Impresions from a 5,845Km trip in the SRT

[outbacktourer]

Guys,

Just got back from a 5,845 Km trip in the SRT8 over a nine day period. Sydney to Townsville and out to Julia Creek and back. All inland roads south of Rockhamption.

I thought you would be interested in how it went in the real world of Aussie long distance touring.

Firstly I have to say the car is as quick as anything I've ever had point to point over a days drive. If an overtaking move can be done it will be done. A number of times I took the semi and the two farting around behind it in one go, no worries. Played with the Autostick but went back to leaving it in D for overtaking kickdown. Never went up a hill at highway speed that it kicked down on, even F3 at Orimbah, straight up in top at 110. The gearbox kicks down a gear (or two) when you are on cruise and overcook it downhill, nice one.

Secondly, the amount of attention this car gets is incredible, everywhere you go. I've had my share of cars that people take a good look at but with this one they actually come over and start to chat. Console operators, motel owners etc, the kind of people that see new flash stuff all the time. You get used to being tailgated too. In general I stick pretty close to the limit and the number of FPV's HSV's etc that come up on you and just hang there perving is incredible.

It took a couple of days to get the seat just right but I was getting out of it with no aches and pains at the end of each day pretty fresh.

Found 35 cold all round was the best tyre pressure compromise. The dealer had 38 cold in it and the ride was much better once I got down to 35. Placard says 32 but I reckon this is too comfort oriented and you would get outer edge wear.

Front shocks could use a little more rebound (patters a bit on corrogated bitumen) but this is a nit pick. Ride on the open road over undulating surfaces is firm but reasonably compliant with no bottoming out at all (even with the towbar and a full load of 4 plus luggage) and very comfortable. It's not quite as comfortable over open country as the Fairmont wagon with XR6 suspension that I had once, but it's the closest thing I've had to it.

No rattles or shakes, everything feels good and solid although the dash background plastic does look cheap in direct afternoon sun! The bell chimes were giving me the ****s until I figured you do your belt up, release the handbrake and THEN put the key in the ignition!

The radio lacks some features for cross country touring, unless I have not found it yet, auto tuning for local stations is sorely needed. The seek function picks up too weak a signal and needs a LOC function to block out weak signals. The aerial could be better too, particularly for FM. BTW I've done the reverse polarity thing for the sub and rear deck speakers and this made a HUGE difference.

The wheels do get dirty with dust but they are the easiest I've ever had to clean and will come up with just a close go with a high pressure wand.

Now the best part. Fuel economy. On 95 Premium, low to mid 11L's/100. On 98 Premium 10.3-10.8L/100Km. Unreal. The best I saw was 10.0 over a pretty flat 100KPH stretch.

I took a jack and tyre plugs but had no tyre worries.

I copped a couple of rocks but they bounded nicely off the raked screen which seems to be a pretty tough one.

Regds

OT

[Dropstar]

Hey OT,
Sounds like the SRT8 went well, and that fuel economy was unbelievable for such a huge car ....so what was the top speed?

[Konvict]

Great report!

Good to see the SRT8 can handle a good old Aussie road trip without breaking your back or having any problems. Sounds like everything went well..considering the roads from Townsville to Julia Creek are amongst the worst roadsin Aus....done that trip many times when i worked in Mt Isa and I'll be happy if i never see another floodway ever again

[outbacktourer]

Originally Posted by Dropstar

Hey OT,
Sounds like the SRT8 went well, and that fuel economy was unbelievable for such a huge car ....so what was the top speed?

Behaved myself in general but did see 150 when going around a BDouble!

OT

[outbacktourer]

Originally Posted by Konvict

Great report!

Good to see the SRT8 can handle a good old Aussie road trip without breaking your back or having any problems. Sounds like everything went well..considering the roads from Townsville to Julia Creek are amongst the worst roadsin Aus....done that trip many times when i worked in Mt Isa and I'll be happy if i never see another floodway ever again

I was in the Isa too, mid 80's. The road is actually pretty good these days, a few 110 stretches. Once did Isa to the Towers in 6 1/2 Hrs in an Alfa GTV including a fuel stop. Was a bit younger then!

OT

[Hemi57]

outbacktourer, great write up , thanks for sharing.

I was very interested to read your experiences with fuel economy and the different octanes. SRT61 is pretty well the same although I have not had her loaded up as much as you did with only the two of us on board and just a weekend's luggage.

I haven't experienced what you are saying about the chimes, if I read that right. There does not seem to be a sequence that has an effect for me, ie. if I start her, release the park brake, drive out of the garage (with the seat belt alert chime going), then put my belt on and there are no lingering chimes. Sure the chime goes for a period of time while the car is running and the belt is not on and this probably repeats based on a timer until the belt connected, but no issues overall.

BTW, Nice to see you living up to your name too

[Domenic]

Furthest I've driven srt.08 is from Melbourne down to Ocean Grove, but would write a similar write up to the one above. Car is a great cruiser, fuel economy is fantastic on long drives, although i do prefer driving in autostick when booting it i must admit, and i've had slight problems clicking it back into normal drive mode from autostick on occasions. I double click it to the right but it refuses to slot back into drive. On the quality front, I've driven in HSV's and other similar vehicles and I don't care what anyone says there is a definite 'feel' difference from a Chrysler/Mercedes/Audi type car to a Ford or HSV. Even just the sound of the door when you close it, a solid sound, it adds to the all round experience in my opinion and to me even the HSV's sound a bit tinney when closing the door.
Nice read OBT.

[srt8danno]

Great write up! I did a 2500 mile tour this summer and it was like driving a dream (with tons of torque!) Like I said the only thing that could have made it better would be cooled seats. Thanks for sharing your trip….these cars are definitely cruisers!!

[Hemi57]

Originally Posted by Domenic

Car is a great cruiser, fuel economy is fantastic on long drives, although i do prefer driving in autostick when booting it i must admit, and i've had slight problems clicking it back into normal drive mode from autostick on occasions. I double click it to the right but it refuses to slot back into drive.

Dom, the way to drop back from manual shift to "drive" is to hold the stick momentarily to the right, as opposed to "two tapping". Two tapping will just upshift two gears. (I think )

[Domenic]

Originally Posted by Hemi57

Dom, the way to drop back from manual shift to "drive" is to hold the stick momentarily to the right, as opposed to "two tapping". Two tapping will just upshift two gears. (I think )

Haha, I been doing it wrong the whole time (yes it was just shifting down 2 gears). I'm going out right now to do bank, think i'll check out your theories and let you know in 30mins or so....