Am I insane for wanting a muscle car as my 2nd car?

Am I insane for wanting a muscle car as my 2nd car?

  • Hell yes, go for it!

    Votes: 83 72.8%

  • You're insane. You need to work your way up to it with a car inbetween.

    Votes: 31 27.2%
  • Total voters
    114
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Viper007Bond said:
The thing is it'd require putting a fair amount of money into it. I mean the top leaks (original one probably) and so forth. It's not exactly a winter driver.
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Tarp.

Who says you can't drive the Corsica and the roadster? The Triumph will surely break down again in the future, but I'd still spend more time driving it than the Corsica; at least you'll have a back up car.
 
Meh just duct tape it.
 
Der Stig said:
Tarp.

Who says you can't drive the Corsica and the roadster? The Triumph will surely break down again in the future, but I'd still spend more time driving it than the Corsica; at least you'll have a back up car.
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What's wrong with Corsica / Viper? :p
 
Viper007Bond said:
What's wrong with Corsica / Viper? :p
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Well, my green student in a Miata this weekend was faster than the green student in the Viper.

Viper, before you start playing around in a Viper, read this. It's about motorcycles, not cars, but a lot of the general ideas hold true. Some of my thoughts on how this post applies are things like (modified quote):
You can learn performance driving in a Viper. Just realize that you're potentially making the learning process more difficult and dangerous than it needs to be. The problem with learners is that they're, well, learners. They'll make the usual, expected beginner's mistakes. The idea is to minimize the consequences of those mistakes. That isn't necessarily easy when you have lots of horsepower and a bunch of torque waiting for nothing more than a twitch of the foot.
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There's a lot to be said for a car that won't unintentionally drift sideways or send you into someone's living room if you make a common newbie mistake. Yes, people will argue that "the throttle works both ways" but here again you're learning a whole new set of skills. Modulating a throttle and clutch simultaneously while learning to shift and handle the brakes, while scanning for traffic and idiots who're too busy yakking on their cell phones to see you (yes, they'll miss even a Viper) can add up to a whole lot of stuff to concentrate on. The idea is to not add an extra level of complexity and detract from what should be a fun and enjoyable process.
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I know there's a lot in that post that doesn't apply to cars, and I know there's a lot of it that's at least a bit different. But I think reading and understanding something like this will, minimally, help you understand why people don't recommend you hop straight into the Viper with little street experience.

Keep in mind, after reading that post, I bought an SV650 as my first bike. I did this understanding and accepting that I was causing myself more risk and I was potentially harming my learning curve. There's still a possibility I'll buy a less powerful bike to use on track, to further improve my skills, which will help mitigate some of the slower skill development talked about in the post. You can do similar in a Viper by taking it to autocross (even without buying/fixing a less powerful car) and, if you can, taking it to the track. Leave it in higher gears on track at first so it has less power. This'll make it easier to learn to corner the car properly, just make sure your instructor knows it's an intentional choice so you can focus on handling. You could, alternately, rent a Miata (or spec RX-7 or similar) for a few track days, but these rentals aren't cheap.
 
Here is what I think, get the Viper. You won't get in trouble bumbling around town and you can take it to secure areas to practice with. I am sure you could get another low powered RWD car to practice with but that isn't what you want so why bother. That will just cost you money in the purchase and taxes.
The most important thing is to know that you need practice. The biggest issue with people who buy high powered vehicles is that they think they can handle it without practice.
The important thing to remember is there is a point where your confidence will increase but you will not have the skill to back it up. That is the most dangerous time. Maybe 3 to 6 months after you have had it.
 
Okaen said:
Here is what I think, get the Viper. You won't get in trouble bumbling around town and you can take it to secure areas to practice with and flip it or crash into a tree or pole.
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Yes I have changed my mind on this. You'll want to start with a slower RWD car. I think the Triumph would be perfect (the womens notice them by the way), but something like a Merc 190E would be a good choice too.
 
High powerband makes it difficult to accidentally get yourself into trouble. Biased, me?
 
Okaen said:
Here is what I think, get the Viper. You won't get in trouble bumbling around town and you can take it to secure areas to practice with. I am sure you could get another low powered RWD car to practice with but that isn't what you want so why bother. That will just cost you money in the purchase and taxes.
The most important thing is to know that you need practice. The biggest issue with people who buy high powered vehicles is that they think they can handle it without practice.
The important thing to remember is there is a point where your confidence will increase but you will not have the skill to back it up. That is the most dangerous time. Maybe 3 to 6 months after you have had it.
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Unless someone provides a really strong argument otherwise this is probably what I'm going to do. Only drive it in the dry (no wet) and drive it like a pussy on low speed roads.
 
I'd suggest you get a RWD car as your DD then, it'll help you acclimate to it.
 
argatoga said:
Here are some better beater learner cars:

http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/cto/2340532012.html
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Mustangs are actually a poor choice. Their handling characteristics are significantly different from that of a Viper. Mustangs, especially that '95, understeer. There are two basic behaviors Mustangs (at least that chassis) do not provide that Viper would need to learn for a Viper. First, they do not exhibit throttle-off oversteer the way a Viper does. It also doesn't punish poor combinations of steering input and increases in throttle the way a Viper will. Believe it or not, despite the significant differences, a Miata does. So does an S2000. The old Brittish roadsters will, as well.

A friend of mine started his track time in a Mustang, of a similar chassis to that '95. He didn't understand all this talk we had about throttle off oversteer, rotating through the corner, etc. He asked me to help him one day, so I hopped in the right seat, and we went around the track. I found a number of bad habits his Mustang allowed that the cars he was considering upgrading to wouldn't. I tried to correct the behaviors, but he was unresponsive. So I stuck him in the left seat of my Miata. For the first few corners, I talked him through everything he needed to do, helping him avoid the bad behaviors. After giving him a chance to learn the correct way, I picked a slow, safe corner and stopped talking him through. All his bad behaviors returned, and the car went into a rather nasty spin.

Imagine if that had happened in the street in a Viper instead of on track in a Miata. :)

Going straight to the Viper, and keeping it in high gear with minimal throttle inputs would be better than going to a muscle car balanced toward significant understeer. Keeping the Viper in high gear will reduce the power it can actually put down and will reduce compression braking, making throttle off behaviors less extreme. This means the car will still punish bad habits, just with a less severe punishment. You need poor habits to be punished right from the start, so you don't develop them and then have to un-learn them.
 
Well then, I'd suggest spending the $~1,500 on making the TR4 road worthy.
 
I can't figure out why anyone would want a muscle car but if you got the cheddar go for it !
 
argatoga said:
Well then, I'd suggest spending the $~1,500 on making the TR4 road worthy.
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It's likely a lot more than that.

A used Miata is an interesting suggestion.
 
Hibbleton said:
I can't figure out why anyone would want a muscle car but if you got the cheddar go for it !
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I don't know why anyone would want a Ferrari/Lambo over a muscle car. But that's just me being me. Different strokes for different folks.
 
JipJopJones said:
I don't know why anyone would want a Ferrari/Lambo over a muscle car. But that's just me being me. Different strokes for different folks.
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I'd rather have a Viper than a Ferrari or Lamb too.
 
GT3 Cups = <3

:drool:

Erm, I actually need a cheap-ass Miata for that whole "learning how to drive a stick...but, like, in road traffic and crap" thing.
 
You're insane, but go for it. ;)
 
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