00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:06 You wouldn't think the new Viper needs to be lighter,
00:09 but it is.
00:10 You wouldn't think it needs more horsepower, but it has.
00:13 The new Viper, then, with its 8.4 liter V10,
00:16 355 section rear tires, and comic book styling,
00:20 is much like the old Viper-- imposing, intimidating,
00:24 and all powerful.
00:24 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:28 [ENGINE REVVING]
00:31 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:49 [TYPING]
00:51 Not much has changed from the inside, either.
00:56 I mean, sure, we have this fancy new infotainment system.
00:58 We have digital graphics.
01:00 We have leather-wrapped everything,
01:02 as this is the high-end GTS model.
01:05 And the typical Viper traits remain.
01:07 The pedals are angled left of the steering wheel.
01:09 The brake is actually left of the steering wheel.
01:12 So your feet are angled towards the driver's side.
01:15 It's rough.
01:17 It's loud.
01:17 It's hard to see out of, and so on, and so on.
01:20 And that engine sound--
01:23 sure, we have 640 horsepower, but that is probably
01:28 the worst-sounding 640 horsepower ever.
01:32 Now, some say the Viper is uncompromising.
01:36 Others just might call it miserable.
01:39 This car is very much like the old Viper at slow speeds.
01:42 But SRT never said it was going to be anything different.
01:45 What they've said is that this car's limits
01:47 are easier to approach.
01:49 Let's find out.
01:50 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:54 Now, for acceleration, we have more power.
02:03 The car overall is lighter.
02:05 We have shorter gearing, so we'll hit 60 miles an hour
02:07 in first gear.
02:08 And we also have launch control, which
02:10 you access by hitting this button on the steering wheel
02:12 here.
02:12 In our testing, we found launch control
02:14 was actually kind of useless on anything but a prepped drag
02:17 strip, as it releases the clutch at about 5,000 RPM
02:20 and basically just makes a big smoke show.
02:22 Because we're not on a prepped surface,
02:24 we'll launch at somewhere around 2,000 RPM, release the clutch,
02:27 and see what happens.
02:28 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:31 And chatter through first.
02:36 You'll hit 60 3.4 seconds.
02:39 This thing is really fast.
02:42 And the quarter mile at 11.4 seconds at 128.7 miles an hour.
02:50 This thing's really fast.
02:51 [LAUGHS]
02:53 [ENGINE REVVING]
02:56 And now for our 60 to 0 braking test.
03:00 Takes the Viper just 93 feet to stop from 60.
03:08 And now the figure eight in the SRT Viper.
03:12 You know this car is stepping it up a notch.
03:15 Limits are very high.
03:16 Power is very high as well.
03:19 This thing is very fast, hugely capable,
03:22 and very, very intimidating.
03:24 I'm finding, though, it's surprisingly well balanced
03:31 for how intimidating it seems to be.
03:35 I feel like I have good control for the steering
03:37 and the throttle.
03:38 It behaves in a way that you would expect.
03:41 It's still intimidating, but controllable, perhaps.
03:45 The brake feel is interesting because it's definitely
03:48 stopping the car, but it doesn't feel comforting.
03:52 You know you're slowing down, but you never
03:54 feel like you're going to make it in time.
03:56 So it takes an extra bit of thought.
03:57 The power is absolutely huge.
04:02 And the grip is incredible.
04:09 When the tail end goes, though, it goes very quick.
04:13 And I'm finding that it can be easy to work these front tires.
04:17 There's actually a little bit more understeer
04:18 than I would suspect in this car.
04:20 But in this car, I'd actually like understeer.
04:23 [TIRES SCREECHING]
04:25 [MUSIC PLAYING]
04:37 [ENGINE REVVING]
04:41 The thing is about this Viper for how
04:50 huff and gruff and uncomfortable it is at low speeds,
04:53 how much it doesn't seem to like its driver,
04:56 once you start throwing it around,
04:57 once you start approaching the limits,
04:59 you feel like, yeah, you might be able to control it.
05:02 It's a little bit rewarding, maybe.
05:05 Much of that we can attribute to the work that SRT has done
05:07 on the suspension, putting the X-brace over the engine.
05:10 They've made this car much more improved
05:13 over the previous Viper.
05:15 It's still a Viper, though.
05:16 It's still flippin' hairy.
05:18 It takes a lot of work to drive this car quickly.
05:21 But there's still something lovable about it.
05:24 When you feel like you can control it,
05:26 or at least you have some sense of control,
05:29 it actually might begin to be a little bit fun.
05:32 It might not be my preference for a car,
05:35 but I might understand why people enjoy it.
05:40 What SRT's done here is actually pretty admirable.
05:42 They haven't diluted the things that make a Viper a Viper.
05:46 It's still sketchy.
05:48 It's still intimidating.
05:50 But at the same time, it's a much better driving car.
05:53 It doesn't have the finesse of some European sports cars.
05:56 It's still very brutish and very much a knuckle-dragger.
05:59 But it is a lot better, and I'm happy for that.
06:03 And there's some interesting little surprises
06:05 throughout the car.
06:06 The steering, for example, it doesn't telescope.
06:09 You kind of have to adjust your body around it.
06:11 But it's nicely weighted.
06:13 It's easy to control.
06:14 It makes the car predictable, maybe, perhaps.
06:17 Not quite.
06:18 Let's take that back.
06:19 Not predictable at all.
06:20 This car is still sketchy.
06:21 Still sketchy, yeah.
06:33 One of my favorite details, though, about this car
06:35 is that its overall length is actually
06:37 shorter than that of a new 911.
06:40 This car is smaller than you may think.
06:44 This is still a very ridiculous car.
06:47 But it's a ridiculous car with more approachable limits,
06:50 which is nice.
06:52 I wonder what racing car driver Randy Popes might say about it.
06:55 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:58 All right.
07:18 Up the front straightaway in the Dodge Viper.
07:21 Brand new car at the red line.
07:22 I've got a Viper looking right at me, telling me to shift.
07:26 The higher you rev this Viper, the faster it goes.
07:29 It's a high RPM engine.
07:31 It's not a torque monster.
07:33 Down into turn two, we turn in.
07:35 Tremendous steering response.
07:38 A quick steering response.
07:40 Definitely on entry.
07:43 Ton of power as we head for three.
07:45 Again, a little snappy on the entry.
07:48 A difficult car to drive fast.
07:50 I just got to say it.
07:52 It is fun and satisfying, but you'd
07:54 better be on your game if you're going to go fast in the Viper.
07:58 So here we are at 5,000, 6,000.
08:00 It just gets faster and faster.
08:03 Less brake dive than the Corvette I just drove,
08:06 but not as much grip.
08:08 The brakes are good.
08:09 They're not fantastic.
08:11 It's not a Porsche in the brake zone.
08:14 But boy, does it have the power off the line.
08:17 God bless America.
08:18 Horace Bauer, climbing the hill out of turn six.
08:22 The Viper has adjustable suspension.
08:25 Really tightens it up for the track.
08:28 Helps it put power down.
08:30 But the ride is terrible.
08:31 But who cares on the racetrack.
08:33 Over the corkscrew.
08:35 Put the power down in second gear.
08:38 It accelerates so fast I barely even
08:40 get to third before the turn eight downhill sweeper.
08:44 We're bouncing a lot through the bumps.
08:46 I didn't know there were bumps in turn eight.
08:48 The Viper, very stiff car in the race mode.
08:51 But it puts down power better.
08:54 Into the hairpin at the end.
08:56 We turn in, rotate the car.
08:58 Power down, a little power oversteer.
09:02 Ripping towards the finish line.
09:05 Seat is not the most comfortable I've tried.
09:08 The whole car is not about comfort.
09:11 It's about an exciting, kind of crazy, huge driving experience.
09:18 It has to be tasted to be understood.
09:21 It's a wild car.
09:22 A lot of fun.
09:23 The new Viper then doesn't betray the things that
09:32 made it so iconic or feared.
09:34 But it is improved over the previous car,
09:36 offering just a hint of controllability.
09:39 It remains then a rowdy car, a knuckle dragger,
09:42 if ever so slightly a more accessible one.
09:45 And it creates a allure that's hard to place.
09:48 The Viper is an awful street car after all.
09:50 But when you're approaching the limit,
09:51 you get the sense that you're reaching for a reward,
09:54 even if it's always just slightly out of reach.
09:56 So with that, we end the first year of our official Motor Trend
10:05 YouTube channel.
10:06 The team and I want to thank you guys for your reviews
10:09 and your comments and your feedback.
10:10 We hope you've enjoyed watching the stuff as much as we've
10:12 enjoyed making it.
10:13 We're going to take the next few weeks off for the holidays.
10:15 But don't worry.
10:16 There's going to be a Best Dub episode airing December 31,
10:19 showing the highlights from everything
10:21 we've done in the past year.
10:22 We're going to resume normal programming on January 7
10:25 with some new shows and some lineup changes happening later
10:28 in the new year.
10:29 Until then, we hope you and your families
10:31 have a safe and happy holidays.
10:32 And we look forward to seeing you next year.
10:34 Why did you drink 32 ounces of horchata?
10:39 I didn't drink all of it.
10:40 How many ounces of horchata did you drink?
10:42 Oh, somewhere between 20 and 25.
10:45 So Levi, today you're thinking, I
10:48 got to sit passenger in a 640 horsepower Viper.
10:52 I'm going to drink 25 ounces of horchata before that.
10:55 Today I was also thinking, I love horchata.
10:58 Well, horchata is delicious.
11:00 But I mean, did you think beyond that?
11:03 Obviously didn't, Carlos.
11:05 [AUDIO OUT]
11:08 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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