Dodge – Car of the Day

Ram 5.7, Seconds?

garythepowers — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 21:32:05 +0000

Dodge has a new pickup for 2009. Well it’s the same Ram, but the new body-style.

The 5.7 liter Hemi has been tweaked for more power. 390hp and 400lb-ft of torque. The regular cab short bed version can get to 60mph in 5.7 seconds and pass the quarter mile mark in 14.4 seconds. That is serious speed for a truck. This isn’t a sport truck. There isn’t any real pretenses of sport. It is just a powerful V8. This truck is going to win a lot of stop light drag races.

Remember the Dodge Daytona?

garythepowers — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:43:28 +0000

A few years ago Dodge hit a major performance home run the with the SRT-4. It was heralded as one of the best bangs for buck that a person could get their hands on. It was basically a 230hp Neon with potential for a lot more power.

Back in 1993 Dodge produced their last and best Dodge Daytona. It was a 224hp turbo-charged sports coupe with more style than the SRT-4 and nearly as much power.

I’m not an expert on turbo Dodges, there is a whole club about all the turbo Dodges that were ever made. I did find this great write up about the Dodge Daytona R/T IROC at starbangers.com. It is a Motor Trend article from 1993.

There is also a green Dodge Dayton IROC on Autotrader right now with only 19k miles for $9,950.

That may sound like a lot for a 15 year old Dodge. This IROC is one of 800 so it is a rare turbo Dodge and it has amazingly low mileage.

These cars paved the way for the modern Dodge turbos and packed a serious punch, but they have some design flaws, but there is a good aftermarket and body of knowledge to help a Dodge owner fix those flaws.

And of course if you want more information about anything Dodge or Chrysler you can always a wealth of information at www.allpar.com

2008 Challenger SRT8 – the $64,000 Question

garythepowers — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:23:05 +0000

Today I saw first Dodge Challenger in real life. It was at a Dodge dealership. The Challenger sat in the dead center of showroom. It was black and beautiful.

The Dodge Challenger SRT8 is a 425hp retro muscle car powered by a 6.1liter hemi V8 and is one of the most anticipated revivals of a great muscle car since the release of the 2005 Mustang.

Dodge chose to release the hot-rodded up SRT8 first. Normally a manufacturer will save the release of their high-powered model until a year or two in the production cycle. Not so with the Challenger. If you would like a normal 5.7 hem V8 or even a V6 in your Challenger you will have to wait a year or so until those models are released.

Back to the black Challenger I saw today. The Challenger is even better looking real life and at a MSRP of $40k is a fair price for a 425hp time machine to the muscle car glory years.

However, $41k wasn’t the final sticker price on the window of the SRT8. There was a significant market adjustment added to the sticker. It was an adjustment of $23,900! That “market adjustment” is more than I paid for my own 400hp GTO.

This “market adjustment” sends reasonably priced Challenger SRT8 from $40k to $64,000. And that is waaaayyyyyy too much. Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge have plenty of other SRT8 vehicles that you can your hands on for $20,000 less or even more if you look to the used car market.

The Challenger has been Car of the Day for me in the past and it may be again someday when they gently used Challengers start hitting the used car market.

Dodge Challenger SRT8 — Retro Cool

garythepowers — Mon, 05 May 2008 02:22:44 +0000

Ever wish you could go back in time and buy that special muscle car that all the collectors are after? Perhaps you want a Hemi Cuda with a 427.

There is some good news from the Chrysler Corporation. Dodge has a killer new car that is out right now. The Dodge Challenger is the modern revival of the great muscle car from years past.

It is retro-cool and has modern power.

This bad boy is the SRT8 flavor and if you know anything about SRT8’s they come packing a 6.1 liter V8 engine that is good for 425hp. It can cover a ¼ mile in 13.2 seconds. This blast from the past can hit 60 in 5 seconds or less.

So you can search your city, county or state far and wide for the cherry muscle car that was new when LBJ was president. You can hope it is a super low mileage example that’s been sitting in an old lady’s garage for the last 30 years. Perhaps you might find your ultimate collectible that has been restored from the frame up. Of course those specimens tend to cost more than many new cars.

So go hunting for the ultra-rare classic collectible or buy the modern one with all the modern techniques. Because no matter how nostalgic you are the facts prove that this modern car would smoke most of the muscle cars for yesteryear.