ND4SPD _SS

iTrader: (52)

it's a nice looking car, but they're throwing rocks at a sleeping giant. once they release the SS Blue Devil Corvette, don't you think it's going to be faster than that Viper? has anyone noticed that the radio in the Viper is the same one you find in there whole Dodge line of cars?

Tainted

iTrader: (9)

This isnt going out to you but jsut using your quote to elaborate a bit...

Havent we noticed the corvette has a cheap interior just like most of gm's stuff? so what if the viper uses the same radio or what not. The viper cant do anything the z06 cant. the z06 can supercharge the car and make 650hp, well henessey and the other tuners have also proved time after time you could turbo a viper and make as much or more power. This is one of those things where the manufecter just wants to appeal to a specific market. in general most people that have vipers are rich and want it as a status symbol. most guys that a corvette are old farts trying to help out their middle aged crisis so in the end this is all comming down to is jsut buy what suits you the best. The corvette may be able to haul *** and has some nice look, but the viper has that race car brute feeling and appeal to it.

Camaroz

iTrader: (2)

Ever see a Viper go around a nice twisty track? It's quite fun to watch

Iron Head

iTrader: (11)

I remember when they did the top speed test on the first run Vipers. It did well,but went home on the trailer due to squirting coolant out the heads!

ND4SPD _SS

iTrader: (52)

i wasn't talking about aftermarket tuners. i was talking about GM.

allngn_c5

iTrader: (3)

I would drive either one, but my first pick will always be the corvette.

Viperguynick

iTrader: (8)

Yup I have, I remember watching them go around a nice twisty track back in 1998 and taking 1st and 2nd in the 24 hours of LeMans. The first time an american production-based car had EVER done that. Hell, it had been 30 years since an American race car did that, the GT40. Remind me again, how many corvettes have won the 24 hours of Lemans? How many FIA GT championships does the corvette hold? The Vipers grabbed FIVE of those from 1997 to 2002. People seem to have this false impression that Vipers cannot be handled on twisty, tight courses. This is entirely wrong. Most people get this impression because most Viper drivers are NOT experienced race car drivers, and the cars are unforgiving to a novice touch. However, watch some people like Tommy Archer or the late Paul Mumford pilot the cars around a race track and see what they are really capable of.

Actually, that was a motor trend test done in 1998 and the Viper did 192.6 MPH and blew a coolant HOSE, no coolant was squirting out the heads. Granted this is no excuse as the viper did go home on a flatbed, but it still bested the Vette (173.9 MPH) by a measly 18.7 MPH. The Viper was also a Dodge test vehicle that had 30k+ miles on it. All other cars in the test were supplied from the manufacturers with only break in miles. I REALLY wish people could get their facts straight before posting "facts".

[/rant]

Nick

Blakbird24

iTrader: (24)

That was a Viper GTSR. Likening that car to a production Viper would be like saying that a production Trans Am can run a sub 6-second 1/4 mile because the firebird funny car does. I could count the parts in that car actually made by dodge with less than 10 fingers.

Very clever, you left out the fact that they are showing off their "capabilities" while trying to catch Lou Gigliotti and Max Papis.

By the way, and this is just off the top of my head, the C6R took a 1-2 finish at the 24 Hours of Lemans for 2005. I watched that myself. An Aston Martin took third and two Ferraris rounded out 4th and 5th. I'm sure with some research, which I refuse to waste my time on, I can come up with many more



A 460hp Viper vs. a 350hp Vette? Geez yeah couldn't guess the winner there.

I'm not about to rag on a car for leaking some coolant after doing 192...hell i'd probably blow something too if I just finished a run at that speed, but i'm not about to sit around and listen to you try to put a Viper over a Vette. Sorry, the Vette is America's champion. The Viper is "that other car from America".


HA! ME TOO!!!

Viperguynick

iTrader: (8)

Actually, EVERY part on the Viper GTS/R that raced in the Le Mans series and the FIA GT series was made by chrysler. In fact the Gen II Vipers shared the same block, heads, cam, and major suspension components with the GTS/R. Now, the Comp Coupe that was produced off the Gen III body style shares only the engine and transmission with it's road going counterpart. The only difference in the engine being that Roush Racing adds smaller pulleys, a slightly different cam and a new computer. But, the GTS/R was for the most part just a souped up version of the street Viper. I am not trying to refute the fact that with the C6, Chevy upped the ante by getting back into Le Mans series racing, I applaud them for that fact. In fact I think the worst move Dodge has made with the Viper in recent years was to stop it's factory backed racing program. That left a sour taste in a lot of Viper fans mouths. I simply made the Corvette comparisons due to the fact that, well, the title of this post makes it a Vette Vs. Viper thread.

And I am in NO WAY trying to put the Viper OVER the Vette. They both serve their purposes. Listen to any automotive review, or for that matter anyone who has had the pleasure of owning both cars and they will tell you that they are very different. The Viper has always cost more than the Vette, and for the extra price you got extra speed and handling capability, then the Z06 hit and Chevy took the 13 year performance crown off the Vipers head, and at a lower price point. The new Viper is simply Dodges way of trying to keep the feud alive and well, and I am happy that at least someone is doing so. If Chevy really releases this 660 HP Supercharged Vette, I am sure Dodge will do something like announce a 675 HP 2009 Viper ACR package or something.... Like they already did at NAIAS. That is the great thing about these two automobiles, Neither one of them is "Americas Champion" they are more of a tag team in the INTERNATIONAL fight of Sports / Exotic cars.

Believe me Blakbird when I say I mean no malcontent to any GM guys on this forum, while the Viper will always be my Favorite American sports car, at the end of the day I still get in my '98 Formula and love EVERY minute of it.

Nick

StealthZ06

iTrader: (1)

Make mine gunmetal gray please....

THE_SUPRA

ill take 2 please! oh and i would have a set of CCWs waiting at my door thoes wheels are

01bird58

iTrader: (9)

I agree with the thread starter, Dodge needs to start making more with less. Its kind of annoying to me how Dodge just boosts up the displacement to acheive HP. I mean 8.4 liters, my God, where does it end, at 10 liters? How about dumping money into light weight materials and making up some time there.

Also, hasnt team corvette dominated the 24 hrs of Le Mans the past 4 or 5 years? I watched a show a while ago and all the other manufacturers were literally scared of team corvette.

bruddah_man_matt

To clear up a few questions regarding the Corvette vs. the Viper at Le Mans and what not, Corvette Racing never beat the factory backed Team Oreca Vipers at Le Mans IIRC. The first year the Corvettes won at Le Mans (2001) was the first year that the factory backed Oreca Vipers DID NOT run at Le Mans so technically the factory backed Vettes never beat the factory backed Vipers at Le Sarthe. The Vette-Viper battle only lasted for one year (2000) in which the Vipers came out on top.

For 2001 Chrysler and Team Oreca decided not to run any Vipers in GTS but instead decided to run a Mopar 6.0L V8 in a Dallara chassis in the LMP900 class and surprisingly finished 4th overall which ironically was a much better finish than Cadillac could muster out of its Northstar powered Riley & Scott chassis that year. I think Caddy finished in something like 15th place, well after the GTS class Corvettes even. I thought it was funny how Chrysler showed up to LMP900 and finished 4th in their first year whereas the best Caddy could do in three years was IIRC something like a 7th or 9th place finish. In any case, following the 2001 race the Daimler half of Daimler-Chrysler decided to pull the plug on Chrysler's LMP900 operations, so the Chrysler boys never got a chance to knock the Audi R8s off the top spot the following year in 2002.



Getting back to the Corvettes, I remember when GM tried to tout their 2001-2002 back to back Victories in Le Mans in some of their advertising and how a few GM fanboys were waving the victories in the Viper guy's faces. Well technically as I said earlier, the Vette-Viper battle only lasted one year (2000) and it was the Viper's who took the top spot in GTS in that year anyway. In any case, with Chrysler gone from Le Mans altogether it appeared that GM was set to begin dominating the GTS class just as Audi had been dominating the LMP900 class since 2000.

Well in 2003 (which BTW everyone remembers as the year in which Audi sandbagged the race and did NOT participate in order to "let" Bentley finish 1 and 2 since Audi already had their 2000-2002 hat trick) the Prodrive team returned with their Ferrari 550 Maranello after losing to the Vette guys in 2002 and decided that GM had done a little too much boasting since last year. The Prodrive 550 put the smack down on the Corvettes and spoiled the Vette's 50th Anniversary as well as their hat trick by winning the GTS class that year. I remember watching and reading a handful of interviews and I can tell you that this was the year that all the GM and Corvette guys were humbled and learned once and for all not to brag so much beforehand.

However in 2004 Team Corvette would recapture the GTS title by beating out the Prodrive 550 once agan. Both cars were beginning to show their age however and in 2005 Team Corvette unveiled the all new C6.R while Prodrive worked in conjunction with Aston Martin Racing and helped them to develop their new DBR9 race cars. This was also the year that the GTS class was renamed GT1. In 2005 the Corvettes would go on to beat the DBR9s. They'd repeat this feat again in 2006 with Team Corvette finally receiving their hard earned and well deserved GTS/GT1 hat trick. I say hard earned because IIRC however the DBR9s were faster than some of the prototypes down the Mulsanne straight. I'm not sure about 2005 but I know that for 2006 the Aston Martins took the pole in GT1 and were favored to beat the Corvettes in both 2005 and 2006. However in both years the DBR9s were retired or fell back due to mechanical issues so despite fielding faster cars, they Aston's would fall victim to mechanical gremlins and be defeated by the more reliable C6.Rs.

Just a bit of history for you guys debating about who was where and who did what in GTS/GT1 at Le Sarthe.

Diesel09386

Wow. With all the Viper owners that have enough trouble handling 500hp and now this? They need to make it a requirement to take a freakin' course to own one of these.

Jeremiah

iTrader: (5)

Just like Nascar, you win to mutch and you will be slowed down some how to better even the playing field. The later C5R was down on power due to this and its back to back winning streak was over. I love the old days with the Z/28 Vs. Boss 302 Vs. AAR Cuda ect. The days when the faster better engineered cars werent slowed down with restrictor plates increased drag ect. to even the playing field.

lees02WS6

iTrader: (5)

Which supercars are you referring to? It surely isn't the Ferrari's and the Lambo's. The Lamborghini Murcielago, the Ferrari Scaglietti, and 575 are all two ton + heffers. Check the curb weights on them 4,000lbs +. Hell even the curb weight of the decidedly not super but very good M3 is 3,415lbs, the M6 comes in it at a girthy 4300lbs. The twin turbo V12 AMG SL65 from Mercedes comes it 4,555lbs. The Saleen's come in light, but at $575,000 the viper is a bargain many times over.

LS1vazquez

Those wheels are going to make baby jesus cry, thats for sure.

Red97Z

iTrader: (22)

I don't care how much HP it has, the Viper has one of the strangest interiors I've ever seen. It's a humongous waste of unutilized space. Reminds me of a hummer interior, just really wideeeeeee. Awkward dial/control/ and gauge placement. That's about the only thing that turns me off about the Viper, other than that, make mine Red with White Stripes.

edwardswb

iTrader: (6)

I love the fact that the Viper doesn't appeal to pussies that want a nice interior. It is a race car. Plain and simple. GM can forever kiss my *** for whoring out the SS name plate, especially for their latest "SS" models (Cobalt, trail blazer, especially Corvette) The 90s 454 SS trucks were bad enough. I grew up GM all the way but no car American car ever gave a kid something to drool over like the Viper did when it came out back then. Give credit where credit is due. That thing is a driver's dream.

84MonteSS

iTrader: (2)

i think vipers are way overpriced. anyone know how much one of these will run you?