reocamaro

iTrader: (5)

WHY THE H*** Does it have to weight so much!!! Does Dodge mix everything with lead or something??? I don't understand! All I want from dodge is a fast lightweight reasonably priced car. Remember when the Camaro was out? It didn't have all the fancy things the corvette did and they managed to do it.

TriShield

It's made out of a fullsize sedan just like the upcoming Camaro will be (rebodied G8).

If you want a small, light muscle car on it's own dedicated platform the huge investment required by the automaker will be passed directly on to you. Do you want to pay Corvette money for a Mustang, Camaro or Challenger?

These days all cars like this are made out of an existing V8 RWD structure whose costs are spread over multiple models and already have planets building them. That keeps the costs down for us.

If they weren't we wouldn't be getting them at all.

TriShield

SRT8 (released first) = $37k

R/T (released this summer - 380HP and a manual) = $30kish

V6 (released this summer) = $20kish

nj02vette

iTrader: (2)

You can't make out a single digit on either of those videos. Sorry, don't know the mods either, so not buying it. Were these on drag radials, have any tuning? Gear/Stall upgrades, etc? Without knowing any details, its just pure fud.

There "Stock" GTO's on LS2gto.com dipping into the low 12's, too. When you research it further, they are not truely stock (CAI, running tunes that are very lean, DR's, etc.) It takes a lot of things to go right to even get a "stock" GTO into the 12's, which is 700lbs lighter than the Charger. Even car magazines have variation in testing, and sometimes recieve an unusually quick sample. Fact is, the average of the SRT8's is high 13's. No way around it.

Almost every stock SRT8, be it the Jeep, Charger, or 300, have all come in in the high 13's to low 14's on the same day that I'm running high 12's in my C5. Say what you want, but any way you slice it 9.14lbs/hp in my C5 works out better than 10.35lbs/hp in the Charger. There is no way, that Charger can get into the 12's without some sort of modifications.

"If" those are indeed true videos, than the competitors would be running even faster times, since maybe that day at the track was unusually quick.

PS:
The challenger looks god awful too. Too boxy, the lines just arn't clean. The roof was extended too far, etc. I think the Charger looks far better. But looks are subjective, and that's just my opinion.

DrkPhynx

I say the same thing about GM. An S-14 Silvia is about the same size as an F-Body (about 17" shorter and 6.5" more narrow), but it weighs 800lbs less. I just can't see where the weight goes - other than the fact that the S-14 is a '98 car, and maybe the safety regs were less stringent, and/or maybe the F-Body is just built like a freakin' tank.

I suspect it's a combination of factors here too - over-build it to achieve crash ratings AND reduce NVH to currently required levels, and it weighs a ton (or in this case, 2).

kerryt1

iTrader: (10)

Is it the perfect car? No. I like it, though. If money was no object, I'd have one. It sure beats the hell out of a new Charger.

Well done, Chrysler.

big reg

iTrader: (28)

Very nice car, I wouldn't mind a 500+hp 2nd year SRT-8. I have always loved the Challenger almost as much as the 69 Camaro. It deff needs deep dish wheels with wider tires though. There is no doubt about that.

Pipelayaz

iTrader: (2)

So how much the the Challenger weigh? Someone said 4200? wtf?

I like the car a lot but the interior sucks and it sounds like its going to be heavy... oh yeah its out of my price range.

jmurray87

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, but the G8 only weights 3,9xxlbs with the v8 and thats a full size sedan, if GM was smart the camaro should be a little lighter since its a smaller coupe car.

WECIV

I love it in black. I will so have one of those over the camaro. GM had won me over with the interior and new pics of the camaro...but they have to go and **** it up. Shame, I would have like a black/LS3/M6 camaro. Instead I will have a black Challenger.

W

JD_AMG

We have not seen production pictures of the Camaro's interior yet, so its a one sided comparison here.
This is the pre-production V6 Camaro interior:

Looks like higher quality materials than the Challenger to me. And atleast it has character, the challenger looks like rental car interior.
Either way, the Challenger interior looks really cheap IMO, and i'm disappointed, they should have stuck with the concept interior:

ChaseSS

iTrader: (17)

having raced several SRT8's and I can attest to their speed, they are not high 13 low 14 second cars. The R/T's can be done in the 14's and I have seen two SRT's run 13 flat at the track. I am pretty sure the ones I raced were stock, maybe had exhaust but I doubt it because they didn't sound very loud. Keep in mind that the aftermarket is not big at all for mopars so there are few modded SRT's... they are very capable of high 12's

ChaseSS

iTrader: (17)

the charger and 300 tipping the scales at 4160 lbs? not 4400 so I don't how you guys are saying the challenger will weigh 4400lbs? btw trishield I am not talking about you but all the other people claiming the challenger will weigh 4400lbs

ct06gto

The Challengers curb weight is 4160 lbs.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl.../MT5BU25IT.DTL

OctaneZ28

iTrader: (6)

Actually, that's a Charger.
But regardless, the Challenger will weigh about that.

The outside of the Challenger is awesome, but the interior is so dull and "parts-bin" it puts me to sleep.



Wow, how original lol.

Base MSRP is $40,095 after you add the $2100 gas guzzler tax.

Awesome looking car, but too big, too heavy, and too expensive for me.

WECIV

Really like this car...but damn that is an ugly interior, LOL. It is hideous. Plus, the seats do no have that inviting suck you in look that the new camaro has or our 4th gens have. Oh well...I will have one anyway.

W

reocamaro

iTrader: (5)

If you have a couple kids, buy the new challenger. They'll get so bored and go right to sleep.

TriShield

If you've driven a 300, Charger or Magnum you've already seen the Challenger's interior. It's the 4th LX variant Chrysler makes so I'm not sure why people are shocked it has the same interior as it's siblings.

I almost bought a Charger SRT8 instead of the GTO and had no issues with the interior. But it's nice GM is making the extra investment in the Camaro inside. However it's likely one of many reasons the Camaro is still so far off and Chrysler has beaten them to the market by almost a year.

nj02vette

iTrader: (2)

And herein lies the root of the problem. You have raced SRT8's but really have no idea what's been done to them. You think they are stock, but can you say for 100% certainty.
Me, I've raced stock SRT8's at the track and talked with thier owners. A friend of mine has one. And mid-high 13's are where there at.
I know manufacturers are very conservative with performance numbers, but nowhere does Dodge list 1/4 time anywhere approaching 12's. Check out the car enthusiest magazines as well. Best I've seen is 1/4's in the mid 13's.

Show me a reputable magazine article (C&D, Motortrend, etc.), with proper test methodology where any of the SRT8's ran into the 12's and they compared it to another vehicule where that one's times were within the expected range. You do that and I'll eat my words.

TriShield

None of the magazines ran very fast with GTOs yet a substantial number of owners have beaten track test times with stock cars. Generally it seems magazine reviewers don't get as good a time out of a performance car as the actual owners do.