2009 Dodge Viper SRT10 - Video

If the Corvette ZR1 revels in new science, the 2009 Dodge Viper SRT10 goes in the opposite direction and catapults the driver back into the sights, sounds and sensual pleasures of the muscular, knock-off-the-crap Sixties. This is a car for people (i.e., nearly all of us) who missed a chance to buy a Cobra Daytona Coupe — and drive it to breakfast. The Viper is about as subtle as a punch in the mouth, but a lot more fun.

This is not to imply that the car's hard-hitting honesty is technically archaic in any way — only that a thematic choice has been made. And when some modern marvel — such as dynamic stability control — seems superfluous to the Viper's rugged personality, it's simply deleted. This is a car you drive with the human brain and foot — though it's more fun if you favor the foot.



Especially when it's connected to an 8.4-liter V-10 rated at an even 600 bhp at 6100 rpm, with 560 lb.-ft. of torque on tap at 5000 rpm. Not as uncannily smooth as the Corvette's watch-like V-8, the Viper V-10 gives you the visceral impression — and sound — of big pistons hitting hard, with each combustion stroke carrying the car a fair distance down the road. Some of that big-bang sensation comes from very tall gearing. You could drive this car all of your life in the first four gears without much inconvenience. In 5th and 6th the car is just idling at legal highway speeds; it wants to go at least 100 mph, and then just keep going. Like a fighter after takeoff, it isn't meant to stay in the traffic pattern. As ex-racer Steve Millen said in an earlier test, "the harder you run it, the better it is."

An ideal cross-country GT car it's not, but on the twisty back roads it works pretty well. Grip is excellent — if a little busy over mid-corner bumps — and the balance is good. Steering kickback is less filtered than with the other cars, but there's a satisfying sense of driving the car with your own seat-of-the-pants instincts. It'll generate over 1.0g of grip on the skidpad and get through the slalom almost as fast as the Ferrari 599, so you've got plenty of traction to work with. And tons of power from this naturally aspirated ohv V-10 — unique to this group. Its sub-100-grand price tag is also unique.

© Source: roadandtrack
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