HELLO SRT8 CHARGER!!
425hp
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For the same price I paid for a 3 year old 2002 W8 Passat back in April 2005, I bought a 3 year old CERTIFIED 2007 SRT8 Dodge Charger 2 weeks ago. My insurance only went up $6.00 a month. That's not all.....there are TONS of aftermarket goodies available for this car at 1/4th of the price of the OEM parts for the Passat. For example, the 150 amp alternator I paid $1,010.00 for on the Passat only cost $239.00 for the Charger (160 amps) and you can actually get to it to replace it without removing the front fascia.
I know, everyone is thinking "OMG", this guy is comparing a German made VW to a Canadian made Dodge. Guess what? The transmission in this car was built in Germany and is exactly the same internally as the Mercedes flagship AMG transmission used in $80,000.00 plus Mercedes. The suspension geometry/technology is all Mercedes as well.
Here's the icing on the cake...My biggest concern was gas mileage. In 50/50 city/highway driving on my daily commute to work every day it averages 19.0mpg and the Passat W8 averages 17.5mpg. In 90% city driving the SRT averages 17.1mpg and the Passat averages 16.5mpg. Did a weekend road trip and actually went 364 miles without even setting off the low fuel warning. What's so significant about that? It only has a 19 gallon tank. It held 16.5 gals when I filled it up for a whopping 22mpg.:clap:
This car is physically bigger, has more wind resistance, has 155 more HP, has a 2.1 liter larger engine, has huge 20" rims, weighs 200 pounds more, and has huge 14" diameter Brembo brakes that all subtract from the efficiency of this car. There is no way in hell this car should get better gas mileage than my W8 Passat.
There are only 2 areas the Passat W8 wins over the SRT8 and that is wet weather traction and steering geometry. The W8 blows everything else off the road on wet pavement. The steering feedback on the W8 is dead on perfect. There is no bump steer (steering wheel moving when you hit a bump). Those are all typical Audi characteristics that VW inherited when they were using the Audi platform for the pre-2006 Passats.
425hp
For the same price I paid for a 3 year old 2002 W8 Passat back in April 2005, I bought a 3 year old CERTIFIED 2007 SRT8 Dodge Charger 2 weeks ago. My insurance only went up $6.00 a month. That's not all.....there are TONS of aftermarket goodies available for this car at 1/4th of the price of the OEM parts for the Passat. For example, the 150 amp alternator I paid $1,010.00 for on the Passat only cost $239.00 for the Charger (160 amps) and you can actually get to it to replace it without removing the front fascia.
I know, everyone is thinking "OMG", this guy is comparing a German made VW to a Canadian made Dodge. Guess what? The transmission in this car was built in Germany and is exactly the same internally as the Mercedes flagship AMG transmission used in $80,000.00 plus Mercedes. The suspension geometry/technology is all Mercedes as well.
Here's the icing on the cake...My biggest concern was gas mileage. In 50/50 city/highway driving on my daily commute to work every day it averages 19.0mpg and the Passat W8 averages 17.5mpg. In 90% city driving the SRT averages 17.1mpg and the Passat averages 16.5mpg. Did a weekend road trip and actually went 364 miles without even setting off the low fuel warning. What's so significant about that? It only has a 19 gallon tank. It held 16.5 gals when I filled it up for a whopping 22mpg.:clap:
This car is physically bigger, has more wind resistance, has 155 more HP, has a 2.1 liter larger engine, has huge 20" rims, weighs 200 pounds more, and has huge 14" diameter Brembo brakes that all subtract from the efficiency of this car. There is no way in hell this car should get better gas mileage than my W8 Passat.
There are only 2 areas the Passat W8 wins over the SRT8 and that is wet weather traction and steering geometry. The W8 blows everything else off the road on wet pavement. The steering feedback on the W8 is dead on perfect. There is no bump steer (steering wheel moving when you hit a bump). Those are all typical Audi characteristics that VW inherited when they were using the Audi platform for the pre-2006 Passats.