barduch

Had the opportunity to test drive a new Viper yesterday in Scottsdale, AZ. I thought that since they had dropped the price 15K on all of the new Vipers that it might be worthwhile to buy one and sit on it with hopes of appreciation a la Ford GT. It's a nice car but it's no ZR1 and I am betting that it will pale even further next to the new ZO6. It just doesn't have the "pin you in your seat" feel of the ZR. It rides really nice but it definitely feels more like an old fashioned '70s muscle car than a state of the art sports touring car. I did like the electronics. Miles ahead of the ZR1 in map, entertainment, and driver control center. However, there was no HUD and I have really come to appreciate that feature particularly with the Dashtronix radar display. The seats and seating position were also better than the ZR, at least for my 6'5" frame. One amusing thing happened on the test drive. As I was accelerating in the car pool lane of the interstate one of the six hood vent inserts flew off and bounced off the windshield. It happened quickly and I asked the salesman if that was a part of the car and he suggested that it must have been road debris. We noticed the missing vent when we got back to the dealership. The salesman was working hard to sell the car and ultimately offered another 15K off the car in addition to the manufacturer price drop. If the corvette did not exist this would be a too good to pass up offer. But, with the new ZO6 on the horizon I think that Dodge has a real problem competing in that price range. I sure don't think that it will appreciate or even hold its value in any way similar to the Ford GT. Don't get me wrong it was sure fun to drive and I truly appreciated the salesman's efforts to sell the car.

I drove a black with red interior. Here are a couple of pics of a yellow one that was on the showroom floor.

camirocz

A beautiful car nonetheless.

JJB500

No excuse for parts to fall off a brand new car, it is a beautiful car, a little overdone though especially the nose! I have an open invite at a car dealer to take one may do that tomorrow if I have time! Kind of interesting that it doesn't have the pin you in the seat feel, the older models (Gen 3) wanted to put you through the seat!

barduch

I will be interested to hear your impression of the new one. Many years ago my wife and I rented a Gen I Viper on Maui for the day. As I recall it was a scary fast brute of a car. This one seemed far more tame and refined. Of course, I did not have a ZR1 back then to compare it to. We may all be a bit spoiled with our ZR1s.

slow-v6

It would suck to have to remove that engine brace everytime you wanted to do something under the hood..

forensicsteve

Both cars perform identically (or at least so closely that I don't know how you could tell the difference), according to Laguna Seca fastest lap times and this video as examples.




Laguna Seca fastest laps
http://fastestlaps.com/tracks/laguna_seca.html

I traded a 2006 Gen 3 coupe for the Gen 5. The extra 140 hp or so of the Gen 5 and gearing change make a huge difference in seat feel. I would have liked to have seen a ZR1 or new Z06 parked next to the Gen 5 to compare looks etc., before making the final decision, but neither were available. Comes down to personal preference. You cannot argue that both are amazing automobiles.

UrbanKnight

I do like the current gen viper from an updated interior standpoint... I went down this road when buying the ZR1...

Its the Under 3k and and you are making rated HP to the wheels(or better ) that makes me love the zr1... I can't leave anything stock...

ries

I love my zr1 but I definitely would not kick that new viper out of bed. I wanted to buy an 08 gen 4 at the time but I could not fit in it. I'm 63 and 250 pounds . Is the generation five easier to fit in especially head clearance?

barduch

I loved the seats and it was much easier for me to find a comfortable position (6'5", 220 lbs.) than it is in my ZR and much, much easier than the new C7 which I find almost claustrophobic for my size.

Gary '09 C6

I recently sat in a used C7 on a showroom floor (3LT interior). It's tight (width-wise), and I'm only 6' 0'' 210 lbs.

Boba Fett

I went from a ZR1 to a Viper TA and all I could say is I wish I could have kept my ZR and own them both. In fact, if the right deal at the right time comes up, I will indeed get another 1 and do just that. They both are amazing cars. They achieve almost the same results, but do it a bit differently.

I have never driven a Viper before driving my own and will tell you my first few drives really made me question weather or not I made the right decision.

The reason I questioned my decision was based solely on the "pinning you in the seat" as you put it. The ZR undoubtedly wins the low end acceleration category as the Viper wants to be revved higher and will deliver that feeling up in R's. I expressed my concerns on the Viper forum and was told by many to just wait and give yourself more seat time, and hammer her when you're out of the break in period. I found this to be entirely true. The facts are in the stats. These 2 cars are almost identical in stats and again, they just deliver their performance differently.

Boba Fett

I disagree

They seem quite different initially (acceleration wise). Have you owned or a driven a ZR?

RC000E

I think the Viper is a good execution with the resources, but GM is just on it's game and has made it a tough market to break into. The market is filled with fantastic cars right now, and Viper just falls that little WEE short, and that's spelled doom for it unfortunately.

They try to twist and contort it's sales pitch saying we don't want to sell a lot, we like to be raw, we are exotics, etc. What the facts are though is, they don't have enough development dollars, they never did, the car doesn't want to be Corvette because it simply can't be, they don't sell a lot because people don't want it, etc.

The car is so good, that I think it amazes people sometimes that it DOESN'T sell...but it's simply because there are others players in the game that are just BETTER. Viper really never had much going for it aside from it's demeanor..it's persona. I think long term people will always want them, and it will find it's core following (it already has), but that's all that's keeping it alive at all. There are very few NEW viper owners with the GenV...they are all repeats for the mostpart.

I hate to see the car go, but like it or not, it's days are numbered unless something radical happens. I hate to make this quick comparison, and I'm doing so without any real in depth analysis, but I feel like the Viper is going to be somewhat of a modern day Pantera.

With that said...while it's not on the TOP of my list, or exactly near the top...I will own a Viper ACR in the future...that car intrigues me and I feel it was Vipers peak.

forensicsteve

No.....I was going from that video and the virtually identical track time around Laguna Seca. That's what these videos and track times are for....so one can see at a glance how each performs, without having to drive either. It's a limited view of course, only driver experiences can fill in the many blanks. My perception is that the two perform the same, your perception as driver of each will be different

RC000E

The two "perform" the same in the hands of a professional, multiple championship winning driver that can extract 100% of the potential out of each. In the hands of the average owner though...no. ZR1 will kill it.

barduch

Agreed! For us mere mortals the ZR1 has better manners and is more easily managed during "spirited" driving. Both tremendous cars though and the Viper still retains that "very cool", IMO, retro Batmobile look that will attract crowds wherever one stops. I am a sucker for orange and the Viper pulls off the orange/black combo equally as well as a new Lambo or an old Pantera. Can't wait to see the new Daytona Sunrise Orange on a ZO6.

NineBall

So much misinformation posted so far, but I suppose that is relative to this being on a Corvette site. BTW, that was my white Viper racing the ZR1 in the video above. Both cars were 100% stock, and both of us can drive. If you look carefully, that is the drag strip (Royal Purple Raceway) in the background, which we were headed to. My Viper consistently trapped 1-2 mph higher than the ZR1 did. So yes, they are very close in performance. Definitely a driver's race.

As for road-racing them, the ZR1 is actually more scary at its limits. It has a snappier throttle response, and boat-loads of low rpm torque. The throttle is pretty sensitive coming out of a corner, you can swing the *** out pretty easily in the ZR1 if you aren't being careful. The Gen 5 Viper is much more predictable, and has virtually zero understeer. The throttle pedal is very linear, it doesn't shock the tires and kick the *** out. It also has all the nannies like the Corvette does (stability control, traction control, etc..) and is much easier to drive than the previous generations.

To the OP, those hood vents were revised in 2014, some early cars had loose fitting ones that didn't have tabs molded properly. I had them replaced under warranty on my '13, the newer ones fit tightly. Just FYI.

Tony

barduch

Tony, hats off to you, you obviously know more about Vipers than I do. You are spot on with your hood vent observation as this was an early '14 that apparently had not been retrofitted with the new inserts. I know that they were offering the larger discount on this particular unit because it had been at the dealer well past any manufacturer flooring allowance. You are also correct about the tail end of the ZR1 wanting to come loose if too much throttle is introduced exiting a turn. I experienced that at Spring Mountain and certainly didn't have the opportunity to push the Viper on city roadways on the test drive. As I said, I think that the interior is light years ahead of the C6 interior and the electronics are equally superior.
If the Gen V had been available at its present price point when I bought my '10 ZR1 then it would have been a very tough choice between the two. Here in Minnesota we would call it "a horse a piece". I still don't understand that cliche' but it seems to fit here.

Divexxtreme

This is an interesting post. I took a almost new ZR1 home for two days last year from a dealer friend of mine to see if I wanted to buy it. This was long before I had ever driven any Viper. Bottom line, I hated the ZR1. Yes, it was relatively fast, but soft, the shifter was horrible (like all Corvette shifters), the interior was no better than the 2006 Z06 I had (still squeaky, plasticky and cheap), and just simply didn't thrill me at all (long, smoky burnouts aren't what I consider exciting). I think my C7 Z51 coupe was a much better car than that ZR1 was, other than the fact that the ZR1 had more power.

Fast forward to the Viper TA that I have now have, and it's literally everything I had hoped the ZR1 would have been. Significantly better...everywhere. Feel, involvement, interior and exterior quality, so much better to me than the ZR1. The new Z06 will be better than the ZR1 was for sure, but it's still a Corvette in a sea of million of corvettes and will still have that spongy, long, inaccurate shift feel that I hate so much, not forgetting the inherent (and sad) dilution of the Z06 moniker by producing the cars with a slush-box.

But different stokes for different folks. As long as we enjoy our own cars, it really doesn't matter if we agree. Cheers!

barduch

Just saw this.http://blog.caranddriver.com/hellsna...ng-in-detroit/Now they're talkin'!