Originally posted by DessViperV-10 Dudes i found this article on a site... very interesting ,the car still got third ,it not luxerious enough
Oof! The Viper GTS ACR crumples to the mat first, taking a hard blow to the solar plexus. It stumbles about, confused eyes searching the crowd for an explanation. How could this happen? In a test biased for performance, how could the car with otherworldly strength finish third?
We were a bit surprised, too. Going into this test, a few of us thought the Viper would dominate. After all, this is the car that has pummeled Porsche 911s and Corvettes on the world stage of GT racing, handily winning top-shelf races like the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 24 Hours of Daytona. It's also a premier player on the spec chart, sporting the biggest engine, the most torque and the widest tires of any production sports car sold in America.
Our test vehicle was a 2000 Viper GTS ACR. Little has changed on the GTS since its introduction in 1996, with the exception of the ACR package becoming available in 1999. The ACR package is designed for owners who plan on using their cars for club racing, and it includes a race-tuned suspension, a free-flowing K&N air intake, 18-inch BBS wheels and five-point safety harnesses. Dodge also removes the air conditioning, fog lights and sound system on ACRs for reduced weight, though our car had a $910 comfort group package that reinstalled the air conditioning and "premium" Alpine sound system. We would have preferred to have a 2001 Viper, as these cars finally get ABS, but one was not available at the time of the test.
Before all the Viper lovers start firing off nastygrams, allow us to make the following statement: If you want to own the car that comes closest to an SCCA Trans-Am racecar or NHRA drag car, then the Viper should be your pick. The Mustang Cobra R is one of the fastest cars out there and the Viper absolutely shellacked it as far as pure numbers go. Let your mind pulse joyously over these results: Zero-to-60 mph in 4.2 seconds. A quarter-mile time of 12.3 seconds at 115.9 mph. Of our five instrumented performance tests, the Viper took first place in four. On the road course, its fastest lap time was over 3 seconds faster than the Cobra's. How big is this margin? Racers have been known to kill their mothers in order to shave a mere tenth of a second per lap.
Want to make the jump to hyperspace? Bring the revs up to about 2,000 rpm and release the clutch as you feed in throttle. Thanks to the huge rear tires, it's relatively easy to get the correct amount of wheel spin and maximum grip. Done properly, the 460-horsepower 8.0-liter V10 fires the car toward the horizon like a howitzer shell. Shifting effort is minimal, but the six-speed's throws are long and imprecise. The Viper's engine and exhaust note aren't as bombastic as the other two cars, and saying it sounds like an angry UPS truck isn't too far off the mark. But the syncopated V10 din is unique, and that certainly counts for something.
Acceleration is truly stunning, but since the Viper doesn't have traction control or stability control, care must be taken to avoid overly exuberant use of the throttle. This is especially true when the Viper is asked to corner. There is simply so much power that it is very easy to overwhelm the rear 335/30ZR18 tires. We found that we had to take extreme care at Willow in order to avoid spinning the Viper into the dirt. It is simply not a user-friendly vehicle, as demonstrated by the almost 3-second margin between its fastest lap time and average lap time. But get some seat time and learn how to adapt to the car's nature and it will reward you with a very quick pace. The ACR suspension was well suited for the smooth pavement of the road course, and the properly weighted steering allowed for surprisingly quick turn in. Through our 600-foot slalom, the Viper adopted a virtually flat cornering attitude and posted the quickest time despite its unwieldy girth and wide tires.
Much of the above paragraph also applies to Viper when driving it on canyon roads. The difference is that the rewards don't come as easily because you get scared about what might happen if you exceed the car's limits. On the street, any sane person will end up driving the Viper at perhaps seven-tenths of its ability, whereas the Cobra R and Corvette can be driven more comfortably closer to their limits. Another contributing factor is the lack of ABS. The Viper's huge disc brakes effortlessly slough off high velocities when the driver has plenty of time to prepare (such as when the car is on the road course), but panic stops on the street can easily lead to locking up all four wheels. Our best 60-to-zero mph stopping effort using threshold braking was a dismal 155 feet, a number 14 feet worse than an ABS-equipped Chevrolet S-10 Crew Cab 4WD pickup we recently tested.
On the flip side, can an S-10 cause a commotion equal to Drew Barrymore and Denise Richards going to an all-boys school to pass out prophylactics? The Viper can. The coupe might be 6 years old but our staff still ranked it the best in this group in terms of exterior styling. People everywhere stopped to stare. The Corvette garnered less attention, most likely because it still looks too similar to other C5 Corvettes.
Used for mundane transportation on the freeway and urban streets, the ACR's uncompromising suspension as well as cramped cockpit makes long-distance travel unpleasant. There is no dead pedal and entry and exit is by far the most difficult of the three because of the wide sill and small door opening. If you look at our editor's evaluations, you will see that the Viper earned the lowest scores for those criteria relating to the interior. Other than the stainless steel shifter and hand brake, interior materials are low-grade. Switchgear is placed haphazardly and options for storage are few and far between. The optional Alpine sound system is anything but premium; you'll want to replace it with a better aftermarket system if you order the comfort group for the air conditioning.
These interior design gaffes would probably be excusable if it weren't for the Corvette, which shows that performance and functionality aren't mutually exclusive. The Vette also showed up the Viper on price. At $86,860, the Viper was almost $40,000 more. Yikes. There is no question that the Viper speaks loudly and carries a big stick, two elements essential to this type of car. But its price and impish cockpit kept it from attaining anything better than third place.
Second Opinions
Executive editor Karl Brauer says:
As the official "Mopar Man" on this test, I'm bound by powers greater than Florida politics to rave about the Viper, so here it goes. At 460 horsepower, the Viper GTS ACR bests its Yankee cohorts by 75 horsepower (not to mention two cylinders) and produces quarter-mile times in the low 12s. It rides on 18-inch aluminum wheels all-around, with 275/35 tires in front and 335/30 tires in back. The $10,000 ACR package also includes an even stiffer suspension than in the "lowly" GTS model, plus a low-restriction air cleaner and five-point racing harnesses for both seats.
What does all this hardware mean in the real world? It means the most capable car at the racetrack, beating the Corvette by almost a second and the Cobra R by over two seconds. It means brain-sloshing acceleration and blackout-inducing G-forces when navigating the Streets of Willow's tight circuit. Without ABS or stability control (ABS is standard starting in 2001), the Viper was the most demanding to drive by a wide margin. But Momma always said the best things in life don't come easy, and my lap times, along with my giddy laughter while balancing the Viper on its razor-sharp edge between maximum cornering traction and spinning out, are proof that she was right. Yes, it's expensive. And yes, its ergonomics are about as well sorted as my 1970 Plymouth GTX's. But it also won the popularity contest, drawing more attention and praise from bystanders than either the Ford or Chevy. Now tell me that's not a key element in vehicles of this nature.
Features editor Miles Cook says:
The Viper does kick tail like no other car on the road. Porsche 911? Blows his doors off. Ferrari 360 Modena? See ya. And the list goes on. If you've got the cash and really do want the baddest, meanest and brutally fastest American car ever produced, then your choice is down to one. You feel every last bit of the 500 foot-pounds of torque each time you stand on it. Even going to half throttle puts you back in the seat like no other "sporty" coupe ever will. And the styling is as wonderfully audacious as you'll probably ever see.
,it not luxerious enough
Very interesting.
