Dodge Charger SRT-8

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Never underestimate the power of something that looks this mean.

It's kinda easy to do, given that the Dodge Charger has been with us for 5 years now and a new one's on the way. We've seen it too many times in airport car rental lots and giggled as Mark Harmon and the gang on NCIS make the 6-cylinder ones they drive try to look menacing.

But five minutes in a Charger SRT-8 is enough to wipe that smirk right off my face...and replace it with a great big ear-to-ear grin.

                             

Tromp on the pedal of an SRT-8 and the rear of the car is what everyone else on the road is going to see.

Yes, it has a Hemi. 6.1 liters worth, putting out 425 horsepower with 420 pounds of torque. The 5-speed "AutoStick" automatic transmission is up to the task, though a real six-speed manual would be ideal.  Whatever...the point is brute strength and the Charger SRT-8 delivers big time.

According to the window sticker that came with our tester, it's the official passenger car of NASCAR, which makes perfect sense. This is what NASCAR used to be. Take a big standard car, stuff the hairiest engine possible under the hood and hang on.

Sophisticated?

Refined?

Elegant?

No...but a big barrel of fun for a reasonable price. Base is $38,180. Yeah, that is awfully close to $40K. Find me this much performance for less than this money and maybe I'll change my mind.

Of course, you can load these up and that's just what the Dodge PR people did. This one had the SRT Option Groups II and III, roughly $2,800 worth of options including an upgraded radio, 13 high performance speakers, a 322-watt amplifier, a 200-watt subwoofer, surround sound, Uconnect, iPod control, a security alarm and a nav system.

Throw in the power sunroof ($950), HID headlamps ($695), performance tire and wheel upgrade ($250), rear seat video system (in a sedan?) ($1,480) and the inevitable gas guzzler tax (13 city/19 highway) of $1,700 and your bottom line after $750 destination charge is $46,850.

If your heart and your bank balance say yes, there's a lot of fun to be had here.

Post Title → Dodge Charger SRT-8

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2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee Pricing

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The first of what's being described as a new product "avalanche" (though that's a Chevy, isn't it?) from Chrysler hits dealers next month and they're ready to talk price.

The 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee will start at $30,995 (including destination charges). That's for the Laredo 2 wheel drive model, and it's $495 lower than the entry-level price on the '10.

The Laredo 4x4 is $32,995. Next step up is the Limited 2wd at $37,495, Limited 4x4 at $39,995 and top of the line is the new Overland 2wd at $39,495...$42,995 for the 4x4.

Given that it'll be fairly easy with options to run an AWD Overland past the 50 large mark, there will be a $20,000 range of prices on the new Grand Cherokee.

Missing in action, at least for now, the Grand Cherokee SRT-8.  Engine choices are a 290 horsepower V6 and a 360 horsepower 5.7 liter V8.

Post Title → 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee Pricing

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Dodge Challenger SE Review

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So you want a Dodge Challenger, but can't swing either the price or insurance or gas for the Hemi-powered R/T or SRT-8?

$750 buys you the cosmetics that will make your six-cylinder SE look pretty darn good.

It's called the Rallye Group. 18" aluminum wheels, a bright fuel filler door, dual stripes, a carbon-fiber looking bezel on the instrument panel and a body-colored rear spoiler.

                             

Our tester was just as you see above...bright silver metallic with black stripes. It actually got more admiring looks than the last red Challenger that came through...possibly because those are seen so often.

Best part of the deal is the SE's base price of $22,735. Second best is the gas mileage: 17 city/25 highway.

If you can restrain yourself to the SE with the Rallye package, you'll come in around $26,200 with destination charges. But the tester Dodge sent loaded it up...Preferred Package 250, Sound Group, Leather Interior Group, Power Sunroof, Media Center....running the tab up to $31,175.

With my own money? Maybe the Sound Group for $645 (the media center is $1775 and while the hard drive and steering wheel controls are nice, most of that money is for a nav system...and I'm on the record as saying those are never money well spent....not when your cell phone probably has GPS mapping)...which would land just this side of 27 large.

At only 250 horsepower, you will get smoked at the stoplights by six-cylinder Camaros and Mustangs (and that's just the 2010 models...not the steroid sixes in the 2011 models)...but if it's looks you're after, this is pretty sweet.

Post Title → Dodge Challenger SE Review

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Hitman Challenger UPDATE: The Real Deal Revealed (updated 5:50 PM)

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The mystery (well, at least part of it) of "Hitman" and the $29,100 Dodge Challenger SRT-8 auction is over.

Brad Davis at Glenn E. Thomas Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep confirms that the dealership did honor the $29,100 auction as Hitman said...but for a different car of arguably higher value. 

Jonny Lieberman at Autoblog got it right...Hitman (real first name Alex) went home in a new 2010 Challenger SRT-8 instead of the 2009 with 500 miles on the odometer.  Davis tells me the '09 was sold to another client last week while the auction was in dispute.

Hitman was offered his pick of three 2010 Challenger SRT-8s and chose a black one. The '09 was blue.

Hitman also gets $2,000 worth of Mopar accessories of his choosing.

All this leaves his cheering section at the ChallengerTalk Forums wondering why "Hitman"s been so uncommunicative since taking delivery of the car on Saturday. If anything, he won bigger. A poster who says he talked to "Hitman" says he's under legal constraints about what he can discuss...but if so, why was Brad Davis so willing to divulge details?

Dunno. Tirekicker only pawn in game of life.



If you want more, there's still a fair amount of head-scratching going on at the ChallengerTalk forums, where the auction thread, started by "Hitman" on March 13, just had its 400,000th page view today. Pick it up from where we broke the story this afternoon here.

Post Title → Hitman Challenger UPDATE: The Real Deal Revealed (updated 5:50 PM)

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Challenger SRT-8 Auction Watch: The Hitman Cometh, Leaveth Questions

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Yesterday, we told you about the strange online silence of  "Hitman", the purported winner of a $29,100 eBay auction for a 2009 Dodge Challenger SRT-8.

Well, last night at 9:47PM PDT, "Hitman" surfaced on the forum, acknowledging, but not answering any of the questions:

A lot of questions and rumors definitely coming to light after this whole experience from different sources that are making claims. Many requests to post pictures and give an explanation of how it went down in the end.


Plan of posting pics and all that good stuff after I work on getting a couple of coats of wax and the right shine. It's only been a few days of driving it around and trying to do the proper break period as it has been suggested.


Been on the board every night reading everyone's posts in this thread and jumping around the ChallengerTalk.com board, learning more about the SRT8 and looking at what the proud owners have done to personalize theirs. This board has a lot to offer and maybe I will learn a few things along the way as well.

The ChallengerTalk forum members who rallied around "Hitman" when it appeared Glenn E. Thomas Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep of Signal Hill, California was going to refuse to give him the car (at first claiming a glitch erased their $42,000+ reserve...which eBay said didn't and couldn't happen) also cheered at "Hitman"'s posting early Sunday morning that "the dealership honored the $29.1K auction", along with this photo:

But now, as we reported, a lot of them are beginning to doubt the whole story...whether "Hitman" got the car in the auction....whether he got it for $29,100....whether he got a different car (fueled by a Jonny Lieberman piece on Autoblog which reported that the delership "did better than the right thing, selling Alex a 2010 Challenger SRT8 rather than the 250-mile car he won in the auction"---Jonny got the mileage wrong, it had 500)....whether he got any car, or whether "Hitman" is in fact the person who won that auction (eBay generates anonymous bidder IDs). 

And there are questions raised by the eBay bidding record for the auction, which shows the winning bid was $9,000 higher than the leading bid at the time...several hours before the end of the auction.

Does "Hitman's" post last night make ChallengerTalk members happy now? Not a chance. Just one response:

Sorry, I am really on the edge of calling BS here. (And I know I am an outsider, but still...)

You can take the time to post this dribble, but can not take the time to tell us what went down and what exactly you ended up buying? Also, a brand new car does not need to be waxed to shine.
Forget the pics, just tell the story.


Follow along, beginning with "Hitman's" post last night, here.

By the way, we checked...the SRT-8 in the auction is not in the dealership's online inventory as of this morning.

Post Title → Challenger SRT-8 Auction Watch: The Hitman Cometh, Leaveth Questions

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Where's 'Hitman" And His Car? (Updated 12:36 PM MST)

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The ChallengerTalk Forums have been on a rollercoaster ride the past week: Outrage over a member named "Hitman" being denied the keys to a 2009 Dodge Challenger SRT-8 after a $29,100 winning bid on eBay was disputed by Southern California dealer Glenn E. Thomas Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep....support for "Hitman" when it was announced that he and the dealer were going to sit down face to face last Friday after eBay announced there was no technical glitch, as the dealer had claimed.....and celebration when, just after 7:00 AM PST Sunday morning, "Hitman" posted the news that the dealership "honored the $29.1K auction", along with a photo that showed a key with a Glenn E. Thomas fob atop a Challenger brochure and a handwritten note reading "YES!"

One more post, three hours later...saying he was going to take it easy, read the owner's manual...and since then...silence. At least from "Hitman".  No more posts, no more photos.

From members of the forums? Well, a growing number of posters are questioning whether things are as they seem.  They don't really know "Hitman" (he'd only made two posts on the forum prior to starting the thread about his having won the auction on March 13).

An examination of the bidding record for the auction raises some questions, too. 15 bids were made for the SRT-8, by only 5 bidders.

March 12, a single bidder made 10 bids, ranging from $22,000 to $29,000, with no competing bids in between, in a four and a half hour period. These appear to be automatic bids.

And then comes "Hitman" (or so we're told, since eBay keeps actual bidder IDs confidential by assigning an anonymous bidder name)...who makes his one and only bid of $29,100.

But unless there's a glitch with eBay time stamps, that's weird, too...because the $29,100 bid is shown as having been made at 08:54:13 PST...and the 10-bid streak described above didn't start until 11:00:25 PST...more than two hours later. Which means "Hitman" chose $29,100 as his bid when the standing high bid was $20,100.

A last-moment hail-mary to shut out the competition? Maybe. Except "Hitman"'s winning bid was more than five hours before the auction closed. And eBay says automatic bidders' maximum bids are kept confidential from other bidders.

Open up "Hitman"'s bidding history and you'll find he's no power bidder. He's been involved in exactly four eBay auctions...and the Challenger SRT-8 is the only one where he had the winning bid.

Hey, it could be that "Hitman" is just out enjoying the SRT-8...but his friends in the Challenger community are beginning to wonder if they've been had.

Post Title → Where's 'Hitman" And His Car? (Updated 12:36 PM MST)

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Challenger SRT-8 Auction Dispute Goes Face To Face Saturday

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We've been following the story of the Southern California Dodge dealer who put a 2009 SRT-8 up on eBay, found itself with a winning bid of only $29,100 and claims a computer glitch erased their $42,995 reserve, only to have eBay say that couldn't and didn't happen.

Now, Jalopnik reports the bidder and the dealer will be sitting down to talk with each other tomorrow.

The winning bidder posts to the Challenger Talk Forums under the name "Hitman". Here's a link to the most recent page of the thread about the auction gone wrong as of post time. Hit "next" if the page count is above 115 when you get there.

Post Title → Challenger SRT-8 Auction Dispute Goes Face To Face Saturday

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eBay Denies Problem With Challenger Auction

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The stalemate over a $29,100 winning eBay bid for a 2009 Dodge Challenger SRT-8 isn't going away soon.

This morning, we linked you over to Jalopnik, which got the dealer's side of the story...that they were lowering the "But It Now" price and through some glitch, the reserve vanished.

But now, eBay weighs in and says....um...no. Full story from the guys who are in full Woodward/Bernstein mode at Jalopnik. And you can follow the outrage on the Challenger Talk Forums.

Post Title → eBay Denies Problem With Challenger Auction

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UPDATE: eBay Error In Challenger Auction Dispute?

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Yesterday, we told you about the dispute between the winning bidder of an eBay auction and a Southern California auto dealer over a 2009 Dodge Challenger SRT-8.

The winner says he should get the car for his winning bid of $29,100...the dealer says no way...the car's worth more than $40K.

Well, Jalopnik has uncovered the story behind the story...the part where the dealer says it actually did have a reserve of $42,995...went online to lower it...and didn't realize the reserve was deleted from the listing.

eBay's fault or the dealer's? eBay's investigating. And the Challenger Talk Forums are buzzing.

Post Title → UPDATE: eBay Error In Challenger Auction Dispute?

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Challenger Auction Goes Wrong: Dealer Tries To Back Out Of $29,100 Bid for SRT-8

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Glenn E. Thomas Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep in Signal Hill, California had an '09 Dodge Challenger SRT-8 it wanted to sell. 500 miles on the odometer...a demonstrator, maybe?

Anyway, they went the eBay auction route. Apparently, it was their first time at the rodeo...er, auction...because they neglected to put a reserve on it. A reserve is a minimum bid. If no bidders get that high, the car doesn't change hands.

Well, the sticker was $46,425 and the winning bid was $29,100 and Glenn E. Thomas is telling the winning bidder "no sale".

Unfortunately for Glenn E. Thomas, the winning bidder is a member of the Challenger Talk Forums and knows how to use them...meaning the story and the outrage is spreading like wildfire.

Scope out the eBay posting here (ignore the "bidding has ended" notice and just scroll down)...

Meantime, Glenn E. Thomas is running a straight sale on eBay, this one for a used 2010 Challenger RT, with an "advertised price" of $39,995. They say 984 miles...the photo shows the odometer reading 986.

Post Title → Challenger Auction Goes Wrong: Dealer Tries To Back Out Of $29,100 Bid for SRT-8

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Chrysler 300C SRT8 Review

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When the bad times subside (and they will) and we're looking back at the cars from before it all went sideways, this is one we'll look back fondly upon.

It's hard to remember right now, with the streets clogged with V6 versions owned by rental car companies, but the Chrysler 300C was a game-changer, an earth-shaking revelation of an automobile just five years ago...a sign that, after years of focusing on trucks and SUVs, the great American performance sedan was back.

The 300C SRT8 is the ultimate expression of that concept. A big, brawny, well-sculpted sedan (the SRT8 has enough unique styling cues that it almost doesn't need the refresh that the rest of the line is overdue for) with a magnificent 425 horsepower 6.1 liter HEMI, rolling on 20-inch wheels.

$43,860 is the price of admission...and our recent tester added SRT Option Group I (supplemental side curtain front and rear air bags, seat-mounted side airbags, side curtain ari bags and an instrument cluster with performance display screen) for $640; SRT Option Group II (uconnect gps, Multimedia Navigation System with GPS, Sirius Traffic, uconnect phone, auto-dimming rear view mirror with microphone and an iPod interface) for $900; an upgraded audios system for $685 and Sirius Backseat TV (three channels...Disney, Nick and Cartoon Network) for $1,460.

Add $700 for the destination charge and you're at $48,245, which includes a $1,700 gas guzzler tax (because the EPA says 13 city/19 highway).

But you know what?

It's fun.

If you want one and can afford one, buy it. Drive it a little now, keep it nice...in 20 years, you'll be in possession of a true classic. This isn't the direction cars are going anymore...but that doesn't mean it wasn't worth doing or having.

Post Title → Chrysler 300C SRT8 Review

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