RLSH700

I have heard of anything around 600-700hp. I don't know when they are supposed to offer this upgrade, but you're right that it could be done without causing the conflict, if they upgrade the Viper first.

1 Bad Mirada

i have heard the rumors of the ZC viper having 600+ horsepower with the new 8.4L engine. i have seen the viper mule, and the engine was different.

HEMI04

if it's such a joke why are you so worried about the vipers sales due to it??? it's sema... of course all cars are dressed up for show. There's no way in hell that they'd offer it as a carb car period.

1 Bad Mirada

im not worried about anything...my point, as always, is that people take things like the Challenger Super Sport Concept, and run with it, making up rumors that "this is the high performance production challenger", and that only muddles discussions...

"someone told me that the SEMA challenger was going to be a production model"...and those people often dont know enough about things to be able to chose between good and bad rumors.

my whole point is simply to dispell misinformation, so i make damn certain that stuff posted on my site isnt like other sites which claim everything to be set in stone and 100% correct. i see enough people who come on here and say "well i read at so and so's site that the challenger is going to come with glass rims and its true because the guys sisters husband had an affair with a woman who used to date a janitor at the brampton plant, so he MUST know" (an obvious exxageration) and then others here have to explain why it isnt good information...some sites dont care if their site is responsible for spreading bad information, but i do.

kind of like if someone at another site was arguing about viper sales, and said "i read on another site that the viper doesnt sell well because there is no warranty".

but ignorance is bliss...right?

bored out

Both sides have made good points and have shown reasons why a 500 horse challenger should and will not ever get built. I think that the competition and market will help dodge make that decision. If gm and ford both have 500 horse muscle cars (which ford already does) then I can see dodge offering a beefed up 500 horse challenger to compete, maybe the srt-8 version. I believe that car would be expensive before dealer mark up.

Thinking outside of the box. Why would someone buy a Viper with 500 horse for 100,000 when they can buy a gt500 for 43,000 msrp or 50-60 grand after mark up? I'm sure dodge would rather have customers by a 500 horse chally instead of the gt500!

Either way, it is an interesting debate. I do not like the sema challenger myself, I love the concept and really only care about the street legal chally. I plan on buying the 425 horse version even if a bigger hemi is offered and I can't wait. The concept sounded great on the video when it was being driven off the truck!!!

1 Bad Mirada

the GT500 has a listed MSRP of 41,000 USD. this is slightly more than the price of the srt8 charger, and slightly less than the srt-8 300c price, so we can expect the challenger to be somewhere in that general area. if they do produce a car that has 75 extra horsepower, aside from the fact that the viper has that extra 75 horsepower and costs more than twice as much, it is certainly going to cost a hell of a lot more than 41,000.

dodge has gotten too big for its britches with their pricing tables, and that is exactly why the GT500, dollar for dollar, will crush the challenger...but ill still take the challenger. now, when it comes to the comparison of the 500hp viper (which does come with a warranty, by the way) to the Z06, for the money, i dont know why anyone buys the viper unless they REALLY love the look of it and the exclusivity. the Z06 is a beast, and considering that cost, is a deal.

RLSH700

Well it depends on what the customer wants. For one thing, the Viper is faster than the GT500 hands down, despite the similar hp numbers. The GT500 is nothing other than a heritage muscle car (I'm not saying that is a bad thing), meanwhile the Viper is a supercar. They are in completely different classes. From what I understand the Viper is around $85,000 here in the U.S.

Okay, I'm confused wih what you are saying Patrick. Are you saying that despite the possibility that the Challenger might be a little cheaper than the GT500, the extra hp for the price will give the GT500 a big enough advantage to beat the Challenger? Or did you mean to say the "Viper" would be beat by the GT500 because although the GT500 is slower, it offers a lot more bang for your buck?

It depends again on what the customer wants. I still do not consider the Vette and the Viper to be in the same class and therefore don't think they should be compared. There are some sources (Car and Driver, Motor Trend) that claim the Z06 is slightly faster, and there are other sources (Road and Track, Consumer Reports) who's times show the Viper is just a little faster in acceleration. In terms of bang for your buck, the Z06 wins hands down. The only thing is they compete in different categories.

Cars are judged by their base models. If you look at what happened to the image of the Chrysler 300C when it released the base model levels, it lost its luxury image. I remember that at first it was considered by some (Kelly's Blue Book and other sources that escape me right now) to be a luxury car until they were made aware of the base models, then it was dropped off that list. A Chrysler 300C SRT-8 can defeat a Cadillac STS-V in terms of bang for your buck (very close acceleration times with a huge price difference), but the 300C SRT-8 isn't considered a luxury car; therefore, it can't compete because it is from anyother car class.

The base model of the C6 is what prevents the Corvette from competing against the Viper in my mind. Also from what I have read, the Z06 has been having some problems when it is modified. If you add too much more power to it, the rear-end shreds. I can't remember who did this comparison (MT, C&D, or R&T) but they had a modified Z06 and it shredded it. The Viper is more expensive because it has heavier-duty parts standard. Correct me if I'