Justinec101

Personally I think it'd be perfect if they priced the SE at 21,995 and the R/T at 29,995. That magic under 30k price point makes the difference. They could also steal away that "The most powerful car for under 30,000" line from pontiac.

RLSH700

I would agree that would be a desirable thing to try to aim for the R/T. I honestly think that we will see R/Ts below $30K since the Challenger R/T is not going to come loaded standard as the Charger R/T is, plus the fact that a manual is available should also help. I don't know if they will be able to price the SE at $21,995 since it is not a mass produced car.

Justinec101

I have a feeling there won't be a very big price difference between the manual and the automatic since the manual is taken from an $80,000 car. But between the removal of the standard leather seats and maybe some savings with the manual there's no reason the challenger should be more than the Charger R/T.

I was hearing they would be producing as many SEs as R/Ts so that sounds like mass produced to me. Anyway, add any package or option to the SE and it's no longer a low 20s car. It's a mid 20s car. Definitely a far cry from the high teens mustang can advertise. And no I'm not saying they're equal cars, but I'm still not sure how they're gonna market the V6.

RLSH700

Remember though that this transmission is also being used in the GT500 and a few other cars; therefore, the price tag of the Viper isn't really an accurate indicator of how much this transmission will cost them. Remember that the auto is a MB design and I believe they have to pay them royalties for using it although they are building it in Indiana.

I'm also concerned about this issue, it seems strange to me that they can price the SRT-8 so well against the GT500 but can't do the same with the V6. It is probably an issue that they cannot produce near the number that Ford can since it will not sell nearly as well as the Mustang. The other thing is the Mustang's V6 is a very old design which original variants are supposed to route back to the 1960s vs. the 3.5L routes back to the early 90s, so the 3.5L is a lot higher tech and probably more expensive to build. The only way around this that I can think of it is if Chrysler were to make a V6 out of the 5.7L Hemi since it is claimed to cost less to build than the V8s it replaced as well as the 4.7L. Since it has MDS and VCT, the fuel mileage would probably be better and the power would as well. This is what I think that they should do, but I know it isn't going to happen.

Justinec101

How come they're not using the same V6 that's in the nitro? Puts out another 10hp.

RLSH700

Well for one reason, it is probably due to fuel economy. Since the 4.0L is basically a bored and stroked 3.5L, the fuel economy is not going to be as good unless you adjust the gearing which may not help the acceleration in the long term with such a mild power boost, then the second issue is cost. I'm sure a larger version of the same basic engine is going to cost more. It just wouldn't be very cost effective nor really worth it; however, if they were to drop in a H.O. version of that engine like what was dropped into the SEMA Avenger Stormtrooper that produced about 285hp, then it might be worth it.