"My" 2003 SRT10 vs my 99 rt10 review

[Tornado]

Well just got my red 2003 SRT10 after wrecking my red 99 rt10 6 weeks ago...

EXTERIOR= SRT10 looks better from the front and rear. RT10 looks better from the side. Over all the SRT10 looks better than the RT10 with the tops up on both vehicles. But with the tops off on both vehicles the rt10 looks better..

DEAD HEAT

INTERIOR=Holy crap the SRT10 better in every single way. From the materials to the fit and finish to the sound system..

Night and Day in Favor of the SRT10 " this is what i imagined my dream cars interior looking like"

ENGINE BAY= The SRT10 engine bay is much cleaner and the red is much brighter on the engine....It looks much better than the engine bay on my rt10...BUT...the way the hood on the RT10 opened and had that truly exotic look swings in favor of the RT10..Over all the RT10 has the meaner/exotic look...

RT10 by a lil bit..That hood sitting up in the air is just bad ass

PERFORMANCE= Well my rt10 was modded to 450 rwhp and 500 rwt..My SRT10 has KN' filters and 1.7 roller rockers..Id guess it's around 460 rwhp from the buttometer....So acelleration felt the same power wise..

BUT....The rt10's power seemed to hit a lil sooner and a lil harder while the SRT10's power didnt quite hit as hard in the lower rpm's but seemed to pull harder than the RT10 in the higher rpm's....

DEAD HEAT


So these cars are pretty except the nicer interior of the SRT10..

BUT

The SRT10 is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

MUCH EASIER TO DRIVE....


My RT10 would buck in scream in first gear if I even grazed the pedal. The SRT10 drives like my Nissan quest till "I WANT" to go fast" and press the pedal atleaste half way down...

My RT10 would scrape every single slight grade change in front of it and I always had to take my time and reverse tranverse any incline/declines that I aproached. This was very enoying for the times when i was real world driving to stores and such...

For out running at night on cruisies and all the car scraping was never an issue. but for real world driving during the day having to take your time through every minor grade really sucks and while your trying to take your time not to scrape your front end others who wernt expecting you to be so slow in your fast car are nearly hitting you....

With my SRT10 I could just go up and down these same grades just like I can any of my other cars..."Straight out" and i havent herd any scraping as of yet..

Just the drivability of the SRT10 vs my RT10 is enough of a reason to upgrade if your on the fence...

BTW....No reason to even mention the brakes differance as Im sure you probally already no
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[City]

Interesting comparison. I've got an '01 RT and an '08 SRT on order. I will disagree with you on the overall looks, although the SRT looks have been growing on me. The "difficult" driving experience of the RT 10 doesn't seem to bother me much. It makes me concentrate on my driving. I'll be interested to see if my opinion changes after I drive the SRT. As for the power, my RT is Roe SC'd with 5lbs. which is likely adding 100 HP, but the '08 should still have be 50-75 HP more out of the box.

I'm hoping not to regret the "upgrade".

[hostile]

City, did you order the coupe or convertible?

[Tornado]

The terrain/driving conditions in hawaii are among the worst in the USA last i was told..

This would have a lot to do with the difficulties I have driving it..

In virginia I dont recall grades being any were near as steep as the ones here in hawaii while driving...

But man oh man the SRT10 is just easier to live with...So far everyone has said they like my SRT10 better..

neibors who never once commented on my rt10 are coming to my house and telling me how sweet the car is..

Of course this is an gen2 rt10 vrs a SRT10..

If I had previously had an ACR/GTS...Could be totally different though as the hard top and rear add to the looks.


Honestly I like my SRT10 a LOT better than the RT10....It's as easy to drive as my 2004 C5 was.

But man my rt10 was fast...Not sure if my SRT10 even with the KN's and roller rockers could match my 450 rwhp 3330 pound rt10...

The rt10 was just VIOLENT with the power..The SRT10 feels totally differant..

Im gonna find out pretty soon though..

My best with my 450 rwhp rt10 at the same location with around 100 logged runs on my bell tronics unit was 0-60 in 4.2 and the 1/4 mile in 12.2 at 121.7 mph off a 2.0 60 ft..

For comparison sake the best i did in about 200 runs with my mild H/C auto 2.73 geared C5 at the same location with the bell tronics was 0-60 in 4.3 with a 12.6 at 112 mph off a 2.0 60 ft...

So it's gonna be interesting to see what the SRT10 can do at that location with the bell tronics timer system ( kinda like a Gtech I purchased from circut city)

[Larkster]

This is exactly the type of info I am searching for. Hello, I'm a newbie here. I'm just learning all about Vipers. Of course I fell in love with the RT 10 when I first touched one back in 93. I'm finally at a point where I can buy one, and am trying to learn all I can about the offerings. I just love the lines on the RT10, I have a 2002 just down the street that I am seriously considering. I have only driven the RT10 on a test drive. It was awesome, to say the least. But really doesn't tell me anyting respective to the SRT10.

What about the Brakes, you mention the brakes. I could certainly jump into a SRT, but I just have that "first love" of the original body style.

Any more info on the spec differences you may offer would be greatly appreciated. I'm torn, as the prices for used Vipers seems relatively close with the later RT10s from 40 - 45, and the early SRTs starting at the early 50s. not too much difference in price there.

Thanks for you post.

The Larkster.

SoCal
(my biggest brag is that my garage is larger than my house.. please don't tell my wife!)

"There's a Viper in my cross hairs" Time to pull the trigger!