Close this window
Get Hotcars Premium. Start your free trial today
Already a nostalgic piece of American sports car history, the VX Dodge Viper is undoubtedly a future classic worth collecting.
The Dodge Viper has always been one of the poster cars of gearheads worldwide. The stunning design and an overwhelming amount of performance from a naturally aspirated V10 made it very different from any other supercar you could lay your hands on. However, the earlier generations of the Viper are often called by many the widow maker owing to the lack of many essential safety features and an overwhelming amount of torque on tap. Even though the Dodge Viper VX takes forward this brutality and character from the older generations, Dodge did an impressive job in filtering out most of the previous generations' downsides.
Launched in 2013, the Dodge Viper VX had a production run of close to 5 years and competed with the likes of the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 and Porsche 911 GT3 RS. This fifth-generation moniker of the Viper also came with many models and special editions, some of which are quite expensive in the used car market. With the price of some of the trims of the Viper VX going as high as $231,000 in a 2018 Barret-Jackson auction, is it the right time to get hold of a Dodge Viper VX? Before going ahead with the purchase, here are 10 things you need to know about the Dodge Viper VX.
Being the last American-made supercar with the massive 8.4-liter V10 engine under the hood, even the base Dodge Viper VX was insanely fast. The 0-60 mph run was over in 3.9 seconds and the quarter-mile came up in 10.7 seconds. This made it faster than the Maserati GranTurismo and as fast as the Audi R8 V10. However, if you found it to be an easy animal to tame and want something even faster, Dodge did come with the impressive Dodge Viper VX ACR putting out 645 hp and 600 lb-ft of torque.
The 8.4-liter naturally aspirated V10 comes mated to a 6-speed manual transmission and the power goes through the rear wheels. The car also came with the ACR extreme aero package which offered many exterior bits for superior handling and road grip. The top speed of the Viper VX was 177 mph, and it could do the 0-60 mph run in less than 4 seconds.
The Dodge Viper VX has been going up in value, similar to that of the first-generation moniker. If you want the Dodge Viper VX TA model, you would need to shell out around $140,000 as that is the average value of it in 2022. The depreciation hasn't hit the Viper VX much and this is easily confirmed by many of its recent auctions.
Being a V10 moniker that too with quite a lot of legacy, even the base trims of the Viper command a high price. The price of the base SRT trim has been rising from an average price of $63,500 in 2018 to $107,000 in July 2022 according to Classic.com. Other trims also follow the same path when it comes to price.
The Dodge Viper VX is a supercar that could easily take on many offerings from Lamborghini and Ferrari. With such an insane performance on offer, it is not right to expect bulletproof reliability. Even though the reliability isn't as good as some of the other performance cars from the USA, it isn't terrible by any means.
Being an American car, the interior plastics and quality weren't anywhere close to the European rivals and the owners have reported rattling and squeaking in many of the Viper forums. Some of the earlier models also had high oil consumption issues. Apart from that, the fifth generation of Viper received five recalls as well.
The Dodge Viper VX is one of the coolest supercars of all time. The final generation of the Viper looked even sportier than the fourth and third generations of the Viper. It also got a lot of modern touches such as LED headlights, LED taillights, wider rear tires, and a lot of aero bits to help it to put the power down well.
The Dodge Viper VX came in a lot of funky colors and there were many special editions and design packages as well. Get the ACR model, and you are going to see a lot of carbon fiber bits on the outside. The optional extreme aero packages included a dual-element rear wing, diffuser, brake ducts, hood louvers, and a removable front splitter. The massive engine up front means that the hood was very long. It is one of the widest production cars as well.
None of the five generations of the Dodge Viper is famous for its comfort factor and that makes it a terrible choice to take on road trips. Getting in and out of is going to be a pain due to the super low ground clearance of 5". The side exhaust means that you need to be careful when getting out of the Viper as it is very famous for burning your legs.
When inside, the Dodge Viper VX offers lower headroom and legroom than the Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport. The 36.6" of headroom means that taller folks would have a hard time fitting in. Shoulder room of 53.1" isn't the best either. However, 14.7 cu ft of cargo space can take in all the luggage of two passengers with ease.
The older generation of the Dodge Viper was one of the most poorly equipped supercars to ever hit production. The first-generation Viper also missed out on many essential techs and features, making it pretty unsafe to drive on American roads. However, the Dodge Viper VX turned out to be much superior in this regard.
Safety features such as electronic stability control, ABS and driveline traction control, side impact beams, tire pressure monitoring system, reverse camera, and parking sensors are onboard all the trims of the Viper VX. The interior and exterior also get the Uconnect infotainment system, climate control, navigation, 18" and bigger alloy wheels, and LED headlights and taillights.
Like any offerings from Dodge, the impressive mod potential on offer with the Dodge Viper VX is what makes it very special. If you feel that the mighty V10 engine could do with a bit more grunt, mods like a forced induction system, upgraded cooling system, a new full system exhaust, and performance tunes and chips are very common among the owners.
If you wish to take the car to over 1,000 hp, many of the owners have also done upgrades such as forged internals, high-pressure fuel pump & injectors, upgraded cams, and even a nitrous system. There are endless interior and exterior mods as well.
Being a supercar, one might not expect the Dodge Viper VX to be a frugal offering. However, it is even worse than the rivals like the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 and Porsche 911 GT3 Turbo in this regard. The car could do 12 MPG in the city and 19 MPG on the highways.
The combined gas mileage of 14 MPG makes it close to some of the full-size pickup trucks with the massive V8 and heavy curb weight. The 16-gallon fuel tank capacity means that you are only going to see a range of 192 miles in the city.
All the model years of the fifth-generation Dodge Viper came with the impressive Uconnect 8.4" touchscreen infotainment system as standard. Even after close to a decade, the Dodge Viper VX's infotainment still offers most of the necessary features as standard, making it a superior system to what came as standard with the segment rivals.
The standard features included Bluetooth connectivity, audio streaming, SiriusXM radio, reverse camera, Uconnect access emergency SOS, and 3D map support. The audio comes through a 10-speaker Harman Kardon audio system. There are two subwoofers as well.
The Dodge Viper VX TA is one of the most desirable trims of the Viper lineup owing to the extensive performance and aero mods it came as standard with. Even though the performance figures did not see any changes, the long list of upgrades means that it was much faster in a racetrack than the SRT and GTS trim.
The prices of the Dodge Viper VX TA have been hovering around the $140,000 mark. The most expensive one got sold for as high as $231.000. The upgrades that came as standard included Bilstein DampTronic suspension, shock dampers, increased spring rates, lightweight Sidewinder II wheels, Brembo brakes, and Pirelli P-Zero tires. The aerodynamic package helped to put the power down with ease due to the added downforce.
Mohith is our in-house motorcycle mechanic and automotive geek. He loves riding and driving at the limits, and you would frequently notice him on racetracks at the weekends. Mohith is someone who would redline anything that comes with a motor – even our office lawnmower. He often does cross-country road trips in his trusted 300ZX and you could find him riding his CB750 quite often through the streets of Pasadena as well as on the Moore Motorsports racetrack.
