Newbie Questions-Again

SundevilFan · June 19th, 2008, 12:39 AM

Good evening everyone,

I've decided that I'm going to pursue a Gen II car (you all were giving me some feedback between Gen II and Gen III's previously). So, I've been looking at a local 2002 GTS with under 10K on the odometer. The car is literally in pristine condition and could pass for a new showroom car. Here are my questions:

1) Color is yellow with no stripes. Is this a popular/coveted color?

2) I know prices vary from region to region, but it seems to me that the asking price is a little steep at $49K. Do blue book values mean anything for a car like this? Reason I ask is KBB lists an excellent condition car with this amount of miles for approx. $44K. I'm willing to pay a little over this because the car has absolutely no flaws and I really want a local Viper, but $5K seems to high to me. Am I wrong?

3) Are there any items that one should be aware of prior to purchasing? I assume tires, clutch, shocks and brakes will all need replacement at or before20-30K or so but I have no idea how much these items will run. If you have any ideas on replacement costs of routine items, please let me know (including upgrading diff).

4) I know someone that has Belanger headers/exhaust and intake and the car sounds amazing. Is there a consensus on how good the Belanger headers are?

Thanks in advance for your help.

jc411 · June 19th, 2008, 01:01 AM

kbb you must be crazy

ACRSNK · June 19th, 2008, 10:50 AM

I have been searching for a while also and have found that kbb values don't mean too much when it comes to Vipers. $49K actually sounds about right for the car you described.

Good luck with the purchase

BlackGTS · June 19th, 2008, 11:24 AM

Have it checked out by a Viper tech. A lot of these cars have seen the other side of the blacktop. Do some homework. Spend about a week on this site looking at old threads. Go to the morgue. NO, not that one. The Viper club site. Do some MORE homework. Good luck with the car. Lowball the price. These things aren't flying off of the sales floors right now so you never know. Take the KBB and throw it out of the window. Good luck, these are great cars.

Ron

SundevilFan · June 19th, 2008, 11:28 PM

Thanks BlackGTS and ACRSNK. Already have a tech lined up for inspection if we get to that point. Hopefully the seller will come down after some thought, but for now he's not moving. We'll see what happens.