2013 Dodge SRT Viper: A Speed Demon With Too Much Engine

[HogWhisperer]

Actually that article is quite complimentary to the Viper. The whole gist of the article maintains the Gen5 has maintained its raw visceral feel of the previous generations even with all the "improvements". As far as the writer liking Elton Johns Levon...I don't think so, as he compares listening to the drone as listening to the song over and over. Personally I love the drone and never turn on the radio (never understood radios on Motorcycles or windshields for that matter but that's a whole other discussion) As a former DJ I like Elton John so feel free to flame away

He had to at least listen to it a few times to be able to make the comparison.... LOL

 

[Nine Ball]

I am looking at a Prius, Volt, and whatever stupid hatchback Lexus has!

I have a 95 mile daily commute. I bought a Chevy Cruze Eco with the 6-spd manual and drove it for a year, putting 21K miles on it. That car was excellent, and I averaged 44 mpg on 87 octane. Excellent car for $19K out the door. And, I drove those other econoboxes and the Cruze felt like a higher grade vehicle. I even put wheels on mine (of course). Pretty fun car to drive with its factory turbo and a manual trans. I sold it a few months ago. And, it didn't make me look like a Prius greeney hippie.

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[JETSTAR]

the Yaris is too small and doesn't fit my needs ( and is uglier than the prius if thats possible) ...and at 70.5 MPG + i the prius the math is different for me...besides , I didnt quantify my purchase based on how better the Yaris is or could be on gas..... The Prius is surprisingly big inside and Im 6'4" and my two dauggters are 6' and with my wife we all fit very comfortably...But NOT in the Yaris...my friend has one we drove before I bought the yaris..and you couldnt give me one of those cars..even with free gas.....

so with all factors taken into consideration the Prius was the ONLY choice ergonomically and economically. so again I disagree with your point...its not as accurate as you think just because of a story...

My wife drives the Ford Cmax plugin hybrid and she loves it she has 5000 miles on it and still has 1/4 of the first tank of gas the car came with it go's 25 miles on a charge and the shop is 17 miles from the house you should come by and check it out it is really roomy inside
Me I'm filling the Viper up 2-3 times a week

 

[Andrew/USPWR]

I couldn't get through the whole article but it sounds like the guy is a little lite in the loafers and loves Prius's.

 

[JETSTAR]

My wife drives the Ford Cmax plugin hybrid and she loves it she has 5000 miles on it and still has 1/4 of the first tank of gas the car came with it go's 25 miles on a charge and the shop is 17 miles from the house you should come by and check it out it is really roomy inside
Me I'm filling the Viper up 2-3 times a week

I drove her CMax one time I killed her little tree with all the green leaves now I'm not aloud to drive it anymore

 

[JETSTAR]

I think the world just stopped spinning. Someone that owns a Prius and a Viper? I applaud the technology of the Prius, but I can't enjoy the symbolic nature of it being the anti-enthusiast poster child. It is the exact opposite on the spectrum of cars from the Viper.

That being said, please get some good photos of them parked next to each other. You might be the first and only?

Ivan ** the past president of the south FL VCA drove a Prius and a Doug Levin Viper. I think it like going to church for all the bad things you do
Me I don't think any of my cars or trucks get over 20 mpg.

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[TrackAire]

"A Speed Demon With Too Much Engine" is like saying " A **** Star With Too Big of a *******"

Just because you get paid to be a journalist doesn't mean you have the right to write about everything.......

Cheers,
George

 

[Jay M]

"A Speed Demon With Too Much Engine" is like saying " A **** Star With Too Big of a *******"

Just because you get paid to be a journalist doesn't mean you have the right to write about everything.......

Cheers,
George

That's hilarious!

But that article is terrible. After saying how bad the v10 was, he didn't even bother to suggest an alternative. Then to go on and imply that the shifter is bad leaves me completely puzzled. Everything I have read says its the best manual shifter of any car at any price.

~Jay

 

[VRYALT3R3D]

Maybe its just me, but I think 640HP N/A is pretty impressive. No heatsoak issues like the ZR1 has or the GT500

 

[VENOM V]

Maybe its just me, but I think 640HP N/A is pretty impressive. No heatsoak issues like the ZR1 has or the GT500

It's not just you. The Viper V10 is a masterpiece. Most torque out of a production NA engine ever. Low CG. Very high HP to weight ratio (much more important than HP to displacement ratio) and as you said most importantly no heat soak! This is a track car, you shouldn't have to let it cool down after some hard laps. Oh, and it fits under the hood of the sexiest car on the planet

 

[BigDawg]

They vast majority of Ptius drivers I have encountered are self-important, self-righteous tools who look down their noses at those who enjoy burning dead dinosaurs for recreational purposes. If that isn't you,then good on ya, but you are in the minority.


By the way, you have to drive your Prius 144k miles to save enough gas to make up the cost increase over a Yaris...

http://dannagle.com/2012/10/dont-buy-a-prius-to-save-money-on-gas/

Well said. Like in other social situations, 3/4 of a group are are ruining it for the remaining 1/4. Don't get mad at non-Prius people for stereotyping Prius drivers, be mad at the majority of Prius drivers we experience that give y'all a bad name.

 

[kratedisease]

When a reviewer like Mr. Neil states that a car would be better with a less powerful engine, I know that I am reading the written words of a *****.

Next Mr. Neil will say that life is better with less money. This guy is an idiot.

And why does he attack/ridicule a person who decided to buy the Viper ?

Very interesting that the reviewer, Mr. Neil needs to ridicule people who would buy such a car? Is he reviewing the car, or is the article a review of a stereotypical owner that he feels would buy the car ?

some quotes form his article "So, Viper owners, come on, what gives? Didn't mama love you? What could possess you to go around leading, as it were, your own one-car parade, to so disorder the public peace, to sport such an obvious automotive codpiece? If automobiles are costumes, Viper owners are attending life's masquerade dressed as randy jesters."

This guy has NO credibility with comments like the above.

 

[SRTviper]

I drive a Prius to work every day...and have averaged 70.5 MPG for the past 15,000 miles and thats why I drive it....Dont degrade a Prius as its is good as it is designed to be efficient. Its disrespected Just like the Viper because its good for what it is " a cost effective fuel efficient car if you drive it properly" ..and the Viper is disrespected in the opposite vane and misunderstood, marginalized, and profiled, even though its a raw,bad ass, not to please everyone, Bastard Child of an American super car with no care to please everyone..Thats what the corvette and Prosches are for..

Just because someone drives a Prius doesnt mean thats who they are or thats the only car they own...

I would be way too depressed to go from the most manly car on the road to the most womanly one on a weekly basis (completely ignoring performance) no offense lol. You have more resolve than I do or most people I believe because that would be very hard for the average person to do.

 

[DMan]

Maybe its just me, but I think 640HP N/A is pretty impressive. No heatsoak issues like the ZR1 has or the GT500

The problem is, people see 100hp per liter and up and then see 8.4L and think it should make 800-900hp. I hear this all the time in car meet-ups etc. That the engine is poorly designed becasue the output per liter is so low. Right, wrong or indifferent, that's the "common man" perception I hear about regularly.

Heat soak can be an issue, but again from the devil's advocate, it didn't keep the ZR1 from putting the gen5 in it's rearview on the 1st test with MT, and that's what people see .. not all the details of the alignment and a mule car, and ... Average people aren't getting that deep. Even the GT500 doesn't appreciably heat soak anymore, the '14s with the track pack run nice & cool, no need for heat exchanger upgrades anymore .. now brakes, that's a different story, 15 mins into a trackday and you're online shopping for a brake kit. lol

 

[v10enomous]

The GenV has a higher Hp per Liter than the LS7 in the Z06 and I don't hear anyone complaining about the vette and a lot of folks prefer it to the LS9 in the ZR1.

The problem is, people see 100hp per liter and up and then see 8.4L and think it should make 800-900hp. I hear this all the time in car meet-ups etc. That the engine is poorly designed becasue the output per liter is so low. Right, wrong or indifferent, that's the "common man" perception I hear about regularly.

Heat soak can be an issue, but again from the devil's advocate, it didn't keep the ZR1 from putting the gen5 in it's rearview on the 1st test with MT, and that's what people see .. not all the details of the alignment and a mule car, and ... Average people aren't getting that deep. Even the GT500 doesn't appreciably heat soak anymore, the '14s with the track pack run nice & cool, no need for heat exchanger upgrades anymore .. now brakes, that's a different story, 15 mins into a trackday and you're online shopping for a brake kit. lol

 

[SRTviper]

The GenV has a higher Hp per Liter than the LS7 in the Z06 and I don't hear anyone complaining about the vette and a lot of folks prefer it to the LS9 in the ZR1.

You clearly don't know about the dropped valve guides in the ls7 as the ticking time bomb that destroys the zo6 engines. Owning a zo6 is literally like owning a time bomb. You never know went the timer will count down to zero and there goes your engine.

 

[SRTviper]

The problem is, people see 100hp per liter and up and then see 8.4L and think it should make 800-900hp. I hear this all the time in car meet-ups etc. That the engine is poorly designed becasue the output per liter is so low. Right, wrong or indifferent, that's the "common man" perception I hear about regularly.

Heat soak can be an issue, but again from the devil's advocate, it didn't keep the ZR1 from putting the gen5 in it's rearview on the 1st test with MT, and that's what people see .. not all the details of the alignment and a mule car, and ... Average people aren't getting that deep. Even the GT500 doesn't appreciably heat soak anymore, the '14s with the track pack run nice & cool, no need for heat exchanger upgrades anymore .. now brakes, that's a different story, 15 mins into a trackday and you're online shopping for a brake kit. lol

The engine is detuned like that for reliability. I rather have a bigger engine hardly working than a little engine screaming its head off as Jay Leno puts it.

 

[ViperSmith]

So in this thread I have learned, that the Prius is a "womanly" car, simply because it is pretty efficient.

Also, Z06's are blowing up left and right.

 

[DMan]

The engine is detuned like that for reliability. I rather have a bigger engine hardly working than a little engine screaming its head off as Jay Leno puts it.

You'd think but not if you believe the CEO or look at the aftermarket. Ralph said that the engine is pretty much optimized. We've seen gen4s with exhaust and intake mods and they'll climb to 600rwhp, so maybe there's another 30-50hp when you throw caution almost to the wind. Srt went into the intake and the exhaust a bit to get that extra 40hp already. I don't expect major gains from anything NA. It's the rare exoctic setup that gets big gains thru heads, etc. The guys making big HP #s with Vipers are the turbo guys on gen3's, it seems you can only push so much air thru that big engine without assistance. But then you're no longer NA.

 

[DMan]

The GenV has a higher Hp per Liter than the LS7 in the Z06 and I don't hear anyone complaining about the vette and a lot of folks prefer it to the LS9 in the ZR1.

Well I hear ya, but I'd also say it's part of the image. The viper is the poster child for the mightiest of the mighty and it gets judged like that. The Z06 is like a scapel of a car, it does exceptionally well on a strip or road course for what it has and lays down very impressive numbers in perf. for having so "little" HP. It's really a no excuses car, at least until it explodes.

The viper has far more brute force reputation to defend and when people "judge" it, that's when you hear things like HP/liter, etc. When I hear someone start talking about a Z06 only having 505 HP, there's always several who chime in with a - yea, but look what it does with it in perf #s. It's a double-standard of sorts. SRT earned that brute reputation with a brutal axe murderer of a car (my favorite quote from Top Gear about it), the current HP wars just make it tougher these days .. again, right, wrong or indifferent, that's what I observe from folks chattering about cars.

 

[SRTviper]

So in this thread I have learned, that the Prius is a "womanly" car, simply because it is pretty efficient.

Also, Z06's are blowing up left and right.

Don't be a smart a$$ for the sake of being one. You aren't dumb. You should know why else it is considered more feminine I should say than a viper.

 

[SRTviper]

You'd think but not if you believe the CEO or look at the aftermarket. Ralph said that the engine is pretty much optimized. We've seen gen4s with exhaust and intake mods and they'll climb to 600rwhp, so maybe there's another 30-50hp when you throw caution almost to the wind. Srt went into the intake and the exhaust a bit to get that extra 40hp already. I don't expect major gains from anything NA. It's the rare exoctic setup that gets big gains thru heads, etc. The guys making big HP #s with Vipers are the turbo guys on gen3's, it seems you can only push so much air thru that big engine without assistance. But then you're no longer NA.

If this is actually true, which goes against what Jay Leno was talking about when he interviewed Ralph and the car, then you could say that engine isn't the most efficient one. It does get pretty lousy gas mileage too compared to the zr1 or ls7 but everyone will say who cares? Idk I'm kind of off on the viper now till more people get them and review them long term or dealers finally start allowing test drives. I test drove a vantage S the other day and fell in love with it, especially the sound.

 

[v10enomous]

So basically is a true to form Viper...

Pick a year between 1992 and 2010 and the same holds true.


YYYY Dodge SRT Viper: A Speed Demon With Too Much Engine

 

[TrackAire]

If this is actually true, which goes against what Jay Leno was talking about when he interviewed Ralph and the car, then you could say that engine isn't the most efficient one. It does get pretty lousy gas mileage too compared to the zr1 or ls7 but everyone will say who cares? Idk I'm kind of off on the viper now till more people get them and review them long term or dealers finally start allowing test drives. I test drove a vantage S the other day and fell in love with it, especially the sound.

Comparing a Vantage S to a Gen 5 Viper is like comparing a riding lawn mower to 3 hot college girls mowing your lawn with push mowers while wearing thongs and high heels. Both will get the job done, but you do see the differences, right? Neither is in the same league when it comes to fitment, style, luxury, status, performance and public acceptance.

You're obviously looking to purchase a new car. Here is a little hint from somebody that is probably a lot older than you. There is no prefect car that can do everything since every car is a compromise. The answer is easy.......be prepare to end up with 6 or more cars to satisfy your broad needs and requirements. Anything less and you'll be wandering the car forums like an informational nomad that is never able to fulfill his desires. I look at cars like tools, every one is designed for a specific task and why one is never enough.

Cheers,
George

 

[MtnBiker]

Dan Neil isn't a terrible journo, and the article was sort of an odd mixed take on the car.

That said, mark my words, the day your mainstream journos proclaim that a Viper is an excellent car, is the day it is all over. If you look at the (disturbing) trends in the high-end car market, 8 electronic comfort settings, variable ratio electronic steering, dual clutch gearboxes, all-wheel-drive with e-diff, self-park, lane departure, emergency automated braking, blah blah blah. Journos generally want to have their cake and eat it too, and what you end up with is a car like the MP12-4C, where the numbers are astonishing but you literally aren't even directly connected to the road anymore...

Team Viper should look at themselves as the insane American version of Lotus, where the exception to adding lightness is allowed for "adding displacement". Make the car entertaining and challenging to drive, and keep the rawness factor quite high so that you feel like it is alive and you are in a hopefully symbiotic relationship with the car, where you feel you need each other to get the job done right...

Dude, you should be a journalist! Nice!

Every time I pass a Prius I hit the throttle hard just to make sure I use as much gas in that instant as the Prius driver saved all month.

 

[SRTviper]

Comparing a Vantage S to a Gen 5 Viper is like comparing a riding lawn mower to 3 hot college girls mowing your lawn with push mowers while wearing thongs and high heels. Both will get the job done, but you do see the differences, right? Neither is in the same league when it comes to fitment, style, luxury, status, performance and public acceptance.

You're obviously looking to purchase a new car. Here is a little hint from somebody that is probably a lot older than you. There is no prefect car that can do everything since every car is a compromise. The answer is easy.......be prepare to end up with 6 or more cars to satisfy your broad needs and requirements. Anything less and you'll be wandering the car forums like an informational nomad that is never able to fulfill his desires. I look at cars like tools, every one is designed for a specific task and why one is never enough.

Cheers,
George

Well one day when I make enough money I will do that. In the meantime I have to find which does everything the best for under 150k!!

 

[TrackAire]

Well one day when I make enough money I will do that. In the meantime I have to find which does everything the best for under 150k!!

Well, with $150k you're part way there. If I was just starting out and had $150k I'd buy a 1 year old Range Rover Sport or similar SUV as a daily driver and cruiser, a supercharged mustang or modified C6 ZO6 for speed and 1/4 mile runs and a mildly modified Lotus Elise or Exige for track day events. Granted, in my scenario you'd have to buy used vehicles but 1 to 2 year old low mile vehicles are a bargain since somebody else ate the depreciation. Plus, there are tons of modified cars that are a deal since you rarely get out of them the money and mods you put in. Let somebody else do the work and take the hit.

If you don't have the room at your parents house or your apartment for car storage, find an inexpensive mini storage or share a shop with somebody that has some extra space. Now go spend some money and help the economy.

Cheers,
George