Paul Fischer
Enthusiast
\'00 a very smooth year
I had the pleasure of piloting an '00 RT yesterday, man has that engine been smoothed out. No more lumpy cammy idle and a much smoother acceleration (engine had only 2k miles on it, mostly highway, probably not broken in yet). That new cam/piston combination really changes the character of The Beast, the thing verges on civilized. And I had forgotten how different the factory alignment feels from adding 3/4 of a degree of negative camber all around, that car wanted to dart all over the place. The 18' wheels impart a considerably stiffer ride than the 17's, what a difference an inch of sidewall makes on the street (we spent a little time on back country roads as well as in town but the difference was unmistakeable even on the highway).
Call me Neanderthal but when I think Viper I want an engine that throws the car around at idle. If I wanted smooth I'd get another Rolls. This thing is practically refined! Approaching ninety miles an hour in second feels like half that speed in any other car, it's a non-event. If the power steering resevior cap hadn't been missing (sign of a properly driven Viper for us track hounds) I might have thought we were in a Corvette on steriods.
My buddy however couldn't be fooled. He was there to trade out of his C5 ("It's a nice ladies car" according to him) and got "The Grin" somewhere between his first trip from 2nd to 3rd gear and didn't lose it till he turned her off. His comments ranged from "Wow" to "The power!...". I had to leave the dealership for a previous commitment so I don't even know if he bought that particular car but I know his days of being happy with a small block are over.
As for me it's back to looking for a forged piston, lumpy cammed GTS that never completely learned it's manners. Maybe it's not just dogs that begin to resemble their owners. To each their own...
I had the pleasure of piloting an '00 RT yesterday, man has that engine been smoothed out. No more lumpy cammy idle and a much smoother acceleration (engine had only 2k miles on it, mostly highway, probably not broken in yet). That new cam/piston combination really changes the character of The Beast, the thing verges on civilized. And I had forgotten how different the factory alignment feels from adding 3/4 of a degree of negative camber all around, that car wanted to dart all over the place. The 18' wheels impart a considerably stiffer ride than the 17's, what a difference an inch of sidewall makes on the street (we spent a little time on back country roads as well as in town but the difference was unmistakeable even on the highway).
Call me Neanderthal but when I think Viper I want an engine that throws the car around at idle. If I wanted smooth I'd get another Rolls. This thing is practically refined! Approaching ninety miles an hour in second feels like half that speed in any other car, it's a non-event. If the power steering resevior cap hadn't been missing (sign of a properly driven Viper for us track hounds) I might have thought we were in a Corvette on steriods.
My buddy however couldn't be fooled. He was there to trade out of his C5 ("It's a nice ladies car" according to him) and got "The Grin" somewhere between his first trip from 2nd to 3rd gear and didn't lose it till he turned her off. His comments ranged from "Wow" to "The power!...". I had to leave the dealership for a previous commitment so I don't even know if he bought that particular car but I know his days of being happy with a small block are over.
As for me it's back to looking for a forged piston, lumpy cammed GTS that never completely learned it's manners. Maybe it's not just dogs that begin to resemble their owners. To each their own...
