New York 2012: Live Viper Shots And Impressions

by Jack Baruth

Published: April 4th, 2012

new york 2012 live viper shots and impressions

The scrum of journalists and wanna-bes around the Viper has been consistently packed for two hours now. We have some impressions from Byron Hurd and NASA instructor Jeff Stutler for your consumption; later on in the show I will wander over, sit in the thing, and try to correlate it with my experiences of the previous Vipers.

Byron sez:

“640hp. 600lb-ft. Reduced weight. An interior completely re-done with help from Ferrari’s low-volume suppliers.

Drop. Dead. Gorgeous.

This is it folks. You can go outside now. Chrysler has stolen the show with the new SRT Viper. Pity Nissan for having to follow an act like this. New Altima? To hell with that. The line for Viper press kits is hundreds deep. Nobody’s coming.

Some notes: Despite rumors of a displacement bump, the new car retains the 8.4L V10 from the 2010, but gains 40hp and 40lb-ft. The clamshell hood is back, but carbon fiber replaces previous composite materials in the exterior panels. New features include mandated ESP, cruise and launch control and the Dart’s fancy gauge cluster.

And yes, The ALMS rumors are true. ”

Quoth Jeff:

“The reveal was great, and the surprise of the alms race car was even greater. The car itself looks fantastic on paper and in the flesh. With a “dry” power tow eight ratio greater than the lamborghini aventador it ought get plenty of people in a lot of trouble. Im not 100% sold on the carbon taillight surround yet but it will grow.

Head of srt says the car will do at least 206mph amd that the goal is not only to be fast but to handle as well, he says you fought with the old car but you plug yourself into this one. ‘its like a miata on steroids.'”

#NYIAS

Jack Baruth

More by Jack Baruth

Comments

Join the conversation

3 of 29 comments

Acd on Apr 04, 2012

What platform is it built on? Is it an update/rehash of the old Viper, an Alfa 8C re-skin or an entirely new platform?

Like Reply
- MikeD1Be on Apr 05, 2012
  
  It's a new chassis. 50% stiffer than the outgoing Viper chassis.
  
  Like
Djn on Apr 05, 2012

Clarktson will be happy about the gear shift.

Like Reply

Recent Comments

SCE to AUX Everything in me says 'no', but the price is tempting, and it's only 2 hours from me.I guess 123k miles in 18 years does qualify as 'low miles'.
Dwford Will we ever actually have autonomous vehicles? Right now we have limited consumer grade systems that require constant human attention, or we have commercial grade systems that still rely on remote operators and teams of chase vehicles. Aside from Tesla's FSD, all these systems work only in certain cities or highway routes. A common problem still remains: the system's ability to see and react correctly to obstacles. Until that is solved, count me out. Yes, I could also react incorrectly, but at least the is me taking my fate into my own hands, instead of me screaming in terror as the autonomous vehicles rams me into a parked semi
Sayahh I do not know how my car will respond to the trolley problem, but I will be held liable whatever it chooses to do or not do. When technology has reached Star Trek's Data's level of intelligence, I will trust it, so long as it has a moral/ethic/empathy chip/subroutine; I would not trust his brother Lore driving/controlling my car. Until then, I will drive it myself until I no longer can, at which time I will call a friend, a cab or a ride-share service.
Daniel J Cx-5 lol. It's why we have one. I love hybrids but the engine in the RAV4 is just loud and obnoxious when it fires up.
Oberkanone CX-5 diesel.