Sensory overload
Dodge Viper SRT-10 will make you cry 'momma!'

Shrinking violets need not apply. Nor should those for whom discretion is a virtue. Do you seek to negotiate life without making a lot of waves? Forget about that in this car - the Dodge Viper SRT-10 is a 4-wheeled tsunami clocking in at 11 on a scale of 10.

Nothing about the second-generation Viper could even charitably be called discreet. Subtlety is a concept lost on this rip-snorting, ground pounding monster of a sports car.

If your idea of a good time is unbridled acceleration, steering by throttle, massive cornering and stopping power and outrageous styling that draws crowds everywhere it goes, then the Viper is Saturday night with all the stops pulled. It's a ride on the wild side and a poke up the nose of polite convention. It is, in the common vernacular, one bad-ass ride.

The Viper takes all the usual sports car stereotypes of elegance and poise, seamless power and road-going finesse, and mauls them beyond recognition. It's an irrepressible anachronism; unsubtle technology imbued with a kind of exotic, intoxicating mechanical musk. It thrums with unreasoning potency.

So let's cut to the chase because while there is more to this car than just its engine, the hulking 8.3-litre V10 is the launch pad for the Viper's outlandish presence.

Believers in the adage that 'there's no replacement for displacement' will revel in the Viper's 505 cubic inches of swept volume. Electronic fuel injection helps maintain a more or less rhythmic progression at idle as the 10 cylinders, fed and evacuated by two overhead valves apiece, rumble through their lumpy firing sequence, gently rocking the entire vehicle.

The '500' theme continues in the output department: 500 horsepower at 5,600 rpm and a freight train-like 525 lb-ft of torque at 4,200 revs. Throttle response is quick considering this engine's considerable reciprocating mass, and the unadulterated power comes on immediately and forcefully. There is no traction control, so in true Boy Scout form: Be prepared.

The fun begins long before the engine even fires, however, and it's in the walk-up to the vehicle that one drinks in how truly unusual it is - long, low, wide and menacingly purposeful looking, with more vents, ducts, swoops, cuts, dives and angles than an amusement park thrill ride. If it goes with even half the fury that its looks suggest, you know you're in for a ride that's at the high end of the sensory spectrum.

Indeed, zero to 100 km/h takes a scant four seconds flat, by way of a quick shift into second gear. It'll break every speed limit in North America while still in second, and there are still four gears to go after that. At 90 km/h in third, the V10 is turning over at a leisurely 2,500 rpm and at 100 km/h in sixth gear, revolutions measure an even more laconic 1,500 revs.

Needless to say, there's nowhere outside a racetrack where a driver can fully explore the Viper's limits and even then, it'd have to be a BIG racetrack.

The Viper is large by sports car standards, but getting in and out isn't exactly effortless. The seat rests low in the body shell and one must first navigate the wide doorsill by planting the right foot on the floor ahead of the seat. Then, grabbing either the A-pillar or the steering wheel, you swing your nether regions adroitly through the small door opening and between the wheel bottom and seat cushion, more often than not plopping yourself into the seating position.

Emerging gracefully from the Viper requires some practice and a modicum of athletic prowess. A few days on a Stairmaster to toughen the legs couldn't hurt either. The door isn't especially long, nor does it open very wide, and for some full-figured individuals entry and exit can be a tight squeeze.

Ensconced within, you don't so much sit in the Viper as wear it. The driver's seat holds the upper body securely in place and with the top down, visibility is high in all directions.

Clutch action was surprising light and progressive. The engine generates so much torque, even at idle, that stalls are few and far between. The shifter action is quite quick and precise, but the huge transmission tunnel running through the centre of the cabin means the right elbow must be held in an unnaturally high position that won't suit everyone's style.

The ride is surprisingly smooth and refined without feeling soft, and the Viper's independent front and rear suspensions handle shocks and bumps without becoming readily upset, and with commendably little cowl shake. The wide front tires want to follow grooves and dart around over crowns in the road, but the hydraulic-assist power rack and pinion steering system does a credible job of resisting those tendencies.

Braking borders on awesome, aided by platter-sized ventilated discs front and rear with ABS working at all four corners. Where the engine easily overpowers the massive rear tires by Michelin (P345/30ZR19s) on acceleration in the lower gears, they work in combination with the fronts (P275/35ZR18s) to haul the Viper down from beastly speeds in unbelievably short distances, in a straight line with zero drama.

Our tester's standard price of $125,600 was option-free, rising to $127,100 after a $1,400 destination charge and $100 air excise tax. That's not cheap by any means, but you'll be hard-pressed to find anything else that performs like the Viper, and nothing that looks remotely like it, within $30,000 of that neighbourhood.

So buckle up and keep both hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road. The Viper's particular brand of venom will have you coming back for bite after bite.

Immediate competition:
Acura NSX, Aston Martin DB7, Chevrolet Corvette, Ferrari 360 Modena, Porsche 911