Dodge Viper ACR Extreme Review | The Most Phenomenal Car I've Ever Driven

I came from the mud desert on my hands Strong like a tree there's roots where I stand oh, I've been running from the law Hope they won't shoot me down soon. Try to catch me Holling at the. Sam.

When most people think about American supercars, they think Ford gt, maybe the Chevy Corvette. And while they are great cars, the truth is neither of them are really anything quite like this. Because in my opinion, nothing strikes fear into the heart of a driver more than the words Dodge Viper. But this isn't just any Dodge Viper. This is the Dodge Viper ACR Extreme. The most hardcore and track orientated Viper money can buy. Let me tell you right now, these things are really damn expensive. We're talking upwards of maybe $200,000 at least. Not much is different powertrain wise. Between this and a normal gen 5 Viper, it's still a front engine, rear wheel drive behemoth that makes 645 brake horsepower and 600 pounds of torque, all from an 8.4 liter naturally aspirated V10. Think about that for a second. 8.4 liters. That's more displacement than a medium duty commercial truck. But what really makes this car special is the fact that it's an insane track ready version of an already insane car. The Viper ACR by itself is kind of ludicrous. And what makes this car an acre is the extreme aero package that combines the aggressive front splitter, canards, diffuser and massive dual element rear wing to create almost 1800 pounds of downforce. Couple that with the ridiculous 355 wide rear Kumo semi slicks and you basically have a street legal race car that will eat fries breakfast. And even though this car is in my least favorite color, it still has one of the most attractive silhouettes available today. But let's take a quick look on the inside of this thing. Overall, it's a lot like a normal Viper, except for the fact that it's doused in alcantara and has a cool ACR badge. The steering wheel feels meaty, the grip is satisfying, and there's actually a good amount of heft to it. The seats themselves have a relatively aggressive bucket, but they seem to be made for someone much larger than myself. Unlike the other track Focus cars I've driven, this one has an abundant amount of storage. And though the uconnect system is technically outdated, it somehow keeps the overall cabin feeling relatively modern. Oh, and of course it's only available in a six speed manual. So, now that we know some of the basics, let's go for A spin around the block. It takes about 10 minutes to get yourself in a comfortable driving position because the clutch travel feels like it's a mile long. And it takes another 10 minutes to get over the initial shock that you can barely see over the enormous hood of the car. But once you're all sorted out, the Viper is not too difficult to drive for such a large car. Well, actually it's not that large. Dimensionally, it's slightly smaller than a C7Z06, but the interior feels a lot more cramped. More race car, if you will. And the layout feels less luxurious than a Corvette for sure. But the Alcantara everywhere makes up for that. The gearbox has a very robust feel to it, almost like you're driving a tank. The throws are moderately long and the engagement is positive, but it just feels a little unrefined and rough around the edges. It's cool that it looks angled towards the driver, though. There's so much road presence in this car, especially with all the added aero bits. You can't feel all that aero working at these low speeds. But going to a corner produces almost zero body roll. Despite this car being a little Meaty. At almost £3,400, the chassis and suspension is hella stiff. Not aero Adam stiff, but somewhere between that and my Lotus Exige, you don't feel a lot of that discomfort because the seats are actually very plush and cushion you from most of the small vibrations. Also, it might be because the car is in its softest street setting. Speaking of which, the suspension is fully adjustable, offering over 10 different stiffness settings, as well as the ability to change ride height by simply turning a wrench. I get a lot of range anxiety in this car because every time I start it up it seems like I lose at least an eighth of a tank. But that's also my favorite part, hearing that lovely V10 bellow from the sides of the car. Now it's time to do the performance stuff. But what could possibly be better than a Viper acre? An orange Viper acre. So we'll be using this one for our straight line and handling tests. Let's get this party started. We'll start with the straight line stuff. And now for the handling test.

It's. Alright.

Now it's time we look at the test results. We'll start with our 40100 where the Viper ACF put down a mediocre 5.71 second time. I say mediocre because a lot of the cars this thing competes against are in the low 5 second range. Then again, it was Also a bit of a letdown in the 6130 test where it ran 9.54 and that's a full second slower than a normal Viper. Keep in mind it could be the 4.5 shift right before 130, or the fact that this thing has almost 150% more drag than the base model. For my metric friends, we're looking at a 100 to 200km h time of 8.31. Again, all those aero bits are probably slowing it down up top, but the ACR was designed for a greater purpose, so let's see how it does around some corners instead. For the newcomers on the channel, we just introduced our handling course last week, so there aren't too many times on here yet, but the Viper ACR nailed a painfully quick lap time of 47.12 seconds. That's over four seconds faster than the next closest thing, and I have a feeling that it might hold this position for a while. On top of that, it put down really respectable supporting metrics as well. 1.38 GS through turn six, over a buck ten on the straight end, exiting the course at a solid 45.44. Now, if you want to see more times, don't forget to check out the fastest link in the description below. Honestly, when I was first approached by the idea of reviewing the Viper acr, I was overjoyed by both fear and excitement. Mostly fear, because 1 I knew these things were skyrocketing in value, and 2 my natural inclination was that historically these things are a handful to drive, so I was worried that I would unexpectedly run it into a wall or maybe crack the ridiculously low front splitter doing something. Something mundane. Luckily, none of that happened, but the car did leave a lasting impression on me. It screams uncompromised raw American horsepower with an unexpected amount of handling capability without the need for electronic assistance. And that's basically impossible to come by these days. Somehow I felt like very at home in the cabin. Perhaps it was because of the driving experience being very reminiscent of my Corvette 0 sixes. I've never actually driven a Viper before this, but I expected it to just be pedal to the metal and traction loss at every corner. But frankly, it's not that easy to break the tires loose unless you're really laying into it in first gear. That's also because of those super sticky 335s out back and the fact that the power band feels linear and there's not a huge surge of torque in the low end, at least not as Much as you think. Overall, it's a very versatile track toy. It's purpose built, sexy as hell, every vent serves a function. It has all the creature comforts of a car. And it's at the limit of being street drivable. People usually quote Nuremberg records or whatever lap times and say that, hey, look, it beats all these other supercars around the track. And, you know, I'm sure it will, but 99% of us probably won't even get remotely close because this car is still quite challenging to drive to the limit. And I'm convinced that at the limit though, it might be very, very enjoyable. But you see, getting there is the hard part. Even though my time with this one was short, the Viper ACR Extreme has been the most phenomenal car I've driven so far. My biggest regret is that I didn't buy one when I had the chance. But hey, you win some, you lose some. Anyway, that's it for this episode. And as always, I'll catch you all in the next one. On this shoot, I got to use a piece of equipment that I'm hoping will make my life a lot easier. This is the Tilta Hydra alien car mount. Sounds a little crazy, I know. And since I'm using it for real for the first time, I only tried it on a handful of shots, specifically the chasing and the intro cinematics, some of the action shots in the handling course, as well as rollers to the airport taxiway. It's a camera stabilization system that mounts to a vehicle using suctions, a Steadicam arm, a vibration isolator, and a Ronin RS2. And in our case, we use this setup to perform these high speed chases, which would normally be impossible with our current low budget setup of me hanging out of my wife's BMW. The beauty of it is that because it's using the RS2, I have complete control over the system remotely and cable free by using a smartphone. And if you get the settings right, the Hydra arm is really effective at stabilizing while moving at high speeds. I'm excited because this is more of the workflow I'm used to when I was working as a professional DP on commercial sets. The ability to safely operate the camera from the comforts of the passenger seat are hopefully going to open up the creative possibilities that were previously reserved to when I was surrounded by a 30 person crew. Anyway, I just wanted to share this with you guys because I'm really excited to add this to my arsenal for the channel. I hope you guys enjoyed this video as much as I did making it. If so, it'd be awesome if you can hit that like button and share the video with your friends. I can't cover everything I want to in the short amount of time that I have, so if I miss something like, let me know in the comments below. As you probably know, it's mainly just me and my wife doing this channel in our spare time, so if you want to show your support, I'd really appreciate it if you took a look at our merch store or maybe bought something through our Amazon affiliate links in the description below. And if this is your first time here, don't forget to check out some more videos on the channel. I produce all sorts of cinematic car content, so if you like what you see, smash that. Let me know in the comments below. As you probably know, it's mainly just me and my wife doing this channel in our spare time, so if you want to show your support, I'd really appreciate it if you took a look at our merch store or maybe bought something through our Amazon affiliate links in the description below. And if this is your first time here, don't forget to check out some more videos on the channel. I produce all sorts of cinematic car content, so if you like what you see, smash that subscribe button for new episodes whenever they come out. Thanks for watching the subscribe button for new episodes whenever they come out. Thanks for watching.