Some of you may know I bought a new 09 SRT8 Every Option 6 Speed Challenger. I saved my money from the very day I saw the first concept at MATS several years ago and then I paid cash for that car. Anyhow, that car was BITCHEN. It ruled the freeway and I loved the Navigation and the sunroof and I loved the sound going through the gears etc...

BUT: It had extremely bad wheel hop and it also TOTALLY let me down at the track. Basically it was a dog. I have talked to a couple people that are "in the know" and they told me those cars are "all over the place". Performance wise. Needless to say I could not get a good start because of the wheel hop issue, but regardless, it only would run 101 MPH at Fontana. And, that was with the air filter out. At Irwindale it picked up 2 MPH in the 1/8th removing the filter. So I suspect at Fontana, totally stock with the filter in it might have only run 99MPH?? SHEESH! Sure it probably would pick up a couple MPH if I could get a better launch, but it is NEVER going to be 108MPH where it should be or even close. Me and Sloan talked about it in depth and he even asked the Guys over at Westech for me and no one could offer a solution. You can't just take it to the dealer and say "it only ran 101 in the quarter with the air filter removed. Something's wrong".

Needless to say, I SOLD the car after 4 months and 5700 miles of driving it every day. Lost $9500. I could not deal with it, so it had to go.......

Here is the BIGGEST [Edited by Moparts - Keep it clean] I have. I want to get another one. But I have no way of figuring out how to make sure I get a good one. Buy a used one that you know a Guy had been racing it? Do you think a dealer would guarantee the car's performance?

There is a couple RTs at my local track that are fast and seem to be running somewhat consistent. I don't know enough about them to give you solid input lol.

i have heard the R/T's are actually better than the SRT's performance wise.


Casey

Why not just take it for a test drive on a stret drag night at the track? Tell the salesman if it runs 107+ in the 1/4, you'll buy it.

There does seem to be great disparity between what some of the SRT8's run compared to the others. I've been racing with a group of late model LX guys recently and some of the cars run hard, while others don't.



If i was in the market i'd be looking at an R/T, but i wish you could get the nicer SRT seats as an option.

It's strange, but I had NO interest in throwing mods at that car "just to get it to run what it should". Plus I had the car and already paid good money for it. I was not going to spend a lot more $$ on it modding it. It was not intended to race. It was my daily driver. I have the Valiant to race. It was just a MAJOR dissapointment when I took it to the track.

I also posted this because I think you Guys should know what is going on. There is a good percentage of dogs out there in the Challenger world.

I get darn near every magazine there is and I saw lots of articles. Every magazine tested SRT8 Ran 108 or 109, did not matter if it was an auto or 6 Speed. I think Dodge supplied some ringers. Very few (if any) regular production cars have run that dead stock that I have seen. Of course I don't know everything, I guess........

What the...?? You lost 9500 on a new Chally because of wheel hop and didn't run what the mags said it would????? But it wasn't a race car as you've said. Wow...

So what was your answer was when a buyer said "Why are you selling it?"

Wow, I think I would have been upset too, but I don't think I would have sold it because it won't run the number. It's interesting there can be that much difference between cars.

I just got home yesterday with a R/T Classic. I would not consider it a race car but just like the old days of HOT RODDING, you sometimes have to "work harder" to be fast. There are a lot of mods avaliabe. Go to the track more than once, make one change at a time, sometimes you will go faster, sometimes slower but you will learn something each pass. The elusive 107 MPH is out there,You just needed to look a little farther.

its a heavy car...

I read your post and I couldnt believe you just sold it like that...how was the car on the street?

theres a guy near me that has one..its an R/T with the 5.7 hemi...I asked him how was the performance...he said it was adequate..he said it was no race car in no means but likes the car..

you have to do what makes you happy...

I think I would have at least taken to a chassis dyno. and then figure out the wheel hop issue. But its your car...or was..so you have a right to do what you wanted with it.

Since buying my Challenger Rt I have gotten quite intimate with them and learned alot. My Rt ran 13.12 @ 108 bone stock (with the air filter removed). Several people from this board were even there to see it run that day. On the same token my friends with an SRT8 6 spd are having the same issues you described. The wheel hop is unbearable and the car ran low 14's at just 100 mph. They added some drag radials and ran a 13.30 @ 106...but still not where my 5.7 ran stock. Something seems wrong to me with this.

Like you mentioned "getting a good one" can be elusive. There does seem to be a wide variation of performance in these cars.

Knowing what I know now, if I was to buy another one I would definitely get an automatic, and buy used from a guy that has some performance numbers to back the car up. Plus you won't take the $9K+ hit.

As mentioned, the RT's seem to be running with the SRT's and sometimes better. It is becoming more common to see the RT running low 13's with the auto.

Good luck if you decide to buy another one.

That really sucks, is there a difference between cali cars and non? can the computer read a lower grade fuel in cali and pull timing?

i have also heard the 5.7 are faster, how embarrasing

most likely the magazines are using "corrected" times in print so you cant really go by that

Did you figure out what those numbers would be at sea level?(Corrected altitude) my friend ran a 13.2 with a bone stock 5.7 auto.at e town. I seen some 6.1s running high 12s with just drag radials.I think if you worked on your launch with some drag radials you could have done better.then again it could have been 1 of those cars built on a friday night or monday morning if you know what I mean! My 07 charger r/t runs 14.0 at 100 with my wife driving. If you buy another, get a 5.7, it'll probably run just as fast and you can save a few bucks this time. Good luck.

For the money you spent on that overweight JUNK, you could have built a REAL (and waaaaaay better looking) Chally and had a fast car.

I hate to say it, but I think you jumpped the gun, Those 20" rims on them cant help in your dilemma. I agree the 9500 you lost would have "fixed" your suspension issues...



Kasey