Late model Challenger Q’s

Hi All
Considering buying a used late model challenger. I know nothing about them . The goal would be to have a fair weather cruiser and to be able to drive to the drag strip and race it as well. An SRT isn’t out of reach but a 5.7 would be fine. Any years to stay away from , any engine size better that another?
Options to look for ?
Is anyone racing a stick car with any consistency?
Is. There a stick car class?

.....Is anyone racing a stick car with any consistency?.......

Is that a serious question??

Wheel hop is an issues with the stick shift cars.

I can't launch my 2010 Challenger SRT at any serious rpm without bad wheel hop.
The first pass I tried to do a 4k rpm launch and thought the rear end was coming out of the car.
I have to launch it soft which kills ET.
Best I've got so far is a 13.05 with a soft launch (although my car isn't completely stock).
I have upgrades planned that are supposed to help, 17 inch drag radials are supposed to help a lot.
I've already bought the wheels, gotta buy tires next.

If you want to simply play and have fun at the track a stick is a blast as long as they have a stick class.

If you want to be consistent, an automatic is the way to go.

It is and if that bothers you pal either tune out or strap in because I’ve been known to ask much more serious questions than that .

Thanks appreciate the input.

Dodge Challengers are great cars. The 2015-current Challengers are the ones to get. Buy the newest one you can afford.

If you want to race - the 6.4 Hemi is the way to go. NOTE: The 6.4 Hemi requires 0W40 synthetic oil and 91+ octane fuel.

Stock 5.7 Hemi Challengers are fast, but they are slower than a 5.0 Mustang or LT1 powered Camaro. You will need to mod the 5.7 to be competitive with a Mustang and Camaro.

With regards to automatic vs manual transmission - it all depends on which transmission you can live with on a daily basis.

If you like shifting gears all the time - get a Challenger with a manual transmission. If not - get one with the automatic transmission.

Like SNK-EYZ said - the automatic is more consistent.

Good luck!

I guess what year to get is a personal preference depending on what your future plans for the car are.

Are you going to leave it stock or modify it?

If the future plans include a supercharger a 6.1 is a better choice, otherwise go with a 6.4.
A little research will show you that.

My car is a 6.1 with a Comp Cam, kooks headers with high flow cats and an Arrington 85mm throttle body.
Obviously it's been tuned (HP Tune) and it did 417 rwhp so at that least puts it on par with a stock 6.4 (from their math it's supposed to be 490 flywheel roughly).
Someday when the budget allows I want to put a supercharger on it.

Personally I don't care for all the newer dash electronics on the 2015 and newer, I do love the newer interiors more.

I newer would have thought I'd see the day where the size of the touch screen in the dash is a selling point.

My Sister in Law let me make some passes in her 2020 Scat pack TA shaker with the 6.4L and the 6 speed stick. It was horrible to launch on the stock tires. The first gear is stupid tall and by the time you get enough RPM in the launch it will spin and tire hop. The clutch was super smooth but so light it was hard to get a feel for. I bogged a few passes really bad getting a feel for the clutch and when I got after it enough it spun then tire hopped really bad. I gave the keys back after I got totally smoked by a 1320 Challenger. I think that 8 speed had banged out 3 gears before the 6.4 was able to get up on that stupid 1st gear ratio.

I have heard the 6.4L stick cars have the same trans gearing as the hellcat which would explain the super tall 1st gear.

Sticks can work, 392 challenger bone stock on nitto DR's. 12.46 @ 110

Your questions sound similar to some of mine before buying a 1320 last year.

What are your performance expectations / goals?

Do you want to go rounds in bracket racing, or have fun at the test & tune?

Is swapping wheels either at the track or at home before driving to the track an option?

So we bracket race a bb duster that we are considering selling. Was looking to simplify. Asking questions about stick cars as I have never track raced one, and I thought a stick version would be more fun on the street as that would be the primary use .
Changing tires wouldn’t be an issue , but it’s looking like a stick would be .

If I had it to do over again, I'd go with the automatic.

Bought a '09 SRT8 new. 6.1L with 6 speed. I agree the wheel hop is ridiculous. But maybe the autos are just as bad??

My
- buy an auto
- get some extra 17" or 18" rear wheels to mount track-day tires that have taller sidewalls than the standard 20" setup does; sidewall height has a LOT to do w/ whether you get wheel hop from my experience (and what others told me before I took their advice)
- 2015+ was supposed to be a significant change for the better and would have been one of my deciding factors had I been looking for a used Chally
- a 6.4 / 392 car is a basic 12-sec (or faster) car w/ a good launch
- seems like "everyone" who buys a 5.7 wishes they bought a 6.4 in the first place and throws $$$ into them trying to go as fast as (or faster than) a stock 6.4
- there are no budget mods for the 6.4 / 392 cars that really make a big difference from what I see; if you know you want a low 11 or high 10 ET, it's probably not the right choice
- seems like "everyone" who buys a 6.4 wishes they bought a Hellcat, but ya' gotta draw at the line somewhere

I've posted some stuff on my 1320 which you may find of interest...

Thanks you have all given food for thought .
Will be back with more qS once we start looking at cars .

I think the auto is the way to go too. 8 speed in 2015 up and that is a big improvement over the nag1 in the older models. Get a paddle shifter if it doesn't already have it. Also, if you buy, make sure it doesn't have any cam/lifter issues. That "hemi tick". If you get one with a 5.7, I recommend upgrading the oil pump to eliminate future lifter/cam issues. This raises the PSI at idle to those areas. I forget if the 6.4 has that issue or not.

It is not the oil pressure at idle causing the lifter failure, they have the same (usually more actually) oil pressure they did in 03-08 and I have never seen one of those go bad. They changed the needle bearings in the roller tip in 2009 when they re-designed the lifter for more lift and they are small needles and shrouded from splash oil. Just like how a shopping buggy wheel is so small it gets stuck on a peanut on the floor a tiny needle gets stopped by a tiny particle and makes the lifter start sliding on the cam instead of rolling on the cam like how a freight train wheel would roll over a peanut. It is a lifter problem and nothing else.

As for the car the original poster is asking about buying I would take the manual hands down any day of the week but it really is a personal preference. Also if I had the money I would get a 6.4, they will smoke a 6.1, they got better heads, better cam, better exhaust, better intake more compression... however if you get a 5.7 then a 6.4 is a bolt in later on down the road.

Plenty of older hemis on youtube complaining about ticking as well. Many of these people saying it is a lubrication problem. I am not an expert on this subject but more oil pressure isn't going to hurt, especially at idle. Hellcat pumps put out more oil pressure than the 5.7, I am sure they have different cam / lifters too but haven't seen any people talking about hellcats ticking or wiping cams out. They also produce more heat. Just my

The tick in the earlier motors is usually a broken exhaust bolt (I have fixed a lot of them that other shops say are not broken presumably because they don't want to deal with broken bolts)or pushrod/rockers worn, never seen or even heard of a lifter roller going bad in the 08 and earlier engines. Also I have never seen a new hemi of any year drop below 20 PSI at hot idle with the correct oil in it. I have a stock 200,000 mile 5.7 pump in my 6.4 with piston oil squirters and it still don't drop below 25 PSI with 240 oil temp after towing with 5-20 oil. The lifters failure almost if not totally quit when they updated the lifters to larger needle bearings not the oil pump. There is a lot of bad info on youtube regarding these engines, how the oiling system works, MDS causing all the problems (I have tons of bad lifters from engines that never had MDS) and the reason behind certain failures. I have a nearly full 5 gallon bucket of bad lifters all but one set are 09-12, the other set is 2013 and were the small needles, at any given moment I have half a dozen bad cams in my scrap metal bin.

In the case of my sister in laws car that I raced those drag radials would have made all the difference in the world. I ran that same MPH but I think 13.8 or so was the best and that was the run I had to pedal it out of horrendous tire hop. The other runs I bogged it sooooo bad lol.

I havent been on the scene with those cars since I sold mine but didnt they fix the wheel hop issues in 2015? I know the older stick cars were brutal for it.

Nope. My 1320 w/ the OEM Nexen 275/40R20 drag radials either dead-hooks or spins & hops. I can only imagine how bad a stick car can be.

That's one of the reasons for suggesting extra wheels to use tires with taller sidewalls that absorb a lot of the hit. My car may not have hooked 100% of the time since I started using 305/40R18 ET Street S/S, but it hasn't hopped w/ 'em.

No. Run a diff brace.
https://www.getper4mance.com/product-page/standard-brace-kit

Re diff brace: if the car is still under warranty, has a braced added, and there is a differential problem, the dealer will not honor the warranty for that issue. Despite any argument that a brace should reduce issues, this is what I've been told.

I have no doubt that is true, unless Stellantis issues a statement stating otherwise very specifically. The rears seem to have proven themselves to be the weak link in the drivetrain when pushed hard on sticky tracks.

I believe the OP was looking for a used car.

The autos are quicker everywhere...drag strip or road course. I have a 2010 SRT 6spd that has gone 13:10 at 109 sliding the clutch and slipping the tires. Wheel hop is a problem. The 6.4 auto cars will run 12.20 off the show room floor all day.
I have dedicated drag cars, so I now road course mine. Mostly at Sebring and Daytona. Motor is bone stock and at Daytona it will see 167 MPH at the Start /Finish line lap after lap.
Here is a video of me toying with a BMW M2 that was lighter and "claimed" more horse power. Towards the end you see me leave a ZL1 Camaro in the corners. The ZL1 with almost 250 more horsepower smoked me on the long straight.
Amazing how many people come up to me and say " I had no clue Challengers could turn".
check out... https://youtu.be/fmINjZazD4M