Ever since the fifth generation of then SRT Viper was introduced by the former SRT CEO Ralph Gilles, the car has been nothing short of disaster or more accurately, major and truly embarrassing fuck up. The obsolete and unchanged chassis, same major driveline components, exterior design easily mistaken for the previous generations, non existent rear and side visibility and on top of it, a truly anemic power increase. When compounded with super critical and quite condemning press reviews and dealer ordered fully optioned and then marked up car, the whole stunt ended up as a full failure, with absolutely no sales whatsoever. Eventually, to further compound the convoluted line up, a new variant, called TA for Track Attack (not Trans Am) was created. The idiocy of Ralph Gilles was fully demonstrated with this jewel, in spite of being advertised as a track weapon, the car managed to be heavier than the standard base Viper and included truly worthless pieces like electronically controlled suspension and truly pathetic aero modes while including no horsepower increase at all. Needless to say, the TA sold just After sitting on his ass, Ralph Gilles was finally relieved of his duties in 2014 and the SRT as a brand was completely resolved...
Since the sales were still non existent and TA's sat unsold, the new Viper chief, Dodge's Tom Kuniskis decided to offer reduced pricing and discounts for existing Generation 5 owners (another stupid stunt, killing resale value of used cars), at least a few cars were sold, although there are still plenty of unsold Vipers, including those dating back to 2013.
Although by now, one would expect Kuniskis to do the smart thing and shut down Viper production altogether, at least until there is money and will to develop a truly improved and distinct new model, the Dodge CEO decided to drag the farce on and continue with the slow death of the Viper.
Hence, here is the newest brainchild of Kuniskis: Viper TA 2.0. The main difference between the TA 1.0 and 2.0 are the aero enhancements: rear wing, front splitter and canards-a direct copy of the Generation 4 Viper ACR. Since the new model walks and quacks like a duck and the previous take, TA 1.0 was another sales and performance disappointment, who on Earth and in their right mind would come up with the idea of naming a new car 2.0? Not only this sounds confusing due to that TA moniker but 2.0 will lead quite a few people into believing that this car is equipped with 2.0 liter engine. At best, this 2.0 will certainly remind everyone about the first failure.
If Kuniskis was smart, this car would be named ACR, plain and simple as it was intended when the car was first shown. At least this way, there would be a reference to something positive in history of the Viper, since the Generation 4 ACR managed to set a few records, including the Nurburgring record lap.
The second problem here is that truly stupid 2015.5 model year designation-absolutely nobody ever remembers that half part, it is 2015 by all accounts and it should be really 2016 to help the buyers with the future resale value, assuming there will be any residual left.
Finally, these cars are offered as presold only, meaning any car produced will be sold before being produced. Will there be 99 buyers interested in buying this car while 2015's are still around and most likely the dealers selling these will try their hardest to sell the current stock before selling the TA 2.0.
What is missing from this new TA that is really a new ACR? In spite of increased aero, the car lacks any power increase as it lacks any significant weight loss, unless those carbon fiber seats can do the trick.
Unfortunately, the car lacks options like ceramic brakes and dry sump oiling system, in order to add credibility to its track ambitions.
Overall, this is a truly artificial and limited effort, definitely failing to deliver on expectations and possibilities. The ailing and aging underpinning certainly fail to deliver a much needed improvement.
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