Future Viper Owner What to look for

[modstock]

Gentlemen,
First post on the forums!
Looking to purchase a Gen I or Gen II Viper within a year if the stars align. As I do with all vehicles before I buy them, I look into what it's like living with one.
Specifically interested in maintenance. From what I understand, Gen I Vipers share a few parts with the same year Dodge Dakotas, which is a relief as those parts are fairly cheap.

What should I be looking at as a new buyer?

Warm Regards

[ACRSNK]

The search button will be your friend on this one. Lots of great information that you will find on this exact topic. Best of luck with your search.

[daveg]

Ya, lots of great posts and helpful information.. Grab a beer and read read read.. good luck with the quest.

[dave6666]

+1 on start trolling threads until you have learned what it is you feel you need to learn. A crash course in anything is typically less valuable than experience and learning. No exception with Vipers.

There are some Viper parts, but not an overwhelming amount, that fit other vehicles. Many get brought up here when a person can't find the discontinued OEM version but they find a crossover part that works. But I would not rely on that thinking to get you through every potential parts need. There are parts that are specific to the Viper and there are parts bin parts on the Viper.

There are a lot of garage queens floating around in the sale ads. It has been documented way to many times the problems that they have with seals and all kinds of other aged parts. Unless you are looking for a driveway trophy yourself then a car with 50k miles is going to be way more reliable than a car with 5k miles.