Having some convos with some people on a Charger and 300 .... Is the 8 speed trans the best ? 5 speed no so good ? Been quite impressed on the potential of up to 33 hwy mpg with a lite foot ... What say you ?

LX models all 2011 and up came with 8 speed trans and 3.6 engine .
The 3.6 and NAG 5spd only came in Jeep GC and durango early on and all JK models with auto trans.The new wrangler now has an 8spd.
The NAG/Mercedes 5spd is a good trans , but the 8spd is snappier and probably better mileage.

Thx pb ... I thought I had heard that there were some years of the engines and trans to avoid ... So all 3.6s 2011 and up have an 8 speed ? The hp and torque #s are diff from the years ?

I don't think all 2011's were 8 spd. My 2011 Charger with the 3.6 is a 5 spd. Built May of 2011. I really like the combo of power & fuel economy for that size car.

Does the 8 speed have better OD numbers ? How's the mpg on your Charger with the 5 speed ?

If you want mileage stay away from the sport package 3.6 in the 300.
My wife had a 2012 with 3.6 and the 8 speed and it easily got 33-35 mpg.

She wanted more bells and whistles so she traded it in on a 2014 S.

Rides stiffer, terrible mileage 24-26 the best.
It sure is faster but who cares with a 300.

My recollection is 2012 was the first 8 speed.

As far as engine itself, I believe it's 2014 when they went with the "more robust" heads that corrected the lifter tick issue on 3.6. Look into it to be sure on year, but it was a bit of a problem. Otherwise, great engine.

I bought a 300 almost 2 years ago with 3.6. It was a 2013 model. At the time I read that there was a problem with heads dropping valve seat inserts but it had been sorted by 2012. Don't know if that is still good info. The 3.6 and 8 speed is a nice combo in these cars. Can get 30mpg on the highway. Overall average is 20mpg in mostly city driving.

Kinda apples and oranges, Doc, but Sept. '17 we bought a '16 Challenger SXT w/ the 3.6 and 8 spd. auto that was pulling 23-24 around town. Never had a chance to take it on the road. It was hit in the rear and totalled several weeks ago. We have replaced it w/ an almost identical '17. I checked the mileage this afternoon and it was 22.4.
IIRC, 3.6 Challengers got the 8 spd. in '15.
Like I said, apples and oranges....


Tim

Doc Fiberglass.

It has 148K on it right now. Trips between Detroit and KY are in the low 30's for MPG if you keep it below 75 MPH. My city/highway combined ranges from 22-26 depending on how much you're into the gas. Cold weather ie (0-32F) seems to hit mileage as well.

Bought my 2012 SE 3.6 8spd brand new. Mid 20's commuting and low to mid 30's @ 75mph. Without the paddle shifters the trans programing is set for mpg not performance, that's the only thing I don't like, no ability to manually shift in the SE model

Here's an article that may be helpful as far as the 3.6 goes. States warranty extended on some 3.6 engines 2011 thru 2013 engines, 150,000 miles.

http://www.autonews.com/article/20140616...me-2011-13-v-6s

Check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHVWD-SXQiQ

we basically stopped putting heads on them after 2012. But with as many we have out there in fleet vehicles we see a lot of cam followers loosing their rollers, and taking out a cam. lucky forthe customer you can put all 4 cams all followers and lifters for like 8 bucks lol...

Seriously though the cams are somewhere around 65 bucks, and the followers are a couple bucks.

But if you change your oil under 5000 miles and keep your idle times under several hours a day theres never a issue.

My wifes van is a 14 with 50K, and I literally havent touched it other than oil changes at 3-4000 miles and shes pretty good about telling me if anything odd has happened...

Its a great powerful lil engine. The updates they made in 17-18 are pretty good. Changed the top end to variable cam profiles with a nifty roller follower, and they raised the compression. awesome tech...

THX guyz .... how's the aero diff between the 300 and the Charger?