Hello All,

I've always been a big car enthusiast growing up where I primarily focused on "cheaper" cars and the modifying them. I've owned an RX8, 2 6.0L GTOs (headers/cam/exhaust/etc.), 2 RX7 (one stock twins, one street ported single turbo) Stage 3 S4, etc.

It was always one of my dreams to own a Viper GTS and a few years ago for a 27th birthday gift to myself, I bought one.



The Viper is great, don't get my wrong, but I have rarely driven it because I am always worried about it. Vipers are rarely seen around here in comparison to Vettes/Porsches/Audis/Benz etc.

Lately, I've been very interested in 997 Turbo but I'm wanting to see how many, if any, have come from a car similar to a Viper into the 997 Turbo.

Although still a beautiful car, Porsche around here is common and seen daily so I wouldn't be as worried about driving it on a daily basis and leaving it in a parking lot in comparison to the Viper.

I'm assuming it would be considered an "upgrade" in terms of performance but would you guys see any downsides of letting go of my Viper to get into the 997?

 

A stock turbo E85 997TT will make your Viper feel slow. Notice I said feel, Vipers never feel very fast to me, and I'm always shocked out how they accelerate quickly but feel so lazy. My brother is a viper guy with a current gen 5 TA that traps 132 with headers, exhaust, and mopar ECU. During "friendly comparisons" my car easily pulls many car lengths, on pump gas I usually get him by a car length. Also, you've not experienced torque until you've been in an E85 997TT. Makes my brothers car feel like a Honda in comparison

 

You didn't say what you are looking for, but coming from such a raw car, the 911 turbo is going to feel boring. Stock the car is so capable and so well sorted, balanced, and just plain amazing at what it does that it is kind of without excitement imho. It just does. No drama. no white knuckles.


plan on exhaust, intercoolers, and tune at a bare minimum if you want to wake the car up. Add some upgraded VTG's and the car pulls like an animal and you can feel it in your eyeballs.

Obviously PDK is a game changer. not sure if you are in the market for a .1 or a .2 car.

 

If you get an MT, plan for a clutch upgrade including a new slave cylinder.

 

Appreciate all of the feedback guys.

What is it that I'm looking for?

- Low end torque: I prefer low end torque over peak HP. It was one of the reasons why the 8.0L V10 of the Viper drew me into it. It looks as though the Porsche would give me that and even superior to the Viper. As I noted in my original thread, I owned a Stage 3 S4 (2.7L with Twin K04 turbos) and although it was one of my lowest powered cars, it felt like it pulled like a truck. I'm thinking AWD has some help with that.

- Handling: I bought a 2000 Miata as a daily driver and it was probably the most fun I've had in a car. There was no HP/torque but with suspension done I was able to have fun through the back roads. From what I've heard, the Porsche has excellent handling.

- Ability to Drive: What does this mean? Like I said about my Viper, every time I sit in it and drive it, it always brings a smile to my face. However I never felt comfortable being able to drive it and actually parking it and leave it for a period of time. Going out to dinner? Not bringing the Viper unless I know the area is "rich". Need to stop at a store to pick up something? Not going to bring the Viper unless it is a quick in and out. Going to work? Not going to bring the Viper because it will draw too much attention (I work for an accounting Firm and I am not a Partner. I do not want my co-workers knowing what I own). I want something where I can drive it without worry and as I said, seeing how Porsche cars are often seen, it wouldn't draw negative attention from the standard cars around here.

 

I came from a vette z06. I agree with this above...

Stock the 997 was relatively boring compared to the vette. Not nearly as fast or wild of a ride. It was however much tighter feeling and composed. Refined i guess you would say, but that is also part of its downfall.

Now that i have modded. The car is at least as fast if not faster. It is still not wild but when the turbos spool it is always fun. However just like all fast cars it is so fast that it is hard to have fun on the streets for me because how fast it attains ridiculous speeds.

It takes some time to get used to rear engine. As far as driving experience goes they are just really different n/a vs turbo as you know. Ideally i would have one of each. If less attention is what you are looking for the 911 in black silver or white will probably get that for you.

The 911 is definitely more usable with awd and back seats. And i actually feel i get less attention in my silver porsche than i did in my red vette even though the 911 is much more rare in my area.

 

I'm struggling with the same OP. I had a Gen III for 6 years and loved every second of the driving experience. The car grabbed a lot of attention as well. I can't decide on a GenV TA car or a 997.1 (manual). I'm leaning 997.1, but know I'll want to do some mods as others said to make it a bit more my style. Just don't know the platform and costs vs Vipers, Vets, or even AMG's owned.

Also I have a modded E55 for a practical (well 550rwtq) play car outside of the daily drivers...so if I add another I don't mind something a bit wild or rough.

 

Had both and honestly I like the Viper to go out for a quick drive and blow off steam. The 911 is a much more focus track/ heavy street car then that generation viper. If I had to use it to drive to work its 911 every time. little more low key and in a mild color you can kind of float under the radar.

 

I guess the other item to address here is going to be cost of ownership comparison. I'll need your guys insight on this

Cost of Car:

Viper: ~$40-$45K for a well put together GTS
997 Turbo: ~$70-$80K? This is the range I'm seeing for a lower mileage (20K+) well maintained car

Cost to Mod:

Viper: The Viper is fairly "cheap" to mod. You're looking at around $1.5-$2k for a full exhaust system. Suspension is around another $2-$3k. etc. My car puts down 430rwhp/460rwtq with the mods it has (headers/exhaust/gears/light suspension/etc.)

997 Turbo: How much are "mods" for the car? I'm assuming because it is a Porsche, it is going to have that premium cost to the mods. What kind of power are you looking to get out of the car if you drop lets say $5k into it?

Cost to Maintain:

Viper: I've had the Viper for about 2 years now and I haven't had to do anything to it except gas. I plan on doing a full "refresh" at my Viper mechanic here but I'm not expecting a high cost. After all, it is still a Dodge.

997 Turbo: My Dad owned a 914 and an older 911. He said the maintenance on it was very expensive but didn't give me pricing. Would love to get an estimate of costs you guys are spending to keep it running strong.

 

Until you quoted those viper prices i would have thought they were similar to mod and maintain but based on those prices you said the 997 will be more expensive than the viper.

5k in mods will get you to 550-575 at the crank. You can probably do tune and an exhaust. Exhausts and tunes are very expensive on the 911 compared to other cars. The next thing budget allowing would be intercoolers and/or injectors for e85 which together could be had for 2k not including labor. Those would get you to the 600-650 bhp range easily.

Honestly maintenance and parts are on par with other euro cars i think like audi, bmw, merc in their sport divisions (RS, M, AMG) unless something major goes out like engine, tranny, turbos.

 

What did you decide? Did you get a 997? This thread is really helpful to me because I'm torn between the gen 2 Viper GTS and the 997.1 TT. I use the car for my business, so the Viper is perfect because it grabs a lot of attention. Plus it has that low end torque that I love. But the TT is SO sexy and seductive. Plus, I'm hoping the 0-60 in the TT makes it feel scary! The Viper? Yup. Scary. Such a tough decision...Would love to hear tons of feedback!

 

I had 97 GTS Viper 15 years ago. Before that , I had a 930 and many cars since then. Although torque monsters, I find the GTS heavy and find fully modified Porsche Turbos a lot quicker.

For long term, I think Porsches will have better value. I was hoping for an 09 but it was a lot of coin when I bought mine. Still is a lot of coin

 

I've decided to keep the Viper for now. I just got married almost a year ago so life is a little hectic and there are better life decisions we are making right now where my money needs to be (buying a 2nd house, preparing for a kid, etc.)

I'd need to test drive the 997 to see how it "feels" in comparison to the Viper. I would hate to do that now because its just going to tease me haha.

The guy I actually bought my Viper from just let me know he picked up a 996 Turbo (he owned a TT Supra before the Viper). When I asked his opinion between the Porsche and the Viper he said

"It's a great machine. Way better than Supra and Viper. Handling, stability and power curve is something that stands out from my limited driving experience. The faster you go the more stable it feels"

 

I have a tuned turbo and if I want the low end grunt, I drive my vette. Turbos just don't do it for the instant snap of tq. Despite how turbos have become more efficient, they will never replace discplacement. Not sure if you are a wrench turner it just want something out of the box, but a built motor in a lightweight car is the way to go.

 

I made a separate thread but was re-linked to this thread so I want to bump it up.

It has been 5 months since my original post and I have continued to look at the 997 Turbo market and still have the same questions I had a few months before but now one additional question I'm looking for is what would be the "ideal" buy? What should be the primary things to make sure are done with the car. For example, preventative maintenance and high cost mods for power. With any car, a seller will not be able to get their money back for the money put into the car, so I'd like the "best bang for buck".