5.7L/manual transmission/ordered to my liking from the factory and with my employee discount. I will wait until then. I just hope that 5.7L has enough power up here. I remember having the conversation a little while back about the Avenger/Sebring not having enough in the 2.4L and the V6, but I forgot to mention that I have added altitude that makes such a huge difference.

My wife and I were down in Florida for her neck surgery and rented a sebring there with the 2.4L, same engine in my wife's Avenger, and I have to say that altitude definitley makes a difference. There is definitely more power down there in FL and the car moves much easier, however it is still under powered.

Many people are talking about these small cars and the environment and such and I see us heading back to the 80s and 90s with the speedometers reading only 80 and the power at 140 for a V8. Definitely has me concerned because of the fact that when you live up here and you head into the mountains, good luck not rolling backwards. Sucks that you can't visit the mountains because you don't have enough power. Try and do it in a Dodge Ram back in the day that had 230 hp. Amazing how things have changed with technology. Never thought we would see these horsepower ratings again with the government restrictions. Now let's hope we don't take a step backwards.

As for the manual on the concept, I have a theory on that. Maybe it was one they just threw on from another car, or modified from a truck transmission? I say this because even though this had the 6.1L in it, they had to be really careful with it because it wasn't a complete car correct? You had to turn very carefully, couldn't go to fast, careful on the acceleration. So on that thought, they just had to throw something in it that worked. Maybe I'm wrong, but throwing ideas out there.