foghat

Hi all,

Have been thinking about getting a 300c/charger srt8 for some time now - it seems a few (many?) here don't think much of the srt8's, whatever, I love the way the 300c srt looks.

But I digress, I had never really thought about a v1 cts-v - for whatever reason, the vehicle just never even occurred to me. Well now it has and it appears that '05 ctv-v is going for roughly the same price as an '06 srt8.

So here we are, I am very intrigued by the cts-v, it is a few hundred pounds lighter than the srt8, has a nicer interior, 6-speed, and appears to be a bit quicker as well.

But - what about this rear diff issue? How fragile is it? I've seen posts that have eluded to the fact they can't even necessarily deal with the stock power - true??

If you mod (just basic bolt ons), is it pretty much just a matter of time until the diff. goes?

What are the options for beefing up the diff? How expensive?

Thanks a lot.

tityrous

Everything is rubber mounted under this car for the most part. This allows the whole drive train to move around adding stress to the rear!

It all depends on how you drive the car. My stock diff lasted 86,000 with a crack around the stock diff bushing, and it remains in one piece.

keith

foghat

Just reading about the car on wikipedia, says the 2006-2007 update included a stronger rear diff.

Does this mean the 2006 models do have have diff issues? Or does it mean the 2007 models don't - or was there still an issue even after the diff update?

tityrous

from what i have read the 06/07 rears are pretty strong there has been 4 different versions of this rear there labeled funny

gen 0 PN 10361308 short lived!
gen 1 PN 12378261
gen 2 PN 15793756
gen 3 PN 25873498 being the latest and greatest!

i dont know exactly which diff cam in the 06/07 sorry!

NeverSatisfied02

iTrader: (12)

Lol! I sold my silver metallic 06 300C SRT8 w/ 21k miles to my parents so i could buy an 03 Cobra which was stolen and then I bought the V i have now...

Me personally, i like the V better than the 300 but the 300 is a VERY nice car. I looked at both before buying and my deciding factor was the price. I bought the SRT8 for under $22k with just 14k miles in minty clean showroom shape with every option available. This price was UNHEARD of at the time as they were still selling for $28-30k. The one complaint i have if you consider it a complaint is that the auto made it boring for me. I love shifting gears so though it was comfy and easy to drive in traffic, it just didn't have enough of the sporty feel i craved. The car is fast and has awesome brakes like the V. The stock sound system (kicker option) blows the CTS bose system out of the water IMO. Driving it though, you can tell you're driving a bigger car and it doesn't handle quite as tight as the V does. In a straight line race, i really think it would be bumper to bumper. Considering my parents now own the car and rarely drive it, it still has just 22k on it and i drive it whenever i want. A-Bomb and i were talking about this the other day when i drove it to meet him to drop off my fog lights. When we meet up again so i can get my lights back, he's going to bring the V so we can play around a bit. We will get it on video and post that soon just to show how close the V vs. SRT8 race would be. Overall, i think the V is more sporty and the 300C SRT8 is more gangsta... lol

Neither car is a bad choice. Its all in what you want or what you prefer the look of.

foghat

Ha, I love the pimpin' look of the 300c SRT8. I do like the fact that the V is a little smaller. Just this whole rear diff thing kind of spooks me.

onebadcad

iTrader: (1)

Have been thinking about getting a 300c/charger srt8 for some time now - it seems a few (many?) here don't think much of the srt8's, whatever, I love the way the 300c srt looks.-300c looks like a Checker Cab, but just my opinion, I liked them more before I bought my V

But I digress, I had never really thought about a v1 cts-v - for whatever reason, the vehicle just never even occurred to me. Well now it has and it appears that '05 ctv-v is going for roughly the same price as an '06 srt8.-not sure on SRT8 pricing, but search for deals on CTS-V, as some are giving them away, for under $20K

So here we are, I am very intrigued by the cts-v, it is a few hundred pounds lighter than the srt8, has a nicer interior, 6-speed, and appears to be a bit quicker as well.-interior may be nicer but watch for peeling radio button and pillar sails that are loose, regarding quicker it is more like a driver's race, no definitive winner

But - what about this rear diff issue? How fragile is it? I've seen posts that have eluded to the fact they can't even necessarily deal with the stock power - true??-first-gen rear is POS, others are not much better if you try to launch, car was made for road course, not track, so learn to kill from a roll

If you mod (just basic bolt ons), is it pretty much just a matter of time until the diff. goes?-diff will break on hard shifts and launches, but most probably due to not getting off during wheel hop, with 400RHWP you can get by, put on a power adder and be ready to replace rear

What are the options for beefing up the diff? How expensive?-full bulletproof rear will run you $7+K, you can go the beefed-up axle route for under $800, the axles may not save your rear but have been promoted as almost eliminating wheel hop

Thanks a lot.

NeverSatisfied02

iTrader: (12)

Yeah, the 300 is nice but its nowhere near as sporty IMO. Its just a big car. The V's and SRT8's are comparable in pricing. Its really just what you want. My honest opinion... the 300 has a much nicer interior. The V interior seems cheap. Buttons peel, suade gets worn, etc. The seats in the 300 are much nicer, everything seems to be made better and i never had an issue with the buttons chipping but my V buttons look like crap. And yes, its def a drivers race. Rear diff sucks. Do axels and be done. Shouldnt have any issues as long as youre not trying to dump it out of the hole at 5k...

maxspeed96ct

iTrader: (3)

Depends on how you drive it, I beat the hell out of my gen 1 diff when I was stock. But once I started to mod and put some headers and a cam I poped the gen 1 diff on a first to second shift.

The V is a awsome car, much sportier then the 300 IMO since its a M.T.

If you want to beat the hell out of your V then you can upgrade to a gen 3 diff and get some axles for 500$. And it should hold up to a more the average beating unless you try to drag it every weekend on DR's