America’s Orange Crush
I played with the gas pedal letting everyone know I was packing a 425 horsepower, 420 lbs feet of torque, 6.1 liter HEMI V8. The deep rumble is intoxicating and I deliberately revved it high just to hear it. Finally, satisfied that I made my point (and with everyone looking on) I clicked the traction control off, moved the pistol grip 6-speed manual into 1st, revved up to 5,000 rpm and dumped the clutch.
Nearly 40 feet of asphalt had a black 11 scrolled upon it before I slammed the manual into second gear, more squealing resonated from the rear as I climbed to near 6,000 rpm. Careful not to overcook the red-line (if you pass 6,400 rpm the system will temporarily shut the fuel off and kick you back down to a much lower rpm), I banged the 6-speed into third and realized I was nearing triple digits.
I swung past 60 in a whisker under 5 seconds and thundered to 100 mph. With just a few more seconds I could have cracked the 170 mph top speed. Seeing my speed, I immediately slammed on the brakes managing 0-100-0 in about 19 seconds. The best time for 0-100-0 in the Dodge Challenger SRT8 is 17 seconds. This is mighty quick and I could only smile like a juvenile delinquent; this is a criminally fun car.
As luck would have it, I am in one of the first groups of journalists that get to sample the 6-speed with the SRT8 package in the exciting Dodge Challenger. This changed the entire character of the vehicle. Prior to that, the Dodge Challenger SRT8 was given the beefed up 5-speed automatic. Most of the performance numbers are similar with the automatic, although real driving aficionados will enjoy the control of the slick shifting 6-speed over the automatic.
That pistol grip 6-speed feels terrific in hand.