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Old vs. New: 2014 SRT Viper takes on upgraded 16-year-old Dodge Viper

It's easy to play the "Would you rather have a New X or an Old Y with a bunch of upgrades?" game more often than we care to admit, but the crew at Car and Driver have taken bench racing to the next level with their latest video. In it, the magazine pits a brand-new 2014 SRT Viper against a highly modified 1997 Dodge Viper GTS. There are 16 years between the time this particular GTS rolled off the production line and when the new car bowed, but that doesn't mean the old snake's owners have been sitting on their hands.
Thanks to a spate of modifications, the GTS offers up a better power to weight ratio than the new machine, but is that enough to overcome the technological leap forward represented by the 2014 Viper? We won't spoil it for you. You'll just have to check out the full clip below for yourself.

Daily driving a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat

I took delivery of my 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat at Ron Carter Dodge in League City. Bobby Pate and the entire Ron Carter team made the buying experience painless. Thanks, guys! It was worth the nine-month wait to get a new Challenger Hellcat at sticker price. My Hellcat is Phantom Black Tri-coat Pearl with a black interior. The car has the six-speed manual transmission and UConnect. Yes, I know the eight-speed automatic is faster, but the manual transmission provides a level of enjoyment that must be experienced to be appreciated. My original intention was to write daily about my experiences with the Hellcat, but I have been having too much fun with the car. The first 100 miles required incredible self-control to keep the car under 55 mph and engine speed under 3500 rpm. The difference in the driving experience after 500 miles was – and I am only exaggerating a little – life altering!The Red Key To paraphrase Morpheus in The Matrix, "You take the black key, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red key, you stay in wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes." The black key is in a place where it will stay until the red key is snatched from my cold, dead hand. The red key is the only key. The red key is "The Key." All 707 horsepower are available with the red key. You can lower the horsepower to only 500 using the SRT pages, I have heard, but why? I have driven the Hellcat in bumper-to-bumper Houston traffic in red-key mode. I have driven the Hellcat in the pouring rain in red-key mode. I have driven the Hellcat to the mall, to the grocery store, to the movies, and to Killen's Steakhouse in Pearland for a 100% Japanese Wagyu steak from the Kagoshima Prefecture. (It was a birthday present from my son. My money goes into the gas tank of my Hellcat.) Just for fun, I used the SRT Pages to put the car in valet mode. For those of you who do not know, valet mode limits the horsepower to: oh, hell! Who cares? The car felt like the parking brake had not been disengaged. I have heard rumors that the Tremec six-speed transmission has a 1-4 skip-shift feature. My Hellcat has never been subjected to this travesty.Questions, questions, and more questions Q: How much over sticker did you have to pay? A: Zero Q: What kind of gas mileage do you get? A: ROTFL Q: How did you ever talk your significant other into letting you buy the Hellcat? A: I didn't ask.

Jay Leno drives a 1970 Dodge Charger with 1,650 horsepower

When Jay Leno says a vehicle might have too much horsepower, he's got our attention piqued. That's exactly what he thinks about the 1970 Dodge Charger Tantrum from Wisconsin-based SpeedKore Performance. While it still looks like a classic muscle car, the front end now features a carbon fiber hood and fenders. Underneath the lightweight parts, there's a twin-turbo, 9.0-liter Mercury Marine offshore boat racing engine with an astonishing 1,650 horsepower, or an only slightly less asinine 1,350 hp on pump gas. Jay is very mechanically intrigued by the Charger at the beginning of this video, and puts it on the lift to take a look at the underside. The engine plumbing is a thing of beauty, and the mill packs a massive radiator and intercooler to keep things running cool. Leno's drive in the Tantrum is especially interesting. The beastly engine is difficult to control, and anything above half throttle in most gears can spin the rear tires. The significant turbo lag also makes the power unpredictable. When Jay finally finds a straight piece of road, he puts the hammer down and rockets into the distance. And, of course, you know Jay's not going to end the video without some suitably smoking tires. Related Video: