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A lot of new car buyers are not magazine racing their cars. So a few tenths in 0-60 is not their prime concern. They shop IMO for a window of performance, and within that window they add a myriad of other factors and preferences which sway their decision.
Sure, if your buying a Challenger or anything else to primarily be a drag strip car, then such differences matter. If your buying it because you enjoy the look, the size, the ride and handling dynamics, and that fact that it is at the quicker end of the spectrum, whether or not it will beat a Mustang GT at the drag strip is irrelevant.
A lot of new car buyers are not magazine racing their cars. So a few tenths in 0-60 is not their prime concern. They shop IMO for a window of performance, and within that window they add a myriad of other factors and preferences which sway their decision.
Sure, if your buying a Challenger or anything else to primarily be a drag strip car, then such differences matter. If your buying it because you enjoy the look, the size, the ride and handling dynamics, and that fact that it is at the quicker end of the spectrum, whether or not it will beat a Mustang GT at the drag strip is irrelevant.
Yup. that is me.
I do not need HP, or specifications that I am never ever going to use just to I can say to someone "My car has better numbers than yours" I want a car with enough acceleration to be fun to drive. It does not have to be the most fun possible, just fun. Then I want a car that is comfortable, classy, stylish, practical for my daily needs (or fun to drive in a parade or dream cruise or something). How often am I going to take it out on a track? Never, not once. How often am I going to drive over 110 mph in my car? Never probably. How often am I going take on a driver at a stop light who is exactly equal to me in every type of skill, ability, physical condition, weight, reaction time, and who is in a lane with the exact same conditions that i am such that a tenth or five of difference in 0-60 time will make a difference? Almost definitely never. Will I ever be in a situation where I need an extra tenth of a second of acceleration to avoid a collision? If I am, I will probably not avoid the collision.
A mustang may be faster than a Challenger but:
1. It is far too common.
2. It is pretty bland looking.
3. It is less comfortable.
4. The back seats and trunk are essentially useless.
So for me, the Challenger is fast enough. I do not need to toast every mustang or WRX out there. In many cases if I want to toast a mustang, I will accomplish it because I am driving a manual and am more experienced than the mustang kids. I will toast the WRX because it is all weighted down with silly plastic attachments intended to make it look faster (they never seem to realize the only exterior attachment that makes a car actually go faster is flames painted on the sides) and because the 16-19 year old driver has no idea how to drive his car.
Anyway, if you do not lose sometimes, it is boring. Not a challenge at all.
*sigh* The R/T is a 5 second car...and the SRT will do it in 4. Where do you guys get this idea that the Challenger is some lazy, tipsy road-boat that only looks the part?
Beyond that, it's really an "apples to oranges" comparison in the end. Cars like the Challenger aren't even competing with the imports; it's two different experiences driving a huge RWD v8 vs a small 4 banger rice-rocket.
And here in UT a new STI would cost about $10K more than I paid for the R/T, BTW.
The new RTs either got lighter or a bit more power because they used to be a mid 5 car. I also like how you used the more expensive STi as an example when I already compared the performance/price of just a newer WRX. Why would you even use the STi as an example when the WRX by itself is a better performer than the RT?
I do not need HP, or specifications that I am never ever going to use just to I can say to someone "My car has better numbers than yours" I want a car with enough acceleration to be fun to drive. It does not have to be the most fun possible, just fun. Then I want a car that is comfortable, classy, stylish, practical for my daily needs (or fun to drive in a parade or dream cruise or something). How often am I going to take it out on a track? Never, not once. How often am I going to drive over 110 mph in my car? Never probably. How often am I going take on a driver at a stop light who is exactly equal to me in every type of skill, ability, physical condition, weight, reaction time, and who is in a lane with the exact same conditions that i am such that a tenth or five of difference in 0-60 time will make a difference? Almost definitely never. Will I ever be in a situation where I need an extra tenth of a second of acceleration to avoid a collision? If I am, I will probably not avoid the collision.
A mustang may be faster than a Challenger but:
1. It is far too common.
2. It is pretty bland looking.
3. It is less comfortable.
4. The back seats and trunk are essentially useless.
So for me, the Challenger is fast enough. I do not need to toast every mustang or WRX out there. In many cases if I want to toast a mustang, I will accomplish it because I am driving a manual and am more experienced than the mustang kids. I will toast the WRX because it is all weighted down with silly plastic attachments intended to make it look faster (they never seem to realize the only exterior attachment that makes a car actually go faster is flames painted on the sides) and because the 16-19 year old driver has no idea how to drive his car.
Anyway, if you do not lose sometimes, it is boring. Not a challenge at all.
You can say you would smoke a WRX, but anyone that has compared the 2 knows that's not true. Also what plasticky attachments are you referring to on the WRX?
Coworker has a Challenger SRT-8. I get to drive it once in a while. I'm a Mustang/Corvette guy and get to drive them frequently as well as own a Mustang.
Impressions??
It's a boat with huge blind spots. I cant even see the front of the hood and i'm 6'1". It feels like a big car. Handles ok, acceleration from a roll is awesome. From a dead stop, you can feel the weight. Interior is ok. Exterior styling is awesome. The Brembo brakes are cool
Mechanically? He has a lot of issues with it. Still under warranty and dealer can't even fix them. Every 1-2 months he gets a CEL for a lean code. Dealer has replaced O2's and reflashed the ECU and still gets it. He's so sick of bringing it in that I just use my OBD-2 reader to clear it for him now. The trans sticks in gear after parking. It's so bad that he now parks it in neutral. Known issue, brought it to two different dealers and they recommend "not parking it in gear". The issue is a throw-out bearing and he can't get a dealer to actually fix it. Original tires were done at 18K miles. He's not a hot-rodder..this was normal wear on all 4 tires
Other than that..cool car. I wouldn't own one, but I like them
The trans sticks in gear after parking. It's so bad that he now parks it in neutral. Known issue, brought it to two different dealers and they recommend "not parking it in gear". The issue is a throw-out bearing and he can't get a dealer to actually fix it.
It's actually the wrong type of grease used on the input shaft. He really needs to get it taken care of while it's under warranty, have him take it back and refer the dealership to star center case K38556860.
You can say you would smoke a WRX, but anyone that has compared the 2 knows that's not true. Also what plasticky attachments are you referring to on the WRX?
Heck I can smoke WRX's in an old Camaro Z28. The reason? WRX is a car for kids. Kids do not know how to drive them. They get excited and stall them, or turn them sideways, end up over a curb, start late. . .
Not to mention all that plasticy junk they stick on them gets in the way:
Actually most of what I see is worse that these, but they are the pictures I could find readily. Pretty typical, just less extreme than what a lot of these kids do.
Last edited by Coldjensens; 05-30-2013 at 03:33 PM..
Heck I can smoke WRX's in an old Camaro Z28. The reason? WRX is a car for kids. Kids do not know how to drive them. They get excited and stall them, or turn them sideways, end up over a curb, start late. . .
Not to mention all that plasticy junk they stick on them gets in the way:
Actually most of what I see is worse that these, but they are the pictures I could find readily. Pretty typical, just less extreme than what a lot of these kids do.
You might beat an inexperienced driver, but car for car, no. And you do realize that I can google search American Muscle and find a bunch of ricey stuff to right? You sound like an old fart that thinks that all imports and their owners do that to their cars when in reality, about .001% do it. Face it, most boosted 4 cylinders are better performance machines than your coveted muscle. Also I speak from experience. I used to own(and loved it) a 67 Camaro with a mildly built 327, estimated at about 310-320hp. Guess which is faster in a straight line between it and my WRX wagon?
I used to own(and loved it) a 67 Camaro with a mildly built 327, estimated at about 310-320hp. Guess which is faster in a straight line between it and my WRX wagon?
My guess would be the uglier of the two.
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