Chrysler Responds To Gas Prices, Unveils V8 425-Horse Challenger At Chicago Auto Show

[hatrack]

EDIT

The Dodge Challenger SRT8, unveiled at the Chicago Auto Show on Wednesday, "is not a straight-line fast car," says Frank Klegon, Chrysler's executive vice president of product development, moments after the automaker showed video of Challengers burning rubber. "It's designed and engineered to be a really great car."

The top-of-the-line 425-hp SRT8, which goes on sale in March for $37,995, will come with technology usually associated with family haulers: side-curtain air bags and anti-lock brakes.

The Camaro, isn't just a muscle car either, says Ed Peper, general manager of the Chevrolet brand. "This is much more refined than that. This is a sleek, aerodynamic, futuristic sports car."

And, maybe somewhere down the road, even fuel-efficient. Troy Clarke, president of GM North America, says the automaker will make more fuel-efficient versions of the Camaro, which hits the market early next year, and is toying with the idea of making one that runs on an ethanol blend. Chrysler Vice Chairman Jim Press says he could see Challenger getting 35 mpg in the coming years, even though the least-fuel-efficient V-8 version is being launched first. "The technology exists, but you have to package it in a way that people can afford it."

EDIT

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2008-02-06-muscle-cars-chicago-show_N.htm

[Kittycat]

1. Maybe someday down the road, Fuel Effecient?!?!

That day is now - WTH are these idiots waiting for?

[tridim]

2. "And, maybe somewhere down the road, even fuel-efficient"

Apparently Chrysler is stuck in 1982, yet some still wonder why they're failing.

[tinrobot]

3. I say we ban muscle cars completely.

Including classic muscle cars from the 60's/70s.

Put them in museums where they belong.

[Systematic Chaos]

4. This song comes to mind -

Red Barchetta, by Rush


My uncle has a country place, that no one knows about
He says it used to be a farm, before the motor law
And on sundays I elude the eyes and hop the turbine freight
To far outside the wire, where my white-haired uncle waits.

Jump to the ground
As the turbo slows to cross the borderline
Run like the wind,
As excitement shivers up and down my spine
Down in his barn
My uncle preserved for me, an old machine ---
For fifty-odd years
To keep it as new has been his dearest dream

I strip away the old debris, that hides a shining car
A brilliant red barchetta, from a better, vanished time
I fire up the willing engine, responding with a roar
Tires spitting gravel, I commit my weekly crime...

Wind in my hair ---
Shifting and drifting ---
Mechanical music ---
Adrenalin surge ---

Well-weathered leather
Hot metal and oil
The scented country air
Sunlight on chrome
The blur of the landscape
Every nerve aware

Suddenly, ahead of me, across the mountainside
A gleaming alloy air-car shoots towards me, two lanes wide
I spin around with shrieking tires, to run the deadly race
Go screaming through the valley as another joins the chase

Drive like the wind
Straining the limits of machine and man
Laughing out loud
With fear and hope, Ive got a desperate plan

At the one-lane bridge
I leave the giants stranded
At the riverside
Race back to the farm
To dream with my uncle
At the fireside...

[lumberjack_jeff]

5. Naah. Let's start with your stuff.

In the meantime, just stay to the right.

[CRF450]

6. You'll have to pry my 01 Trans Am from my cold dead hands then.

Not all v8 performance cars are the gas guzzler they once were in the 60's. Most of them can average well over 20mpg and can still push 400hp or more. My T/A having the 5.7 345hp v8 has reached 31mpg on the interstate. The new Corvettes with the 6.2 v8 or even the 7.0 LS7 can do the same.

As heavy as that Challenger is weighing at 4100lbs, I dont dont it getting anywhere near 30mpg like my car, or the Corvettes can get on the highway.

[tinrobot]

8. I'd say 20+mpg is still a gas guzzler.

You can't honestly tell me that they put 5.7L V8 engines in cars for fuel economy. The EPA specs for your 2001 Trans Am are 17 city, and 25 highway. If you're getting 31, then I suspect most of that trip was downhill.

I'm sure your car is fast off the line, but we need to be aiming for cars that get 50-100mpg or more, not ones that are still in the 20's.

[CRF450]

9. Mines a 6 speed manual, not an auto (which are the ones that get crummy fuel milage)

6th gear is very tall, which helps alot on the highways, problem is, I cant shift into it till I get between 60 and 65mph. And I'm on the east coast, so its all flat ground ground here. The sticker that came with it rates the fuel milage at 19/28. Still alot better than what muscle cars back then got while having the same amount of power.


But hey, most cars are gas guzzlers anyways by what you say, since most dont average anymore than 30mpg. I agree that the auto makers need to put more focus on 40+mpg cars. GM's alteast working on the Volt, but I dont see Ford or Chrysler working on a high mpg car of their own:shrug:

[htuttle]

7. Well, at least Mad Max will have an appropriate car available when the time comes