Viper SRT Coupe....supercharged

i don't think i'v heard of anyone on here with a new coupe, but theres one guy who has a TNT 650 i think

 

From magazine tests on the coupe that I've read, it is everything the SRT-10 is, but better. I hear that the headroom is plenty, even for someone who is taller than 6'4", and that it handles better, due to its torsional rigidity added by the roof. Did I mention it weighs less as well?

 

No I think it weighs more since the SRT-10 was designed to be a roadster in the first place, and the roof is now metal instead of cloth. No chassis changes, just a new roof.

 

Well, the thing is, a hardtop is lighter than a soft top, because of all of the junk required to lower to soft top. This car does have more structural rigidity than the soft top, because the hard roof adds some, it has nothing to do with the chassis. This, in turn, makes it so the coupe doesnt oversteer as much as the convert, which is desireable... It also has 4 more cubic feet for storage space in the trunk, and it looks a hell of a lot better. On the coupe, they didn;t just add the roof, the changed everything behind the doors to make it look and function better.

 

AJ aka 6.0 SE has one souped up from the factory.

http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=82226&highlight=viper

 

Crazynova:

Sorry to break it to you, but you are wrong. The Coupe was not re-engineered. It is a SRT-10 Roadster with a hardtop added to it. The thing is heavier than crap... and the roof is composite, not metal. I don't know of a single Viper GTS owner that would trade his car in for this mediocre turd.

As far as blowers go, find out who did the tuning. Was it built by Jason Heffner or Doug Levin? If so, these guys are both honest and reputable tuners. If it was done by DC Performance, RSI, Hennessey, Victory Viper or West Coast Viper... let the buyer beware.

The next question is whether or not the car is intercooled? If not intercooled, your engine's performance decreases quite a bit once the car gets to running temperatures. The engines also don't last as long as an intercooled motor.

Finally, I must warn you about any blown or turbocharged Vipers. These cars are straight line cars at best and Viper tuners don't know squat about suspension and chassis tuning. The car will definitely be a handful to drive because of the amount of torque that it has and because it comes at very low rpm's. Vipers DO NOT have traction control to save your butt when your right foot gets ahead of your brain. Traction is the biggest problem with these cars. The high torque at low rpm's will do nothing but lower your margin for error... in other words it will take almost no input to screw the pooch.

For this very reason, most of these cars are either straight line cars or dyno queens. Do not think that your car will ever be suited for driving on a road course (you can do mountains at your own risk). I would also strongly recommend upgrading the brakes to Stop Tech's. Even though the brakes on SRT-10's are solid, they are not made to operate at high heat levels. They will fade like crazy once they are heated up.

Finally, make sure that you have someone like Erik Messley of EMI Racing do a corner weighted, full alignment for you. Incorrect alignments are probably one of the biggest reasons that 40% of all Vipers made have been totaled... the next biggest reason is inexperienced drivers with heavy right feet and who use the lower brain (instead of the one inside of your melon).

I hope that this information helps in your decision. By the way, Woodhouse is a very reputable dealership and I know several people who have bought new Vipers from them.

Good luck and be safe. Please feel free to email me at [email protected] if I can be of any additional help.

Brad

 

I took my info straight out of Car and Driver, and from friends of mine that know what they are talking about. You can find the info in this C&D article, which I trust thier word over the word of a Viper enthusiast. Here are some quotes from the C&D article:

"We tried that softtop car by way of comparison, and although the convertable is as much fun as ever, it likes to hang out its tail on the end of the engine's seemingly bottomless tide of torque. The similarities between the two Viper versions are obvious; the chassis are essentially identical. But the coupe was never a sure thing, according to SRT director Dan Knott, and the car was after all, designed first as a convertible (which I never said it wasn't.)
So the coupe gained some structural rigidity when the double-bubble roof went on, with a negligible change in weight (not much, but it a bit light than the convert.) Which means the performance ought to be identical to that of the convertable, with 0-60 mph in 3.9 seconds and a quartermile in 12.1 seconds. Our car missed those benchmarks by 0.1 second, and 0.4 second, respectively, but then again, we've never matched those early numbers in more recent tests of Viper roadsters.
In fact, Knott says the only body parts the Viper SRT10 coupe shares with the convertible are the front fascia and the fenders, hood, and doors. New to the coupe along with the new canopy and decklid are the rear quarter-panels, the windshield surround, the door sideglass, the rear fascia, and the tail-lamps." C/D magazine - Nov. 2005

I won't say things about a car unless I KNOW I am right. When I stated they changed everything behind the doors, I meant body parts.. And you should learn physics, that a composite roof is stronger than a flexible soft-top.

 

It should also be noted that C&D found the handling to be very grippy, supple, and forgiving - much more so than the Z06 they tested along side the Viper. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe they gave it a 10/10 on handling - the Z06 earned a 6/10.

 

6.0 needs to give his word on this hes owned both the old style and new style vipers. I think the old style looks better.

 

I would trust Brad when it comes to Vipers, he knows them better then I know E38s.

BTW magazines are not Gospel; they can be wrong, and in fact often are. Whether it is the case here, I do not know, again, I am not as well versed with Vipers as Brad.

Also, you sound like a teenager. I would guess 17-19. If you are older, I would be amused, as you definitely come across as quite a bit younger.

 

Yes, I am actually 16, turning 17 next month. I don't take magazines as gospel, but there are some things in there that I do believe to be true. I just think it's ignorant to call a car a piece of junk when you have never driven one, and there are many very good reviews on it.

 

The reason why I call the new Coupe a turd is because they did NOT got back to the drawing board to redesign it as they did with the previous generation GTS. They took the chassis of the SRT-10 Roadster (and all of its weight) and added the hardtop to it. From an engineering standpoint that is just stupid and lazy.

Since Daimler took over Chrysler, they have been committed to compromising the Viper in mediocrity. I know people at Chrysler who have seen first hand the Hemi V-10 that is putting out over 700 HP. I have no doubt that the engineering capabilities exist at Chrysler to make a superior and dominant car out of the Viper... just look at the ME-412. That car was completely developed inside of Chrysler to showcasee their engineering capabilities (which is whyDaimler would have nothing to do with building the car).

If Daimler was truly committed to the continuing Viper program, it would not be releasing mediocre products like they have and they would be at Le Mans cleaning the crap out of Mr Goodwrench's C6R's. Remember before GM starting crying year a year of getting their a$$es handed to them through 4 seasons of FIA and ALMS. Team Oreca went undefeated for almost 4 complete seasons. The Vipers were basically regulated out of the series as the regulators imposed restrictions on intake (shrinking it to 1 1/2 intakes to the throttle bodies, shrinking the tires to reduce traction and adding 500 pounds of sand just to appease the folks at Team Goodwrench.

I have driven the new Z06 that everyone is worshipping as the 2nd coming and I liked the car as a daily driver. What I didn't like was the amount of computer controlled crap in the car that took a real driver away from the driving experience. The computer never lets the chassis and suspension settle in, which results in a car that is very twitchie. The brakes are very soft and don't give you very good feedback. These are things that bother me because of what I want to see in a car on the track. As a street car, the Z06 is incredibly comfortable and one of the best bangs for the bucks out there.

I have driven SRT-10 Roadsters and they are also nice cars... just a little too soft for me. DC has taken the teeth out of the Viper that made it so popular as a driver's car. I love the brakes on the SRT-10's but don't care for the fact that they don't like to operate in higher temperatures that make them fade like crazy. I am sure that I will be getting my hands on a SRT-10 Coupe shortly. Where I care about this car is how it will behave on a track like Buttonwillow. Personally, I can't see how a car that weighs almost 3,500 pounds will keep up with a 3,100 pound Z06. The only logic that I can say is that it was just sloppy driving.

I believe that I gave some solid feedback in another thread about the specifics on the Z06 that were confirmed by a professional driver.

Different strokes for different folks. My input on cars is not based on my manufacturer bias because I love all performance cars. Most cars were designed to make a driver better than they actually are... and save them from killing themselves. I look aat cars for their actual driving feedback and stability through all of the transitions on a technical track like Buttonwillow. When I drive a car on the street, I am trying my best to replicate these transitions. Driving is a passion for me (and has been for most of my life). I cannot think of anything that brings me more pleasure (other than spending time with my family). Am I a great driver? Probably not the best or anything that would make a successful race car driver... but I think that I am more aware of the connection between my brain and my a$$ than most people out there.

Crazynova, if you ever get out to Southern Cal, I would enjoy meeting you. I can still remember what I was thinking about when I was your age. I was fortunate enough to live some of those dreams out by driving cars on racetracks from when I was very young until now (where someone like you would consider me long in the tooth). I think that I can help bridge you from being a fan of magazines to understanding and appreciating the driving experience.

Brad

 

Well, I have had a decent amount of time with cars, and riding in cars that are VERY nice, there is a yellow GTS viper here in town, with whom the owner is friends with my brother, and the car is supercharged. Most of my experiences are through my 19 year old brother who has many much older friends, drives a 99 M3, which he does Auto-X with, and open track days as well. He worked for a company here in Vegas called Factor-X for some time, who builds NSX's mainly, and has on that runs 10s, and also is run on open tracks. As of 6 months ago, he is a tech at a local Ferrari dealership. I'd love to met you, but don't get out of Vegas often.

 

When it came time to my friend getting a new Viper, he turned it down and got a GT2 instead. He said that he hated how big the front of the car is, and that you could see over the hood barely..

 

Brad: the regional seattle champ for SCCA autocross is in a Viper GTS (I believe an ACR). The car is blown. He also beat the national champ. Vipers can handle if you know how to set it up and how to drive it.

--Dan

 

Dan:

You are absolutely right about Viper handling capabilities when set up correctly. One of the best chassis and suspension guys is Erik Messley of EMI Racing. He is the wild card behind the late Paul Mumford's racing success before his untimely passing.

My only complaint about blown and turbocharged Vipers is how the power comes on. The car without these mods is a handful to drive and these mods just narrow your margin for error. Traction is the biggest challenge for Vipers with too much power...

Brad