Dodge Viper SRT10 -- the devil’s handbasket

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The great thing about America is that there’s something for everyone. There are people for whom oil is a precious and dwindling resource that should be eked out and used efficiently, sparingly. They’re the ones carpooling in a Prius. And there are others who believe that it’s already too late, that the gasoline-fueled apocalypse is upon us, so we might as well have fun while we still can.

They’ll be driving the 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10.

The Viper has always been a gloriously over-the-top muscle car, with its lightweight fiberglass body and V-10 engine from a pickup truck. The new version offers 600 horsepower (up 90 from the previous model) and 560 pound-feet of torque (25 more) going to the rear wheels. The extra grunt comes from enlarging displacement to 8.4 liters from 8.3, improving engine breathing and tweaking engine management.

The car can accelerate from a standstill to 60 mph in a whisker under four seconds, performs the 0-to-100-mph-to-0 trick in 12 seconds and has a top speed of 200 mph -- guzzling fuel to the tune of 12/20 mpg, city and highway. Not that the Viper driver will bother too much about consumption, as long as it’s conspicuous.

If anyone does want to go ‘green,’ there’s always the Snakeskin Green paint job. The 2008 Viper is available as a coupe or convertible (all the better to see the mustache and medallion) from $85,695 and is on sale now. If we’re all going to hell, a handbasket just isn’t going to cut it.

-- Colin Ryan