Originally Posted by MikeF
Five speed stick does not sound good, that's not encouraging at all. Six speed is the new standard and that's what the Challenger ought to have. That's pretty much a deal breaker for me when combined with the weight.
And why would that be ? The sixth gear you find in all these sporty/sport cars is basically a gear for highway cruising..A sixth gear is only there to save gas and if fuel consumption is your concern, you shouldn't consider the Challenger in the first place.
And "Six speed is the new standard"...the new standard of what ? There are other vehicles that have semiauto gearboxes, some with 7 gears, talk is that some that are about to be unveiled will even have 8 gears.
Now if you want to talk about standards, ok super tech semiauto gearboxes a' la DSG and SMG most likely are the standard these days...
Slushboxes instead have been around for eons (and let me repeat it again, they set no standards at all for anything) and 5 or 6 gears don't make a darn difference. Have you ever had a car with a 6 speed manual ? I had two, both BMW M3s...do you know when you put in the 6th gear ? When you are cruising on a highway with no intentions to use your car like a sport car (try to stomp on the gas in 6th gear with an M3...it'll take a while before it gets up to speed...rightfully so, it's a gear for highway cruising, keeping rpms low and consumption low)...
And this is a deal breaker for you ? Ok bro, I respect your opinion, I just think it doesn't make sense at all...
The weight "issue"...I wish everybody busting chops about the weight would make a little research and find the weight of cars of this size and with similar engines and you might "surprisingly" find that all of them, are pretty close to a Challenger.
People make it sound like the Challenger with 4000 lbs is a pig and all other cars are weighing 3000 lbs. It isn't so, people...Actually the only two that are a
tiny bit less are the GT500 and say a BMW M6 that weigh 3920 and 3911 lbs. The rest of cars, of all makes with at least 425 hp and of the same muscle car category (or big cruisers, whatever you want to call it), weigh at least 4000 lbs !
Forgette the Vettes as they are EXOTICS...not muscle cars...
PS: I am not out to get you...it's just that I am very tired of seeing posts of people that either don't think too much or don't research into a matter enough to bring facts to the table and your post happened to be at the right place at the right time and with the "right" content.