What will be the Top-of-the-line?

[MotorCity Agent]

With respect to the GT500 & whatever the General has in the pipe, its obvious that 500 horsepower is the benchmark for premium models. Do you think Dr. Z will give us a 500+ horse Chally to run with the big dogs and if so what will he call it...maybe a SRT8 Super Bee?

[BJoe]

Most of what I've seen come out latley doesn't seem to deserve teh Super bee badging, the only cars that carry that name should be stripped of all non federal safety related garbage and sold as a low buck racer.

[Scat Pack]

It would not be hard to get 500 hp, a simple cam swap would do it, but it would probably roughen up the idle a bit... then you would need to reprogram the computer chip to fix that....

[Hemidakota]

Originally Posted by MotorCity Agent

With respect to the GT500 & whatever the General has in the pipe, its obvious that 500 horsepower is the benchmark for premium models. Do you think Dr. Z will give us a 500+ horse Chally to run with the big dogs and if so what will he call it...maybe a SRT8 Super Bee?

09 Challenger T/A SH

[Cuda340]

Originally Posted by Scat Pack

It would not be hard to get 500 hp, a simple cam swap would do it, but it would probably roughen up the idle a bit... then you would need to reprogram the computer chip to fix that....

Why doesn't DCX add a supercharger to the 6.1? Chevy is doing that to its Z06 and it will be producing 600 hp! Is it simply a matter of cost?

[DubleDex]

Based on the current Dodge branding and model naming strategy, here is the most likely breakdown of models:

Challenger: Base model, V6.
Challenger R/T: Performance model, V8
Challenger T/A: Performance, specail appearance package. Slightly tweaked V8.
Challenger SRT8: Top end, all-out performance. Biggest V8


Hopefully, those V8 options won't be exactly the same as the Charger options. Perhaps, they'll give the T/A the 440hp 6.1 (currently the SRT8 Charger/300/Magnum engine) and drop 392 (S/S!) into the SRT version.

I'd like to think that something along those lines is a distinct possibility. Because, while the Charger name is a throwback to muscle car days, at its heart the new Charger is Dodge's family sedan. The Charger SRT8 is a family sedan with some "kick."

The Challenger is clearly a muscle car, performance vehicle. While some people will be strapping the baby seat in the back, for most it will be a dedicated "fun" car. Or everyday car for folks without kids, or who have wives with a minivan capable for family outings. With that target market in mind, they have more leeway to bump the power even more.

[Cuda340]

Originally Posted by DubleDex

Based on the current Dodge branding and model naming strategy, here is the most likely breakdown of models:

Challenger: Base model, V6.
Challenger R/T: Performance model, V8
Challenger T/A: Performance, specail appearance package. Slightly tweaked V8.
Challenger SRT8: Top end, all-out performance. Biggest V8


Hopefully, those V8 options won't be exactly the same as the Charger options. Perhaps, they'll give the T/A the 440hp 6.1 (currently the SRT8 Charger/300/Magnum engine) and drop 392 (S/S!) into the SRT version.

I'd like to think that something along those lines is a distinct possibility. Because, while the Charger name is a throwback to muscle car days, at its heart the new Charger is Dodge's family sedan. The Charger SRT8 is a family sedan with some "kick."

The Challenger is clearly a muscle car, performance vehicle. While some people will be strapping the baby seat in the back, for most it will be a dedicated "fun" car. Or everyday car for folks without kids, or who have wives with a minivan capable for family outings. With that target market in mind, they have more leeway to bump the power even more.

You may be right about the model designations, but where did you get the 440 hp figure for the 6.1? I thought that it produces 425 hp?

[Hemidakota]

R/t
Vert
Baseline
T/a
S/s

5.7 - 6.1

4.0

6.6

6.4

[DubleDex]

Originally Posted by Cuda340

You may be right about the model designations, but where did you get the 440 hp figure for the 6.1? I thought that it produces 425 hp?

I probably just made that up... typing faster than I can think! (Which isn't too tough. I type fast and think slow!)