[StealthChallenger]

I have now had my R/T Classic 6 speed for 2 1/2 months. I love the look of the car and sound, but I find myself wanting a little more. I originally had planned to purchase an automatic SRT-8 and to use it as my daily driver. This way my wife could drive it occassionally, and I would not get annoyed in traffic with the stick. Well, after reading a lot of threads this car will be my daily driver as I will be selling my winter used Pontiac Grand Prix no matter what I end up doing. Some will be mad at me for saying this, but the brakes on the R/T do not instill confidence at all. I have also noticed a lack of steering response through the wheel the more I drive it. I have the Super Track Pack, which helps rectify this to an extent, but I seem to rememer the SRT-8 feeling more planted and responsive. I also miss those SRT seats as I cannot find an ideal position for my R/T's seats for some reason. In fact, after I drove the SRT and R/T back to back with autos, I had written the R/T off. Then I drove the R/T with 6 speed and bit the bullet. It is still a wonderful car, but I am kicking myself since knowing I could have had the 6.1L SRT-8 for not much more. The 392 obviously is a different animal, but I do not want to spend 45k on a car right now. Therefore, I am left with a decision to make - keep my R/T Classic and do some minor tweaking OR get a used auto 6.1L SRT-8 and leave it alone. I could pick up one with 2k miles right by my house for 33K. I would probably lose about 3K on my R/T because of taxes. I don't care about gas mileage as I get about 18mpg with my R/T right now on premium. The SRT-8 I would imagine 15mpg with the auto due to my mixed driving commute. Anyone switch from a 6 speed to auto R/T to SRT-8? I think a part of me would miss the stick, but it would be nice to let the Mrs. drive once in a awhile. Plus, it is not be as stressful. Sorry for my ramblings. You guys have great insight, so I figured I'd ask. Any former R/T owners go through anything similar, or am I just crazy?

 

[ScatMan]

You are going to take a hit if you sell now. On the otherhand if you're not happy then you need to get a car you like and makes you enjoy driving. Personally I love the RT Classic and wish I had gone with it. Do what makes financial sense and gets you what you want.

 

[John Matthews]

I went from a 6 speed R/T to 6 speed SRT. These are my observations. The biggest difference is the brakes. I think the R/T has decent brakes but the SRT has fantastic brakes. I found the seats in the R/T extremely comfortable and I do so in the SRT but they are different (I drove 750 miles one day in the R/T, not more the 200 in the SRT). I can not really tell the difference in the engines (unless you open the hood). The SRT does "feel" tighter in the handling department (My R/T had the 18 inch wheels), however the R/T was the better winter weather car.

You can make your super track pack R/T handle as good if not better then a SRT $500-1000 at most.
Brakes very expensive to bring up to SRT standards
The 6.1 is faster then the 5.7 but not a lot faster in the 1/4 mile however the 6.4 cooks the 6.1 in the 1/4 when I look at peoples postings in the forum.
I am under the impression gas milage is not great on a auto SRT (no MDS) and 15mpg average might be optimistic.

I would wait until fall and see the deal you can cut on a 6.4, if you can't get the deal you want you can always fall back on the 6.1.

 

[John Matthews]

Unless you want to race this summer then get the 6.1 now and as much as love the manual the auto will win the 1/4.

 

[noz34me]

I guess it's normal a given percentage of SE owners wanting R/T's, and R/T owners wanting SRT's.

Frankly I have an R/T Classic and I wouldn't trade it dead even for an SRT. But then I don't race, I rarely push the car to it's limits, I bought the R/T on looks, sound, and a hemi V8 engine with a 6M in a great looking retro muscle car.

To me, the R/T Classic is the best looking Challenger of them all. I guess I'm fortunate to have bought exactly what I wanted, and therefore don't have to look at trading.

Good luck with your trades. Like someone said, you're going to take it in the shorts on your R/T, a lot more than just losing tax money.

 

[Donnysan]

You gotta be happy.

I say do it. You'll always bewanting the SRT, so sooner the better.

BTW, I commute with my SRT auto, and it gets better than 15mpg mixed, closer to 17.

 

[crow]

Just upgrade the R/T suspension to the SRT, and you'll enjoy your R/T. Less than 500 bucks.


MOPAR PERFORMANCE SRT SUSPENSION UPGRADE FOR 08 TO 2010 SE & R/T CHARGER/300/ AND CHALLENGER PN P5155435

 

[hunttriumph1500]

Hey Stealthchallenger... You're not crazy, I had my 2010 Detonator Yellow Classic R/T for about 6 months, it was an auto and I traded it in on a brand new B-5 Blue 2010 SRT8 auto... Took a hit of about $5,000 but it was WORTH it to me!!!! I love the performance and just everything about the SRT8, it filled the need that my R/T was left giving me. The R/T model had MDS, hated it!!!! The SRTB has awesome brakes, I definitely noticed a difference in the engine and the suspension. I put a SRT8 suspension in my R/T but it wasn't still quite right for some reason. Don't get me wrong I think the R/T is an awesome platform and it's tops in the looks dept. It has it nailed on the nostalgic look but I wanted more in performance and didn't want to screw around with upgrading everything. Oh and I got auto trans cause of my daily commutes of stop and go traffic. I still don't want a manual, sure they are fun, for about half an hour but as the day goes on, it wears me down.

 

[StealthChallenger]

Hey Stealthchallenger... You're not crazy, I had my 2010 Detonator Yellow Classic R/T for about 6 months, it was an auto and I traded it in on a brand new B-5 Blue 2010 SRT8 auto... Took a hit of about $5,000 but it was WORTH it to me!!!! I love the performance and just everything about the SRT8, it filled the need that my R/T was left giving me. The R/T model had MDS, hated it!!!! The SRTB has awesome brakes, I definitely noticed a difference in the engine and the suspension. I put a SRT8 suspension in my R/T but it wasn't still quite right for some reason. Don't get me wrong I think the R/T is an awesome platform and it's tops in the looks dept. It has it nailed on the nostalgic look but I wanted more in performance and didn't want to screw around with upgrading everything. Oh and I got auto trans cause of my daily commutes of stop and go. I still don't want a manual, sure they are fun, for about half an hour but as they day goes on, it wears me down.

Thanks for that. I love my car, and you are right. The R/T Classic is probably the best looking one. I think for a big car, the handling is pretty good, and I know the SRT suspension would help more. I am not really into modding since I would rather take that money and put it towards a higher trim level. Mods also don't add much value to the car and sometimes hurt resale value depending on what you've done. I may see how the 2012s stack up, especially the new Header Orange. I said from the beginning I'd buy a 392 if they came out with a better orange. I have built a few 392s online, but they all seem to be hovering between 44-47k sticker depending on the options I want. My car on a trade is worth between 27-31K according to NADA and Blue Book numbers. I paid just over 30K before tax title, license, etc. That would be a huge jump, and I don't know if it would be worth it. I may be better off finding a nice low mileage used 2008-2009 6.1L for about 10K less or around 32-33K. I may go look at one on Thursday to see if my memory is distorted.