TOYS; Drive 'em or Preserve 'em

[VYPR BYT]

Basically I'd like to get a clear snapshot of where people stand with their toys... their philosophy on it.

[GreenVenom]

Drive em!!! I look for excuses and places to go just so I can drive :)

[Martyb]

Both sides of the fence here. I drive my GTS every chance I get, could care less about the miles adding up. I overly maintain it and treat it like a child. On the other hand, my 70 ls6 chevelle gets about 50 miles per year. The value of the chevelle is much higher than my 01 GTS, and I want it to stay that way. So, I am not really sure I answered your question!!

[plumcrazy]

nice job on the poll !

[J TNT]

Drive them ,enjoy them , and maintain them . ;)

[BlknBlu]

i do not drive them a lot, maybe 300 miles a year on my 3 toys.

Bruce

[Fatboy 18]

Love my Viper, but Its mainly a Toy I take out for special occasions, car club runs and meets, charity Track days and of course to Le mans (where the mileage does mount up) I have the car insured for up to 5000 miles a year.

My Harley on the other hand I think I have only used twice this year! But I have been to Spain and back on it in past years, but I try not to rack up the miles on it. 2003 Fatboy with around 9000miles.

If money was no object, I would like one car for pampering and another for driving :)

[daytonprowler]

Drive'em...... then drive'em some more!

I've had too many family and friends pass away at early ages. You can't take it with you! Why not enjoy it for yourself instead of just looking at it and selling it later with low miles for someone else to enjoy?

[ACRucrazy]

I used to baby my cars. As I got older and spent $$ watching cars depreciate in the garage I am slowly learning to appreciate what I worked so hard for. You live once and life is too short. I bust my ass to buy my car and can't afford to look at it sit in the garage. This summer I put 1,000 more miles on the Viper than I did the daily driver. When I am gone I wan't the next person to see my car and say, boy, he sure enjoyed the hell of this thing!

[The_Greg]

I voted drive them, even though I only put on 1,000 miles this year. I did a LOT more the first year I owned it. The reason I voted that way was because I bought mine with 45,000 on the odometer so preserving it has diminished returns.

If it was much lower mileage when I bought it, I still would have driven it 80% of the time that I have probably!

Don't get me wrong: I'm very glad there are people out there who can afford to purchase these and not put many miles on them. Preserving these is an important thing to do! But I don't have enough resources to tie into a car that I hardly use.

[Voice of Reason]

Drive em! If they were meant to be not driven they would have been made with square wheels.

[Chorps]

I like the guys that don't drive them, I can't afford new but sure enjoy the new car feeling. :P

Picked up my 2008 in 2012 with only 1,000 miles on it, now it has 6,000 miles. =D

[viperr]

I am a hard core "Drive em" person. I have over 100,000 miles on mine and I make sure it is maintained well, but I run it on road courses, standing miles, and occasionally on a drag strip. I also use it as a daily driver on dry days and take it to cars shows in the summer. I have kept all the original parts so I can eventually return it to stock and I also have collected extra parts like a spare hood, trunk lid, front and rear fascias and numerous other hard to find items. People ask me about running it on track and chipping the paint and I remind them that they still make paint and I can re-paint any parts that get too tacky looking. Even if I had purchased a very low mileage car I would still use it.

[mjorgensen]

DRIVE! :bth_smiley_formula1

[JohnnyH]

Rain, hail, sleet, and snow. As long as its not flooded, I'm good to go. Hahaha. But then again I don't get hail, sleet, or snow (Louisiana car). Just hit 65k in my 04 yesterday.

[72hemi]

I drive the wheels off my cars, put them back together and do it again. My Viper has over 87k on the odometer currently. I love cars and I love driving them.

[golfer15]

Drive'em...... then drive'em some more!

I've had too many family and friends pass away at early ages. You can't take it with you! Why not enjoy it for yourself instead of just looking at it and selling it later with low miles for someone else to enjoy?


How true a statement!! That's why I bought my Viper when I did, so I can enjoy it before I can't!!

[mikesax]

Drive-Drive-Drive: lifes too short-damn snow in Jersey is the only reason I am not Vipering it today! I really HATE the friggin snow!

[DrTaco]

Drive em! I'm glad to see so many people feel the same way too! I WILL say, though, that each and everytime I pull into the driveway after a drive I breath a sign of relief. I came from my last "toy" being totalled in an accident (other guy's fault) :(

[herbbone]

Didn't by a Viper to look at in a garage. It was built to be driven. Can't wait till it hits 100K. 48k on it now. Drive it.

[1ststrike]

Drive them! You can always have them redone to look like new. Who wants to wait 20 years to see that some models are worth big bucks.

[swexlin]

Drive them ,enjoy them , and maintain them . ;)

This. If you want look at it, buy a poster, and frame it. Much cheaper

[swexlin]

I used to baby my cars. As I got older and spent $$ watching cars depreciate in the garage I am slowly learning to appreciate what I worked so hard for. You live once and life is too short. I bust my ass to buy my car and can't afford to look at it sit in the garage. This summer I put 1,000 more miles on the Viper than I did the daily driver. When I am gone I wan't the next person to see my car and say, boy, he sure enjoyed the hell of this thing!
This is also my point of view

[Allan]

I drive mine FULL-BLAST!

Bought the car new, now has a little over 55,000 miles.
Viper ownership is a life changing experience if you get out and do stuff with it.
Keeping it covered in the garage is nuts.

[ViperSmith]

Drive the hell out of them.

If I had a massive collection, I could see not putting on a lot of miles.

But, I have the Viper and my BMW. I've been DD'ing the Viper since I got it.

You can't preserve it, because it just will lose value.

[HyperViper]

To me road trips are great in any vehicle. In a Viper they are epic and the time of your life. 17,000 miles in 4 years including coast to coast from North Carolina to California. I feel like the miles are a sort of gauge as to how much I have enjoyed the car.

[Matt M, Pa]

I enjoy driving my Vipers very much...in fact...my wife refers to them as my "blood pressure medicine".

That being said...i also have a "sickness" for wanting them to be in as perfect condition as possible. So..it's a double edged sword. So, they are preserved as well as possible. As a guy that has restored many cars...I also know that cars are not only meant to be driven...but need to be driven. Cars that are allowed to sit for long periods suffer.

[Bitten]

I have had quite a few cars that might be considered collectible, but each time I have purchased a new car, I have used it as my daily driver at least for a few years. My problem is that we keep buying and paying off and adding without getting rid of. So with 9 vehicles between 2 people we try to rotate what we drive. We still end up using a battery tender quite a bit. None of our cars are perfect and we haven't ever expected cars to appreciate as an investment. I guess driving your Viper is one of those things that depends on the owner.

[99RT10]

Hey Mike! Great post. Drive'em like you stole'em...............................

[commandomatt]

Well, I go against the 'drive em like the stole em' approach

If everyone would drive these cars like some suggest (10K + miles a year), well, then imagine how many fewer of these cars would actually even be out there. Sure, these are tough, relatively simple and well built cars but if all those Gen 1 & 2's had 200K + miles on them, well, they would pretty much be off the market. That would suck for those that wanted to get into an older model for less money, yet with some life still left in it.

I like my cars (and other toys) and can appreciate them with out actually driving or using them a lot. I like just being around them at times. I do have short season (7000 feet in Colorado) so I have to mix it up a bit. However if I don't get to put many miles on a car one season, I certainly don't loose any sleep over it.

I also buy my cars to keep. In other words, I don't feel like I have to get the miles on it to get my monies worth. Believe me...I will enjoy them plenty, even if it's over time.

I do not drive to get to work and my town is small....no car scene (to bad). I do however have some of the most spectacular twisty mountain roads right out the back door, so when I feel the urge...the toys definitely get a workout

Matt

...and YES, I consider these cars an investment 100%, an investment in my happiness !!

[johniew398]

Almost 14,000 on my 08 ACR. I am going to sell it after the first of the year and have already got some comments like, it has more miles than I wanted. That's ok although I don't understand why except for the Jay Leno's of the world you buy a car and then are afraid to drive it because you will put miles on it.

In my case it's going on six years of ownership so that is around 2,500 per year. Personally I don't want to buy a car that is say ten years old and has 2,000 miles on it. I would be afraid the lack of driving would cause problems at some point with seals leaking, etc.

[SLViper]

We drive EM! To every VOI so far. Put 36,000 on a new 95 RT/10 over 7 years, 28,000 on new 2000 RT/10 over 8 years, Both still looked like new and sold within 4-5K of a similar low miles Viper. Small price to pay for priceless good times!
6,000 on the 10 Vert so far :)

[Photog1]

I enjoy driving my Vipers very much...in fact...my wife refers to them as my "blood pressure medicine".

That being said...i also have a "sickness" for wanting them to be in as perfect condition as possible. So..it's a double edged sword. So, they are preserved as well as possible. As a guy that has restored many cars...I also know that cars are not only meant to be driven...but need to be driven. Cars that are allowed to sit for long periods suffer.

Could not of said it better!!!:D

[Bluecoupe]

Rain, hail, sleet, and snow. As long as its not flooded, I'm good to go. Hahaha. But then again I don't get hail, sleet, or snow (Louisiana car). Just hit 65k in my 04 yesterday.

Where abouts in La, JohnnyH? My son lives in Shreveport and he sent me some photos of the 'snow' they got. He just laughs and pulls out his Colorado license plates.

Oh yeah, Drive em! Mine is tucked away till the snow melts off the roads, then look out! I hope for a nice long road trip next summer.

[ssgsnake]

Drive I try to use at least 200 to 300 per year on my other cars vipers 1k or more a year

[Bugman Jeff]

If I just wanted something to look at, I'd buy a model :)

[KRATEDISEASE]

Drive, Drive, Drive until they do not drive any more....

besides, Chrysler will make me a new better one to replace mine if it ever wears out...

[VYPR BYT]

Well it's really close between two categories;
Drive 'em - Only on special occasions, keep value high/mileage low (feel guilty when I drive it) = 8.82%
I do both - Some of my toys are for pleasure and others are an investment = 10.29%

However, I never would have guessed Drive 'em - Life's too short (adds to my quality of life) at 80.88%
to be so far out in front.


I thought it would have been much, much closer with the "Drive 'em" category because there are seemingly so many low mileage/older toys around.
Very interesting
Keep the votes coming

[LittleCobra]

Drive them ,enjoy them , and maintain them . ;)

This (the first option needs the enjoy and maintain them bit added).

[JohnnyH]

Where abouts in La, JohnnyH? My son lives in Shreveport and he sent me some photos of the 'snow' they got. He just laughs and pulls out his Colorado license plates.

Oh yeah, Drive em! Mine is tucked away till the snow melts off the roads, then look out! I hope for a nice long road trip next summer.

I stay in New Orleans. Maybe seen snow once in my 29 years. But even that snow occurrence was a short lived one. Looked more like super white sleet.

[VoodooRob]

Here's a different view. I like to keep the Viper spotless so when it's the right time to use it, drop the lift and pull the cover off and drive. My time to keep it that clean is hard to come by. I do not go out of my way to drive it, when the time is right "hey let's take the Viper". Summer for us is spent on the water so our car gets used much less than average due to that and the Northern Ohio weather cycle. Just the way our time is focused, has no bearing on I don't want to drive it so it won't lose value. 2,000 miles in 4 years. We are keeping the car for awhile so if it doesn't get miles on it, it doesn't matter.

[BadAndy]

I'm with you Randall. Just had another reminder this past few months. Close friend got brain cancer and today or tomorrow should be her last day. She worked here where I do for 35+ years. Retired and got about 1 year out of it. She turned 60 yesterday.

Soon as this snow melts in the spring, I'm gonna wear it out.

[lmcgrew79]

28000 miles on my 2008. I personally dont think a car is worth owning unless your gonna enjoy it. For some the enjoyment may come from track events or racing to car shows or just polishing it in the garage. To each his own. Other than a few select vehicles not many modern cars are appreciating and the value you lose with higher miles dont usually offset the depreciation very much. Now for older original show cars, or extremely valuable cars i could see not wanting to drive it, hence why i would probably never own one.

[VYPR BYT]

Bump
I'm not convinced the numbers are accurate so far... tons of low mileage cars out there.
Please vote

[JohnHammer]

Once I began racing, I truly started to look at cars as a means to an end; that end being my personal pleasure. Now, I take better cosmetic care of my street cars, but whether it's a racecar or a street car, I truly drive them hard as often as I can. Drive'm, break'm, fix'm, repeat!

[FrgMstr]

29,900 miles on my 2008. Had it about 2.5 years and bought with 13,000. Drive mine about every chance I get if I am going anywhere that I will not be sitting in traffic.

[VoodooRob]

Bump
I'm not convinced the numbers are accurate so far... tons of low mileage cars out there.
Please vote

Poll is flawed because it is concentrated on the forum users, who are more "into" the Viper so the ownership experience is different in my opinion. I agree with you, the mileage on the older cars does not reflect what is being stated. Interesting though, seems the newer Gens have more miles than the older Gens. Is it the owner of the cars dictating this route, or the car dictating the lower miles?

[MI Viper]

Drive it, our 09 had ~4800 miles on her when we bought her in 11/13, now has 6500 miles.... The wife drives it more than I do, and that's cool, I'm really glad she enjoys it.
MI V.

[Dman]

Not driving a viper is like marrying a 10 and then not sleeping with her to avoid wear and tear.

I've never understood the garage queen thing. I only get joy from my cars and bikes when I'm having sex with them, uh, I mean driving them.

I do about 4-5k mis per yr on all my cars, but that's only because I spread it around and I have 5 cars, 3 are toys, 1 is a truck.

[Scot]

I am 2.25 years into my 09 ACR (bought new as leftover) and have 13.5k miles on it. It is covered in salt right now. Welcome to Pennsylvania :D