Car in Review: 2006 Dodge Viper SRT10 Coupe
Dan Scanlan
Morris News Service
The 510-horsepower Dodge Viper SRT10 Coupe is a restless beast at idle, its gear shift shivering, its menacingly wide body occasionally shaking in anticipation, or maybe just frustrated at being parked on the finish line of the famed Daytona International Speedway with no place to go.
This long-nosed, high-tailed fastback is the street version of the Dodge Viper GTS R, currently running in the American Le Mans Series, and SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge GT. But while we didn't get to tackle the high banks of Florida's best-known track, more than 300 miles of test driving, some of it sideways, proved the new Viper Coupe is exactly what it is supposed to be -- a modern muscle car that makes no apologies for what it is.
The Viper was first born as a concept in 1989, then production versions hit the streets in 1992 with the concept's curvaceous body style and canvas-like top that clipped to a targa-style roof hoop.
The beast had no air conditioning, its exhaust pipes exiting under each door connected to a 450-hp V-10 engine, while lots of off-the- shelf Chrysler items made it feel a bit low rent inside. The fastback Viper GTS coupe arrived in 1997, the exhaust exiting out the rear, adding cargo space to its muscular resum_.
The second-generation Viper appeared in 2003, a more mature two-seater with a 505 cubic-inch V-10, its new design predicted by the edgy Viper GTS-R concept coupe of 2001. Sculpted in DaimlerChrysler's wind tunnel, the more angular body, bigger lower air intake with Dodge cross-hair grille and sleeker shape was 7 percent slipperier. A redesigned hood and front fenders replaced the last-generation's one- piece clamshell hood. Slit headlights glare out at the world via gas discharge low beams, while a small hood scoop with vents accentuates the power bulge, and a sharp edge tops the flanking front fenders. A slash in the fenders accents the flanks, the side pipes returned to the edged door sills while the upper line runs off the front wheel and into the wide, rounded rear flanks.
The 2006 coupe looks like the convertible until you get aft of the doors, where rear fenders bulge about a half-inch higher, the conv nd wider P345/30ZR19-inchers in back on 10-spoke chromed alloy wheels. The roof gets two sculpted bumps to add headroom for driver and passenger, an inch more than the convertible. A glass hatchback sweeps aft to join the tall spoiler, the fanged viper snake emblem a high center-mounted stop light.
"Organic" was the way one co-worker described its shape, while the coupe literally stopped traffic when parked just off pit row at Daytona during a vintage race, dozens of people shooting photographs of it and with the red bullet. My mechanic called it "gorgeous," while construction workers walked up, asking if it was the fastest car in the U.S. as they gazed at the engine. One neighbor had a great reaction -- it's a beautiful car, she said, just "don't sell it to anyone in this neighborhood." But more than one person said it looked like a Corvette.
Push a flush door handle that still looks like a late 1970s Corvette's and the window unseals from the roof. You have to duck and carefully insert one's self into the charcoal gray cockpit, carefully avoiding the hot exhaust pipe under the wide door sill. The black leather bucket seat is deeply sculpted and low with minimal adjustment, but after some fiddling, the driving position was fine, all laid back and racer-like, aided by aluminum power-adjustable pedals. The three-spoke steering wheel is tilt-adjustable, with carbon fiber weave-look leather top and bottom. It neatly frames a 220-mph speedometer with an LCD odometer next to a 7,000-rpm tachometer, with gas gauge tucked on the left. Oil pressure and temperature, water temperature and voltage are easy to read in an arc to the right, with a red starter button underneath.
A seven-speaker Alpine AM-FM-6-disc CD changer with 310 watts of power supplies the musical needs adequately, while a a/c system with simple off-the-shelf Chrysler buttons kept us cool despite heat percolating in from that massive V-10 that sits so far back in the chassis. The wide center console had a padded arm rest over a small storage bin, a shallow cup holder and 12-volt power outlets about it, plus a small glove box. The big leather-clad gear shift is perfect for grabbing and rowing through the gears, its satin chrome trim ring and alloy door handle and grab bar accents the only light in this dark cockpit. The carpeted trunk has room for a set of golf clubs under the hatch. There is no spare tire thanks to run-flat rubber, which came in handy when a nail pierced the right rear tire. But we could still drive the Viper -- very carefully.
Overall, the interior is better than the first-generation model, if still a bit low rent in look and switchgear feel, while the rear view is hampered by the tall spoiler. At 9,200 miles, the leather and suede bucket seats smelled sweaty, and we had audible wind noise from the mirrors and side windows. But grab the meaty steering wheel, look out over the long vented hood, and who cares -- the Viper is still a thrill, thanks to a hand-built 505 cubin-inch aluminum V-10 with a six main bearing crankshaft, cross-bolted main bearing caps, cast aluminum alloy pistons and cracked-steel connecting rods.
While the engine still sounds like a delivery truck at idle or at 1,500-rpm in sixth gear at highway speed, it has a guttural scream when pushed higher and harder, the soundtrack of all 10 cylinders.
Heck, I revved it to 5,000-rpm in my driveway and got all the dogs barking. The whopping 535 pound-feet of torque was easy to dig into thanks to a progressive clutch feel and neat if slightly notchy Tremec T56 6-speed manual transmission, and we reached 60-mph in 4 seconds. That's the same as the 2003 convertible we tested in 2003, with 0-100 times of 9 seconds. It is a tad slower than the 505-hp 2006 Corvette Z06 coupe that hit 60 mph in 3.7 seconds in first gear and 100-mph in 9 seconds. We could lay rubber at any time, since the Viper doesn't have traction control like the ZO6. But the coupe's fuel mileage wasn't any better than the convertible's -- about 10.5 mpg on $3.06-a-gallon premium.
As for handling, the roadster's test on Gainesville Raceway's road course showed a suspension that was firm but not as harsh as the first-gen Viper, with almost no body roll. The snake was flat and neutral, offering a bit of understeer if pushed harder. The stiffer Viper Coupe was even more in the groove and confident in its ability to handle what you give it if you are smooth and respect it, its massive rear rubber allowing us to power through turns dancing on the throttle. But watch out -- this snake will bite if you let off the gas in a turn, causing it to swing its tail around -- the Z06's traction and stability control catches that, even in "competition" mode. The steering is precise and full of feel, while the 14-inch front/rear Brembo discs with anti-lock braking stopped us straight and fast every time, with no fade.
The Viper Coupe base price is $83,145 with everything we mentioned above, a gas-guzzler tax and destination fee making its final price $86,995.
Bottom line -- the new Corvette Z06 is a bit less powerful (505 hp) and pricey ($65,000 base), yet was a few tenths of a second faster and better mannered in everyday as well as at-limit driving. But the Viper Coupe was still the "bad boy" car I loved being seen in, still so outrageously expressive in shape and purpose that I had to love it despite its gas-guzzling ways. The seats are superb, the cargo space usable, and nothing is there that isn't needed. There was even a purity and purposefulness to its in-your-face hairy chested looks and maker's decision to eschew traction and stability control so the driver is (hopefully) in control. It's pure muscle.
Dan Scanlan
Morris News Service
The 510-horsepower Dodge Viper SRT10 Coupe is a restless beast at idle, its gear shift shivering, its menacingly wide body occasionally shaking in anticipation, or maybe just frustrated at being parked on the finish line of the famed Daytona International Speedway with no place to go.
This long-nosed, high-tailed fastback is the street version of the Dodge Viper GTS R, currently running in the American Le Mans Series, and SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge GT. But while we didn't get to tackle the high banks of Florida's best-known track, more than 300 miles of test driving, some of it sideways, proved the new Viper Coupe is exactly what it is supposed to be -- a modern muscle car that makes no apologies for what it is.
The Viper was first born as a concept in 1989, then production versions hit the streets in 1992 with the concept's curvaceous body style and canvas-like top that clipped to a targa-style roof hoop.
The beast had no air conditioning, its exhaust pipes exiting under each door connected to a 450-hp V-10 engine, while lots of off-the- shelf Chrysler items made it feel a bit low rent inside. The fastback Viper GTS coupe arrived in 1997, the exhaust exiting out the rear, adding cargo space to its muscular resum_.
The second-generation Viper appeared in 2003, a more mature two-seater with a 505 cubic-inch V-10, its new design predicted by the edgy Viper GTS-R concept coupe of 2001. Sculpted in DaimlerChrysler's wind tunnel, the more angular body, bigger lower air intake with Dodge cross-hair grille and sleeker shape was 7 percent slipperier. A redesigned hood and front fenders replaced the last-generation's one- piece clamshell hood. Slit headlights glare out at the world via gas discharge low beams, while a small hood scoop with vents accentuates the power bulge, and a sharp edge tops the flanking front fenders. A slash in the fenders accents the flanks, the side pipes returned to the edged door sills while the upper line runs off the front wheel and into the wide, rounded rear flanks.
The 2006 coupe looks like the convertible until you get aft of the doors, where rear fenders bulge about a half-inch higher, the conv nd wider P345/30ZR19-inchers in back on 10-spoke chromed alloy wheels. The roof gets two sculpted bumps to add headroom for driver and passenger, an inch more than the convertible. A glass hatchback sweeps aft to join the tall spoiler, the fanged viper snake emblem a high center-mounted stop light.
"Organic" was the way one co-worker described its shape, while the coupe literally stopped traffic when parked just off pit row at Daytona during a vintage race, dozens of people shooting photographs of it and with the red bullet. My mechanic called it "gorgeous," while construction workers walked up, asking if it was the fastest car in the U.S. as they gazed at the engine. One neighbor had a great reaction -- it's a beautiful car, she said, just "don't sell it to anyone in this neighborhood." But more than one person said it looked like a Corvette.
Push a flush door handle that still looks like a late 1970s Corvette's and the window unseals from the roof. You have to duck and carefully insert one's self into the charcoal gray cockpit, carefully avoiding the hot exhaust pipe under the wide door sill. The black leather bucket seat is deeply sculpted and low with minimal adjustment, but after some fiddling, the driving position was fine, all laid back and racer-like, aided by aluminum power-adjustable pedals. The three-spoke steering wheel is tilt-adjustable, with carbon fiber weave-look leather top and bottom. It neatly frames a 220-mph speedometer with an LCD odometer next to a 7,000-rpm tachometer, with gas gauge tucked on the left. Oil pressure and temperature, water temperature and voltage are easy to read in an arc to the right, with a red starter button underneath.
A seven-speaker Alpine AM-FM-6-disc CD changer with 310 watts of power supplies the musical needs adequately, while a a/c system with simple off-the-shelf Chrysler buttons kept us cool despite heat percolating in from that massive V-10 that sits so far back in the chassis. The wide center console had a padded arm rest over a small storage bin, a shallow cup holder and 12-volt power outlets about it, plus a small glove box. The big leather-clad gear shift is perfect for grabbing and rowing through the gears, its satin chrome trim ring and alloy door handle and grab bar accents the only light in this dark cockpit. The carpeted trunk has room for a set of golf clubs under the hatch. There is no spare tire thanks to run-flat rubber, which came in handy when a nail pierced the right rear tire. But we could still drive the Viper -- very carefully.
Overall, the interior is better than the first-generation model, if still a bit low rent in look and switchgear feel, while the rear view is hampered by the tall spoiler. At 9,200 miles, the leather and suede bucket seats smelled sweaty, and we had audible wind noise from the mirrors and side windows. But grab the meaty steering wheel, look out over the long vented hood, and who cares -- the Viper is still a thrill, thanks to a hand-built 505 cubin-inch aluminum V-10 with a six main bearing crankshaft, cross-bolted main bearing caps, cast aluminum alloy pistons and cracked-steel connecting rods.
While the engine still sounds like a delivery truck at idle or at 1,500-rpm in sixth gear at highway speed, it has a guttural scream when pushed higher and harder, the soundtrack of all 10 cylinders.
Heck, I revved it to 5,000-rpm in my driveway and got all the dogs barking. The whopping 535 pound-feet of torque was easy to dig into thanks to a progressive clutch feel and neat if slightly notchy Tremec T56 6-speed manual transmission, and we reached 60-mph in 4 seconds. That's the same as the 2003 convertible we tested in 2003, with 0-100 times of 9 seconds. It is a tad slower than the 505-hp 2006 Corvette Z06 coupe that hit 60 mph in 3.7 seconds in first gear and 100-mph in 9 seconds. We could lay rubber at any time, since the Viper doesn't have traction control like the ZO6. But the coupe's fuel mileage wasn't any better than the convertible's -- about 10.5 mpg on $3.06-a-gallon premium.
As for handling, the roadster's test on Gainesville Raceway's road course showed a suspension that was firm but not as harsh as the first-gen Viper, with almost no body roll. The snake was flat and neutral, offering a bit of understeer if pushed harder. The stiffer Viper Coupe was even more in the groove and confident in its ability to handle what you give it if you are smooth and respect it, its massive rear rubber allowing us to power through turns dancing on the throttle. But watch out -- this snake will bite if you let off the gas in a turn, causing it to swing its tail around -- the Z06's traction and stability control catches that, even in "competition" mode. The steering is precise and full of feel, while the 14-inch front/rear Brembo discs with anti-lock braking stopped us straight and fast every time, with no fade.
The Viper Coupe base price is $83,145 with everything we mentioned above, a gas-guzzler tax and destination fee making its final price $86,995.
Bottom line -- the new Corvette Z06 is a bit less powerful (505 hp) and pricey ($65,000 base), yet was a few tenths of a second faster and better mannered in everyday as well as at-limit driving. But the Viper Coupe was still the "bad boy" car I loved being seen in, still so outrageously expressive in shape and purpose that I had to love it despite its gas-guzzling ways. The seats are superb, the cargo space usable, and nothing is there that isn't needed. There was even a purity and purposefulness to its in-your-face hairy chested looks and maker's decision to eschew traction and stability control so the driver is (hopefully) in control. It's pure muscle.
