6.1 Hemi Review

[Cuda340]

Since we cannot read a review about the 6.1 SRT Hemi (yet), I thought you guys would be interested in reading a review of the 6.1 SRT Dodge Charger Super Bee:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...43ec825.htm l

[sniper226]

Page not found. I believe it may require subscription as well. I live in Dallas and use the WFAA website all the time and think it is just a mirror of dallasnews. It requires subscription for some of it's content. You are talking about the review by Ed Wallis, the car guy, right?

I saw him do it live on TV. I think he complained about gas consumption. (Well duh) And there was something about the brakes. I can't remember specifically but I know the Charger has the touchy brakes that takes some getting use to. (Much like most Mercedes)


I think he might of said something about having trouble keeping the wheels from spinning as well. (Well duh again...) Other than a few nonsense negatives, he was completely positive that Dodge had captured the modern muscle car in the Charger.

[Cuda340]

Here is the March 19, 2007 Dallas newspaper article:

Super Bee, police cruiser are seriously fun

Big bright yellow Dodges with Hemis and hood scoops still provoke me.
Does that make me profoundly immature? Probably, given that I'm a grandpa. But at least I had an antidote when I drove the outrageous Charger SRT-8 Super Bee: a black-and-white Hemi Charger police car that Dodge uses as a demo for law-enforcement agencies.
For three days, I rumbled around in the "Detonator Yellow" Super Bee – which on top of everything else sported bee graphics on the rear fenders that are as big as my head. Then I played good guy in the police cruiser for three days, scattering traffic in the "fast" lane of the wretched Dallas North Tollway. It was an odd but enjoyable sort of car yin and yang.
Both Chargers are on the Chrysler Group's seasoned but still excellent LX platform, which features an independent rear suspension derived from the E-class Mercedes-Benz. These cars speak English with a slight German accent.
Mostly, they speak loudly in the auto industry. The LX platform – which also supports the Chrysler 300, the Dodge Magnum and the future Dodge Challenger – is easily the best big sedan architecture in the domestic segment.
But for how long, I wonder? For years, the Chrysler Group has been the quirky, smallest member of the Big Three – the guy who shows up at board meetings in an Italian suit, ostrich-skin cowboy boots and silk bow tie. Who else but the Chrysler Group would have designed an entire line of stylish new full-size sedans with 1950s chopped tops? And who else but Chrysler could have reintroduced the legendary Hemi as a muscled-up, modern V-8 with a personality of its own?
With all this talk of beleaguered Chrysler being bought by General Motors – which is hard to believe – or a private equity group or even a parts supplier, I worry that one of the industry's nonconformists is about to lose its non.
For now, though, you too can cruise around in a 2007 Super Bee so ablaze with color that you will need one of those homemade solar-eclipse boxes to fully view it.
Even better, beneath its flat-black hood scoop, my Super Bee had a killer-bee SRT-8 Hemi V-8 that's punched out to 6.1 liters and gets a bigger cam, better breathing, a little more compression and 425 gut-bucket horses.
The big motor – rated at 14 miles per gallon city, 20 highway – barks when it starts and emits more alluring moans, growls and roars than a small jungle. Tied to a fairly decent five-speed automatic, it's good for low-five-second zero-to-60.
The 6.1 Hemi is a Garland chiropractor's dream – a torquey neck-popper off idle that keeps you compressed into the seat all the way to its 6,000-rpm redline. In one spine-altering outing, it will prompt you to forgive Dodge for making the Charger a two-ton sedan with four doors and a big wing on the trunk.
This is a great motor that I think needs a better-tuned transmission. The five-speed feels tentative with the big Hemi. My advice: Click it into AutoStick mode, turn up the Lynyrd Skynyrd and make those 255-20 tires on the rear squirm and dance.
On smooth surfaces, the Super Bee clings to the road like – of all things – a high-end German sedan with a real personality. It even makes those muted, expensive-sounding clunks over expansion strips, and – unlike any Chrysler in the '70s – steers precisely.
It stops like a modern muscle car thanks to its red-calipered Brembo brakes. On rough surfaces, though, it felt a lot like my Mustang – kind of rough and unsettled.
Inside, the supportive black-leather seats were stitched in yellow, a nice touch in an interior that didn't entirely fit this $46,960 car. The gauges and center stack were good-looking and functional, but I thought that the plastic on the dashboard and door panels was cheesy for a premium car.
But, hey, as long as you can look out over that short hood, see HEMI on the hood scoop in 4-inch letters and know you opted for Detonator Yellow, you can overlook the small stuff.
As Kafkaesque as this sounds, the Super Bee was so strong that I could not catch myself.
Don't get me wrong. My "good" Hemi Charger – the black-and-white with the Setina push bar up front and the functioning Whelen light bar on top – has some of the same moves as the Super Bee, but with a little more Southern Baptist restraint in its wiggle.
With a smaller 340-horsepower, 5.7- liter Hemi V-8 breathing through muffled exhausts, the $29,990 cop car Charger is nowhere near as street-ferocious as the Super Bee. But it still blasts to 60 in less than six seconds and has a suspension stiff enough to treat a couple of terrified prisoners in back to some hot laps at TMS.
I especially liked the slotted 18-inch black steelies, the black vinyl floor covering and matching backseat and the black-metal center console with exposed screws. The car felt seriously, resolutely substantial – like something you unload and holster at the end of the day.
In some ways, the cop car drives even better than the Super Bee. The five-speed automatic feels more suited to the solid-citizen 5.7-liter than to the rollicking 6.1. But the car, which is raised an inch to better clear curbs, rides hard and tough, with some of the same stiff-spring bounce you find in heavy-duty pickups.
Nonetheless, the cop Charger – Dodge's first rear-wheel-drive police car since 1989 – was so much fun that it tempted me into a couple of, uh, transgressions. My apologies to my good neighbors, Seane and Amy, whom I followed into their driveway with my 360s and Wig Wags flashing. I trust your arteries and capillaries have regained their former shape. Besides, you're young.
Peter A. Kash, manager of government and fleet sales in the Southwest region, says Dodge has sold 50 six-cylinder Chargers to the Dallas police, 30 Hemi Chargers to the Department of Public Safety and five or six Hemis to the Hurst Police Department.
"Hurst even put the Hemi stickers on the back," he said.
At some police departments, the Hemis draw recruits.
"They just look good," he said. "Oklahoma has recruitment billboards with Hemi Charger police cars."
Obviously, there's a fine line between good Hemis and bad Hemis. I'll take one of each, please.

[sniper226]

Not the same review I saw on TV. Ed Wallis (the fox 4 car critic that is on Fri mornings) is no way near as cool as this guy.

As a side note, I have seen the Cop Chargers in Plano & Dallas. In fact I saw one today that had someone pulled over. I understand there are some tweakings that are standard on the cop cars that some people would love as an option.

[Ragamuffin]

Originally Posted by sniper226

Not the same review I saw on TV. Ed Wallis (the fox 4 car critic that is on Fri mornings) is no way near as cool as this guy.

As a side note, I have seen the Cop Chargers in Plano & Dallas. In fact I saw one today that had someone pulled over. I understand there are some tweakings that are standard on the cop cars that some people would love as an option.

Such as an onboard computer ? When ,in Indy a few years ago [ for a SPGA golf tournament ; which part of the golf holes are actually inside 'the Oval ' ] ..the motel I was staying at in the town of Speedway,Indiana ,,I was approaching a cop car parked at the motel to tell him of an accident I just saw, I could see he was playing a computer game [ maybe video poker] !! /// Yeah, I wonder what these "tweakings" really are ?

[Cuda340]

I just read a funny post on chargerforums.com.

Some guy picked up his new SRT Charger at a dealership that was next to an Interstate. He nailed it on the entrance ramp and ran it up to 100 mph. He said it felt great except the part when he passed a hidden state trooper. He got his first speeding ticket with his new car, 300 feet from the dealership!

You would think that the cop would give him a break!

[Ragamuffin]

Originally Posted by Cuda340

I just read a funny post on chargerforums.com.

Some guy picked up his new SRT Charger at a dealership that was next to an Interstate. He nailed it on the entrance ramp and ran it up to 100 mph. He said it felt great except the part when he passed a hidden state trooper. He got his first speeding ticket with his new car, 300 feet from the dealership!

You would think that the cop would give him a break!

Yahh , heck the trooper may just purposely 'hide' in that spot knowing about these fast SRT's !!! We ought to sneak up on that trooper/spot and hook a chain/cable to his bumper. .. then flag the 'OK' to the next SRT entering the ramp ! !!

[Cuda340]

Here is another review of the 6.1 (in this case an SRT Magnum):

"Acceleration is extremely good, but not always predictable. The engine makes good power in low rpms, but really comes into its own when revved. The Mercedes five-speed automatic transmission doesn’t always shift for optimal acceleration, but stays in low gears longer so if you hit the gas, back off the throttle for a moment, and still want instant power, you can get it. Once you get the feel of the transmission and can consistently get that power, taking the odd grain of sand on the road into account, the SRT-8 feels as though it has far more brute force than cars with similar sprint times, such as the Lexus GS450h, albeit less than all-out sports cars like the Corvette. In case you were wondering, the ideal-condition 0-6o time is about 5.0 - 5.2 seconds, with 0-100 in about 12 seconds, a 13-13.6 second quarter mile, a top speed of 165-170 mph (depending on quoted source), a skidpad rating of .9 g, and a zero to 100 mph back to zero time of under 17 seconds.

The 6.1 Hemi roars loudly into life and has a fairly loud, deep note, making it clear that it means business. Inside the Magnum, though, it is not at all annoying, as it is in some cars with performance-sounding exhausts; the rumble isn't evident at normal speeds, and isn't overpowering at idle. On the highway, the Magnum has moderate wind noise at higher speeds, but isn't too noisy. It also feels completely stable and in control. Acceleration comes immediately; then the transmission downshifts, and the Magnum shoots forward, sometimes with the stability control having to take over even at highway speeds due to the raw power of the Hemi."

For read the entire article click on: http://www.acarplace.com/reviews/2007/srt8.html

[sniper226]

Originally Posted by Ragamuffin

Yeah, I wonder what these "tweakings" really are?

I believe the Cop cars get beefier sway bars. (probably some other things as well) I can't remember if they were even thicker than the SRT.
I don't know why they just don't make that a check box item then when ordering a normal Charger...