Old Mar 6, 2008 | 07:04 AM
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RLSH700
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Default RE: Head-to-Head Comparison: 2008 Shelby GT500 Mustang vs. 2008 Challenger SRT8


ORIGINAL: lear4406

I bought the April Motor Trend mag. and it has a nice picture of the 2008 Challenger. But that really is all. They were not able to test it due to weather conditions. They were able to test an R/T Charger and a Pontiac G8 GT. I really would like someone to tell me why they would use a 5.7 Charger against a 6.0 G8. They use price as the factor and then they test performance. Seems to me an SRT-8 6.1 would be a better comparison. But they state that the price of the R/T is still more than that of the G8. OK I'll give you that... but if you want to test top of the line with top of the line and a 6.0 against a 6.1 would be more fair. I guess if you want the results to add up to what you want them to be then that is the road you go down. I'm a car guy who thinks you should make it as fair as possible and test auto vs auto, standard vs standard. I've seen MT test multi dollar Ferraris and Porches against Vettes and Vipers. Then it seemed like a fair performance shoot out. Forget $$$$ they wanted a fair fight. But then when it suits them they use the $$$$ as a fair way to test two unequal cars. Sheesh guys, it a'int that hard and you should'nt make it that hard. I feel they don't want to make it fair. As far as pressure vs NA. If you got to go with boost... then test it against something with boost. I'm glad Dodge makes the power without resulting to blowers. Leave that to the folks to add. I find it weak to have to resort to boosting a Stock V-8 to keep up with other brands NA. GM is doing this with the Vette to keep up with the Viper and Ford did it sooner with the 4.6 and the 5.4. I-4s and I-6s, V-6s are fine from the factory boosted. But when you have to boost your V-8s to keep up[&o] just sad. Yeah they haul the mail, but in my eyes, they blinked first. Some will disagree with me and thats fine, but thanks Dodge for keeping your eyes open longer.
I'm sorry lear4406, but the Charger R/T to G8 GT is a far more logical comparison than a SRT8 would be. Although the displacement is closer together, the 6.0L is the L76 version instead of the LS2, this version has Active Fuel Management, this is not a 100% performance focused engine like the SRT-8's engine is. It was built to be fast yet practical just like the 5.7L is with its MDS. The hp difference is less between the two models. The Charger R/T produces 340-350hp & 390 ft-lbs of tq which is much closer to the G8's 361hp & 386ft-lbs of tq than the 6.1L's 425hp & 420ft-lbs of tq. I may not have read the article, but I'm guessing that from the sound of things, the G8 won. Don't be surprised by this, the Charger's handicap is the transmission and that is GM's trump card. As I have said many times the MB designed transmission has done little to prove it is more effective than Chrysler built 4-speeds, and the thing that GM is probably the best at making out of pretty much all manufactures in the category of performance is their transmissions. The transmission is the issue here. Also, remember that the G8 does not come standard with some options such as leather so that explains some of the price difference.

(I have to go right now and I'll update this with further analysis)
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