SUN RA KAT
08-10-2002, 04:26 PM
I get chided alot at another Viper board because I haven't floored my Viper yet and also because I get 14.6 MPG. This is my first manual shift car and that is mostly why I'm not flooring it yet. When I have lots more experience driving a manual shift car (I don't make any mistakes), then I'll introduce the snake pedal to my custom floormat. Right now at part throttle the few times I still make mistakes (stall in traffic stopped on a hill, shift to 2nd when I wanted 4th, shift to 5th when I wanted 3rd, etc.), I'm not abusing my Viper like I would if I did these at full throttle and was shifting at the 6000 RPM redline. These same people who chide me also say most Viper accidents happen within the first 6 months of ownership because of driver error.
There's plenty of power even at part throttle. Last night I took someone for a demo ride and on a 4 lane almost completely empty highway I accellerated at 2/3 throttle in 4th gear from about 40 MPH. I let off the snake pedal less than 5 seconds later to see the speedometer needle drop below 110+ MPH. This is the fastest I've had my Viper. The passenger loved it.
Earlier the same evening I took my wife A-Vipering under the condition that I don't scare her, so I actually stayed withing +/- 5 MPH of the speed limit the whole trip. The Viper still scared her.
I'm getting better driving the Viper all the time and I soon will be at a point where I will feel competent to floor the snake pedal.
Amazingly, my Ram truck, The Mighty Dodge with 360 HP, doesn't feel slow. It feels adequate. It also feels like I'm driving in a big living room.
I've had some pretty fast cars before, but even at part throttle, the Viper is many levels above them. The Viper is lots faster than I even imagined, which may explain my respect and awe that I hold it in.
A friend sent me this message & my reply:
> But it was funny you mentioned driving south east of here, my
> computer friend/Viper fan was traveling towards Waynesville in his Caddy
> recently when he was pasted quickly by a (rare)yellow Viper. He tried to
> catch up to see it better but as soon as he could make out some detail of
> the car he said it took off as if he were standing still and the car was out
> of sight before he could say "That was a Viper,son". That
> wouldn't couldn't
> be a certain new owner learning the road, could it?
I do remember passing a Caddy on State Route 42 heading South towards Waynesville and seeing it try to catch up and saying to myself "No way." and moderately accellerating away from it...so that be me!
There's plenty of power even at part throttle. Last night I took someone for a demo ride and on a 4 lane almost completely empty highway I accellerated at 2/3 throttle in 4th gear from about 40 MPH. I let off the snake pedal less than 5 seconds later to see the speedometer needle drop below 110+ MPH. This is the fastest I've had my Viper. The passenger loved it.
Earlier the same evening I took my wife A-Vipering under the condition that I don't scare her, so I actually stayed withing +/- 5 MPH of the speed limit the whole trip. The Viper still scared her.
I'm getting better driving the Viper all the time and I soon will be at a point where I will feel competent to floor the snake pedal.
Amazingly, my Ram truck, The Mighty Dodge with 360 HP, doesn't feel slow. It feels adequate. It also feels like I'm driving in a big living room.
I've had some pretty fast cars before, but even at part throttle, the Viper is many levels above them. The Viper is lots faster than I even imagined, which may explain my respect and awe that I hold it in.
A friend sent me this message & my reply:
> But it was funny you mentioned driving south east of here, my
> computer friend/Viper fan was traveling towards Waynesville in his Caddy
> recently when he was pasted quickly by a (rare)yellow Viper. He tried to
> catch up to see it better but as soon as he could make out some detail of
> the car he said it took off as if he were standing still and the car was out
> of sight before he could say "That was a Viper,son". That
> wouldn't couldn't
> be a certain new owner learning the road, could it?
I do remember passing a Caddy on State Route 42 heading South towards Waynesville and seeing it try to catch up and saying to myself "No way." and moderately accellerating away from it...so that be me!