Buy a used Viper GTS or new Camaro

[Daveh98]

Hey all, this is a first post and NOT meant to be a troll post. I have no complete brand loyalty and my last three cars have been an 03 sonic blue Cobra, an 03 Nissan 350Z and a toyota Scion Tc.

I am going to walk through my thought process about where I am at regarding this and I would be interested in knowing your opinions as I am sure others have debated similar things. THe reason for my debate is that when you spend 35kish you are in the ballpark of high performance used sports cars.

Camaro Pros: Fresh and new styling, warranty (huge plus), more creature comforts, better gas milage
Cons: Depreciation due to being new, not exclusive, slower

Viper GTS (35-40k)- Maybe the most beautiful car (to me), exclusive, very fast out of the box, already depreciated and possibly appreciating soon.
Cons: Horrible gas milage, no warranty, expensive repairs "viper tax" dated interior.

The main reason this debate is so hard for me is the styling of the Viper. So have others gone through similar debates as I have? THanks for the input and I hope that the integrity of my post is respected because this is not the only forum I am trying to gain input from (so no troll here). thanks!

Edit: I guess the vette would be an alternative as well. FOr about 40k you can get into a 1lt 6 spd vette. Have people gone back and forth between the SS/RS Vs the vette?

[dieseldave24v]

Will the car be your daily driver? You are comparing appels to oranges here. Supercar vs muscle car. The camaro will be more practical, you can leave it in a parkinglot without much concern. The viper would be a blast as a second car, but not a daily driver. You can find a nice vette for the money your talking about as well

[nickspohn]

Hello and welcome to the site. Everyone loves everyone here


What do you care more about? Speed? Interior? Looks?

If it's speed, then get the Viper. If you also like the looks of the Viper over the new Camaro, then i think you should get the Viper.

NOW, assuming that you have another car and won't be using this one as a DD, gas can add up, and plus driving these cars in the winter won't be much fun either.


Put these in order as to which matter the most to you first.

1) Speed
2) Price
3) Exterior
4) Interior
5) Warranty

[Chewy]

do you have the time and money to commit to a used car to make it your 'dream car'?
if your working a lot and don't have a lot of extra $$ to throw @ it, and you pretty much need the warranty - i'd go camaro

i'm moving a lot, don't have my own garage right now, and can hardly devote myself to a classic car, otherwise i would.

[Daveh98]

thanks for the input thus far. I think either car I have would be a second car/weekend driver. I do work a lot and would not have a lot of time/money to put into the viper. This is definitely a tough decision. I think the looks really draw me to the viper. But the fact that I can probably easily get financing and have a warranty make the camaro a nice alternative. It would be much easier and cheaper to mod the camaro to very high performance levels too....

[franknbeans]

Don't forget about the insurance rate of the Viper over the Camaro. . . I am assuming it would be loads more than the Camaro.

I've always said there was two kind of drivers. . .

People like me - Just want to enjoy a wonderful car and not worry about "fixing" ANYTHING.
Then the other side - People who love to get that extra 1hp out of the car and would want nothing more than to sit around on a Sat. fixing their car to drive later.

Who are you?

[Daveh98]

The insurance is almost a non-issue. I don't have specifics but it may actually be less. I would register it as a weekend driver classic car which lowers the rate quite a bit. I am not sure if I think the viper would have a lot of "fix it" issues. I think it would have a lot of liability with how expensive parts would be IF there were issues. But to directly answer your question I guess I would be driver A.

[MTron]

Originally Posted by franknbeans

Don't forget about the insurance rate of the Viper over the Camaro. . . I am assuming it would be loads more than the Camaro.

I've always said there was two kind of drivers. . .

People like me - Just want to enjoy a wonderful car and not worry about "fixing" ANYTHING.
Then the other side - People who love to get that extra 1hp out of the car and would want nothing more than to sit around on a Sat. fixing their car to drive later.

Who are you?

lol...I'm totally the "Other side"....my idea of a perfect Saturday afternoon is my under the hood of my car....or under my car...lol

Then Sunday, i go for a drive!

[franknbeans]

My point exactly. . . There's nothing more than i hate is to be under a car working on broking shit. . . I'm a driver, not a fixer. .

Driver = New Camaro w/ warrenty
Fixer = Older Viper

[bouncertime]

The answers you are going to get depends on which board you are on. On a Camaro board the majority are going to tell you to buy the Camaro. On a Viper board they are all going to tell you to buy the Viper. But the truth is that only you can answer that question, go with what your heart and brain tells you to do.

[dieseldave24v]

Things may be differnt where you are, but in NC a car has to be at least 20 years old to be registered as a classic car. The early vipers were hardley more than a publicity stunt. I will give you that it is one of the best damn looking cars ever made, but other than that it really isnt that impressive. Handling on the early cars was no exsistant the newer ones are better, but still not up to par for the price tag. It was a car a dying company made to try and get a new image, and it worked for them. To only get 500 HP out of 8 liters is not engineering. If you are buying a car just for looks, then the viper may be good for you. If you want a car for any other reason get somthing else brother. It doesnt have to be a Camaro, but you could do alot better for the money. For me The most beautifull car ever is the Aston Martin DB9

[TheClassicCarKid]

Originally Posted by dieseldave24v

Things may be differnt where you are, but in NC a car has to be at least 20 years old to be registered as a classic car. The early vipers were hardley more than a publicity stunt. I will give you that it is one of the best damn looking cars ever made, but other than that it really isnt that impressive. Handling on the early cars was no exsistant the newer ones are better, but still not up to par for the price tag. It was a car a dying company made to try and get a new image, and it worked for them. To only get 500 HP out of 8 liters is not engineering. If you are buying a car just for looks, then the viper may be good for you. If you want a car for any other reason get somthing else brother. It doesnt have to be a Camaro, but you could do alot better for the money. For me The most beautifull car ever is the Aston Martin DB9

I'll second the DB9 for most beautiful car ever

[Crowley]

Originally Posted by dieseldave24v

Will the car be your daily driver? You are comparing appels to oranges here. Supercar vs muscle car. The camaro will be more practical, you can leave it in a parkinglot without much concern. The viper would be a blast as a second car, but not a daily driver. You can find a nice vette for the money your talking about as well

Exactly what I was going to say ... either way both will be nice to own !!

Crowley

[Crowley]

Originally Posted by TheClassicCarKid

I'll second the DB9 for most beautiful car ever

I'll 3rd it ...