Going on a road trip was a regular occurrence for me for the holidays. Every year we’d travel the 6 or so hours to get to the grandparent’s house. I just could never find a way to figure out how to make sitting in the backseat for such a drive comfortable. We even had a big minivan with the whole backseat just to me. Comfort is important when traveling for such long amounts of time. I can’t imagine being in a Viper for that long, but Jalopnik put the popular new supercar to the test.
Jalopnik writer Travis Okulski hopped in a Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT and a SRT Viper GTS in order to get to SxSW. That meant one killer road trip in two very different powerhouse vehicles. Which one ended up being the better one to travel a fair distance in? The answer is a tad surprising.
The first portion of the drive was in the Grand Cherokee. Okulski noted that the Jeep was all about comfort. One of the most interesting things that he writes about is that how good it was for his passengers. It was such a smooth ride that they could work on laptops and not get car sick. For anyone traveling with a family, I can see the advantages of this. Thanks to multiple outlets and having a mobile hot spot, the ability to have various kinds of technology running during a long drive is a huge plus. As Okulski put it, “It’s the fastest office I’ve ever driven.”
Next up was the SRT Viper GTS and that drive couldn’t have come at a worst time. His turn to get behind the wheel was right at rush hour at dusk. To make it worst, he was unfamiliar with the dashboard and didn’t know that he had the high beams on due to the fuel needle blocking out the indicator when the tank is full.
Even with these obstacles, he came out loving the Viper. He describes it as “a tight, loud, and warm cocoon…” and a comfortable one at that. A much different level than what’s offered by the Grand Cherokee, but comforting nonetheless.
A major criticism of the Viper, both the previous version and current, is that the leg room is cramped. Not a good thing to have for a long drive. Not the case according to Okulski. His legs felt just fine and so did his back.
His expectations for which would be the better one to drive on road trip turned out different than he originally thought. The SRT Viper GTS came out ahead of the Jeep Grand Cherokee. A passenger would feel better in the Cherokee, but the driver will love the experience. It’s one of a kind, no matter how far you’re traveling.
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That didn’t take long. Right as the Viper is making its way out into the wild of the dealership showroom, not they’ve gone and unveiled a new model. SRT showed off the new Viper at the New York Auto Show. This new one specialized for being seen on the track and less so on the streets of Manhattan.