Funny that you mention that you cross-shopped this against the Viper, as I think of this the Mercedes version of the Viper. I drove a GTS and it’s fantastic...but I’ll keep my Viper.

Thank you for articulating your position.

Talk to anyone at Chrysler, and the goal was indeed to “take on the Corvette”. They did the best they could with the budget that they had, and could have done more if the sales would have justified additional investment. And, if you ever get a chance, ask someone on the team what defined the Viper; it was much more…

This “was never meant to be ‘easy’ to drive” assertion is a fallacy. It’s handling was the result of a lack of experience in designing sports cars and a shoe-string budget. Many of the engineers that worked on the project came of Jeep/Truck and the platform could only afford minimal outside help.

I think they would have sold a lot more - look at every other car in the segment - and that may have justified additional investment. Selling a fifth of your forecast ensures that you won’t spend the additional money.

What “form”? Are you suggesting that entire car is defined by one component? I’ve had three Vipers over the years, currently have a 5-Gen, and it wouldn’t bother me one iota if an automatic was available.

And while I am proud that FCA never caved and gave it an auto, I am sure that isn’t helping it’s sales numbers.

The FIM, as in the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme? The Viper was somehow “banned” by a motorcycle sanctioning body? I knew I shouldn’t have bothered responding to your first post; shame on me...

This is contrary to my direct experience, my fellow club members experience and every road test I ever read. Ten minutes spent in the Viper forums will produce dozens of threads on this topic, so I doubt that I’m alone in thisobservation...

Ignorant in precisely what way? I know I should ignore this, but I’m on my third Viper, have tracked all of them and anyone that’s ever driven one hard agrees that they have noticeable LTOS. You have data to the contrary?

Lift-throttle oversteer of the Gods. Even my Gen5 suffers from this, though to a much lesser extent. The best way of hustling these, unless you’re Ben Keating, is to get all of your braking done in a straight line and load the rear a little with the throttle.

This is a software issue, most likely a date-related QNX initialization error, and not aliens/GPS system tests/Illuminati. Sorry to disappoint you guys...

I would seriously consider a 2017 Nismo, but I suspect they’re all spoken for at this point. Securing a test-drive in a Nismo prior to purchase is all but impossible, so I’ll probably never own one.

The lack of avian taxological completeness limits the utility of this post. Please increase the scope to all known bird species and update accordingly.

I heard a lot of people mentioning the “Mustang Leaving The Meet Meme” at this. There was a lot of throttle hammering on Chrysler Drive by people leaving the meet, but none of the Mustangs managed to spear a lamp-post.

There is no “ideal” engine output figure and it’s fallacy to think that there is. I understand that there are a lot of people that like to thrash cars and bikes with modest power:weight ratios because they feel like they’re using “all” of the performance envelope; a preferred “balance” makes much more sense to me than…

This is, without a doubt, the worst car-buying criteria that I have ever seen mentioned on Jalopnik. I buy what I like and what I think is fun. I don’t give a shit about this for the same reason I don’t give a rat’s ass about the “I Don’t Like High Horsepower Cars” thread earlier today - I’m not so weak that I care…

Everything electrical was suspect, including the wiring itself, the Bendix/Renix fuel system and especially the alternator. I remember a lot of engine leaks, transmission issues and interior parts that we amazingly fragile.

How long after an event are people supposed to embargo discussion of it, especially something as ubiquitous as this? Seriously...how can anyone NOT come across a spoiler today?

As someone that worked on these, I would suggest that prospective buyers consider better alternatives such as horses and walking. These are really that bad, both in terms of driving experience and, even worse, reliability. I can’t even begin to list all of the issues with these, but powertrain issues alone should be…