Why did Dodge at first, did not put a V8 engine in their Vipers?

Question

If they did the viper would've got a lot of performance and traction, than the heavy long v10 engine.

Answer 1

idk about you but I like the viper engine

Answer 2

Your question is very confusing because, quite frankly, it doesn't make sense - you must be mixed up with something.

The Viper came out in 1992, I think, and was Dodge's "halo" car, where the image from the Viper would trickle down to the rest of the brand's vehicles. The Viper existed for a number of reasons, but the two biggest was that it was a popular show car, and Dodge was contemplating making a V10 for its revamped pickups. While the Viper was not a high production car, adding its production helped spread the cost of manufacture for the V10. Plus, it was a new engine with lots of hp - why put the aging 360 in the Viper? It didn't put out much hp, and for all I know it wouldn't have fit in the Viper.

Additionally, just about any performance car can fry the tires, so a V8 in the Viper wouldn't have changed a thing - the tires would still lack traction.

Now that Dodge has the Hemi, it could be suggested that it makes a nice addition to the Viper (if it fits). However, it could disrupt the Viper's image by putting in a lesser engine as an option, plus there's the added cost of Dodge having to certify the V8 by the EPA, which probably costs a lot more money than they can recoup from sales.

Just my humble opinion - take care!

Answer 3

not much power? you kidding? its low end torq is best in its class! the first ones where undepowered considering the size, but that is because the viper was mere proproganda, at that time Mopar was on its way out, so the figure to just put a mean car togather while they last, not much engine engineering was done yet, but they wanted to show their muscel by giving it a V-10 with over 8.2liters.

the traction thing is because the car has a huge low rpm high torq engine and has no TCS like vettes do, the tubular chassis was also too light for the drive train setup. the engine doesnt weigh too much more than a simmilar sized 8cyl.

today vipers have more traction due to the new chassis layout, and the engines have now 600Hp.

with out a V-10 its just not a viper, it would be more like a rat snake;)