so, rlsh700 made the comment that if i love the vette so much, why dont i get one...
im not made of money, and ive only EVER owned mopars...but it comes down to bang for the buck, for me. so, i put together a short list of the premium performance car, and most affordable performance car from the big three.
ford:
affordable-Mustang GT
premium-GT500
GM:
affordable-C6 Corvette with performance package
premium-the Z06
DCX:
affordable-300C srt-8
premium-Viper SRT10
concept-dodge challenger
to lighten the mood, ive added my mirada as well..
Lows in blue, highs in gree.
Mind you, I am a huge Dodge Fan, but I am not a fanboy...I recognize a good deal when i see it. While something that costs 70,000 is seldom considered to be a good deal, compare it to the other two "premium models". It does have a bit less power and torque than the viper, it also costs 14,000 less...the GT500 is a bit of a waste here, but I didnt want to exclude ford. the GT500 is more of competition for an srt8 product, mostly due to its weight. If you want a dyno queen, at 3900+lbs, the GT500 needs some power to compete with the viper and Z06.
the reason that i made the comment about the corvette should be obvious. i want a sports car, and the corvette is the all american sports car, GM or not. the LSX series engines from GM are among the best running motors ever built in the US, and responds EXTREMELY well to modifications. I would rather have a challenger, dont get me wrong, but ive heard more than one person say that theyve talked to a dealer rep and we should expect an MSRP of around 50,000...thats 3,000 more than the corvette with the premium performance packeage (which is a road race package). sure, the challenger has a back seat, and more horsepower and torque, but at a curb weight of almost a THOUSAND pounds more, the challenger will be hard pressed, stock for stock, staying close to the base model vette...now, if the challenger is priced more like the charger srt8, around 39,000, thats a whole different story...but the fact of the matter is that if someone wants a fast car, the challenger is not the best choice...hell, the GT500 is a better choice, but i would never go that route, unless i won one...
the odds are good that if the challenger IS priced like that, and my Dodge connection cannot do anything to get that price down, we will not get one. we will most likely go with a 300C srt8, or an evo...as it would be nice to have a sedan, but at 50,000, the challenger isnt worth the price.