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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This is a good point, a slightly larger house is needed then you put the car in the living room.
 
Viper007Bond said:
Yeah, that's my only concern. Based on reports I've read, insurance is dang cheap but those are when you own additional cars. This would be my only car which would likely make it problematic. Hopefully I can get some type of low mileage plan.
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Why not keep the Corsica? My insurance would drop $70/m if I had a beater, and that's with full coverage on the Camaro. Also, Viper does not = muscle car...it's better than that! Things that help keep insurance down: 25+, homeowner, married, multi-cars, all policies with 1 company.

Trust me, I think you are going to want a beater anyways. Sure, having your dream car will be awesome, but driving it everyday will take away the specialness (word?) of driving your dream car. The more you drive it, the more you mundane it can become...even a Viper is subject to this.


Forgive my ignorance, oh lord of Final Gear, but I have not been around long...why are you just now getting your license?
 
Bad Bowtie said:
Why not keep the Corsica? My insurance would drop $70/m if I had a beater, and that's with full coverage on the Camaro. Also, Viper does not = muscle car...it's better than that! Things that help keep insurance down: 25+, homeowner, married, multi-cars, all policies with 1 company.

Trust me, I think you are going to want a beater anyways. Sure, having your dream car will be awesome, but driving it everyday will take away the specialness (word?) of driving your dream car. The more you drive it, the more you mundane it can become...even a Viper is subject to this.


Forgive my ignorance, oh lord of Final Gear, but I have not been around long...why are you just now getting your license?
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Yeah, I may end up keeping the Corsica just for the insurance which is stupid as I'd never drive it. I work at home, so I have no commute. I only need a weekend low mileage toy.

BTW I rent (not a homeowner), not married, and multi-car is up in the air (would depend entirely on insurance as I have no need for two cars).


License is quite the on going joke and a combination of a few things:

  • Couldn't afford a car until about a year or two ago, so what was the point?
  • Couldn't afford insurance until about a year or two ago
  • A lack of motivation as I could just get a ride if I needed to
  • Hard to pin my parents down to teach me (even now it requires some work)
  • Great public transportation here but I never went anywhere anyway (hobbit!)
 
Viper007Bond said:
Yeah, I may end up keeping the Corsica just for the insurance which is stupid as I'd never drive it. I work at home, so I have no commute. I only need a weekend low mileage toy.

BTW I rent (not a homeowner), not married, and multi-car is up in the air (would depend entirely on insurance as I have no need for two cars).


License is quite the on going joke and a combination of a few things:

  • Couldn't afford a car until about a year or two ago, so what was the point?
  • Couldn't afford insurance until about a year or two ago
  • A lack of motivation as I could just get a ride if I needed to
  • Hard to pin my parents down to teach me (even now it requires some work)
  • Great public transportation here but I never went anywhere anyway (hobbit!)
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You forgot one.
  • Porn.

:p
 
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Only things i can think of is that if you're buying so cheap a supercar, be sure to have the car checked out very throughly. Also, get a inside/covered place for parking it, as itll probably be a theft magnet.

And if you do decide to go for it, let us know how it drives and is to live with.

Sent from my Milestone using Tapatalk
 
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Vipers seem to be pretty solid, industrial grade cars. I say go for it. Respect it though...a lot of vipers are wrecked their first day of ownership...
 
Viper's are in the 20k range? I didn't know that existed already! Why is that? But yes go for it.

My first car(the current one) is what I call a muscle truck. It's not the greenest, but it's awesome, it hits the speed limiter no problem and it sounds cool.
 
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Get a muscle car, but do so with one that's only got a small block. You get all of the V8 roar, but that tired old mill isn't going to fling you into a pole at 9001 MPH.

As for getting a viper...I wouldn't. My own personal experience with Mopar products from around 1990 is that they're all total shit. The Viper has a good gearbox, but that's only because Dodge outsourced it to Tremec, and I haven't heard tales of the V10s exploding like the V6s and some of the V8s are prone to do. But it's still a Mopar, and if mine are anything to go by, hello Mr Electrical Gremlin! I see you brought your friends!
 
Buy a cheap RWD, V8 American car without any driver aids (like my Camaro) and learn to drive that first. It has no traction control, stability control and not even ABS. Powersteering is all you get. Jumping from no license experience and owning a Corsica as a first car to a Dodge Viper is like hitting puberty and immediately dating Jessica Alba. That just isn't going to happen, nor should it. Its not about being safe by not speeding/racing its about car control and the Viper needs a huge amount of previous experience when driving it. Learn with baby steps then get your dream. There are plenty of really nice RWD coupes and roadsters that would be brilliant and cheap(er) to own versus a Viper. And BTW, just because you can list the Viper as a second car (pleasure car) doesn't mean the insurance won't still kill you. Its rated at the highest or there abouts for the symbol rating. Also, most states' insurance policies won't start giving you the "good discount" until you have had 10 years of driving experience--aka having a license. Age has only a coincidental impact as you naturally will be in your mid/upper 20's when you reach that 10yr mark. A friend of mine who is the same age as me got his license when he was 16 and when he turned 26 his insurance dropped to the good cheap rates. I got my license at 18 and you guessed it when I turned 28 mine dropped. You only receive marginal drops after 5 years of having a license.

Also a Viper is not a musclecar, it is a supercar. Being pedantic yes but still... To answer the topic's title question is yes you should buy a musclecar--just not a supercar.

I just do not want someone else dying that doesn't need to is all. :mrgreen:
 
MWF said:
Are there many deer in Oregon?
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Shit loads.

My friend hit one in his mazda when we were down there a few years ago.
 
Christopher Neufeldt said:
Viper's are in the 20k range? I didn't know that existed already! Why is that? But yes go for it.
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TestECull said:
As for getting a viper...I wouldn't. My own personal experience with Mopar products from around 1990 is that they're all total shit. The Viper has a good gearbox, but that's only because Dodge outsourced it to Tremec, and I haven't heard tales of the V10s exploding like the V6s and some of the V8s are prone to do. But it's still a Mopar, and if mine are anything to go by, hello Mr Electrical Gremlin! I see you brought your friends!
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I'd be buying a third generation Viper (the SRT-10), so that'd be model year 2003+. They're also 40-50k, only the first and second generation ones (RT/10) are in the 20-30k range.

MWF said:
Are there many deer in Oregon?
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JipJopJones said:
Shit loads.

My friend hit one in his mazda when we were down there a few years ago.
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Yeah, shit tons of deer but I live in the city although I can get to deer roads a few miles from here, but you just take it slow at dusk. :)
 
The thrill driving a Viper is like being shot at. It's never a relaxing ride and can get very annoying over time. It's not good on a small backroad (because it's low and huge), it's not good in traffic (the clutch, the size, the turning circle, the transmission refuses to go in gear at times, the jerky throttle on low RPM's..) and it's not good on a highway (noisy and the driving position isn't great). It's just completely mad.
So you kinda hate it and love it at the same time although most people probably would just hate it.
Obviously the SRT is more liveable than my car but still wouldn't call it a good car.
But as you've never really driven a car before you might just think every car has those little faults and so they won't annoy you in the same way. So I think it's a brilliant first car and you should definitely buy one. :p
 
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You should probably work your way up. Going from being skilled at handling the public roads in a FWD to a SRT-10 Viper is quite scary.
 
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Viper007Bond said:
I'd be buying a third generation Viper (the SRT-10), so that'd be model year 2003+. They're also 40-50k, only the first and second generation ones (RT/10) are in the 20-30k range.
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Viper that is one hell of a chunk of change to drop on something you would only be driving at weekends, never mind the associated insurance costs, and with gas prices heading skyward the way they are then big thirsty cars like the SRT-10 are only going to depreciate more quickly.

It's your money of course, but if it were me and I was looking for some RWD fun on the weekend I'd spend $10-15k on an MX5 and save the rest of the money to get the bigger thrills in someone else's Viper. Surely there is a track within a reasonable distance that offers the experience with coaching, run off areas and the like that you could get yourself to when the mood arises?
 
Is it just me or is this Miata-thing getting a bit out of hand. :lol:
It's like the Finnish army hospital. It won't matter what's wrong with you they'll always give a Burana (an ibuprofen tab). If your leg is broken they'll give you a Burana, if you bleed they'll give you a Burana, if you're dissy they'll give you a Burana, if you're just about to die they'll give you a Burana...
Same goes with the Miata. If you want a track car buy yourself a Miata, if you want a city car buy yourself a Miata, if you want a people carrier buy yourself a Miata, if you want a muscle car buy yourslef a Miata...
So all you're ever going to need is a bottle of Burana and a Miata. :p
 
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Jay said:
Very cool.

I propose that the MX-5 is Final Gears official vehicle of choice.
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Well if you listen to us and get a Miata you won't need the Burana for the headache you got from us telling you repeatedly to get a Miata. :p
 
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