Would you buy a Viper with 28000 miles

toohot4u

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I see a Viper for sale with 28000 2002 RT . It seems to be in pretty good condition on the web site. No exterior dents or marks. interior looks good...seats not worn, console and dashboard in good shape, tires look good. I would have to good check it out for myself. My question is would you buy your first viper with this many miles on it
 

Craig

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Sure, why not? That's not high mileage by any means. A few people have over 100k on their vipers and they're still running good.
 

01sapphirebob

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Personal preference. For me I wanted something with lower miles because it was the closest to "new" I could get without getting one new. When i was in the market GEN II's were not being built and that's what I wanted.
 

aloushi

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that's barely 3000 miles per year, still pretty low miles but if you want one with under 10k then it'll be that much closer to new so just be prepared to pay more. If money is not an issue then get the one with the lowest possible miles...
 

Leslie

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Yeh I think if you want a close-to-new Viper and like that year, definitely look for one with lower miles.

If cost is a concern, you might get a better deal on one with 30K+miles.

I have 60K miles on my 2001 GTS, the last 15K were on a roadcourse or driving to one. My mechanic told me he has never seen a more solid motor:)

I ran into a GenII last year in a parking lot, talked to the guy (physician), said it was his daily driver whenever weather permitted and he had 130K miles, same motor.
 

plumcrazy

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absolutely would if it had records for maintenance but that goes for any car regardless of miles
 

vipertanz

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Yes I made the mistake with my first Viper of getting one with super low miles and ended up having to put a lot of money into it to fix the lot rot. My GTS however had 40000 on it and I have had to do little in the way of fixing anything way better experience.
 

Zentenk

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Holy poop!! almost 30k miles!?!?!

J/K I got mine with 59k miles and I am glad, I am not afraid to drive it. Heaven forbid someone drive a.... car.

They should really start selling full size models of cars just to put into peoples garages/trailer it to car shows. haha
 

72hemi

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When I got mine it had 62,000 miles on it, but every service record since new, so I know everything that has happened to the car. And still 62k on a 10 year old car isn't anything.
 

V10SpeedLuvr

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28k? High mileage junk. You could buy a Tijuana taxi with less miles on it

I love this bizarro Viper world we live in where people are scared of 28k on a 10 yr old car :D

But seriously, as stated above, really low miles car could easily present more of a problem from dried seals and stuff like that. 28k is fine. Buy, be safe, enjoy!
 

Bird325

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Yes I made the mistake with my first Viper of getting one with super low miles and ended up having to put a lot of money into it to fix the lot rot. My GTS however had 40000 on it and I have had to do little in the way of fixing anything way better experience.

My Snake had 9K on it when I bought it ... if I were to do it again, I would go for low miles (that's LOW miles on the one you're looking at) and a better price unless you're looking for a garage queen. I'm hitting 20K now and the car is in better shape than when I bought it! It was great then, but I've replaced all of the rot from sitting and it WILL add up if you buy an older, extremely low mileage car. My tech spent TWO hours changing out the fuel filter due to the plastic joints falling apart. I spent another $400 for tie rods that were just rotted out. These cars are not meant to just sit in the garage ... they want to go out for a run every now and then. I will be keeping this car until I die ... with a few more added for the thrill of it. My kids will have a blast when I go to a 'better' place.
 

jason8416

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Bought mine with 70k.. Runs amazing.. but I received a huge binder containing all maintenance records. Don't let miles scare you.. Vipers are built good
 

TowDawg

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If you find one with really low miles, you're honestly more likely to have problems with it than you would one that has been driven and taken care of. Not to mention, if you plan to actually drive it, why pay the premium for lower miles and take the hit if you decide to sell it? I'm not sure where you live, but I live in the south and get to drive mine a lot. I bought it with about 22k on it and I'm at 30 k now in just over a year.
 

kblake905

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I bought mine with 28,000; temperature sensor sending unit was the only thing I have had to replace.
P.S. I did buy it to drive it
 

Solid Red 98

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Mine has 28k on it. It feels just like the day I bought it. If it has been well taken care of, why not?
 

Jeebs

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I just bought my 02 last month with 27000miles on it and that didn't both me a bit. Its not in showroom condition but i didn't pay showroom price. Its still pretty mint though. Like everyone else is saying, i'd rather have a car with some miles on it than a car with no miles and lots of rot.
It all depends on what YOU want.
Good Luck
 

Fatboy 18

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It really all depends what your looking for, If you intend to drive the car a fair amount then Mileage dose not really come into it, but if your going to sell the car in a year or two looking to get back what you paid for the car then Mileage would be an issue.
My car had around 36k on it when I bought it, that has not bothered me one bit, I take the car to track days, have driven it to Le mans in France twice so far and do lots of stuff for Charity's (joy rides) etc.

The only major issue I have had was changing out the front cover timing gasket due to a small coolant leak, I had never tackled any major work like that before but the help on this forum was fantastic and made it easy :)

Of course, one other thing about mileage is the condition of the paint work? Now my car had been used at Button Willow raceway so there were signs of fine road rash on the front nose and windscreen, but for me that's all part of the cars history. Some owners protect the nose of the car with clear bras and some go even further getting the car resprayed every now and again.
Pick the car YOU are happy with, there are plenty of cars out there, take your time and good luck.
 

v10enomous

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Bought my 98 GTS with 26k on it and have put about 3k on it and it's very solid and tight. I'm the fifth owner and while the car was well maintained it wasn't a garage queen. These cars are amazingly durable by any standard but incredible for an exotic. As long as the car wasn't abused it's barely broken in with 28k on the odometer. If you want a car that you will actually drive you will pay a huge penalty in depreciation if you buy a car with super low miles on it.
 
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PDCjonny

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I bought my red '98 GTS in 2004 with only 9K on it, figured it had to be bulletproof.
Within two years, had to replace tranny, clutch, flywheel and fix timing chain cover leak.
Previous owner must have flogged it, or simply didn't know how to drive a manual tranny.

Low mileage doesn't guarantee anything.
 

costanZo

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As long as the car is in good condition as you stated, I wouldn't let the miles worry you. It can be hard to find a quality Viper now-adays at the right price, so if this car seems like a good deal for the quality and price, you should get on it fast. One of the biggest factors I put into play besides mileage when I bought mine was how many previous owners and was it stock. For the best piece of mind, it's definitely a way better situation to know the car you are buying was bought and owned by one person and didn't mod it, so you know they most likely baby'd it and took real good care of it over the years.

Anyway, to get back on topic. Unless it's a Ferrari or some type of imported exotic where they require a lot of maintenance and can break down a lot(which a Viper doesn't), 28,000 miles isn't really high mileage at all. Just like 28,000 miles wouldn't be considered high on any 9 or 10 year old car. I almost bought a 2000 Steel Grey GTS with 28,000 miles in California about 3 years ago, but fortunately found my 96 B&W I'd been waiting for instead with 9,181 miles which is of course very low miles. I also paid a good amount for it, but being a 96 B&W GTS I got a great deal. It's funny how 5-10,000 miles can greatly increase the price of a car.

I'm actually about to hit 27,600 miles on my GTS. The engine isn't even broken in on the Viper until you hit at least 30-35,000 miles anyway.
 
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viperdrummer

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I put 50,000 on my first Viper 17 years ago and it drove like new when sold. These cars are simple, without a lot of nonsense that can go wrong. Knock on wood all 7 of mine have been pretty much the same in terms of reliability. Now, of course you always need to make sure the 28K were not all in 1/4 increments. :)
 

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