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Dodge has promised an all-new and significantly evolved
Viper
for 2003. So if the original species has slithered into
your heart, you need to catch one now before they become
extinct.
Although entering its 11th season, this snake is still
the behemoth of the jungle, suffocating its rivals with
outrageous styling and brutal torque. The
Porsche 911 and
Chevrolet Corvette are each more refined and easier to drive. They each possess
a longer pedigree in the sports car world. But they also
convey a very
different image. If the Porsche is Wagner, and the 'Vette
is Jim Morrison, then Dodge Viper is Metallica. Armed with
sledgehammers.
And in just over a decade, the Dodge Viper has established
a pedigree of its own: Vipers won the GT Class at Le Mans
in 1998, 99, and 2000. They earned international GT2 and
GT champion-ships in 1997, 98, and 99. A factory Dodge Viper
team won the class title in the American Le Mans Series
in 1999. Then a Viper won the 2000 24 Hours of Daytona outright,
bettering the European prototypes that were assumed to be
faster. It remains the hot setup among production street
cars, if Car and Driver magazine's One Lap of America is
any indication. As a sports car with real credentials, the
Dodge Viper doesn't have to apologize to anyone. Not that
it looks like it's going to be making any apologies.
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The Dodge Viper line has two
models, the original Viper RT/10 Roadster ($69,225) and the
newer Viper GTS Coupe. The RT/10's inspiration was the mid-Sixties
Shelby Cobra 427, while the Coupe is clearly modeled after
the Shelby Daytona Coupe.
Base price for the Dodge Viper GTS Coupe is $72,225. Our test
car featured the American Club Racing (ACR) competition package,
a $10,000 option that adds 10 horsepower and 10 foot-pounds
of torque, stiffens the suspension and deletes comfort features
such as air conditioning, stereo and fog lights. The ACR option
is designed for buyers who seriously plan on entering their
Viper in races, but no doubt some folks will want it for bragging
rights on the street. Just for them, a $1,100 comfort group
re-adds the A/C and the stereo.
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The Dodge Viper is a steely eyed squint, a duster pulled
back to reveal a Colt .45. It isn't so much a challenge,
as a preemptive strike to would-be challengers.
Dodge has changed nothing in the Viper's final year, except
to add new color choices. Charcoal seems to be the in shade
for 2002, and accordingly the Dodge Viper roadster and coupe
have both added Graphite Metallic to their pallet. The coupe
offers the additional option of silver stripes.
Those stripes, of course, are homage to the Shelby Cobra
Daytona Coupe; the Viper GTS is the spiritual successor
to that car. If you grew up thinking the Shelby coupe was
the coolest-looking machine on the planet, then the Dodge
Viper GTS should light your fire.
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Stoke that fire further by looking under the hood. Tubular
headers and cast-aluminum intake runners appear race-worthy.
Even the engine block is a work of art. Its massively deep-skirted
design, with six-bolt main bearings, seems clearly intended
for racing, despite its prosaic origins. (The Viper's aluminum
8.0-liter V10 is based on the cast-iron Dodge Ram truck
engine.) The six-lug wheel hubs may create the impression
that the Viper has a one-ton payload capacity, but massive
amounts of torque and Indy car-sized contact patches call
for serious reinforcement.
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