500bhp is a figure that a few years ago would not only have been unusual, but hugely intimidating, too. It’s becoming fairly commonplace now, as manufacturers seem intent on out-doing each other with ever-spiralling outputs.
Dodge SRT-10
Intimidating? Slightly, but with modern electronics keeping an eye on you via ever more sophisticated stability, braking and stability control systems anyone can drive 500bhp quickly and safely, without too much effort. The problem with such machines however is just that. Despite their gargantuan power they’re often so easy to drive that there’s little pleasure to be had from doing so.
The thrill has gone, the digital processor taking the edge off what should be an analogue experience. However, there’s always the Dodge SRT-10 for an old-school fix.
Winding back the clock
That Dodge SRT-10 badge might mean nothing to you, but if I told you that in its US homeland it’s badged Viper it should make more sense. Sharing the same visual presence as its predecessor, there’s no mistaking its lineage with its overt, aggressive styling, so why not the badge?
Someone else owns the rights to the name in the UK - so SRT-10 it has to be. We tried to comply to this soulless moniker, but after a day replying to the constant question “what is it?” with the response “Dodge SRT-10” and getting blank looks, we simply reply “Viper”. It’s likely the fifteen or so customers Dodge expects this year, like us, will tire of trying to explain it and simply do the same.
But to keep the lawyers happy it’ll remain as an SRT-10 here, the 10 referring to the number of cylinders in the SRT-10’s V10 powerplant. Famously based on a truck engine, a truck as in ‘pick-up’, it’s got a whopping 525lb ft torque to better its headline 500bhp figure.
And it should, as being 8.3-litres it’s comfortably the largest capacity engine available in a car in the UK. Unsurprisingly, it’s a lazy performer, that huge low rev grunt to allowing it to cruise about all day without touching the first few gears. At 70mph on the motorway the rev counter reads 1,500rpm in sixth. Which is just ticking over.
Dodge SRT-10
Intimidating? Slightly, but with modern electronics keeping an eye on you via ever more sophisticated stability, braking and stability control systems anyone can drive 500bhp quickly and safely, without too much effort. The problem with such machines however is just that. Despite their gargantuan power they’re often so easy to drive that there’s little pleasure to be had from doing so.
The thrill has gone, the digital processor taking the edge off what should be an analogue experience. However, there’s always the Dodge SRT-10 for an old-school fix.
Winding back the clock
That Dodge SRT-10 badge might mean nothing to you, but if I told you that in its US homeland it’s badged Viper it should make more sense. Sharing the same visual presence as its predecessor, there’s no mistaking its lineage with its overt, aggressive styling, so why not the badge?
Someone else owns the rights to the name in the UK - so SRT-10 it has to be. We tried to comply to this soulless moniker, but after a day replying to the constant question “what is it?” with the response “Dodge SRT-10” and getting blank looks, we simply reply “Viper”. It’s likely the fifteen or so customers Dodge expects this year, like us, will tire of trying to explain it and simply do the same.
But to keep the lawyers happy it’ll remain as an SRT-10 here, the 10 referring to the number of cylinders in the SRT-10’s V10 powerplant. Famously based on a truck engine, a truck as in ‘pick-up’, it’s got a whopping 525lb ft torque to better its headline 500bhp figure.
And it should, as being 8.3-litres it’s comfortably the largest capacity engine available in a car in the UK. Unsurprisingly, it’s a lazy performer, that huge low rev grunt to allowing it to cruise about all day without touching the first few gears. At 70mph on the motorway the rev counter reads 1,500rpm in sixth. Which is just ticking over.
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