Some of you may have wondered when I was going to chime in on this, since I've beaten this subject many times before.
I agree very much with John Baird. The minimalist/purist Viper owners are afraid of "options" for whatever reason. Some even like to make the "pink" claim, which is so juvenile/immature. The option of TC & paddle shift would open up another avenue of prospective buyers, but the minimalists are terrified of what this might do to their precious Viper "manhood".
Some claim that added gear would add to the costs of upkeep & repairs . . . when you are spending thousands to modify your Vipers anyway, what difference does it make. Bite the bullet on this. You bought a near $100,000 auto remember?
Best all around scenario . . . defeatable TC on all Vipers. Paddle shifted transmissions as an option. I SAID OPTION (hope you understand that meaning). R & D costs can be added into the cost of the "Optioned" paddle shift models.
Some minimalist purists are whining about the R & D costs for development. To engineer such a product (paddle shift transmission) would not break the bank so to speak. This technology has been around for many years. It was developed for the Chrysler ME-412 & was a highly respected system. There have also already been at least 2 Viper driving professional racing teams which have used Paddle Shifter gearbox/transmissions in their racing Vipers over in Europe, and this was a couple/few years back. One of those teams I know has now changed over to the 550/575 Maranello's. Point is, the system has already been used in SRT era Vipers in endurance road racing. Hmmm.
The minimalist/purist Viper owners are more willing to risk the viability of the entire Viper entity simply because of their die hard beliefs that the "Viper" was made for "only" them. Many of those die hards are not even owners of the current generation. I would even suspect that of the few hundred, heck, let's even say few thousand just to make a real point . . . that the few "thousand" die hard minimal purists out there, less than 20 have bought a Viper more frequently than 1 in every 3 years. How does the lineage of the Viper continue without continued sales? The minimalist purists are not going to be able to keep the sales alive enough to continue the line. Broadening the market to other potential buyers will keep the line alive. Closing the gap between a $180,000 plus used Lambo & Ferrari & Aston Martin will sell Vipers. The mimimalist purists can either hold on to their precious minimal Vipers, or they can buy a newer version with the "option" of standard manual, or upgraded "paddle shift" transmission. Did that really hurt? Of course not. Did it help to save a breed which has dying sales . . . perhaps, a very strong perhaps. It could even make an impact on European sales of the Viper . . . and why not . . . D of C is somewhat strong in Europe (duh).
Options. People are more willing to shop when there are more "OPTIONS". Let's face it, the whole of the "die hard minimalist purist" is very limited in its numbers. Most of "them" are all on here posting daily and you could probably count them easily at less than 200. How many other Viper owners are there though who have never been to this site and could really care less about what the Viper "purists" think? They are owners who liked the look of the Viper and its power, and just bought it. There are many times more of that kind of buyer than the minimalist purist buyer. They also typically, in my opinion, have way more money to burn. Those are the ones I would be more concerned with in sales if I were DC. The minimalist purist Viper owners would need to purchase at least 1, if not really 2 or 3 Vipers more likely, each year to keep the line alive over the next 3 - 6 years. That ain't going to happen.
Flame me; no suit and I don't care!!!
Well put. I remain amused and astonished at the misconceptions as regards the technology and its application.
First, no technology now employed in the automotive arena can or will make you a better driver. Not paddle shifters, not ABS, not traction/stability control.
Nothing The only thing that will make you a better driver is training and experience. So the notion that adding a paddle shifter is somehow going to equalize Viper driving skill across the board by somehow dumbing down the car or make everyone or anyone for that matter fast at the track is bizarre. The average guy has no track experience. Giving him a sequential or DSG shifter is not going to turn him into Juan Montoya or anything remotely close any more than giving someone a modern automatic weapon in place of a revolver will transform them into a Navy Seal. What it will do, however, is two things. First, it will make those who love the look of the car but are disinclined or unable to drive a manual for whatever reason actually go out and buy one. This will improve the car’s business case and help ensure its survival. Ferrari’s take rate for their F1 style transmission is 80%. Ferrari still makes a manual but realizes that people need and like choices. The second thing is that it will make already good drivers that much faster because technology increases a car’s usable performance envelope and, in an application of the law of unintended consequences, actually makes a car more dangerous.
In previous similar discussions I have made the example of technology’s progress on military aircraft because the illustration is clearer. Military aircraft technology has come a long way in the last 50 years. But as the aircraft’s capabilities expanded the skill set needed to fly these increasingly sophisticated aircraft became more not less demanding.
Manual or paddle shifter makes no difference in the very real fact that, unlike any other sport on the planet, motor racing’s ability to maim and violently kill its participants is not diminished one whit. Viper race cars have used sequential shifters to deadly effect against their competition. But if we are to believe the "purists" the technology used in these winning Viper race cars is impure and the street cars are the real deal.
The current SRT-10 was never designed to have broad appeal and I am mystified at where the notion came from. On the contrary, the reason the Viper has struggled in the marketplace is precisely because it still has very limited appeal. Until recently the Viper never came as a coupe. With the debut of the coupe the car has finally reversed the year-over-year monthly sales slide and perked up a bit. But there are still no transmission choices, no side airbags, no power top, no traction/stability control, no Nav systems etc. like you will find on such cars as the F430, 997 Turbo, Z06, Gallardo etc. How then has the car become mainstream? Certainly not stylistically as there are few cars (maybe a Ford GT and/or a Murcielago) that can upstage an SRT-10. The car is not wanting for power as it can hold its own against anything on the market within twice its price. So if it looks great and has tremendous performance why does it not sell? Because, among other things, it has too few choices for the broader market that could easily support it in virtual perpetuity with room for all. Simply option (or not) the car the way you prefer.
Dang, I think we should write for Motor Week (well maybe moreso you than I). Very well written Sir.
I concur on your facts concerning Ferrari and its F1 system. When first introduced, the Ferrari Tifosi flat out refused to acknowledge such a contraption; they hated its whole notion. Now it's amusing to hear those same people who are driving F1's now & saying that they cannot believe what they first thought about it. The same has occured in the Lamborghini fold as well. I follow things over at
www.ferrarichat.com for various reasons & it's comical how those die hard manual guys have all caved in now for the F1's. The F1 sales have skyrocketed for both companies as well as AM and others.
Personally, the idea of having an SMG/paddle shifter transmission would take a moreso "weekend" auto & turn it into a daily driver & that would be really nice. Being able to still control your shifts but not having a clutch pedal in traffic would be ohhh so nice.
From R & T - A Ferrari F430 with 100 HP less than the SRT-10, more gadgets, speeds equal to the SRT-10 (however faster on a track I strongly imagine) & really more fun to drive:
Our test car was fitted with the F1 paddle-shift gearbox
(a traditional manual 6-speed is also offered) , with shifts now taking place in as little as 150 milliseconds. Ferrari stresses that this is the time for the complete shift, including the clutch-in/clutch-out time, and we found its operation to be greatly improved, from the smoothness of clutch take-up to the nearly hitch-free flow of power in the automatic mode.
We haven't even touched on another link to F1 technology, a small rotary switch on the steering wheel called the manettino that aces Schumacher and Barrichello would find familiar. Select one of its five detents according to available traction and/or bravery (Snow, Low Traction, Sport, Race or
CST — the last turning off both yaw and traction controls and several systems adapt to suit. The manettino controls shift quickness of the F1 gearbox, shock valving, degree of traction- and yaw-control intervention, the rpm at which the twin exhaust bypass valves open (for more power and yet another rich tonal layer of exhaust pulsations) and the degree to which the E-Diff comes into play. This last piece, developed in the crucible of Formula 1 but now banned in racing, is a limited-slip differential whose clutch pack is hydraulically modulated and electronically controlled. Cleverly, it uses the same engine-driven hydraulic pump and accumulator as the F1 gearbox.
The proof is in the driving, and the F430 again took our breath away through the foothills south of the factory, culminating in a few glorious laps around the Fiorano circuit. Race mode on the manettino seemed ideal, with the quickest shifts enabled,
electronic helpers reduced to a minimum and the E-Diff set for a little throttle-induced oversteer.
Here, the F430 offers a driving experience that is quintessentially pure and direct, as much an extension of your will as any street-tire-equipped production car can be. Steering feels ideally weighted and is rich in road feedback, and the downforce that builds through high-speed sweepers makes the most of tires that seem slightly narrow for a car of such Herculean performance-225/35ZR-19s in front, 285/35ZR-19 rear. Brakes shrug off speed effortlessly, with only a few millimeters of pedal free play and a rock-hard feel past that.
Seems like with the driver being able to select so many options the car would require greater skill than less skill in reaching it's greatest potential. I wonder what an E-Diff system would be like on the Viper
(not to be confused with paddle shift . . . it's totally different).
In it's past to current state, the Viper has always been a better "track" car than a "traffic" car. There are many Ferrari & Lamborghini owners who enjoy their cars more as daily drivers, having F1 paddle shifter transmissions, than those without. Those same cars with paddle shifters can hit the tracks on the weekends however and still tear it up just as well, if not better.
1. Options mean that no one is forced to buy what they don't want.
2. The R & D would not be great; it's already been used by Viper racing teams.
3. The costs are added for the options YOU choose.
If the purist minimalists want "their" Viper to remain minimal and anti-technology, maybe DC should just call it a day and rap it all up. There are 3 solid generations now of minimalist Vipers which can be tweaked to producing over 1,000 HP & that's the bulk of what they want anyhow. So what if DC should come out with a minimalist "no options" 4th generation with 600 HP; why should DC bother? Seems that most of the minimalist purists who argue against any technology derived upgrades are driving Gen I & II Vipers anyway. What happens if a Gen IV comes out, and "they" still don't like the styling . . .
"it's not raw and aggressive enough like the Gen I & II's . . . but thanks for leaving it all minimal anyway; maybe Gen V, okay DC?"
