Autoblog: BREAKING: Dodge to end Viper production in July '10, new car in 2012

[argatoga]

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/11/04/b...10-new-car-in/

At the Chrysler business plan meeting this morning, Ralph Gilles, CEO of the Dodge car brand, dropped big news on the Viper. After going back and forth for the past 18 months on what to do with Viper, Chrysler has decided that production of the current Viper will end in July 2010. Before that happens, 500 final cars will be built that, according to Gilles, will be the most special Vipers ever. Gilles explained that the company wanted to preserve the value of existing Vipers by not continuing the current generation indefinitely. He didn't give any details on what would be special with the final 500 cars.

However, Viper fans need not mourn yet. Gilles revealed that an all new car is being developed with a launch targeted in 2012! Even better the Viper will be getting some help from Chrysler's new Italian colleagues... and lets not forget about a certain Fiat outpost that uses a yellow Prancing Horse for its logo that's based in Maranello. Let's just hope they keep the Viper's elemental nature in the new generation.

[Rokovak]

Can't say I'll miss the Viper at all. Good looks in spades, but the handling and build quality are utter shit.

[smib]

I'm not sure I want the Italians getting involved with the Viper, except maybe in the design department.

[argatoga]

I don't see them changing the Viper's formula. It will probably just share parts/platforms.

The typical Viper owner won't buy one instead of a Ferrari or Maserati.

[predator101]

Originally Posted by Rokovak

Can't say I'll miss the Viper at all. Good looks in spades, but the handling and build quality are utter shit.

umm... so how can you explain a Viper ACR beating a Koenigsegg, Enzo, MC12, Zr-1 and Gt-R at the ring if it has crap handling????????


Viper has always been a performance-focused car, not a luxury one..

Gonna miss it

[_HighVoltage_]

Originally Posted by predator101

umm... so how can you explain a Viper ACR beating a Koenigsegg, Enzo, MC12, Zr-1 and Gt-R at the ring if it has crap handling????????

Slicks.

[Rokovak]

Originally Posted by predator101

umm... so how can you explain a Viper ACR beating a Koenigsegg, Enzo, MC12, Zr-1 and Gt-R at the ring if it has crap handling????????


Viper has always been a performance-focused car, not a luxury one..

Gonna miss it

By expounding on my earlier statement, that's how. Many years ago I drove a '94 RT/10 and the damn thing behaved like it was stoned. The steering wasn't sloppy but it was no more precise than my mom's Buick. I dunno about you, but I expect more from a 400 horse cruise missle.

And while those 335 rear tires have tremendous grip, they're an all-or-nothing affair. One moment you roaring through a tight bend, and before you know it you're picking shrubs out of the radiator - there's little to no squealing or anything to let you know that the car is hanging on the very edges of adhesion. And from what I've been told, many 1st generation Vipers behave like this regardless of what tires are installed.

I don't know about other Vipers, I would think they're a huge improvement. And I don't know where you're getting the "luxury car" junk, but I couldn't care less about that.

[maxtortheone]

I want the last 500 ones co-produced with workers from TVR and with machine guns

[matyas]

Originally Posted by maxtortheone

I want the last 500 ones co-produced with workers from TVR and with machine guns

If it's anything like the TV show, it should burn...even before production

[BlaRo]

Originally Posted by Rokovak

By expounding on my earlier statement, that's how. Many years ago I drove a '94 RT/10 and the damn thing behaved like it was stoned. The steering wasn't sloppy but it was no more precise than my mom's Buick. I dunno about you, but I expect more from a 400 horse cruise missle.

And while those 335 rear tires have tremendous grip, they're an all-or-nothing affair. One moment you roaring through a tight bend, and before you know it you're picking shrubs out of the radiator - there's little to no squealing or anything to let you know that the car is hanging on the very edges of adhesion. And from what I've been told, many 1st generation Vipers behave like this regardless of what tires are installed.

I don't know about other Vipers, I would think they're a huge improvement. And I don't know where you're getting the "luxury car" junk, but I couldn't care less about that.

That's a completely different generation of car. The original RT/10 was a styling statement first and foremost, much more so than the GTS that followed it. You know, the GTS and GTS-R that won LeMans 3 years in a row, as well as the 24 Hours of Nurburgring (also 3 times)?

Driving the older generation and saying that they all suck is like saying that I drove a Porsche 356 and got wasted on a dragstrip by a guy in a Corolla, therefore all Porsches suck at racing. And if you want to play that game, the ACR has the fastest time for a production car around the 'Ring, oddball ugly British shed cars like the Ultima GTR and Radical notwithstanding.

[GraemeH]

Originally Posted by predator101

umm... so how can you explain a Viper ACR beating a Koenigsegg, Enzo, MC12, Zr-1 and Gt-R at the ring if it has crap handling????????

Originally Posted by BlaRo

And if you want to play that game, the ACR has the fastest time for a production car around the 'Ring, oddball ugly British shed cars like the Ultima GTR and Radical notwithstanding.

Handling has nothing to do with laptime. Laptime is a function of power and grip. Handling is intangible and can't be quantified with a lap-time.

Most reviewers comment on the primitive handling of the Viper, which is as close as most of us can get to knowing for ourselves.

[AudiV6]

I dont think the Viper needs a replacement, its like the Concord, that was as fast as the Viper is insanly powerfull,
I think its the last real musclecar, as the others are just retro-remakes, and on that respect, shey should let the Viper die as a great legend, you cant replace it with anything else, its Steve McQueen, not replacable.

And as a result, it will be an Iconic classic in future

[maxtortheone]

Originally Posted by GraemeH

Handling has nothing to do with laptime. Laptime is a function of power and grip. Handling is intangible and can't be quantified with a lap-time.

Then how do you explain that a Caterham with 263hp, skinny tires and RWD is faster than a Veyron with 1001hp, 4WD and big fat tires? Albeit on a short circuit

Originally Posted by Colin Chapman

Performance through light weight

[MadCat360]

Originally Posted by GraemeH

Handling has nothing to do with laptime. Laptime is a function of power and grip. Handling is intangible and can't be quantified with a lap-time.

Most reviewers comment on the primitive handling of the Viper, which is as close as most of us can get to knowing for ourselves.

That's not really a bad thing though. It's supposed to be raw and violent. It's got tremendous grip, and it's going to take a really sensitive driver to get it up to the limit.

QFT on the handling vs. grip thing, too. People just don't seem to get that. Handling is balance and how it feels, not how many gees it pulls. See: MX-5.

[jayhawk]

Originally Posted by jayhawk

I for one am disappointed in you Europeans. Had this article been posted here four years ago, oh! how it would fill up with snide remarks regarding HP/liter, how if you glued four Twingo engines together it would make more power or something asinine and ignorant, American defeatists saying how much they hate their country and want to leave but never do...oh how I miss the days of old.

Did I speak too soon?

[2Billion]

I don't see any sense denying that the Viper is just a really big engine hooked up to the rear wheels with flashy body work in between. Just because it's a very simple vehicle doesn't mean it doesn't fucking work.

[smib]

Exactly.

Huge engine + Huge torque + RWD = Viper

[jayjaya29]

Originally Posted by smib

Exactly.

Huge engine + Huge torque + RWD = Viper

= insane amounts of fun

Don't know whats wrong with you people.

[Vette Boss]

I loved the brutal charm of the Viper, it would simply laugh in the face of all its super-sophisticated European rivals. The fact that the whole design of the car was far too simple for anyone else to even consider. Somehow, all those crude old bits came together, by accident, and made a brilliant car.

I'll miss the old girl.

[JipJopJones]

I agree with vette boss.

The viper is about raw power and simplicity. It doesn't have TC or ASC or any computer systems to tell the driver when he's about to die. You just have to drive it and hope that you don't end up in a bush. It's much like a classic lambo in that respect, but for a 1/4 of the price.