1st Jan 2011, 14:23
I own two Vipers. The RT/10 and a GTS. To those who have never driven one, please don't make assumptions? The fact is Vipers are unmatched in any type of track racing, and beat out the Vette ZR1 in quarter mile drag racing. I don't understand those here who compare them to Saleens etc.
12th Jul 2015, 11:18
You were joking when comparing Viper to a TVR? I have never heard of anyone compare such different cars. I can't even come up with a good comparison.
12th Jul 2015, 12:35
I don't think it was anything but unique character comments vs TVR; not at all regarding performance. Actually a friend in my high school had a early TVR Griffith with the 289. Like a Cobra, but with a hardtop. Pretty neat little car. Cool dash with a lot of toggle switches.
The commenter on the 2011 comment will retract comments on the new gen Corvettes. They are extremely fast, and handle and brake extremely well. We have Vettes and a Viper in our family. The Viper is low production, under 5000 made a year, which is a plus. But since 2011, C6 and especially C7 Corvettes have definitely been in the super car realm. The only earlier flaw was the interior quality, and that changed in 2014.
In turn, I really like the 96 GTS as well. The only issue in Vipers has been headroom. Over 6 footers have the head in the roof. You can drop the seats only 1". You can buy a convertible or remove a hardtop. But I would rather have a GTS.
23rd Aug 2005, 09:11
I wasn't saying the power output ruined the car at all, but I stand by my criticisms.
The first commenter raises a valid point that the engine is clearly tuned for tractability and longevity. However, this can still be done better in Europe.
For example, VW/Audi have recently launched a V10 of their own that bears interesting comparison. It's 3 litres smaller than the Viper's unit, and although slightly down on power, it has a higher specific output, and similar peak torque. However, it produces the latter at just 2,000 RPM, and makes the Viper's "amazing" 405ft/lb at 1500 RPM look a bit limp by making a stump relocating 475lb/ft at the same crank speed. And it does all this using balancer shafts and clever offset crank pins to give near identical NVH test results to a typical V12.
The best bit of all however, is this engine is a diesel unit. It returns 30-35 MPG average in a big heavy saloon car, and carbon emissions are a fraction of a comparable sized petrol engine. If you want torquey, effortless, long lived and lazy, no petrol engine can hold a candle to a good diesel.