Dodge Viper

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.39 of 5, 18.00 votes

Price Paid:  $77000.00 from Christopher Dodge

Year / Model Reviewed:
2004 Viper SRT-10

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.

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.

Similar Products Used:
Porsche 911. Corvette Z06. Ferrari 360 Modena

Price Paid:  $72000.00

Year / Model Reviewed:
2002 RT10

Strengths:
because it is so difficult to drive it has very very low mileage

Weaknesses:
3 mpg, clutch petal so far left my left knee now has a callous

Summary:
Very difficult ot drive. neither top fits tightly, can only drive on cloudless day, wife wants the Z-06 back

Price Paid:  $23000.00 from dressler motors

Year / Model Reviewed:
2001 ram 1500 5.2 liter

Strengths:
plenty of power even with the 5.2.also extremely comfortable.

Weaknesses:
although i havent experienced any problems with the front hubs i don't like the auto. i prefer the lockouts.

Summary:
my 2001 ram currently has 105,000 miles on it.to date its only been in the shop once for a recall on an air bag switch.after having my first child i had to purchase a reliable 4x4.my round trip commute to work is 120 miles which explains the high mileage.although this truck sees mostly highway miles its handled many loads of flooring,plywood,firewood,small backhoes and trailers loaded with cars and building supplies.although you may expect many wrenches to be turned with this many miles there havent.only regular maintence.oil every 5,000 and air filter every 15,000 and one taillight fuse.thats it!if it blows on the way to work tommorow i'll never buy any truck without a ram on the hood.

Similar Products Used:
have used fords and chevys all my life but havent seen one cover all the bases like dodge.

Price Paid:  $41500.00 from Toyota West

Year / Model Reviewed:
2000 dodge viper gts

Strengths:
The look, a true exotic in every sense of the word without the 6 or 7 digit price and all the reliability concerns attached. If you own one every drive through, gas stop, etc leads to a conversation with someone you otherwise would never have met. Obviously the performance I don't think I even need to give any details there. And as another one of our 1 out of 5 reviewers pointed out the low 56 hp per liter. Let's be honest dodge doesn't make the most reliable cars, so if they had 100 hp per liter I am afraid my viper would be in the shop too much to enjoy, so I count that as a strength that dodge knew their limitations. The overall driving experience, this car is always fun, it even makes a ten minute trip to the bank fun. Reliability bear with me on this one I know that this isn't usually listed as a Viper strength, but mine has 33k and has never had major problems and I have heard of Vipers with over 100k and less than $5000 in repairs and maintenance ( excluding tires of course ). Ever hear of any Ferraris like that, how bout lambos ? Also I love the interior and feel it is light years ahead of the c5 corvette I had before. And finally the fact that there isn't one seen around every corner. It is nice to have something fairly rare.

Weaknesses:
fuel economy, tire replacement frequency and cost. Need of a winter car if you are in a snow area.

Summary:
If you are looking for the closest thing to a race car for under $100k that your average person can fit in ( the elise although slower is actually closer to a racecar, but I am 6' 185 and couldn't fit ) this car is the one for you. The car does 0-60 in 4 seconds, pulls a full G in the skidpad and averages well over 70 mph in the slalom. That though is just the #'s. What I love about the car is how all those #'s come together to make it just a blast to drive. When driven properly I can't see how a car could be more fun to drive. Fair warning though this car does take two things to drive well, first it takes skill, but secondly and more importantly it takes tremendous respect. If you aren't careful this car could easily lead to serious injury or even death. Note to the reviewer who rated the Viper 1 out of 5 because it almost killed him, it wasn't the car's fault and your rating was not fair to those who may read it and decide against the Viper.

Similar Products Used:
Base corvette, and Z06 corvette, although they really are worlds appart from the viper.

Price Paid:  $80000.00

Year / Model Reviewed:
2000 GTS w hennessey mods

Strengths:
The acceleration is incredible, and once I had learnt to drive it properly it turned out to be a very responsive car, agile and quick through corners.
I drive it every day except when it is snowy. I've adjusted to the rain after a scare the first week I had it.
It also gets a lot of attention- it's a great conversation piece.
The interior heating has never been noticeable to me. It has been completely reliable in the 8k miles that I have driven it, and it has proven to be a surprisingly comfortable car on long trips. Once it gets to 125+ mph it is simply amazing.
I've never missed ABS, and I find the seats comfortable, although the pedal position took some getting used to. I thought that it would be a problem on long trips, but it wasn't.
It gets you a lot of respect on the road. People "get out of your way" to a degreee which is simply unbelievable.
The gas consumption is awful- I'm a pretty agressive driver and I get 8mpg. and 20 on the highway. But, if you can afford the car, a few bucks for gas is trivial.
The brakes have been fine, although I've smoked them a few times at sub 40mph speeds.

Weaknesses:
The looks- a bit too bulgy for my taste, but I've grown accustomed to it.
The handling is a bit "twitchy". I have noticed the car jiggle on the interstate due to uneven surfaces.
I've bottomed out the nose a few times, and when I first got the car I kissed the tires on the kerbs when passing a couple of times.
Once I got careless and redlined it for too long in low gear. The engine/electronics cut out. I don't know if it is a deliberate "feature", but it was frightening. It recovered after I turned off the ignition.
You have to be careful to not apply power appreciably during a turn unless you are deliberately wanting to slide the rear end, but if you want to I've never known anything that can corner as fast!

Summary:
Easily the best of the cars that I've owned. There is nothing more exciting than driving this beast, so much so that I keep adding upgrades to boost the power, and improve its braking etc. I would recommend it to anyone who is willing to put the effort into learning to control its wildness, there really is nothing like it out there.

Similar Products Used:
Ferrari F348, mitsubishi 3000GT VR4, porsche 911 targa. lotus esprit.