Top Gear review: Viper SRT-C

[M. ROD]

You must be registered for see images

web page

 

[repiv]

a lot of left handed compliments in that article........

 

[FinalEd357]

I think that article describes why each of us owns a Viper, regardless of Gen. And, of course, because we all just love to buy crap...

 

[viper585]

I think that article describes why each of us owns a Viper, regardless of Gen. And, of course, because we all just love to buy crap...

LOL. My sentiments exactly. In fact...I just got back from a drive in my Piece of Crap. Loved every moment!!

 

[SnakeBitten]

"It's a bit like that latest King Kong film: it's definitely crap, but it's still compelling."


LMAO.....I guess its so bad its good...Europeans crack me up..

 

[Viper X]

I like both of my pieces of crap and I'll likely buy another one!

 

[Bobpantax]

Mr. Harvey appears to have a pathological preoccupation with and extensive knowledge of feces. It is more than a literary device. It appears to influence his every thought. Normally, I would say who gives a s###, but in this case, it might be appropriate to do so. Perhaps someone will play secret Santa and send him a token of our appreciation. LOL

 

[BB Racin 77]

"American Cars Are, indeed, Crap, remember, but this one somehow rises above it. It lacks the class of the GTS, but still packs the drama. It lacks the sophistication of a European, but more than makes up for it in thrills."

 

[bigerc]

I like that picture from the article that m rod posted though.

 

[Asp Man]

The guy's a knob. Sounds like he liked it, but couldn't deal with why he liked it. Like most over there, they don't get it.

 

[Warfang]

The guy's a knob. Sounds like he liked it, but couldn't deal with why he liked it. Like most over there, they don't get it.

That's why they're still in denial that they are no longer a world power, reliving their glory days of ****** and pillaging other countries.

 

[BLWNASP]

Sorry, but the article was fairly lame. Like others have said, just admit you like the damn car. And do without excuses, justification, or hyperbole.

 

[Bonkers]

He didn't have much to say, but he hit the nail on this one:

The new car arrives [refering to the 2003 SRT], folks
get to drive it and where the old one felt like the world's
biggest, fastest, least-pointy go-kart, the new car feels,
er, like the world's biggest, fastest, least-pointy go-kart,
only a bit better built and, frankly, not as good-looking.

 

[RAYSIR]

I like both of my pieces of crap and I'll likely buy another one!

I thought the article was pretty funny!! He did say the Viper was the only American to rise out of the Crap!!. Sounded to me the writer of the article was impressed with the Vipers but liked a GTS more than the new Coupe.

 

[Mike Dolan]

Well you know a lot of this boils down to attitude & values.
For example, it is easy to compare European high performance cars and conclude they are more sophisticated, with refinements such as double overhead cams and consider the American iron as agricultural with pushrods etc....
But then again consider this; in most European countries you are taxed (heavily) on engine displacement, so there is a strong impetus to get all the power you can from a small displacement engine. Here we aren't taxed on displacement, so we can utilize more displacement to get the power we want. Pushrods allow an engine to be externally smaller, lighter, simpler, cheaper etc. So what if it doesn't get as much power per cubic inch - just use more cubic inches, that won't cost more to manufacture, nor will it be harder to maintain. Oh and simpler also translates to more reliable.

You can actually drive the Viper every day and enjoy it. Try that with a Ferrari some day, and unless you have very deep pockets you will soon see why most Ferrari owners don't do that. How about a Lamborghini or Maserati? Top Gear loves those kinds of cars, but guess what? You really can't drive them much either.

The only really high performance European car I can think of that you can drive a lot is the Porsche. Some would claim the Mercedes and BMW, but I don't think many of them are in the Viper performance league.

Ask some of the European writers what they drive (and actually own) and I would bet most don't have the kinds of cars they rave about, they probably drive some POS they can afford.

Another consideration is the price differential. A Viper here is pretty reasonable price-wise, but if you were spending what they cost in Europe you could well expect to find more than the Viper offers.

Just my opinion.

 

[Asp Man]

"Ask some of the European writers what they drive (and actually own) and I would bet most don't have the kinds of cars they rave about, they probably drive some POS they can afford."

Exactly right, this holds true on this side of the pond as well.

 

[Tusc]

Except for the main guy on the Top Gear tv show. He bought himself a blue Ford GT and the crew gave him heck because it gave him headaches for the first few days with the alarm going off all night at home and then disabling the car when he was at work, etc.

Of the Top Gear crew, I usually prefer his reviews... they're much more of an emotional / humorous look at the cars.

Top Gear - Ford GT

and for MORE entertainment...

Breakdown

 

[03gobluecobra]

Wow, I normally like top gear, but that article was terrible. Not only a bad article, but terribly written, and just a bore to read.

 

[Bonkers]

I always find it funny how Europeans always seem to think
that thier cars are so well built. I just did a quick check
on Ebay Germany and Ebay England for BMWs and the highest
mile listed was 72,000km. What's that, like 40,000m. At
100,000 miles my BMW fell apart. Hell, I think even chevettes
were good through 80,000.

I give it credit though, At 100,000 the bimmer was still
tight - it's a shame it didn't drive more than a few miles
without exploding something.

 

[418viper]

What a short memory concerning "crap" cars. What about the triumph spitfire, stag and all the redundant electricals needed to provide reliabilty for a 60,000$ top of the line Jaguar Sedan etc. blah,blah

Anyone hear of "AC" before Shelby......not

 

[Vypr Phil]

Classic case of "Love/Hate" relationship: he loved the car so much, he hated himself for it, since it did not quite match his biased perception of "crap".

As opposed to the Great British Empire, we still own most of our automotive industry in the US. What is left of their automotive industrial base seems to be in foreign hands in order to survive.

The truly sad thing is that they experienced this scenario before, with their once brilliant motorcycle industry, now pretty much extinct, yet did not learn a "bloody" thing from it.....

________________________________________

Silver 2005 SRT-10

 

[Viperholic]

The SRT-C story was crap to read. Not every car has to have $6000 in comfort equipment to be considered amazing. However, the uTube on the Ford GT was hysterical. Nice one Tusc!

Jeremy is a good judge of cars. He loved the '03 SRT when he test drove it. Called

it "A psycho car," as I recall.The Viper is what it is. Unbelievably kick @$$.

 

[Vic]

Well you know a lot of this boils down to attitude & values.
For example, it is easy to compare European high performance cars and conclude they are more sophisticated, with refinements such as double overhead cams and consider the American iron as agricultural with pushrods etc....
But then again consider this; in most European countries you are taxed (heavily) on engine displacement, so there is a strong impetus to get all the power you can from a small displacement engine. Here we aren't taxed on displacement, so we can utilize more displacement to get the power we want. Pushrods allow an engine to be externally smaller, lighter, simpler, cheaper etc. So what if it doesn't get as much power per cubic inch - just use more cubic inches, that won't cost more to manufacture, nor will it be harder to maintain. Oh and simpler also translates to more reliable.

You can actually drive the Viper every day and enjoy it. Try that with a Ferrari some day, and unless you have very deep pockets you will soon see why most Ferrari owners don't do that. How about a Lamborghini or Maserati? Top Gear loves those kinds of cars, but guess what? You really can't drive them much either.

The only really high performance European car I can think of that you can drive a lot is the Porsche. Some would claim the Mercedes and BMW, but I don't think many of them are in the Viper performance league.

Ask some of the European writers what they drive (and actually own) and I would bet most don't have the kinds of cars they rave about, they probably drive some POS they can afford.

Another consideration is the price differential. A Viper here is pretty reasonable price-wise, but if you were spending what they cost in Europe you could well expect to find more than the Viper offers.

Just my opinion.

Thats exactly right. Thats why they aren't crazy about our cars, they can't live with them, because first of all, like you said, they pay much more for them over there, and our cars are generally bigger, and they have many more narrow roads, tighter lanes, tiny parking spots, all factors making a smaller, more efficient car ideal. They also pay a tax based on how much emmisions the car spews, and the list goes on. I understand all that, and am not suprised at their attitude towards us. Add to all those factors, the fact that the USA exceeded their influence and power, and there is a jealousy angle also.

Plus, over the years, the big three did make a lot of crap. A whole lot of it. Boatloads, in fact. While we were crusing around in gas guzzling luxo-barges coated with 125 pounds of genuine-simulated chrome-plated plasticized aluminum trim, off-center hubcaps wobbling as we motor down a lane 12 feet wide, meanwhile the Euros were learning to squeeze as much performance out of every drop of fuel they could. That dichotomy has existed for 50 years, and there is a cultural inertia of disdain for American automobiles that won't go away anytime soon, regardless of what we do or manufacture, even if its equal to, or better than theirs.

They will always prefer to think of us as stupid, fat and wasteful people, in the same way that some Americans only feel comfortable thinking about the Chinese having long fingernails, wearing coolie hats and doing laundry. Its just the way that they feel good about themselves, choosing to focus on laughable American sterotypes, so they can feel comfortably superior.

Truth is, American cars are much better than they ever were.

Notice that Clarkson doesn't mention the world-class stopping power of the SRT10s brakes! He completely glosses over that point, preferring to critcize some other percieved fault. Maybe it bounces around too much on a cobblestone road, I dunno what his trip is. I don't know how good of a driver he is, but here in the States, Vipers regularly hand the competition their azs on road courses, P-cars, and F-cars included. Vipers couldn't be only "crap" and still kill the competition, could they? Whats' that say about their cars?

When Clarkson was reviewing another all-American sports car, the ZO6, he didn't mention that Jan Magnussen lapped the famed Neurbergring in a blistering 7:40. Anything under 8 minutes was formerly the exclusive hyper-exotic territory of $500,000 European marques. All he had to say was something cautiously negative, like how old-fashioned leaf-spring suspension is, and dismissing the car offhand. (Notwithstanding the epic handling prowness and ground-pounding acceleration in a $65,000 car, not available in a Euro car until you have a couple of hundred thousand dollars to spend.) No wonder they are always ********** at us, we got more for less!

Now, over here in God's country, (wink!), we generally have wider roads, more and bigger parking spots, no emmision based tax, and cheaper gas to boot.

So what country you live in, has a lot to do with what kind of car you can live with. I'm just glad I live where I do, 'cause its like automotive heaven out here.

 

[Bonkers]

I can't imagine the $5-7/g they're paying at the pump helps the V10
image out any either.