My 1999 GTS Ownership Experience (Documented)

lilviv

Viper Owner
Joined
Feb 17, 2007
Posts
54
Reaction score
0
Location
Lewisville, TX (Castle Hills)
Hey Everyone,

I've recently sold my 1999 Dodge Viper GTS, and during the 5 years I owned and loved the car . . . I documented everything. My service costs, every gas receipt (thus gas mileage), and dyno. charts from each service in hopes that information might be helpful to someone in the future. :) The link is as follows (no ads or anything; I simply put these things up for informational purposes):

http://personal.lilviv.com/motoring/toys/viper-gts.html

Major takeaways from my ownership experience?

1) I was pleasantly surprised how well the car held its value.
2) I was pleasantly surprised how low my maintenance costs were. I had heard horror stories of the dreaded "Viper Tax," but I was pleasantly surprised that essentially, a well taken care of specimen is a low maintenance vehicle.
3) Only disappointment in the quality of the interior, namely the plastic trim on the center console and the seats.
4) Next to Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and other cars . . . it seemed to be this Viper that every kid was snapping cell. phone pictures of.

This car was great to own, and I enjoyed every moment of owning and driving it. It was a maintenance dream compared to the journey I'm just now embarking on.

Would love to hear if all your experiences were the same or if anyone disagrees with anything I mentioned above here! I'm sure I'll regret selling this car one day, but wanted to jump to the next one on my dream car list. :)

-Vivek (lilviv)
http://www.lilviv.com
 
Last edited:

VIPER GTSR 91

Enthusiast
Joined
Apr 11, 2003
Posts
3,789
Reaction score
0
Location
Spring, Texas
I cannot say anything bad about my old 99 GTS that I turned into a track car until it was stolen and totaled 3 years ago. It was awesome and totally reliable vs. the new generation stuff. I really miss that car. Glad you like yours too.
 

klamathpro

Viper Owner
Joined
Oct 7, 2005
Posts
925
Reaction score
0
Location
Detroit
You will miss your GTS when your first Maranello scheduled maintenance comes up.
But look on the bright side, you'll learn to curse in Italian. ;)
 
OP
OP
L

lilviv

Viper Owner
Joined
Feb 17, 2007
Posts
54
Reaction score
0
Location
Lewisville, TX (Castle Hills)
You will miss your GTS when your first Maranello scheduled maintenance comes up.
But look on the bright side, you'll learn to curse in Italian. ;)
My friend, this has already occurred. =P I sent the car to service before I took delivery. We did just over $16,000 in work (over 2 months) on it before I could drive it. Now that it's back . . . it's a lot of fun and something really special, for sure. Not "better," just "different." Just as my Viper was not better than the Supra I had before (with twice the HP), just different. Just wanted to move on to the next one on my childhood dream cars list before I get too old to enjoy them. :)
 

Mr. Mom

Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 17, 2011
Posts
102
Reaction score
0
Location
Jacksonville, FL
That was a pretty thorough write up of your former GTS! Thanks for that! You answered questions I had before they were even asked. There's a '99 in my sights, but not sure if it'll still be there when I'm ready to buy.
 
OP
OP
L

lilviv

Viper Owner
Joined
Feb 17, 2007
Posts
54
Reaction score
0
Location
Lewisville, TX (Castle Hills)
That was a pretty thorough write up of your former GTS! Thanks for that! You answered questions I had before they were even asked. There's a '99 in my sights, but not sure if it'll still be there when I'm ready to buy.
Glad you found it helpful! That was the intent of the writeup. :)
 
Top