The competition-style seats are very comfortable and supportive. They are much better than the seats in any new Porsche. The five-point harness (part of the ACR package) is cool to have; I had to resist the urge to don a racing suit and helmet. But the full harness quickly becomes a nuisance around town, because it is so restrictive of movement. Fortunately, the Viper also has a conventional three-point harness for daily use.

There is a mile of headroom, thanks to the Dan Gurney-style roof bubbles. They leave plenty of room for a helmet. The foot well is quite deep, as you might expect from a car with a hood as long as the Viper's, so the car can probably accommodate NBA-grade altitude comfortably.

The exhaust no longer exits through side pipes, as on earlier models, but the Viper is still loud and hot inside. But the weather was cold during our test, and we can report with satisfaction that the heater works very effectively. We wonder, however, how well the air conditioner will cope with summer weather, plus the heat welling up through the door sills and the sun baking in through the large rear hatch.

The hatch area is not as roomy as the Corvette's, but it is roomy enough to almost classify the Viper as a practical sports car. There is plenty of space to haul several five-gallon jugs of racing fuel to the track. In an emergency, you could also carry half a dozen bags of groceries.

The 200-watt Alpine stereo rocks! Who would have expected it? It seems a wonder the Viper has even a rudimentary radio, much less this killer-amped, sub-woofered boom-box sound machine. Radio reception is decent, which is also surprising considering its single strand of antenna embedded in the windshield. The dashboard features traditional round analog gauges, with orange-on-white graphics. They are clear, legible and nice-looking.

The pedals are positioned perfectly for heel-and-toe downshifting. But there is no dead pedal and no space for the left foot. That's awkward for long drives, or for racing. Nevertheless, the Viper proved more livable day-in and day-out than we expected.