Speed Channel (Test drive 2013 SRT Viper)

[TowDawg]

Somebody needs to tell Joshua Davis that he isn't on the track and doesn't need to sit straight up in the seat and up on the wheel. It really made the interior of the car look extremely cramped to me.

 

[DMan]

Sorry but that was lame. Although I did learn that previous versions of the Viper didn't have ABS. And all this time I though I had ABS. perfect choice to have an editor from Wired magazine, who proved himself to know nothing about vipers or cars, be the guest driver giving commentary around town. I love SRT, love Ralph and all the guys I've been blessed to meet thru this gen5 rollout and VOI. But good lord, who is their marketing lead.

They need to go grab Travis Pastrana from a Dodge Dart commercial and video him for 5 mins and put those hi lights on a show. Done.

 

[vipernut]

I don't know about the rest of you but I was thrilled to be able to watch such a beautiful creature running around the track......!!!!!!!!

Can't wait to get my own!!!!!

 

[kennyhemi]

The show is exactly what is needed around here lately.....positivity!

 

[dragon rider]

Nice video. Beautiful car. Can't wait to own one some day.

 

[tbsviper]

Enjoyed the show. Half way through it I get a text from my brother in Jersey. He asks are you watching Speed Channel. My reply, of course!

 

[JAY]

Nice commentary by Micheal Andretti , very Professional .

 

[viper_itch]

Micheal Andretti is an interesting choice. Once rumored to be considering a Dodge NASCAR team, and in fact SRT has hinted they might be back in NASCAR under the right circumstances.

Some of the best track video of the new car to date and seeing two go at it was cool.

I found the recent BBC review to be positive as well.

 

[vpr hlr]

Missed it. ($(**@)^^ Tried looking to see online. all they had was a 2 minute preview. Where can I see the full episode.

 

[TowDawg]

They looked they were getting on it decently in a couple of quick clips, but they were just playing and passing the rest of the time. I wish they had actually gotten after it for a complete lap and told us what times they ran. I know the track well and know what I run there, so it would have been nice to see what pro drivers were putting down in the Gen V.

 

[Moundir]

The car looked awesome! I Loved the black with graphite stripes and can picture that one day in my garage next to my black Gen 4, but damn was that show LAME, and extremely uninformative! We learned nothing new about the car, and it's capabilities! What's the point of having a factory race car driver and a racing legend and not have them rip some hot laps in the new car to show it's capabilities? Instead the show was focused on blue tooth this and that Wow, the Viper has truly lost it's way!! Sad indeed

 

[05Commemorative]

The car looked awesome! I Loved the black with graphite stripes and can picture that one day in my garage next to my black Gen 4, but damn was that show LAME, and extremely uninformative! We learned nothing new about the car, and it's capabilities! What's the point of having a factory race car driver and a racing legend and not have them rip some hot laps in the new car to show it's capabilities? Instead the show was focused on blue tooth this and that Wow, the Viper has truly lost it's way!! Sad indeed

Did you watch the same show? Have you not seen the show before? They do the same formula for each car and not intended for the guy that has already studied every aspect of the car. I think a good enteraining show and more importantly shows it visually w/commentary. All good.

One big observation I learned (not seen from photo's) is how good the polished wheels (track and GTS wheels) looked on the car standing still and in motion.

 

[ferraritoviper]

Heh...nice, but basically a car commercial imo.

 

[Moundir]

I forgot to mention, I did learn one new thing about the car. SRT still cant figure out how to get rid of the stupid 4x4 wheel gap! I thought the show was a "review" of the car not a sponsored commercial! I love the car, but enough with the BS fluff pieces already! I'm sure this show was recorded well in advance of the two thrashings the viper recently got, but it still doesnt look good to ignore the huge ass elephant in the room! As a viper owner and lover, I am embarrassed and ********** by the current events. Time for SRT to put up or SHUT UP! I dont want to hear about the same leather as a bentley or same seat maker as ferrari! I want to win races on the street and the track! I guess, I'm a dying breed.....

 

[madninjaskillz]

I forgot to mention, I did learn one new thing about the car. SRT still cant figure out how to get rid of the stupid 4x4 wheel gap! I thought the show was a "review" of the car not a sponsored commercial! I love the car, but enough with the BS fluff pieces already! I'm sure this show was recorded well in advance of the two thrashings the viper recently got, but it still doesnt look good to ignore the huge ass elephant in the room! As a viper owner and lover, I am embarrassed and ********** by the current events. Time for SRT to put up or SHUT UP! I dont want to hear about the same leather as a bentley or same seat maker as ferrari! I want to win races on the street and the track! I guess, I'm a dying breed.....

No you are not. There are a large percentage of Viper guys (and gals) that are very disappointed with the performance of the Gen V. I think the car looks killer, especially compared with the new Vette. That doesn't excuse basically a ZERO PERCENT increase in power over the Gen IV. Let's not forget the 2010 ACR-X had 640 hp and with minimal mods over the base Gen IV, basically bolt ons. That's the one thing that just blows my mind about the Gen V. How could Ralph let this happen? Zero percent increase guys. That's why we got our a$$es handed to us by the ZR-1. From a car commercial perspective, it was fun to watch.

 

[05Commemorative]

No you are not. There are a large percentage of Viper guys (and gals) that are very disappointed with the performance of the Gen V. I think the car looks killer, especially compared with the new Vette. That doesn't excuse basically a ZERO PERCENT increase in power over the Gen IV. Let's not forget the 2010 ACR-X had 640 hp and with minimal mods over the base Gen IV, basically bolt ons. That's the one thing that just blows my mind about the Gen V. How could Ralph let this happen? Zero percent increase guys. That's why we got our a$$es handed to us by the ZR-1. From a car commercial perspective, it was fun to watch.

come on now, the car did not lose the test due to HP. It lost due to handling and braking. Now was it all tire or brake pad, suspension tuning or combo of all? But it was not a shortage on power. I know the ego would love to say "I got 700hp", but lets keep the focus on where the problem really was.

 

[bushido]

The car looked awesome! I Loved the black with graphite stripes and can picture that one day in my garage next to my black Gen 4, but damn was that show LAME, and extremely uninformative! We learned nothing new about the car, and it's capabilities! What's the point of having a factory race car driver and a racing legend and not have them rip some hot laps in the new car to show it's capabilities? Instead the show was focused on blue tooth this and that Wow, the Viper has truly lost it's way!! Sad indeed

I didn't watch it,but thank's for the layout. Man that ***** though ! Something seems fishy the way you described it..

 

[madninjaskillz]

come on now, the car did not lose the test due to HP. It lost due to handling and braking. Now was it all tire or brake pad, suspension tuning or combo of all? But it was not a shortage on power. I know the ego would love to say "I got 700hp", but lets keep the focus on where the problem really was.

I agree with you. I've stated as much in previous threads about the tires especially. That horse has been beaten to death. I should have said that the lack of increase in hp for the new model was one of the main factors etc. That still doesn't address the elephant in the room that most people are blindly ignoring. Each new Gen has been at least a 50 hp increase. This one was zero. For the logical evolution of the brand, this Gen should have around 700. dead horse /beaten.

 

[v10enomous]

Just got home from LYNYRD SKYNYRD in NYC and watching now... Tommy and Michael look just like everyone else who drives a Viper... Excited and they want one Life is good

 

[VENOM V]

I thought about writing this before reading the thread, and it looks like I should have. I thought the show was excellent, supercar **** if nothing else. I'm not going to complain about 1/2 hour of watching Vipers rip around the track, then watch the both GTS-Rs compete in their maiden voyage and place in the top 10!

Damn, these things are beasts on the track! Andretti was impressed with the brakes (good to hear), the balance, the instant torque, although steering was a little quick. Bad to the bone from every angle. The black with gunmetal stripes and hyper black wheels, wow. And the Shadow Blue getting sideways behind the Stryker Red. Those are my three favorite colors. Hell, the yellow looked amazing too.

I watched it twice. If you haven't seen this, watch it!

 

[SilveRT8]

I loved the fact that both Andretti and Kendall had so much fun with the car on the track and that both commented they wanted one.
Also I learned there is a HP display in the dash
This show was fun to watch ans is a positive review of the new Viper....That's good !

 

[mnc2886]

The shadow blue car looks fantastic in the sun. That color looks great, but I would still like to see a solid GTS blue car with the aero package. I think that may be the only color we haven't seen in a road test.

 

[Policy Limits]

i hope someone can post a link. Lets see Venom V (stryker Red) and Policy Limits (Shadow Blue) on the same show? thats killer!! They are THE two cars that I'm most excited to see!!! And I'm so glad you can see the latter in the sun in this vid!! Most of the images I've seen apparently were taken on a track in the rain for some reason. Still loved the color enough to order it but I'm anxious to see if the blue surfaces more with sunlight. In the dark rain it almost looks black at times.

I dont even care if the show wasnt informative! I'd watch it for the action shots alone!

 

[CitySnake]

perfect choice to have an editor from Wired magazine, who proved himself to know nothing about vipers or cars, be the guest driver giving commentary around town

Have to agree with the previous. First half of the show was very entertaining. Someone mentioned car **** ... exactly. Though it was obviously all staged, still a great watch.

Once they went to the navigation/communication tech second half of the show, I was seriously brought to laughter. I'd greatly enjoy the research that suggested that there was some crossover between Wired Magazine readers and Vipers. Seriously, has anyone EVER been concerned with hands free blue tooth cell phone communication while driving their Viper? Most of the time you're in your Viper to ESCAPE from everything that the Wired Editor was promoting as divine. I guess some market research firm saw an untouched market of techies that were waiting for this upgrade before investing in a Viper??? I had to laugh at that portion of the show ... but, sadly, I was half laughing from embarrassment.

 

[Mutts02GTS]

^ +1 on this! I had to laugh at his comment that if the car didn't have Bluetooth and onboard hands free navigation that it wouldn't be bought by the masses. don't know who suggested this guy for the part of reviewer but it was an epic fail IMO.... Just my .02

 

[ViperTony]

Remember, this GenV is targeting a new breed of Viper owner so if you're not into the fluffy tech pieces then these reviews are not going to help. I'm still holding back judgement on the GenV until I see it being built at CAAP this week.

 

[DMan]

OK, I'm not surprised plenty liked it, as stated, there are lots of action shots of the cars, which is all cool. It's good for that.

I guess hearing MA start the piece by describing the gen2 as feeling "heavy" didn't help my caring about his opinion. Having owned & tracked a gen2 I can think of lots of words to describe it, and many that can be pro and con at the same time; quick, unforgiving, twitchy, squirrelly, raw, go-kart like, etc. But "heavy", have you ever run a gen2 and felt it was "heavy". Then they did some cool track action shots, then ALMS stuff which is so old news, having watched Mid Ohio and Baltimore I was like, um, how about updates, this info is so old, then the Wired guy who's every comment was either wrong or off-the-wall. But yea, plenty of **** shots to enjoy, but content wise, I said to my wife, might as well have watched the news. I did DVR it for my son, wish I could post it for you guys, hopefully speed will re-run.

 

[George Farris]

Have owned Vipers since February 1994 ..

Have to admit, I like the techno stuff ....

Instant HP reading is way cool ...

 

[bcmarly]

Anybody who has watched the show in the past knows that this is the format. If you were expecting something different then your expectations were out of line with reality. The show was recorded months ago and the cars driven were pre- pre- production (lol). The reviews are out and the Viper's strengths and weaknesses have been documented. Now we wait for the revisions to be made and another round of reviews. In the meantime, we got to see the GTS cars in action on the track and on the street, which is never a bad thing. For those of you buying the SRT model, the "wired" part of the show wasn't meant for you. For those purchasing a GTS, the last segment of the show was imformative. When you pay $122,400 +++ the expectations go beyond performance. It's the first time that I can recall seeing the car on the street and it looked mighty good on the streets of L.A.. The black with gunmetal stripes gives the car an imposing, aggressive look. Are you sure you're not going to change your mind Todd.

 

[VENOM V]

i hope someone can post a link. Lets see Venom V (stryker Red) and Policy Limits (Shadow Blue) on the same show? thats killer!! They are THE two cars that I'm most excited to see!!! And I'm so glad you can see the latter in the sun in this vid!! Most of the images I've seen apparently were taken on a track in the rain for some reason. Still loved the color enough to order it but I'm anxious to see if the blue surfaces more with sunlight. In the dark rain it almost looks black at times.

I dont even care if the show wasnt informative! I'd watch it for the action shots alone!

Better yet, let's get our Vipers out on a track, and truely live the dream. Rick, where do you live? I'm heading to Laguna Seca in May, for it's maiden track day. If by chance you live somewhere in CA, join us! The Shadow Blue does look nearly black, but the pearl shows the snake's curves in the sun. It's almost a pearl black with a blue hue. It's a good vid to see what your beast is gonna look like. Amazing color.

Anybody who has watched the show in the past knows that this is the format. If you were expecting something different then your expectations were out of line with reality. The show was recorded months ago and the cars driven were pre- pre- production (lol). The reviews are out and the Viper's strengths and weaknesses have been documented. Now we wait for the revisions to be made and another round of reviews. In the meantime, we got to see the GTS cars in action on the track and on the street, which is never a bad thing. For those of you buying the SRT model, the "wired" part of the show wasn't meant for you. For those purchasing a GTS, the last segment of the show was imformative. When you pay $122,400 +++ the expectations go beyond performance. It's the first time that I can recall seeing the car on the street and it looked mighty good on the streets of L.A.. The black with gunmetal stripes gives the car an imposing, aggressive look. Are you sure you're not going to change your mind Todd.

No doubt, if you want sinister- the black with gunmetal is the definition. Hard choice, but the Stryker Red looked pretty freakin jaw-dropping as well, LOL. I have a similar question for you, Bob - I know how much you like the adrenaline red, but are on the fence. What about a Stryker Red for you? This vid really highlighted how nice the red/black standard Napa leather looks with Stryker Red. You could save the $7500 by skipping the Laguna leather, and put it towards the Stryker Red. Decisions, decisions! A fun dilemma to have.