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Review 1 of 1
Price Paid:
$77000.00
from Christopher Dodge Year / Model Reviewed:
2004 Viper SRT-10 Summary:
The Engine: The engine generates more than 500 horse power and more than 500 foot pounds of torque. The practical result of this is that this car is frighteningly fast. Stomp on the gas in any gear, and you are thrown back in the seat and in a heartbeat you are accelerating like a rocket.
The suspension and steering are very tight. The car is incredibly responsive, and I had to pretty much learn to drive all over again. The car rewards you with terrific handling, but only if you really drive it. If you don't pay attention to what you are doing, you can very well end up in the wrong lane in the blink of an eye. Anyone who talks on a cell phone while trying to pilot this car is destined for a very short life.
The convertible top is easy to use, and stows neatly with a minimum of hassle. The car is very weatherproof, with no leaks to date. Also, the trunk is reasonably sized, and is large enough to fit a couple of small suitcases.
The driver compartment is well laid out, and all of the gauges are easily readable. The tachometer is front and center, as it should be in a proper sports car. Visibility is adequate, but there are significant blind spots behind the driver. The seats are quite supportive, and comfortable. Forward-backward adjustment is very good, as both seat and pedals have significant back and forth adjustment. What is missing, however, is any up and down adjustment of the seat. The result is that taller people end up looking at the top sill of the window rather than having a good view of the road. I am only 5 foot 10, and I would prefer the seat lowered an inch or so. Anyone substantially over six feet tall will want to get one of the aftermarket seat lowering kits, so that they can see out without having to hunch over. If you race, you will almost certainly want to get the seat lowered, as otherwise there really isn’t enough height for you to wear your helmet in the car.
One big improvement over earlier Viper models is the addition of a nice adjustable “dead-pedal” foot rest for your left foot. It’s nice for resting your left foot on, and comes in handy for bracing yourself against when cornering hard.
The transmission is a six speed, and does its job well. Shifting is positive and easy, and the syncro-mesh handles aggressive downshifting very well, soaking up mis-matched revs quite well.
Although the Viper is billed as a “race ready street car” it isn’t quite track ready when you purchase it from the dealer. To make it track legal for many events and venues, you will need to replace the rubber and aluminum “sport hoops” with a real roll bar. A similar issue arises with the stock oil pan. The stock pan wasn’t designed for racing, and will not pick up oil efficiently during high-g cornering (particularly left turns) so if you do a lot of high-g road course driving, you will need to replace the stock pan.
My days at the track have taught me that the Viper’s handling is every bit as good as its acceleration. It corners like a mid-engined exotic, and you can have as much fun on the twisty sections as you can on the straight-aways. Adhesion is unbelievable, and you really need the 6-point racing seatbelts just to keep you in your seat while pulling the serious g’s. One benefit of the huge engine is that the torque curve is very flat, with almost all the torque available from about 2000 rpm on up. The result of this is that when driving on a twisty road course, you don’t need to worry about constantly keeping the car pegged at the redline. If you miss a shift, and come out of a corner one gear too high, the engine has plenty of “grunt” to ensure that you hardly notice. The huge brakes were also designed with racing in mind, and will happily put up with long track sessions with lots of aggressive braking with no brake fade whatsoever.
Driving the Viper is unbelievably fun. The combination of speed, handling, and noise create an experience like nothing else I've driven. It's kind of like being in control of a really scary roller coaster at the amusement park. Strengths:
Insane power and speed. Incredible handling and grip. User friendly convertible top. Good looking. Weaknesses:
Stiff suspension twitchy on rough roads. Driver compartment can become hot after long drives, particularly the footwell area. Similar Products Used:
Porsche 911. Corvette Z06. Ferrari 360 Modena
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