Ditto, and well said. All the negativism regarding this car and the willingness to treat Dodge to insulting and unneccessary drivel really bothers me after all Dodge has done. It simply seems impolite. The VOI's alone should cause any current owner to at least speak with some restraint in their criticism. I have owned 26 Corvettes and Chevy never threw a party like a VOI. Heck, Chevy never did anything for me. Some individual Chevy engineers did, but I was lucky enough to make friends with them living 25 miles from the tech. centert in Detroit. The corporate entity did nothing outside of publishing Corvette News. I own a bmw m5 and one would SWEAR bmw is trying to get RID of customers in the way they treat them, and I don't just mean dealers, just try to call and get ANYTHING from bmw north america.."Vee do not geef zuch invormashion to ze ownar, eet iz ze zecret betwin ze dealar andt uns." The relationship between Dodge and the Viper owmer has been unique aand I sincerely hope it has not been damaged by folks whose only fun it seems is to see how badly they can pi$$ someone off in a discussion forum. Interestingly enough,and Trey Pullen deserves our gratitude for his grass roots poll, the current poll is going to resoundingly demonstrate that the anger, for the most part is coming from GTS owners who wanted a coupe. To DC, I personally belive the enmity would go away if you could leak to the Viper Nation the fact that of course there will eventually be a coupe. From a marketing perspective, as the poll shows, Viperclug.org is not your primary demographic for the convertible/roadster. The vituperative nature of the comments you are getting from the GTS owners is NOT due entirely to the fact that you showed them the competition coupe and then brought out the convertible, but is due to the steadfast denials,(for the usual marketing reasons)
"THAT THERE IS NO INTENTION OF EVER BUILING A COUPE" That is what, I believe is inflaming the discussion on this board regarding the SRT. The guy who is not going to put both in his driveway is looking at a choice of buying the convertible, a car he does not want, or possibly owning an older, SLOWER car. We remember the GEN 1, GEN2 thing, but when DC did that change and gave us a faster car, they also gave us a CLOSED COUPE that no one had ever see since the Cobra Daytona coupe. The GTS guys can live with the fact that for marketing reasons the convertible came first, they CANNOT live with the idea that there will NEVER be another coupe. Especially after the announcement of the GT40. As an older, wiser, sales and marketing type, I don't believe it for a minute, but the relationship Dodge has built with the VCA makes us tend to believe what DC tells our leadership and they then tell us, and I for one can tell that they are telling us EXACTLY what DC has told them. I.E. No coupe planned! Oh, I do have an SRT on order! But to buttress my argument, I may be in a minority as a GTS owner, willing to or able to have both, but really I would rather have had history repeat itself as in 1996 and had the coupe come first for Gen3.