Is The Dodge Viper A Snake That Needs A Bit More Charm?: Video

YAHOO AUTOS

                    

Posted By Jeff Glucker 6 hours ago

                             

        

I have to assume that Dodge expected the world to kneel at the feet of the all-new Viper when it was launched in 2013. That hasn't happened, and sales have been rather sluggish.

 They've been so sluggish, in fact, that Dodge has decided to drop the price way down for the 2015 model year. The 2015 Viper will wear a base price tag of $85,000, which should have some starting to look at it as a bargain, relatively speaking.

Why have the 2013 and 2014 models taken such a hit though? To figure that out, I decided it was necessary to spend some time with a 2014 Viper GTS. This is the most expensive of the various available trims, and it gives the car a fairly nice interior.

 The Sabelt seats are comfortable, the uConnect system in the dash works quite well, and the car looks great on the outside. That's before you even get to the 640-horsepower V-10 engine under the hood, grab the six-speed manual gearbox, and plant the throttle to ignite the rear tires.

The Viper might not make sense on paper, but a Viper should never make sense. Could the slow sales simply be related to the high asking price? After spending a few days with the car, I have to say that, yes... that's pretty much it.