Archive for the ‘SRT8’ Category

It's hard not to think of Chrysler 300C SRT8, a big, boxy sedan, powered by a mammoth 6.1-liter V-8 engine, as a novelty…and a prime example of the type of vehicle whose days are numbered.

For years we've been hearing that there's no replacement for displacement, no substitute for big cubes, but times are changing. With the new 2010 Taurus SHO, Ford has shown that it's possible to engineer a large performance sedan with just six cylinders, thanks to its turbocharged 'EcoBoost' line of engines. But it's going to be a challenge to keep these honkin' big-displacement V-8s around in large numbers, considering the new fuel economy and...

The low-riding, mean-looking, top-of-the-line Chrysler 300C SRT8 feels like a mature high-performance luxury sedan—big 6.1-liter V-8 under the hood; rich-sounding audio system inside, backed up when you need it by a punchy Kicker sub in the trunk; and classy, supple black leather seats with grippy, ventilated suede inserts.

Seems about the most refined and adult you can get without a walnut-trimmed drinks cabinet, cigar case, and Jeeves, right?

How about [drum roll] satellite TV entertainment?

Just when it seemed to good to be true, it was. You see, all that would tune in inside this sophisticated, high-performance, very adult sedan...

Things just got a little more interesting in the musclecar world: Chrysler has bumped up the price of the 2010 Dodge Challenger SRT8 to $41,230. That's an increase of $1010 over the 2009 model.

What this might mean for the Challenger isn't sure. On the one hand, the price jump makes the 2010 model about $8000 more expensive than the similarly performance-minded 2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS, which has a base price of $33,430. Moreover, the Challenger is about 400 pounds heavier than the Camaro, but that weight doesn't translate into additional power. (The Challenger boasts 425 hp, the Camaro clocks in at 426 hp.)

It's a little harder to compare...