Cerbera to Dodge Viper

[RUSSELLM]

I'd be interested to know Benno's view on the two vehicles, and anybody else who's tried both ?

A guy was asking me about my car the other day & mentioned the "right car, wrong car program".
He said someone on there owned a chim & amongst the vehicles he tried was a Viper, apparently he bought a new TVR in the end. Has anyone seen the program ?

[snorky]

yeah there was a write up by the guy ( Sean ?) in Sprint not so long ago....

>> Edited by snorky on Thursday 12th February 11:27

[chim450]

RUSSELLM said:

A guy was asking me about my car the other day & mentioned the "right car, wrong car program". He said someone on there owned a chim & amongst the vehicles he tried was a Viper, apparently he bought a new TVR in the end. Has anyone seen the program ?

I remember seeing that, I don't recall him trying a Viper though. He decided not to change his car in the end but later bought an A4 convertible not through the program.

[bennno]

Viper initially feels very baggy and a bit unwieldy with its width and long bonnet.

Bear with it however and its a relevation, loads of torque, different league of build quality, tail is very flickable and controllable. The noise from the side pipes is superb and the overtaking grunt suprising.

Also without fail everybody that has seen it has given it an unqualified thumbs up.

Bennno

[simpo two]

If you put a Viper next to a Griff at a show, the Viper gets much more interest and the Griff suddenly looks a bit meek :-o

[jamieheasman]

simpo two said:

If you put a Viper next to a Griff at a show, the Viper gets much more interest

That's only because the Viper is such a huge bloater of a car that it would completely obscure the Griffith!

[simpo two]

jamieheasman said:

That's only because the Viper is such a huge bloater of a car that it would completely obscure the Griffith!

Yes! And it does pack a very impressive-looking engine. Though the interior is very dull.

[anonymous-user]

I saw a Viper at Lemans, one of the soft top ones (RT-10)?? and the build quality on that looked quite poor.

I have seen another one aswell and the roofs are a very basic/side screens and the bodywork looks very flimsy.
They don't sound as nice as a V8 either, especially the UK spec ones which are not allowed to have the side pipes.

A TVR looks much more appealing.

[the dodger]

simpo two said:

jamieheasman said: That's only because the Viper is such a huge bloater of a car that it would completely obscure the Griffith! Yes! And it does pack a very impressive-looking engine.

............from a TRACTOR!

[kevinday]

Bennno, without being inflammatory, I notice you still have the T350C picture on your profile, is your heart still with TVR???

[bennno]

no...its just my digital camera is bust.

Bennno

[swilly]

Benno,
Taking a look at your previously owned car list, have you actually owned them or do you just hire them for short periods.

[viperdave]

the dodger said:

simpo two said: Yes! And it does pack a very impressive-looking engine. ............from a TRACTOR!

But I don’t have the RAC on my phones speed dial.

[venom500]

Changed from a Cerbera to a Viper Venom 500 GTS a few years ago and would never change it,nice to have a Supercar with over 550bhp that never goes wrong and only needs a £300 service once a year,looks better than a Cerbera,has better build quality(bit on the TVR kept falling of or stopped working....and the engine,a speed six! well i haven,t all night to tell you what i think of it or the factory,the word "Crap" best sums it all up)My Viper will out drag,out corner,and top out higher than my Cerbera anytime and if a 4.5 LW turns up at TOTB3 (held at Elvington each August to find the fastest RWD road legal cars)I,ll prove it happily.By the way the cars best times last year were...a standing mile at 178mph(on timing equipment,not speedo reading) 1/4 mile 12.1 at 127mph,and Vipers came 1,3,4 on the handling track,so bring it on would be nice to race against a TVR anytime.I also forgot to say my TVR Cerbera lost £17,000 on its valve new in just 18 months,my Viper could be sold for what i paid for it 3 years ago!,and has never gone wrong in that time,(the car is raced,tracked many times each year).I rest my case for the Viper as a VERY X TVR owner.(gonna wait to see how long it is before i get a bite)By the way good luck to TVR at Le-Mans this year hope they make it past the half way mark this year...Now i,m sure a Viper GTS/R has finished in that race a few times,maybe these Tractor engines arn,t all bad!

[UpTheIron]

Tom,

What about as an everyday car? I'm on my second Chim, each have been my only car. Evidently more expensive and more troublesome than running a eurobox, but perfectly do-able.

Let's say 20k miles/pa. Viable prospect in a Viper? Can you fit it in a parking space in a multi-storey? Can you get a service turned around in a day or two? What's the average MPG?

Positive answers could get me looking at a Viper as a Tiv alternative...

[400sedave]

Vipers only came 1,3 & 4 in their class at TOTB2. They were beaten overall by Evo's and skylines, both of which are cheaper, better built and faster that Vipers.

Results @ <a href="http://www.totb.co.uk/totbii/Circuittimes.htm">www.totb.co.uk/totbii/Circuittimes.htm</a>

plus vipers are a bit of a small penis car too...

>> Edited by 400sedave on Friday 13th February 23:20

>> Edited by 400sedave on Friday 13th February 23:21

[viperdave]

UpTheIron said:

What about as an everyday car? I'm on my second Chim, each have been my only car. Evidently more expensive and more troublesome than running a eurobox, but perfectly do-able. Let's say 20k miles/pa. Viable prospect in a Viper?

Don’t see why not, I don’t do that much myself as I don’t need to but there are plenty of guys in the US who manage it, there are a few UK owners who use it as their everyday car and for me its every other day.

UpTheIron said:

Can you fit it in a parking space in a multi-storey?

Couldn’t fit my old Renault 19 in a parking space in a multi-story car park , but as far as uk car parks go no problem. Fits in B&Q's car park quite well can even get several bags of sand in the boot and don’t even notice the extra weight (its actually better with all that extra traction ) fits in the garage too. The viper actually isn’t as big as it looks it just has massive road presence.

UpTheIron said:

Can you get a service turned around in a day or two?

You could do it yourself it’s so easy to work on, or book it into one of the many Chrysler dealers in the same time period you would a PT etc (like any large dealer network some are better than others and you may not want to go local, but you could)

UpTheIron said:

What's the average MPG?

How much lead is in your foot? The big from the acceleration have to be paid for by something and its generally in petrol. Feather it on the motorway and 20 MPG (us) is not impossible. Never bothered working it out myself though. I notice TVR don’t seem to about fuel economy on their web site either.


Ps I gave a Chimera a hard time in my Camaro the other day and by all accounts the Viper is seriously stronger, better handeling and way faster than a Camaro.


>> Edited by viperdave on Saturday 14th February 01:11

[Viper]

[quote=400sedave]Vipers only came 1,3 & 4 in their class at TOTB2. They were beaten overall by Evo's and skylines, both of which are cheaper, better built and faster that Vipers[quote]

yea but the best placed viper was 6th overall out of the 3 disciplines (sp) and was 4th fastest down the 1 mile strip, with a 120 competing cars, nearly all the 5 in front were all performance tuners showing their goods off, that trailored their cars and had a team of tinkering mechanics, with some of them Skylines were said to have had £60K engines in them. (which a few blew up after just a few quick runs! ouch) The viper team finished 3rd as a overall marque, with one guys running over 30, nearly non stop 1/4 mile runs on one of the hottest days of the year then driving 400+ miles home

Would of been nice to have seen a competing TVR there over the last couple of years, may be this year ?? ...
With this event on Sky and in all the mags you'd think TVR themselves would put a factory prepped car in.

no intented

edited: I had a spell in 390SE wedge, lovely exhaust note
















[

>> Edited by Viper on Saturday 14th February 09:51

[RUSSELLM]

[quote=400sedave]Vipers only came 1,3 & 4 in their class at TOTB2. They were beaten overall by Evo's and skylines, both of which are cheaper, better built and faster that Vipers.

I can see what you saying Dave, but what led me to Tvr & possibly Vipers, is the fact that the Evos, skylines & imperezas are in danger of falling into the old ford XR3 joke, rename it the clitoris, as every c***s got one etc. etc.. I could get a Toyota Avensis, spend 60k on the engine & that would be faster & better built than my lovely Tiv, but I'm not gonna. (I'm short of £59,900 )

Just been to that site & looked at the rear wheel drive times. What came in 13th ? Is that what I think it is ?

edited to add, thats two from cerb to viper, anybody on here gone the other way ?

>> Edited by RUSSELLM on Saturday 14th February 08:51

[venom500]

400sedave said:

Vipers only came 1,3 & 4 in their class at TOTB2. They were beaten overall by Evo's and skylines, both of which are cheaper, better built and faster that Vipers. Results @ <a href="http://www.totb.co.uk/totbii/Circuittimes.htm"><a href="http://www.totb.co.uk/totbii/Circuittimes.htm">www.totb.co.uk/totbii/Circuittimes.htm</a></a> plus vipers are a bit of a small penis car too... >> Edited by 400sedave on Friday 13th February 23:20 >> Edited by 400sedave on Friday 13th February 23:21

The Vipers were beaten on time(about 1or 2 seconds,but i,m not talking about the 4wd class,R W Drive HENCE THE WORD"IN THERE CLASS"I,don,t think a Viper will ever beat a 4 W Drive Skyline with a £70,000 engine build and 900 bhp,and just to let you know several "Well Built Japs" let go of their engines/clutches not so for any of the Vipers....I rest my case "Again!