Worthful Car of 2013: SRT Viper

Vipers of old didnt give you a lot of options, short of the race-ready ACR model. For the fifth generation, though, SRT has decided to do a significant two-model split. For the racer, the base model gives you all the thrills and few of the frills. If you like leather seats and contrast stitching, get the fancier GTS model. Until now, all our testing has been done on the GTS. This isnt unusual, as automakers like to get their fanciest model out to the press first to dazzle us with all the features. In truth, the extra weight of some leather and do-dads shouldnt meaningfully affect performance on a 640-horsepower car.

Nevertheless, we felt it our duty to test the base SRT model as well, just to make sure. SRT is pitching this car as the highest-performing car under $100,000. At $99,390 to start, its an optional paint color away from breaking the C-note mark, and there are only three no-cost colors. Unfortunately, theres the small matter of the gas guzzler tax, which pushes the price to $101,990 out the door. Our tester also sported a $500 set of polished wheels, but other than that, it was as base as it could get. So technically, its only an under-$100,000 car before tax, but never mind that. Lets see how the Viper performed, then. As it happens, we also had a production-spec GTS with us, so well compare it to its high-dollar brother first. The base SRT hit 60 mph in 3.5 seconds, a tenth of a second behind the GTS. The same thing happened in the quarter mile, where the base car trapped in 11.5 seconds at 128.7 mph, a tenth of a second behind the GTS. In trap speed, the SRT was a tenth of a mile per hour faster than the production-spec GTS and a tenth of a mile per hour slower than the pre-production GTS. Pulling 1.04 g average on the skidpad, the SRT was barely out-gripped by the GTS at 1.05 g average. Oddly enough, the GTS was a tenth of a second quicker around the figure-eight test at 23.3 seconds to the SRTs 23.4, but the SRT pulled higher average g at 0.93 to the GTS 0.91. The only substantial difference in performance between the two cars was in braking, where the SRT stopped 5 feet shorter, needing only 99 feet to stop from 60 mph to the GTS 104. That pre-production

GTS, though, was on Pirelli P Zero Corsa tires, while the production GTS and the SRT were both on standard P Zeros. In case youre wondering, the pre-production GTS and its stickier tires pulled 1.08 g on the skidpad and ran the figure eight in 23.2 seconds at 0.91 average g. But wait, theres more. You see, we also took these beasts back to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca to see what theyd do at the track. And it got interesting. The Corsa-tired, pre-production GTS, as you may recall, lapped the famed circuit in 1:35.8. The production-spec GTS on P Zeros just edged it at 1:35.78, but the SRT and its non-adjustable suspension (the GTS gets two-mode electronically controlled dampers) pulled off a 1:35.37. Then it got even more interesting. As it happens, we had a set of the Vipers optional P Zero Corsa tires with us, and we ran them on both cars. The result: 1:34.63 for the SRT and 1:34.23 for the GTS. Source:

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