In defense (defence?) of our UK mates from that thread some weeks back, here's something that Autocar columnist Russell Bulgin wrote in June of '96:
"Today, no other car packs the sheer emotional wallop of a Viper GTS. That's the card this car plays, time and again. Look once, look twice, drool. That's the core of the GTS. So simple. So effective.
Forget logic. Ignore political correctness. Junk restraint. An 8.0-liter V10 engine. Four-hundred-and-fifty horsepower. A top speed pushing 180 mph. Lunatic acceleration - around 4.5 sec to jackhammer from 0-60. In the era of the Armani supercar - chic, restrained, elegant, demure, 456, DB7 - the Viper GTS is a four-wheel riot. Marilyn curves in a Kate Moss world.
You might think they shouldn't build cars like this anymore. Wrong. This car would have been out of place at any time in the 100-year history of the automobile. They never built cars like this at all. Coming factory-fresh from a mass-market car maker, bungful of ridiculous power and pouting an inescapable presence, this car makes no rational sense whatsoever. Never has, never will. And that's why it is so enticingly, naughtily marvelous."
RIP, Mr. Bulgin. (1958-2002) Died of cancer.
