Originally Posted by Challenger_Nut
3.
AMEN. Finally someone who understands how weight affects performance. Search my posts and you will see I have tried to make this point several times.
Yes horsepower will help E.T.'s. But anything a 425hp, 4100 lb car can do, a 425hp 3500lb car will do much better. I don't want the car for 1/4 mile sprints. I enjoy the curves too!
And what is wrong with wanting to have a sixth gear for better fuel consumption and less wear and tear on the drivetrain?
1) you don't need a rocket science background to understand what affects performance, trust me. But perhaps it takes a little bit more thinking when you need to know what you need to spend if DCX makes a Challenger that is 197 in long, has a huge engine and weighs 3500 lbs.
If you personally would like to commit to DCX to give them say 10-15k for each car produced with weight saving solutions (=lighter materials like aluminum, carbon fiber, titanium, etc. etc.), I can only say thank you.
I'd love to have a Challenger that weighs 3500 lbs, but I don't think it's feasible at the price they wanna sell it.
And people need to at last UNDERSTAND this...
2) There is nothing wrong wanting to have a sixth gear for whatever reason you might think. Heck, I'd love to have a F1 inspired semi auto gearbox in it...a' la SMG...
But when people say "If it doesn't have a SIX speed manual, it's a deal breaker" what I am arguing is that: sure it would be nice, one more gear for whatever purpose (the main one I can think of, is fuel consumption. Wear and tear ok...but if you do 70 on a highway in 5th gear instead of a 6th gear, I'd say the wear and tear is microscopical if any) is something cool to have.
But it's not absolutely necessary: guys, speed limits are 65 generally on highways...even if you do 75, 85, 95, 105 the real need for a 6th gear is not really there...
Sure it'd be nice to have it, but I can't agree with the presence of that gear being a "deal breaker". Understand now ?
PS: as said I owned two cars with decent power (M3s) and 6 sp manuals in Europe...the time you use the sixt gear is when you need to go at higher speeds in the autobahn...
For the USA, commuting on a highway or having the desire to shoot up to 100-110 doesn't warrant the need of a 6th gear...