Dodge Viper Review

[BMWDave]

Canadian Driver

Test Drive:
2005 Dodge Viper SRT-10
By Michael La Fave

Los Angeles, California - With its killer rep - and I mean literally - is the Viper any fun to drive, or is it just scary?

Recently, I had the opportunity to spend a few days driving a red Viper SRT-10 in and around Los Angeles, California. Before this, I had only driven the car for 40 minutes and that was with a DaimlerChrysler chaperone who didn't look like he could handle the stress of yet another journalist trying to impress him with his driving skills - so I took it easy.


The result was my impression of the car ended up being rather poor. It was cramped and though obviously fast, the whole experience of winding out the lazy motor seemed anticlimactic. As well, all the body panels seemed to be shaking like a clapped-out airport limo. Junk, I thought.

My sentiments were probably influenced by the myriad reviews I had read, most of which praised its brutish power but condemned its laughably unstable chassis. The previous generation didn't even have ABS brakes and I'd read that the car had a habit of locking its front wheels.

I've also had a few colleagues that had serious crashes in Vipers, one of whom lost his life. Add to that the bunch that get crashed every week on the Viper.org enthusiast forum, and that at least at one point, it had the highest average repair cost of any vehicle on the road. So it wasn't a car I especially wanted to try.


But a lot can change after you get behind the wheel. After a full day of merely puttering around L.A. and occasionally engaging the throttle wide open, I wanted to own one badly. The car's sensuous and aggressive haunches, its long hood, ripping exhaust snarl, quick steering, beefy shifter and relatively decent ride quality make it the perfect California cruiser. Its looks deserve a lot of the credit for my change of heart. All the previous SRTs I'd seen up close were silver, but this dark red car sparkled by day and took on a more sinister, menacing presence by night.

The rest of the credit goes to 500 horsepower and 520 lb-ft of torque. Though I never put a wheel wrong in my time in the car, I must confess to treating it to more than its share of respect. Maybe that's the point of a car like this. There's no stability control to save your butt, so you better use good judgment of the road conditions and more importantly, your driving talent.


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Winding the car out in the first three gears will see you doing well over 160 km/h. You can almost touch 100 in first gear alone. Dive deep into the gas and there is ample traction from the truly massive rear tires. Grab second smoothly and roll back into the gas and it just hooks up, propelling itself forward fast enough to scare unwary motorists. Traction seems almost limitless as long as you roll into the throttle. It doesn't matter how fast you roll, just so long as you don't drop your foot flat on the floor or really bang the gear changes.


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If you don't show the car the respect it deserves, that mountain of torque and the limited-slip rear differential will spit the tail out faster than you can say "chronic care." The chassis isn't terribly well suited to rough pavement; you could probably set a faster pace on a pockmarked back road with a Mini Cooper S, but on smoother sweepers and on the straights, the Viper devours pavement. On a road like the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia or the Cabot trail in Nova Scotia, except for the rough section just out of Sydney, it would be simply sublime.

Once you've got it rolling, slowing it down no longer requires any particular skill. Drop the anchor on the six-piston front calipers and four-piston rears and the car stops -- right now.


The interior is a pretty tight fit for my 6'5", 300-lb frame, but smaller and thinner folks really enjoyed the seat comfort and found the adjustable pedals pretty handy. The interior materials and switchgear are familiar if you've ever driven a Dodge SX, but they are well arranged and the Indiglo-style gauges are very trick at night. The shifter knob is the size of a hardball and there is surprisingly decent trunk capacity, too.

I never bothered trying the 500-watt stereo, choosing instead to listen to the odd-firing but stirring sounds coming from the dual side-exit exhaust pipes.

The convertible roof is a manual affair but it's really easy to use, requiring the release of only one clamp and raising the trunk lid. Given the neat folded appearance of the top, I never saw a need for the tonneau cover.

The most serious complaint I could muster was that cruising around at low speeds, as you will want to do in a car like this, the heat of the engine emanating into the footwell became a bit uncomfortable.
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On a cool fall night it would probably be welcome, but at 26 degrees C in L.A. traffic, not so much. Equally, if you're trying to reach into the cabin for something, you can't lean your shin against the side exhaust for long.

I think the next step for the Viper and me is to explore its lofty limits at a racetrack. Despite the occasional full-throttle run and a sprint through the corners, you can never truly be able to claim you've experienced all that the Viper has to offer on a public road. The plan is already in place to drive a whole range of SRT products at Le Circuit Mont Tremblant this summer. You will, of course, be the first to know how it goes.

Technical Data:

Base price $127,000
Freight $1,400
A/C tax $100
Price as tested $128,500
Type 2-door, 2-passenger convertible
Layout Front engine/rear-wheel-drive
Engine 8.3-litre V10, OHV, 20 valves
Horsepower 500 @ 5600 rpm
Torque 525 lb-ft @ 4200 rpm
Transmission 6-speed manual
Tires P275/35 ZR18 front
 P345/30 ZR19 rear
Curb weight 1546 kg (3410 lbs.)
Wheelbase 2510 mm (98.8 in.)
Length 4459 mm (175.6 in.)
Width 1911 mm (75.2 in.)
Height 1210 mm (47.6 in.)
Cargo capacity 240 litres (8.4 cu. ft.)
Fuel consumption City: 19.5 L/100 km (14 mpg)
 Hwy: 10.7 L/100 km (26 mpg)
Warranty 3 yrs/ 60,000 km
Powertrain warranty 5 yrs/100,000 km

Thoughts?

[Catman]

Sounds about right to me.  The Viper never was a good example of quality but more an example of exclusive performance.

[BMWDave]

Sounds about right to me.  The Viper never was a good example of quality but more an example of exclusive performance.

I wouldnt expect clunking parts in a 90K car! :o  

[Catman]

Sounds about right to me.  The Viper never was a good example of quality but more an example of exclusive performance.

I wouldnt expect clunking parts in a 90K car! :o

Yeah, but I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of these high end supercars had some spotty fit and finish.  

[MrH]

I see cars like the Viper, and Z06 and such, and think, "wow, that'd be awesome to own."  Realistically though, how hard is it to legally use 500 hp on the road?  It's damn near impossible.  Give me a 911 Carrera S anyday.

[Catman]

I see cars like the Viper, and Z06 and such, and think, "wow, that'd be awesome to own."  Realistically though, how hard is it to legally use 500 hp on the road?  It's damn near impossible.  Give me a 911 Carrera S anyday.

I concur.  

[MrH]

I see cars like the Viper, and Z06 and such, and think, "wow, that'd be awesome to own."  Realistically though, how hard is it to legally use 500 hp on the road?  It's damn near impossible.  Give me a 911 Carrera S anyday.

I concur.

The Z06 can break any speed limit around here in just first gear.  That's just ridiculous.  I could technically just use one gear and keep up with speed limit.  

[BMWDave]

I see cars like the Viper, and Z06 and such, and think, "wow, that'd be awesome to own."? Realistically though, how hard is it to legally use 500 hp on the road?? It's damn near impossible.? Give me a 911 Carrera S anyday.

I concur.

The Z06 can break any speed limit around here in just first gear.  That's just ridiculous.  I could technically just use one gear and keep up with speed limit.

People buy them since they want to have a car they KNOW can go to 190 or 195 mph, even if they dont use it to its potential.

[Fire It Up]

I see cars like the Viper, and Z06 and such, and think, "wow, that'd be awesome to own."  Realistically though, how hard is it to legally use 500 hp on the road?  It's damn near impossible.  Give me a 911 Carrera S anyday.

Thats what racetracks are for.

[giant_mtb]

I see cars like the Viper, and Z06 and such, and think, "wow, that'd be awesome to own."  Realistically though, how hard is it to legally use 500 hp on the road?  It's damn near impossible.  Give me a 911 Carrera S anyday.

Thats what racetracks are for.

 

[BMWDave]

People like using this smiley a lot!    

[Fire It Up]

the car had a habit of locking its front wheels.

Oh, that explains it; in GT4, (yes, GT4) if you go on the Viper's brakes fast it will relentlessly understeer. You have to ease into the brakes or you'll fly off the track.  

[BMWDave]

the car had a habit of locking its front wheels.

Oh, that explains it; in GT4, (yes, GT4) if you go on the Viper's brakes fast it will relentlessly understeer. You have to ease into the brakes or you'll fly off the track.

I dont play GT4 but are you sure that what happens in a computer game so realistically depicts the faults of one specific car? :o  

[giant_mtb]

the car had a habit of locking its front wheels.

Oh, that explains it; in GT4, (yes, GT4) if you go on the Viper's brakes fast it will relentlessly understeer. You have to ease into the brakes or you'll fly off the track.

I dont play GT4 but are you sure that what happens in a computer game so realistically depicts the faults of one specific car? :o

But GT4 is the ULTIMATE racing simulator...the physics, cars, sounds, everything is supposedly exact.  Each car has its own real exhaust note, performance, and handling and all that stuff.   Forza Motorsport for the Xbox has the feature of being able to toggle the ABS, TCS, and STC systems on and off before a race.  :)  

[mazda6er]

Sounds about right to me.? The Viper never was a good example of quality but more an example of exclusive performance.

I wouldnt expect clunking parts in a 90K car! :o

Yeah, but I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of these high end supercars had some spotty fit and finish.

Spotty fit and finish indeed:



Neon? No, its a Viper.  :blink:  

[Catman]

Yeah, pretty ugly.

This is what you should get for that kind of dough.

[93JC]

Spotty fit and finish indeed:



Neon? No, its a Viper.  :blink:

You may have issues with finish, but fit?

Dude, that looks like eveything fits perfectly...

[93JC]

Awesome. Deliciously minimalistic.

[Fire It Up]

Well, that interior is much better than before, but still not "amazing."  

[BMWDave]

Well, that interior is much better than before, but still not "amazing."

Definitely not in the 85K class.

[93JC]

I'm surrounded by luxo-weenies...

You're not paying $85,000 for the interior, you're paying $85,000 for the unparalleled performance.

[BMWDave]

I'm surrounded by luxo-weenies...

You're not paying $85,000 for the interior, you're paying $85,000 for the unparalleled performance.

I agree, and I'm not a weenie :angry:    The performance is unparrarelled, but I was merely remarking that I would have liked the interior to be a bit nicer.

[93JC]

Any nicer and it would be too hard to clean after you've shit your pants!

[BMWDave]

Any nicer and it would be too hard to clean after you've shit your pants!

With a car like this...very possible  

[93JC]

[Tom]

Come on guys, we're talking about a car that could make Ahnold squeal like a woman, but there are 2mm gaps???

[mazda6er]

Come on guys, we're talking about a car that could make Ahnold squeal like a woman, but there are 2mm gaps???

It doesn't take much to make Ahnold squeal like a woman.   :D  

[BMWDave]

Come on guys, we're talking about a car that could make Ahnold squeal like a woman, but there are 2mm gaps???

It doesn't take much to make Ahnold squeal like a woman.   :D

:D