2014 Charger SRT-8

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Originally Posted By: Nick1994
What was the manufacture date on it? Battery life might not be very good if it's been on the lot a long time, although you guys in Canada get long life out of batteries compared to us in hot Arizona, you're extremely lucky to get 3 years here.


Will check.
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Wow, this is wild - you and I both replaced beloved cars! Mine is far more, um, benign...


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Originally Posted By: Clevy


The bimmer needed work,which doesn't come cheap. Then he got 20k off just cause plus the trade in on the bimmer.
I would bet my house the out the door cost on the charger wasn't much more than the cost to fix the bimmer.
Might even be less.

So do tell. Considering the money the bimmer needed to get up to snuff and the actual out the door cost for the charger basically he got a brand new car for the cost of fixing a 15 year old bimmer.


Yes, I could certainly sell it for more than I paid but the above isn't quite as dramatic as depicted. I got $20K (roughly) off sticker, which was ~60K (plus the options, which were not factored into the price, so our base here is 60K). That leaves us at 40K, minus the trade on the bimmer, which was $12K, so just under $30 + fees and tax and stuff. I ended up back in the mid 30's basically.

There's a 2015 on the lot, USED, with far, FAR more miles on it than I've put on this so far (it has been a demo for the last 6 months to a year, whenever the 2015's came out) with similar options and is wearing a $60K price tag right now. A base Pentastar V6 stickers for $43K (new). Actually, the one on the lot, which is the same colour as mine is basically this:

http://www.autotrader.ca/a/Dodge/Charger...p;orup=3_15_286

That's $58,000 for a USED car
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Here's a used 2014 SRT-8:
http://www.autotrader.ca/a/Dodge/Charger...p;orup=8_15_286

@ $50,000.

I think I did well for a new one at $10,000 less than that
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Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
What does this SRT-8 run in the 1/4 mile ?


My buds in Florida air routinely run around 12.5 at 112-114 mph on street tires...
 
Just that head unit is a marvel, I can't wait till you get to playing with all those features.

Man, you are going to have so much fun...
 
Congratulations on a great deal on an awesome car! What are your driving impressions on it compared to the BMW?
 
Originally Posted By: ExMachina
2016 Camaro is shrinking in size slightly, should perform better with that lower mass, and gets modified Cadillac ATS suspension components for one bad-rearend ride!
That's the one to get.
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Yes, but I am disappointed in that I thought that it was going to be dropping like 600 lbs. (or more) off of the 5th gen platform heft, not just about 200 lbs.
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Still, a lighter weight, stripped down, Z28/1LE version with the correct powerplant (NOT boosted) will be a super car.
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Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: KrisZ
Very nice ride. Congrats!
Those seats look very comfortable.


They are VERY nice, I'm quite pleased with it thus far.

Another pic, this one in the driveway:

ChargerSRT804.jpg



NICE!!

That thing looks like it is going to bite your head off just sitting there!

CONGRATS
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Just got back from the cottage with my buddy, we drove the Charger there and back, put about 400Km on it. Extremely comfortable, got great gas mileage (relatively speaking) and the heated and cooled seats and cup holders served us well.

On the way back there was a massive storm so I got to test out the rain sensing wipers (which the BMW had) and they worked extremely well, and the headlights are also fantastic, which helped with visibility in the inclement weather.

It does the same thing as the BMW in that with excessive airflow over the rad and low load, it sheds a lot of heat, so highway temps were down around 85-90C (185-194F), whereas in town doing lots of tooling around with low airflow it will get up to around 100C (212F).
 
The Charger update that dodge did some years ago was fantastic. They really hit the nail on the head with their retro look\update. One of the best looking cars on the road today in my opinion. Great catch there man
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Originally Posted By: bbhero
The Charger update that dodge did some years ago was fantastic. They really hit the nail on the head with their retro look\update. One of the best looking cars on the road today in my opinion. Great catch there man
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Thanks!

I'm going to borrow a Witech pod and make sure all the systems on the car are up-to-date too, since I can, LOL!
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Having access to the dealer stuff is another big plus.

I'm almost at 1,000Km on it now BTW, can't stop driving it!
 
Update for the ECM and update for the HVAC controller were both available. ECM went from AC to AE, HVAC was similar in terms of revision number. No mention on what was modified in the ECM update, but the HVAC update resolved an issue with the blower fan cutting out when set to "high", which is an issue I've heard of other Chrysler vehicle owners having.
 
OK, so a 1,000Km impressions update:

1. Seats: Excellent. Better than my wife's R/T Daytona, but not quite as good as those in the M5. However, the fact that they are also cooled makes up for that difference. They are extremely well bolstered and hold you firm when taking hard turns but are extremely comfortable for long drives (like the M5 seats).

Note that the rear seats also have the heated feature (not sure about the cooled part, I haven't checked).

2. Infotainment: The touchscreen is not quite as easy as using physical buttons. For example, the controls for the seat heat/cooling are part of a sub-menu on this display which makes it more complex than necessary. The screen is large and easy to read while driving however there is a large volume difference between sources like CD and iPod and the radio, which is a little odd. The GPS is fantastic and updates are just a USB key away and downloadable from the UConnect site.

On the SRT sub-menu which gives you ACT, coolant temp, oil temp, oil pressure, battery voltage....etc (along with a myriad of really cool performance features), you cannot choose a mix of Celsius and PSI. So if I'm choosing metric, I get Celsius an BAR, if I choose US, I get Fahrenheit and PSI. BAR is not a comfortable unit for me and I'd rather be able to blend PSI with Celsius, hopefully there's an update that addresses this.

3. Tuning: The three performance modes (normal, Sport and Track) modify the suspension and transmission tuning as well as throttle response. The "track" setting is quite aggressive, I find little need to deviate from "normal" while driving it, as the ride is excellent with the dampers at their stock settings, handling is limited by the tires as is traction. Shifts are firm enough to break the stock Goodyear tires free while in lower gears, this would be worse on the even firmer shift settings.

4. Engine: The engine has power everywhere. Not much more to say about that. The sound is incredible when the adaptive exhaust switches to the "open" position. Otherwise, it is actually quieter than the M5 except that at idle, it has a HEAVY baritone rumble that almost sounds like something is playing on a subwoofer. It is not overly loud, but definitely noticeable. As soon as you touch the gas, it is gone. My understanding is that the adaptive exhaust is open at idle and higher throttle settings but closed at part throttle, which explains this.

5. Transmission: I assume it is still learning my driving style. If you are gentle with the pedal it is very eager to jump out of first into second when I wish it would stay a little longer in first. So if you are pulling away from an intersection and decide to give it a bit more, instead of staying in first and rolling with that, it dips into second instead and drags a bit as you are just over 1,000RPM. Had it stayed in first, the acceleration I had desired would be right there. I can give it more and force a downshift or use the paddles but that makes no sense.

6. Audio quality: Sound is excellent, bass reproduction is good however the M5 stereo seemed to have more a bit more headroom in terms of allowable volume levels as well as greater configurability with the factory DSP. The speed sensitive volume is also not quite as naturally graduated/granular as the M5's was.

7. Features: The rain sensing wipers do not suffer the odd bug that the M5's had where if you did not shut off the wipers when you shut off the car that the adaptive feature would not work until you did that upon restart. These seem to adapt better to the rain speed as well IMHO.

The headlights are fantastic, though I've had at least one person high beam me (they are factory HID's) on a hill where I assume the suspension travel makes them a bit bright to oncoming traffic. This was something the auto adjusting headlights on the M5 prevented. Illumination and coverage for both high and lows is definitely equal to the M5's, perhaps actually better, which is impressive, as that car had phenomenal lights.

The interior illumination accents (lit door handle pockets, foot pockets, sills....etc) are a wonderful and appreciated feature and I've had a number of comments on them.

The auto dimming mirrors are great and work as well as the BMW's.

The proximity sensor (blind spot indicator) works great. The auto high beams are impeded by heavy rain and it sets a system warning which illuminates the proximity sensors indicating a system issue. Turning off the high beams clears the error and they work fine in light to moderate rain.

The centre console is awash with useful and customizable storage; it can be configured in a variety of ways to suit what you are putting in there. This is also where the USB port is for charging and tethering your phone and there is yet another 12V outlet in there (in addition to the other two). These items are padded/lined so there is no noise.

The heated/cooled cup holders are deep and hold anything I've put in them extremely well. This is a big advantage over the M5.

8. Brakes: Incredible. These are the best brakes I have EVER experienced. The big Brembo's are easily modulated and stop the big 4,400lb car with absolutely breathtaking authority. With better rubber I can only imagine how well they will work. This is probably the most marked difference over the BMW, which had brakes that, while good, were not anywhere NEAR the calibre of these.

9. Fit and finish: Fantastic, better than the R/T, but I think that's to be expected. Panel alignment and fitment is on-par with the BMW as is interior fit and finish.

The suede door panel inserts and luxurious arm rests/door close handles are fantastic and give a really high end feel to these tactile surface that you touch every day. It really adds to the character of the car.

The cruise control is on the wheel (like the M5) and feels very familiar (not like the R/T's). All of the stalks and auxiliary controls feel of high quality and have precise movement to them, no sloppiness/play. This really applies to any button you touch in the car, they all feel excellent.

10. Gauges/visibility: The gauges are great and extremely responsive. Same 0-300Km/h range as the M5's speedo, the tach is very fast and aligns well with the digital RPM read-out as does the temp gauge.

Visibility is much better than the 2006 R/T, the car feels less like you are driving a tank, though it does feel heavier. The greenhouse is not quite as open as the M5's but I definitely have no complaints about it. The fact that you can see the hood from the drivers seat I feel adds to the feeling of additional "heft" as this was not something you could do with the M5, which made it feel smaller than it was.

11. Ride: This is where you feel the similarity to the '06, some bumps that the M5 devoured you feel. However, it feels very confident on washboard and other thumps and bumps and this doesn't incite any funny noises or feelings from the chassis which feels confidently glued to the road. On a long drive, it feels just as nice as the bimmer in terms of suspension performance and general ride quality.

12. Mileage: $60.00 brings it to the "full" mark from 1/8th of a tank (very similar to the bimmer) and range on not 100% highway is better as long as your foot is out of it. I've put gas in it once (it came with a full tank) and still have over 1/4 of a tank at 1,000Km.


I will update further once I've put some more miles on it.
 
Originally Posted By: turtlevette
Mosport is right down the road!

I did laps with Ontario time attack a few years ago.


Sure is, only about 40 minutes away
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It won't see the track until it has better tires, these would be less than wonderful there.
 
This car on air ride or something? Or how does the suspension tuning work?

Every since your post i've been looking to see if there are any leftover SRT in my area, sadly none.
 
The car has electrically switched valving on the shocks. Regular progressive springs.

Full of little details like pad knockback mitigation and other outrageous tech. Very feature rich automobile that is unlike anything else made by Chrysler....
 
While I do like your car, I have but one question...

What is the long term reliability of a car with so many electronic features and/or electronically controlled features?

Have auto makers ironed out bugs/kinks in the past decade? Seeing all of the features and doo-dads on the car makes me grateful my CVPI doesn't even have keyless entry.
 
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