I owned one for about a year and a half. Scraped up enough savings and USAA gave me a loan to finally get my dream car, a 1996 Viper GTS, blue with white stripes.

It was an AWESOME car. The rears had 345 Toyo R1Rs which stuck to the road but weren't the best in rain. It would cruise in 6th gear at 70mph and still average 21mpg on long trips. I drove mine from Illinois where I bought it down to middle Georgia, then drive it to Texas and back to show it off to my dad.

Above 100mph, you could feel the car squat down and lean forward, really neat feeling. Fastest I ever took it up to was 165mph on a loooong stretch of road in Texas.

Mine had aftermarket long tube headers and some mild head work, a slightly lopier cam, and no mufflers so she made some noise. Just idling in traffic would shake the car. It was a head turner.

The cons of the Viper were a couple things:

• The Viper Tax

Any parts you wanted to buy from an online shop were always expensive, even though you could source same part numbers from cheaper alternatives. For instance, the T56 skip shift eliminator kit from the Viper store was like $120. I got the same kit, that does the same thing, off ebay for a Camaro T6060. Only paid like $18.99.

• The Skip Shift feature

Part of the Vipers factory setup is the 2-3 gear skip. Basically, a solenoid would force you to go from 1st gear straight to 4th depending on your throttle percentage and speed. Didn't really kick in if you were on the gas, but every now and then would kick in during really inconvenient times.

• Seating position

The second gen Vipers had a strange seating arrangement. There is no "dead pedal" to rest your foot. The clutch pedal is quite literally next to the wall in the footwear, so while your driving, you will sit ever so slightly pointing to the left. After awhile, you get used to it.

• The pedal "bird cage"

So the gas, brake, and clutch pedal hang from an all aluminum bracket that's commonly referred to as the bird cage. The bolts that hold up the swing arm deal linkage sometimes elongates, and mine got to the point where the clutch pedal "fell off" and just sat on the floor. Easy enough fix with some steel inserts.

• Battery location.

It's not in an easy to get to location as it sits in its own cubby behind the driver side rear tire. Kind of a bitch and a half to get to, but eh.. racecar. There is a jump post under the hood you use in case you have to jump start it, which is convenient.

• The anti theft system

Kinda weird to be complaining about a good system but it does have a drawback. If you lose the key fob and locked the doors, you can still get into the car via crawling through the hatch and unlocking from the inside, but you won't be able to go anywhere. The car will start, run for a second, then die. Repeatedly. Now, there is a way to bypass this anti theft system that I learned, and got very good at after the key fob kept dying on me.. but I won't divulge that info on here.

• The Attention

You'd think you would get looks from the ladies, and while yes, you get a few winks tossed your way, you get roughly 6 times more attention from dudes. I mean it's cool, but I really don't wanna hear how your close friends neighbors mailman had the V12 version. They didn't come with V12s. Ever. And cool, you have a Corvette only 16 made with red stitching in the seats, factory chrome door handles, and dealer installed pin stripes but, brother, it ain't a Viper. Take your New Balance shirt tucked ass back to Golden Corral.

Aside from those, the Viper is a car you should drive or at the very least just ride in once in your life. I get that yes it's a V10 that only made 450hp and the new cars make 200hp new. Cool, but everybody has one. I can go to my local Walmart and find 16 Coyotes there. The Viper is special. It's visceral and raw. No traction control, no stability management, just you the car and that sweet open road.