Consider the car market as an amusement park. Every vehicle has an analogous ride, from the Tilt-A-Whirl Lotus Elise to the Jungle Cruise Ford Taurus. The Dodge Viper and the Chevrolet Corvette Z06, then, can feel a bit like driving the Raptor.
Its an experience not unlike doing motorcycle wheelies on a freeway. In short, driving hard in a car with 500-plus horsepower is not for the fainthearted. The appeal is an addictive mixture of scaring yourself within inches of your life and laughing at how easily you can get away with it. Both the Viper and the Vette have this characteristic in spades.
The last time these two cars met Motor City Bullies, December 2005, the Z06 beat the Viper handily on the road, track, and drag strip. Since then, the 505-hp Z06 hasnt changed much, aside from revised rear shocks, although the price has crept skyward. The 2007 Z06 seen here starts at $70,000, but options such as heated seats, a premium stereo, extra sound insulation, chrome wheels, and navigation bring the as-tested total to $77,230.
The Viper SRT10, on the other hand, has received a thorough makeover for 2008 in both coupe and roadster form.
The only visual change is a new hood with functional vented gills, and this achieves the seemingly improbable feat of making the Viper look even more aggressive. The V-10 engine has been bored out an extra 0.6 millimeter to increase the displacement to 8.4 liters. It also gets variable valve timing [see Tech Highlight], new cylinder heads, a new intake, electronic throttle control, hollow intake valves, coil-on-plug ignition, a 10.2:1 compression ratio (up from 9.6), and a larger oil pump with a swinging oil pickup. The result is 600 horsepower and 560 pound-feet of torque, improvements of 90 horses and 25 pound-feet. At 2500 rpm, the Viper makes more torque than the Z06 does at its peak.
The Vipers cabin remains unchanged but is much cooler now that the exhaust flows straight to each side pipe instead of crossing under the passenger compartment.
Read Article