2008 Dodge Viper Review

Specifications

Hard in second, you can hear the big Michelins approach their limits before you

feel the tail find a new direction. The slightest lift brings everything back and there is still plenty of acceleration. The nose will push early, but a rhythmic balance comes with some seat time and lets everything happen in the right order. Thankfully, the limits are soft and there is no nanny.

From a stop, second gear comes up quickly; not instantly, but without embarrassment. Off the line this is not a hole-shot rocket. Speed gathers, unless, of course, you punch up the revs and side-step the clutch and hang on. Otherwise there are 8.3-liters of hardware to get wound up before you feel the push. All that being said, this car still gathers speed at a rate that gives you 60 mph in under 4 seconds and 0-100-0 in 12. The legendary 427 Cobra, weighing 1,000 pounds less, set the original bar at 14. While all this is being accomplished, the latest Viper coupe has a soul-stirring voice. At idle there is a lumpy growl like a fifties street racer, then within a few hundred revs it begins to run cleanly and, at its 4,200 rpm torque peak, it will produce something nearing a howl. The split exhaust dumping out either side is not the way I would have done it. A balance tube and pair of pipes speaking together would make a more even sound. Never mind. You’ll love it.

The latest Viper SRT10 Coupe is far more GT car than the last one. One could do 500 miles across New England in the old model and almost qualify for a pilot’s license on air time alone. That won’t happen with the new one. It is compliant and competent; impressive without being edgy. It is not scary and the attitude is nearer disdain than debauchery. And it no longer sounds like a supercharged UPS truck.

Oddly enough, in the world of absolute faith in electronic marvels, the Viper is blessed with a number of old school fail-safes. A mechanical key lock is tucked into the side vent. The battery is tucked under the floor of the trunk as in any well-balanced GT car; what makes it different is the preparation for human error. If you leave the lights on or the door ajar and the interior bits still running and the battery goes flat, the hood opens from the front of the car and there is a rectangular lug cast on to the body of the water pump to use as a ground connection for your jumper cable, and a positive pole is mounted on a fender panel near it.

Inside the center armrest is a 12-volt power outlet so your phone can be plugged in and remain out of sight while it receives sustenance. Also in there is a key slot to disarm the passenger airbag to be used in conjunction with the child seat restraint connections built into that seat.

By way of driver ergonomic set-up are the mechanical seat adjustments and a mechanical steering wheel tilt. That setting includes no fore and aft movement, but the one electrical innovation we loved is the fore and aft pedal adjuster. In conjunction with seat movement the ergonomics can be personalized to perfection.

The instrument cluster ahead of the driver is focused on a large tach with a smaller speedo off to the right and fuel and a small LCD on the left. The central gauge stack has, from top to bottom, oil pressure, oil temperature, water temperature, and voltage. This is a car created and detailed for track days. The Viper owner’s group has become famous for their devotion to car development and lap time reduction—read, hard use.

With track day in mind, the seats are designed to locate the driver with substantial shoulder support. Fine, but that same seat for a passenger with his/her arms not extended to the wheel becomes uncomfortable, even irritating, in a very short time.

Our experience with Michelin run-flat tires proves the necessity for some kind of indicator. They are so smooth in under-inflation, or even deflation, that without some kind of notification you can not tell. Dodge has covered this on the primary LCD display and supported it with a chime. At 20 psi a light will blink slowly on the appropriate wheel in the display and a chime will sound at the same frequency. At 14 psi both will become continuous.

Brembo delivers the four-piston calipers for all four corners. They grip four ventilated discs, too. Even the parking brake is a caliper. Tandem diaphragm assist and ABS lighten the pedal demands, but don’t seem to interfere with sensitive modulation. All of this hangs from cast aluminum unequal-length A-arms and is controlled by high-pressure gas shocks.

Like its American competition, the Viper continues with two enormous, pushrod-operated valves per cylinder and sequential multi-port fuel injection. All the moving parts are held together in a pair of aluminum heads and an aluminum block filled with iron cylinder liners. Millions of miles of very hard use have proved the design and Vipers have earned the devotion of their fans.

After a half day of simple canyon fighting, the big V10 goes back to its hot rod idle and the cockpit heat begins to rush out the open doors. The big exhaust dump tube on either side noisily cools to remind you your ankles might be at risk, but it is hard to leave the broad, comfortable cockpit. Detail glimpses of the afternoon rush in and out of your consciousness and the knowledge of the press car’s departure early tomorrow morning makes you a little sad— unless, of course, it’s yours.

Specifications (Viper SRT10 Coupe):