Mike in CA

+1

991GT3

Thanks for posting the article.

fjpdds

Exciting read. Thanks.

allans

New SRT Viper creams them all in "visceral feel" and on track performance. Allan

Zeus

So would a garbage can with an 8.4 liter V10 in it...

To quote Motor Trend:



12th Place: SRT Viper
Heavy Lies the Crown You have two questions: Why didn't we test the Viper T/A, and why is the Laguna Seca lap record-holder in last place? The first is easy to answer. We asked SRT for the Viper T/A, and the guys decided to send us the base SRT Viper with the Track Package instead. Why? We haven't gotten a straight answer from the SRT people, so we can't say. The second question can be answered mostly with one word: quality. This Viper had a number of mechanical issues that sank it in voting. Key among these was a serious brake problem. During figure-eight testing, one of the motors that moves the adjustable pedals broke off under braking and jammed the brake pedal to the floor. Thankfully, the figure-eight course is a controlled environment, but had this happened during road testing or lapping at Laguna Seca, the results could've been bad. Couple that with the fact that two of the four bolts holding the driver's seat to the car were not even finger-tight, and we had a serious safety issue.

There were other problems, too. One of the hood vents flew off on the freeway and caromed off the windshield. There was a persistent rattle in the right side of the cabin that was never identified. The Performance Apps froze the infotainment system. The paint on the edges of the rocker panels was being burned by the exhaust. Finally, the Viper arrived mounted with standard Pirelli P Zeros on the front and P Zero Corsas on the rear. Set aside these issues, and the story is marginally better: Judges had originally placed the Viper in eighth. Many complained about an uncomfortable driving position and narrow footwell with closely spaced pedals that were easy to misapply. The shifter drew ire for needing a very strong shove to get into the next ratio, and the word "earplugs" appeared in many judges' notes. Far and away the Viper's biggest fault, though, was how it communicated with the driver. While the nose was always stapled to the pavement, the rear end liked to do all sorts of funny dances when you lifted off the throttle and went to the brakes. That's disconcerting in a 640-horsepower car, to say the least, but what makes it truly frustrating is the car is lying to you. The back end isn't going anywhere. It's glued down nearly as well as the nose is, but the car is telling you it's about to come loose and fling you off the road. You have to constantly remind yourself the car will stick, and ignore what every sense is telling you


"That Viper generates a lot of g's," says Randy Pobst. "In every direction. It accelerates hard. It stops hard. It corners hard. And most of the things it does are quite sudden, and it is a full-attention car to drive. You have to be on the ball, on top of that car all the time." At 1:36.43, this Viper was the slowest we've ever tested at Laguna Seca, partly because SRT sent a worn-out set of P Zero Corsas for lapping and partly because it rattled Randy by getting loose at the crest of Turn 1 at nearly 140 mph. "I broke a sweat driving fast in the car today," he said. Some people think it's manly to wrestle a car around a corner, but to quote editor-at-large Angus MacKenzie, "I've never met a race car driver who wanted to fight a car around the track."

http://www.motortrend.com/features/p...r/viewall.html

Nick

That is why Chrysler is seriously considering dropping the Viper.

Dude-

Thats sad, sounds like a race car modified by a local detailing shop with a bunch of guys who loves cars but don't have an engineering background.

kosmo

Ralph need to get on it. The Viper has potential.

Serge944

Those Vipers aren't moving off the dealer lots either. I'm seeing pretty substantial manufacturer incentives now too.

AAHTT

wow, test? what test? i dont see any detailed performance numbers. unless there are pages missing from the article, this should be instead called: the 2013 supersubjective giant test...
All top 3 cars are great im sure, but without objective measurments this test is useless, btw my 12C spider has none of the so called issues with quick downshifting more than one gear and has no turbo lag whatsoever, nothing close to the real lag of my previous 997TT. throttle response is not ferrari like but again the ferrari is normally aspirated.
and that pic where all of those morons are leaning on these nice cars with their jeans, made me cringe.
the new gt3 is a great car and it deserves a more serious test. what a waste of time that was.

frayed

Here you go:

CAlexio

Exactly

Manifold

I heard a Cayman GTS is in the works. Compared to the S, 15 hp more, plus probably the other usual GTS things. So an improvement, but still nowhere close to a Cayman GT3, and maybe not even the things you'd expect with a Cayman R (lighter, lower, better suspension for the track, etc.).

MM3.9GT3

Eight people voted. The GT3 received five first place votes, two second place votes, and one third place vote. In a comparison contest, that is about as good as it will ever get when eight people vote.

As for your MP4, it is a very good car, but was beaten by the GT3 and the F12. Not a bad place to be...

alpine-al

Let's assume that they were all wearing the new jeans from Turtly Wax with the micro fiber cloth panels in the seat.

.