NJVIPER
Enthusiast
I asked a friend of mine who is a die hard Corvette man for years to give me an "honest" evaluation of my 2001 GTS after driving it.
Here goes...
"Tim...I just wanted to say thank you for letting me drive your car. This was the first Viper that I have ever driven, and though I still like my Corvette, it was a great experience. One thing I have always disliked about Vipers from day one was they sound like a four cylinder on steroids. I'm sure a good quality exhaust system will cure that. Getting in and out of it is as bad as my C4, however you seem to be more cramped in the Viper once in. I guess it is the tunnel being so high. The seats were not too bad, they give good lateral support, but for the price of the car they should be all power. I personally would not care about the extra weight...after all it is NOT a race car. The instrumentation is OK, but I personally do not like the white faces. I liked the short stick you had on yours (MGW). I'd imagine the stock stick height would be as uncomfortable as HELL. The car drove nice and the most exciting thing is the torque that the V10 has. It was great having all that pull at your command, however the 3:06 rear would be even nicer if it were a higher gear like a 3:55 or 3:73. What I disliked the most was the pedals, not the closeness to each other, as much as they are offset to the left too much and there is no dead pedal or place to put your foot. I was very concerned about pushing the wrong pedal eveytime I had to shift or brake. I imagine after driving it for awhile foot placement would become second nature. The other concern is the blind spots. I must say it is much worse than my Corvette. This makes for very diligent driving when there is traffic around you. The overall interior could be a little classier, again given the price of the car. However, in this area the Corvette is about as bad.
Overall, it was a blast to drive and I hope you have the best of luck with it."
NJVIPER writing now...The one thing he forgot to write about was the perpetual smile he had on his face the whole time he was behind the wheel. He literally freaked when he felt the torque from this bad boy...like a kid in a candy store.
Here goes...
"Tim...I just wanted to say thank you for letting me drive your car. This was the first Viper that I have ever driven, and though I still like my Corvette, it was a great experience. One thing I have always disliked about Vipers from day one was they sound like a four cylinder on steroids. I'm sure a good quality exhaust system will cure that. Getting in and out of it is as bad as my C4, however you seem to be more cramped in the Viper once in. I guess it is the tunnel being so high. The seats were not too bad, they give good lateral support, but for the price of the car they should be all power. I personally would not care about the extra weight...after all it is NOT a race car. The instrumentation is OK, but I personally do not like the white faces. I liked the short stick you had on yours (MGW). I'd imagine the stock stick height would be as uncomfortable as HELL. The car drove nice and the most exciting thing is the torque that the V10 has. It was great having all that pull at your command, however the 3:06 rear would be even nicer if it were a higher gear like a 3:55 or 3:73. What I disliked the most was the pedals, not the closeness to each other, as much as they are offset to the left too much and there is no dead pedal or place to put your foot. I was very concerned about pushing the wrong pedal eveytime I had to shift or brake. I imagine after driving it for awhile foot placement would become second nature. The other concern is the blind spots. I must say it is much worse than my Corvette. This makes for very diligent driving when there is traffic around you. The overall interior could be a little classier, again given the price of the car. However, in this area the Corvette is about as bad.
Overall, it was a blast to drive and I hope you have the best of luck with it."
NJVIPER writing now...The one thing he forgot to write about was the perpetual smile he had on his face the whole time he was behind the wheel. He literally freaked when he felt the torque from this bad boy...like a kid in a candy store.
