Is The New Viper Really All It Is Cracked Up To Be?

"Victorious Secret" (victorioussecret)
09/07/2013 at 15:59 • Filed to: None

Or has it spent too much time in Camp Fiat and become a dull and soft little thing?

During Cars and Coffee today we got word that a local dealer has a Viper GTS in stock, so of course every single Viper owner in the group decided to storm the dealer lots and finally see this well hyped machine in person.

Their verdict? You might be surprised.

They loved the interior first and foremost. For these guys with Gen 3s and Gen 4s, it was a big step up and something they thought they could spend a fair amount of time in.

That right there is where the love ended.

Some of the comments on the style included "it looks way too soft and not nearly as aggressive" and "why would I spend that much on something that looks like an Italian car when I can just buy an Italian car to begin with"

The entire nature of the car to them, and to me in part, was lost in translation from Gen 4 to Gen 5. The entire point of a raw and aggressive and shameless car has been replaced with something that...just doesn't feel special anymore. There is nothing in this car that warrants you spending 131k CAD on it. Just my personal opinion, and the consensus of the people present today.

Some were prepared to write cheques today, they all left without having spent a cent. The Viper has sadly lost some of its batshit insanity, that party piece that made it a compelling choice and something that made it unique on the market.

Would I turn one away? No. who the hell would? But would I spend money? Nope. Without a second thought. It isn't worth it.

Kudos to Dodge (seriously, SRT Viper just sounds wrong coming out of your mouth) for making it, but they have to have realized that in making it what it is now and trying to get more sales they effectively stripped away something that a fair amount of people seem to love about the old ones.

Personally, this car induced so many mehs that I didn't bother whipping out the DSLR to take shots. That says something to me, when a car is so uninteresting that I don't even want to take a nice picture of it.

DISCUSSION (12)

GhostZ > Victorious Secret
09/07/2013 at 16:03

Compared to the old Viper:

1. It's less exciting.
2. It's faster.
3. It's better looking.
4. It's more comfortable.

Compard to its competition:

1. It's about as exciting.
2. It's not as fast as it seems.
3. It's not that much better looking.
4. It's not more comfortable.

The idea of the new Viper is great. But now that performance tests are coming out, it seems to be consistently down on the performance that we expected. The sort of "imagine how fast it will be once they sort out all of that HP!" came out as "...not much faster than before."

I'd like to see a good test between a 2013 GT-R (non-track-pack), Viper, 4.2 FSI R8, and base SLS. I'm going to guess that the GT-R is the fastest, R8 is the most beautiful, SLS is the most comfortable and refined, and the Viper is the most... difficult to drive?

You just can't justify "Well, it's insane and purist, so it gets a pass" anymore. Now it has to compete, and everyone who would buy a new Viper are now buying older vipers and building them up.

IDROVEAPICKUPTRUCK > Victorious Secret
09/07/2013 at 16:13

This is a bizarre situation where by making it better they made it worse. Part of the charm of a viper was the fact that you were sacrificing comfort and safety for speed and noise, now that it has a nice interior and traction control it doesn't seem as special. But I think it still has way more character than a 458 or a GTR. That being said I can't even come close to affording any of those so this is purely a thought exercise for me.

SLR999 > Victorious Secret
09/07/2013 at 16:48

When you find a Viper uninteresting, people begin to doubt your sanity.

Victorious Secret > SLR999
09/07/2013 at 16:48

Sanity?

What sanity?

Blondude > Victorious Secret
09/07/2013 at 16:56

I think part of it was because they had to make it less exciting. It still doesn't have TC and it only has stability control because it's required by law. If they hadn't made the interior so nice people would be complaining that for something so fast and expensive an amazing and comfortable interior is expected. Sadly, there doesn't seem to be a (profitable) market for brutal, unforgiving supercars anymore.

In my opinion, Gen 1 > Gen 2 > Gen 5 > Gen 4 > Gen 3. Most of the people actually buying the cars seem to think differently though.

SLR999 > Victorious Secret
09/07/2013 at 17:03

Woof.

His Stigness > GhostZ
09/08/2013 at 00:11

I read in Road and Track a while ago a piece where they compared the SLS and the Viper and made a lot of correlations between the two because the SLS was being developed when Daimler still owned Chrysler. Being a Mercedes nutso, it made me sad to see such a wonderful and beautiful car compared to something that I think is fairly crude, if not a competent machine.

The Jalopnik went and posted this and made it all worse. The sadness is number five.

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ThinIce-Koe > Victorious Secret
09/09/2013 at 23:55

Time to get an ariel atom V8 or the caterham R620 then. Those are wonderfully insane cars and cheaper to boot too.

marshknute > Victorious Secret
09/10/2013 at 00:07

When the Viper first debuted, I was absolutely sold. It looked great, had a fantastic interior, and had a refreshingly analog/old-school feel to it thanks to its RWD, manual transmission, and NA engine.

Now that the comparison tests have come in, I am sorely disappointed. It is still hot, loud, cramped and miserable to drive. Also, MotorTrend's latest test car suffered from numerous quality control and electronic faults; a stuck brake pedal, untightened seat bolts, unsecured hood vents, mismatched tires, and paintwork which melted from the heat of the exhaust.

It's a car which has certain appeal on paper, but just doesn't make the mark in the real world. It can't match the ruggedness of old Vipers, and can't hope to compete with modern rivals.

Wonk Unit > Victorious Secret
09/10/2013 at 10:08

8.4 Liter V10. I just want to say that again. 8.4 Liters of V10. in a body that looks like that? count me in.

Built BMW Tough > Victorious Secret
09/10/2013 at 12:31

The only people who are spouting the greatness of the new Viper are Chrysler and Adam Ferrara. It still looks like a clown shoe. It's just a clown shoe with 2010 technology.

RatMR2 > ThinIce-Koe
09/10/2013 at 21:35

You might want to check on the price of the Atom V8 - in the USA it's $230K sold through Sector 111 , and was £147K in the UK when it was new (as seen in this evo comparison drive).