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Show I rida. August 13, IW. THE DAILY HI RAI D. Pnu. Luh Pax LI MMimmm Transportation news for Utah Valley Published Fridays by The Daily Herald 1 On K V I '99 Dodge Viper zooms with a r w EiOlder cars still 0-6- Press The 1999 Dodge Viper is automotive Viagra, where performance is all that matters. Who cares about such as a cramped interior and drive-linlash when you can race off the line to 60 mph in just four seconds? Who's bothered by a noisy, droning ride when you're the center of attention in a that exudes virility? With a starting manufacturer's suggested retail price plus destination charge of $66,425 for an roadster, the Viper continues to hold its own in an expanding market. Even today, eight years after its debut as a production model, it bristles with more horsepower, 450 at 5,200 rpm, than any production Corvette BASE PRICE: s AS TESTED: TYPE: e RT-1- Dear Tom and Ray: When is it time to stop following the manufacturer's maintenance schedule? I have a 1993 Volvo 940 Turbo Wagon with 102,000 miles on it. For the most part, I have brought it to the dealer for all of the scheduled maintenance. That means spending something like $500 or $1,000 a year, even if the car was running perfectly when I brought it in (to be fair, those bills included brake jobs and exorbitant repairs to such essential equipment as the seat heaters). But at this point in the car's life, should I continue to go for the hefty routine maintenance visits or just wait until things break? Steve ' I. ' t the main-- J tenance, Steve. This is a mis-- j take a lot of people make. Once they get to 75,000 or ,100,000 miles, they assume the car is on its way downhill Janyway, so they throw away ;the book and stop doing the Z routine servicing. And it's a RAY: Keep doing Z prophecy. TOM: Right. You stop tak- ing care of it, things start to J wear out, and you take the car 'tin one day and they tell you ".that you need $8,000 worth of work. And you say, "That's .ridiculous. On a car with C 120,000 miles, I'll just junk it." t RAY: But if you kept doing , the maintenance, you'd invest .'your $500 or $1,000 each year, ; and you'd probably never face ; the $8,000 dilemma. TOM: Right. They'd get it $1,000 at a time over, say, eight years. And our Volvo-- ; g ; owning customers tell us it doesn't hurt nearly as much that way. Why's my car on fire? Dear Tom and Ray: Can you think of any reason .why a catalytic converter , would catch fire while Sharon driving? J TOM: No. RAY: I've certainly never Tseen it happen. And I've had "cars come into the shop with converters that were absolutely glowing red. TOM: But it's possible for things around the converter to catch fire. If your engine was running rich or your timing was very retarded, a lot of the gasoline could have been com- busting inside the converter instead of the cylinders (those are the most common explanat tions for converters). RAY: So, if your converter was running hot and you ran over a garbage bag and it got stuck underneath your car, the garbage bag could have caught fire. The same could be true of a bunch of dried leaves or a flowering tulip tree that you ran over 20 miles earlier and wedged between the converter and floorboards. TOM: But I've never seen a converter itself burst into flames. So if you're looking for an explanation for a fire that started under the car, look for something the converter could have ignited rather than the converter itself. red-ho- COPY V-1- .. . Ljr v' t -- f hi JIZZTs. - f .... 18-inc- out-rubb- ;lvfi A LENGTH: 176.7 inches. wrap. GAS GUZZLER TAX: $3,000. DESTINATION CHARGE: $700. 5sV Associated Press The Raw power: Performance is all that matters for the 1999 Dodge Viper, which can race off the line to 60 miles an hour in just four seconds. Bearing a huge engine under its long hood, the Viper bristles with more horsepower than any production model Corvette or Porsche. 450 at 5,200 rpm but with an estimated fuel economy of only 12 miles per gallon in the it can empty quickly. The Viper uses only premium fuel and is one of the few cars on the market that has a tax when you buy it. Watch, too, how you sit in the driver's seat. The center part of the dashboard that reaches to the floor between the seats impinges on the driver's floor space and pushes the accelerator, brake and clutch pedals to the left. This forced me to sit with a slight list to the left and gave a weird feeling as I looked up at the big, swoopy city, gas-guzzl- humps on the hood. The steering wheel also was a bit farther left, so much so I could touch the windshield pillar without taking my left hand off the wheel. There's no dead pedal, which I find strange, given the powerful maneuvers capable in this sports car. As a result, I kept fussing with my left leg. At times, I extended it to beneath the clutch pedal, though there was no support. Other times, I'd have it in front of the pedals. Either way, it wasn't comfortable. The interior on the test car had the new Connolly flat-foote- d leather option package in a Cognac color. Don't look for power seat adjustments, though. The track mechanism is manual, and the lumbar support operates by squeezing a bulb. It looks like it came off a detector at the doctor's blood-pressur- e office. YOU SIT close to the doors, but there are no map pockets. There also are no but there are a few small storage spots, in concert with the car's stiff ride. The spare tire takes up about half of the rear cargo . area, but you can fit other items in the remaining 9.2 cubic feet. Dodge said only 4 percent of Viper buyers are female. Average age for all buyers is 48, and annual household income is just over $190,000. Comparable starting prices of competitors include $38,900 for the 1999 Chevrolet Corvette hard top with a 345-hand $65,795 for a 1999 Porsche 911 coupe with a 296-hengine. Consumer Reports does not list owner trouble complaints on the Viper because of the low volume of sales. V-- p p cup-holder- mostly via netting. Radio buttons are tiny, especially when you consider how you have to work them Upgrade Your Transportation To A New Suburban or sierra From Christensen Pontiac Buick GMC in American Fork! biiimt si Mis POMTIACBUICKGMC TRUCK UHljUMl o cr & Vi ... iee Our Larget Ever Selection of Mew GMC Sierra Pickupsl rear-whefoot-poun- putt-puttin- g 80 mph? But there was a good lash in amount of drive-linthe tester. At low speeds, as I let up on the clutch in shifting, the car would sound like it had a loose exhaust pipe. It actually was just a reaction to mane aging that 0 power at low speeds. And in all kinds of driving there was a lot of engine noise. At stoplights, the Viper had a deep burble as it waited to move on. On the highway, the car droned, which could make long trips fatiguing. Extended Gab 4x4 Picliup SJItwV 1lMriiMinptaMingvaMctos. o,pBririimgi4)(4caitr9ltoti . ' ... . J (trtffai Aim BodaR 1 , - . UtiUOU UAfl, ni 4l "'"V ""fX1,. rr yj l - U New Shipment Arrived! yust V, flj V-1- WATCH THE fuel gauge. The gas tank holds 19 gallons, l $500, includes Connolly leather seat trim and steering wheel n COMBINE THAT quick steering with an engine with more power than most of us know how to use, and you can understand the need to be extra alert behind the wheel. Torque is amazing in this drive car: It's 490 at 3,700 rpm. You feel like you're launching when you accelerate hard. Be sure your head is firmly against the head restraint or your neck will tire. Passing on the freeway feels almost like a lazy maneuver. What other car can make you feel like you're at rear-whee- WHEELBASE: 96.2 inches. CURB WT.: 3,383 pounds. BUILT AT: Detroit. OPTIONS: Leather package, d two-seate- r, $72,425. , MILEAGE: 12 mpg city, 21 mp highway. TOP SPEED: 177 mph. , , . 0 BEARING A huge 0 engine, the 3,300-pounViper is a heavyweight in the class. It weighs 500 pounds more than Honda's upcoming the S2000, for example, and at least 100 pounds more than the "Vette. And that's with the Viper's plastic body panels. h The standard tires, new for 1999, the standard on the Mercedes-Ben- z SLK roadster. With annual sales averaging about 1,300, Jim Julow, general manager for the Dodge Division, says the viper is for "true enthusiasts who demand the very highest level of pure performance." "Pure" is a key word here. While there have been improvements over the years, some of which make the ride a little less rough, the car still doesn't baby you. You want a powerful sports car, you get all that comes with it. The test Viper GTS coupe, for example, shuddered over broken pavement on the highway. The whole structure shuddered, a telltale sign of the rigidity of the chassis and the stiffness of the aluminum suspension. In fact, even on smooth pavement, there's a tightness in this car's ride. The power steering is as quick and as precise as I've seen. The Viper demands that you drive it, or you will find it following where you're looking, even off to the side of the road. GTsS drive, twapassenger sports coupe ENGINE: 8 liter, overhead valve 0 or Porsche. Front-engine- for RT 10 coupe. $65,725 roadster; $68,225 for two-seat- need scheduled maintenance kick 0 By ANN M. JOB For The Associated side-effect- Tom & Ray four-secon- d - rc; " SlT cD JJJ oD1 rrr T7 re? U2J Z. - 3- 3- -: |
