Shelby-Inspired Elysian

A throaty bellow resonates from the engine compartment as the tach shoots past 4500, a Jekyll-to-Hyde transition from the subdued exhaust burble seconds prior. I slam-shift into second as the rear end snaps into place and the car begins to stabilize. At this point, it's all I can do to hang on. By the time I've crested the rev limiter a second time, it has become blatantly obvious that this isn't just any sports car. It's THE sports car.

A caricature of a car already the ultimate caricature.

A Walk Back in Time

How the automotive gods must have smiled when the Viper concept was unveiled in 1989, a modern interpretation of Shelby's legendary Cobra. Demand for the roadster was so vehement that it was pushed into volume production barely 3 years later as the RT/10. Central to the car's appeal was a 415 HP stroked aluminum V10, an engine borrowed from Chrysler's Ram truck line and at the time boasting 40 more ponies than Chevrolet's Corvette ZR-1. Subsequent years saw the introduction of the GTS roadster, a 35 HP bump in power, glass windows and racing stripes. The Viper will gain a 500 HP engine and an updated body style for 2003.

My personal experiences are based on the 2001 Viper GTS, a vanilla model if there is such a thing. A friend of mine is a salesman at my local Dodge dealer. Although I've no intention of buying the car, he doesn't mind if I take it out occasionally.

Driving Impressions

Wide rubber makes for sharp but heavy steering, a skittish rear end and tracking that'll follow road paint given the opportunity. 3550 pounds of Detroit iron and plastic preclude the nimble response of, say, a Lotus Elise, but because the Viper sits only five inches above the pavement, absolute grip is phenomenal. And indeed, the suspension contributes in no small degree. It's pretty easy to determine the right side of the law from the drivers seat; if the car leans, you're going too fast.

It's truly an exercise in sensory distortion to discover lateral limits, but when you do straddle that line, the Viper becomes borderline unpredictable. 10 cylinders and 8.0 liters rest of the front axle, with none of a BMW's throttle-by-wire gimmickry. The front end lifts under 9/10 acceleration, inducing understeer.. but push to 10 and your chances of doing a sudden about-face increase exponentially as the rear tires skitter sideways.

Now.. I've heard the Viper can powerslide.. but certain clauses in my rather limited insurance policy dictate that it would be unwise to attempt such a feat on public roads. To be continued.. [evil laugh]

Let me dwell a moment on power. This car has it by the bushel and it has it everywhere. With exception to the ludicrously tall EPA 6th ratio, every gear pulls hard. The lower you go, the more it'll kick. Donuts are effortless. Off the line acceleration is absolutely unreal. If you're quick with the clutch, 60 MPH will fly by in 4 seconds flat. The quarter mile will happen at almost 120 MPH in less time than it takes to skim this paragraph. It's that frickin' fast. Which leads me to my next point..

You must respect the car.

If you don't give it your full attention, it'll bite and it'll bite hard. Ford's diesel dualies don't have the torque this monster sports. Nothing from the late '60s can handle a Viper. Neither can 9 of 10 drivers. This car should never be driven in the rain. It should never be driven by anyone under 20. And it should never be raced on the street.

Unless your would-be opponent drives a riced Honda, in which case you should feel free to leave make pretty black patterns all over the asphalt.

In an attempt to retain every aspect of the classic muscle car experience, Dodge chose not to equip the Viper with any form of traction or stability control. The temptation to make use of that massive V10 overpowers reason. The Corvette's thundering V8 engages with restraint thanks to GM's Active Handling electronic godfather; the Viper has no such luxury. Nor does any model prior to 2001 have ABS. It's the only supercar with 13" rotors that'll slide half the length of a football field before reaching a stop from 60 MPH, writhing like a fish all the way. Edmunds managed to haul down a 2001 GTS ACR in 115 feet, proving that it can indeed stop well with ABS. Hallmarks to the musclecar genre are atrocious gas mileage, minimal ground clearance, and a literal dive into the front seat for anyone over 5'10".

Interior

Dodge faced a bit of a quandary when designing the Viper's interior. On the one hand, their entire project inspiration was an old-school, balls-out, put-up-or-shutup muscle car. On the other... well, you've got to include something extra for $80 grand, don't you? I don't expect to be coddled in a car like this, but the general obsession with cheap black plastic just doesn't jive. What's a pound of brushed aluminum go for these days? Think Audi TT.

Serious side bolstering keeps one's hindquarters securely planted while pulling a hard right into the local McDonalds. General feel is about a B; I wouldn't mind a couple hours in the driver's seat. Lack of a 5 point harness and Chrysler's slick leather prevent this from ranking among my favorite racing ensembles, but that's merely fuel for the existence of the ACR "American Club Racer" package, a $10,000 lower-stiffer-quicker option for those who would rather their car shake the coffee for them.

My list of niggling complaints ends with offset pedal placement. I don't like having to shift my 6'3" frame to accommodate a clutch in another ZIP code. It's enough that I'm brushing the headliner.

More important to many will be the lack of outward visibility from within the cabin. As Edmund's Liz Kim pointed out, parking and lane changes are an exercise in faith. This car was designed to dominate racetracks; it doesn't care about your petty real-world maneuvering concerns!

As if that actually made a difference. The day Schumacher complains about the cupholders in his F1 car, I'll retire to Cuba and a life of debauchery, '57 Chevies and cheap cigars. And I won't raise a stink about features irrelevant to a car that'll never experience dark clouds or icy throughfare.


Styling

The Viper's styling is the industry benchmark for sex appeal. I've yet to meet a soul who wasn’t immediately rendered speechless by the menacing countenance and rear flanks. Next to a Honda, the Viper looks like a UFO. Massive 335mm rubber out back and a floored 'Hey, look, I can touch the road!' stance coalesce into the most outrageous road-going vehicle available. As your local Pontiac dealer would say, wider is most definitely better.

Kudos to the design team for this one, they knocked the ball out of the park. The Viper was a classic before the first one had even rolled off the assembly line.

Bottom line?

If you're in the market for a Dodge Viper, then you've already made your choice. Nothing compares. The Z06 sports computerized finesse the Viper will never attain. It would take another prancing horse to emulate the scream of a 360 Modena at 8500 RPM ...but so what? The Viper is unabashedly American with everything that entails, for better or worse.

There is nothing else quite like it.