More driving feedback

[JMatt]

This thing is a beast!!!!!

It's raining here, but a friend was over, so we took a quick 4 mile country road drive. Just a little mist now, but the roads are wet. I left the ESP on. Starting in the mist from a stop sign, the car allows a lot of wheelspin, and the back kicked out to the side. I let off the gas, got to about 30mph and added throttle. At 40mph the tires break lose - and I don't mean just a little. I mean kick the back-end out and dial the throttle down in a hurry.

Don't worry about kicker stereos or Boston Accoustics or Sirius. The best stereo for this car is the sound of the dual exhaust. The sheer power is just amazing. I have a 911 that is about the same speed 0-60, but that's in a light weight sports car. It honestly doesn't feel that impressive. The BMW is almost as fast, and the first time I drove it, I laughed because it seemed insane to go so quick in a sedan that big. Now then, the SRT-8 dwarfs the BMW, yet does 0-60 slightly quicker and with much more of a brute force feel. I think this car is by far the most fun to drive in a straight line. What's nice, is that if you're not into the throttle, the car sounds very normal in traffic. When you dial in the throttle, the whole world wakes up.

I checked out CTS-V's too, and I'd think that anyone who wants to drive a sedan on a track will probably like the CTS-V more. For the daily commute, I'd think the SRT-8 is better hands down. I know people seem to compare the two, but really they are very dissimilar cars.

Honestly, I think this car is more like a poor man's Bentley Turbo R. It's an awesome, large, boulevard cruiser, with unbelievable get up and go. Plenty of room for 4 adults. (In my opinion, the CTS-V backseat was too small for adults. Yes it will work - but not very comfortably). The biggest drawback for me in the SRT-8, is I'm not sure I'd want to throw this much weight into a corner on a racetrack. I'm sure many could do it successfully (and even more people will brag that they could) but I'm not one of them.

The truth is, I commute to work in oftentimes stop-and-go traffic, and this is one incredibly comfortable car, that happens to be very entertaining if you'd like to light it up a bit on some straight pavement on the way home.

[The Vigg]

Great review ...exactly the type of info I was looking for...Cheers!

[Johnny Vig]

Keep the Feedback coming JMATT.....I live thru you until my car comes in..............

p.s. based on your feedback with those F1s I hope the RSAs are a lot better in the wet......and dare I say snow....

[SRT8/BMW]

this is what I havebeen lookingfor, driving impressions. I think, and I emphasize think (opinion only) that this car can be thrown hard into curves and corners. Many of the reviews written are not by professional drivers, and they all attest to the ability of this car to go into a corner HARD. Also, I own a car now that weighs slightly more, and it is like a panther in hard corners..no roll whatso ever.

Can't wait, can't wait' can't wait.....hopefully any day now.

[XCITsNU]

Ok, this is a perfect topic for what was going to be my next post, but this is a better spot for it cause it's right on topic. I'm taking it easy with the SRT-8 now. It's MAKING me respect it.

I just got back from a board meeting and it is raining cats and dogs out side right now. Here's what happend on the way home. I am cruising along the freeway doing about 65 MPH, not wanting to get home too fast cause I want to spend more time in the SRT-8 and I know if I drive my usual speed, I'll be home way too soon. Anyway, I see mustang headlights (I own a 94' Convertible too) fast approaching in my drivers side mirror. I figure the guys got to be doing about 85 MPH, so I wait until he gets right up to about my rear bumper and I press the gas down about another quarter of the way and the car lurches forward as he starts to pass me. Turns out to be a Mustang Cobra, which I know is no match at all for the SRT-8 unless it is HEAVILY modified, which this didn't sound like it was. Of course as JMAtt said (JMatt I still owe you a response to your PM) the exhaust really growls when you give it some gas. I'm up to 85 by the time he's past the front bumper and at 90 mph passing him since he never got further than a few feet away from the front bumper anyway. Keep in mind it's raining hard and I just wanted to have a little fun. I had it, so I ease off the gas and slow it down, since I am getting closer to my exit. He keeps on the gas and get's over into my lane so I decide to pace him until my offramp. His turn signal goes on before mine so it looks like we are getting off at the same exit. As we approach the light at the end of a long offramp, it turns yellow. We're both doing about 45 mph and we are both in one of the two lanes for the offramp that only goes left. I'm waiting for him to slow down and since he doesn't neither do I. He whips into the corner and his tail end keeps going straight as he turns the front end into a hard left to go underneith the freeway. I'm only about a car length behind him and bank hard around the corner still doing about 45 pmh into a 90' degree turn, only the SRT-8 doesn't slide the rear tires, but grips right up, so much so that I am instantly right beside the Mustang as he is attempting to overcorrect his spinout. I realize in the next second that if he is not careful, he's going to fishtail right into me. We are both pointing towards the underpass now and it is a two lane road. I don't even think about it as I give the car enough gas to shoot past him. As I do, I look in my rearview mirror only to see his rear end whip into my lane as the SRT-8 is moving out of the way. This happens all in the space of about 2-3 seconds.

Now I been a drag racer for several years and I am used to hooking a car straight from a tail spin, so I felt a little more confident about what I was about to do going into that turn, but I tell you even I realized that if I'd been driving a lighter car, I would have ended up in an ugly accident. I have MUCH more respect for the Chrysler engineering team tonight. This car handles well enough for me and this is not a statement I make lightly. By the way, I have the AS tires. Like I said, the SRT-8 is MAKING me respect it, and I will not be playing around anymore in the rain, but at least I know that if I need to move out of the way of something quickly in the rain, the cars going to stay on the road. Be safe Y'all, cause you can't have fun in a totalled car.

[TheSRTSaint]

I already let my insurance agent know he would be getting a fatter check from my soon to be increasing insurance/ticket penalties.

[catchMEifUcan]

Nice write up XCITsNU.
-g

[indyCoder]

Originally Posted by XCITsNU

Ok, this is a perfect topic for what was going to be my next post, but this is a better spot for it cause it's right on topic. I'm taking it easy with the SRT-8 now. It's MAKING me respect it.

I just got back from a board meeting and it is raining cats and dogs out side right now. Here's what happend on the way home. I am cruising along the freeway doing about 65 MPH, not wanting to get home too fast cause I want to spend more time in the SRT-8 and I know if I drive my usual speed, I'll be home way too soon. Anyway, I see mustang headlights (I own a 94' Convertible too) fast approaching in my drivers side mirror. I figure the guys got to be doing about 85 MPH, so I wait until he gets right up to about my rear bumper and I press the gas down about another quarter of the way and the car lurches forward as he starts to pass me. Turns out to be a Mustang Cobra, which I know is no match at all for the SRT-8 unless it is HEAVILY modified, which this didn't sound like it was. Of course as JMAtt said (JMatt I still owe you a response to your PM) the exhaust really growls when you give it some gas. I'm up to 85 by the time he's past the front bumper and at 90 mph passing him since he never got further than a few feet away from the front bumper anyway. Keep in mind it's raining hard and I just wanted to have a little fun. I had it, so I ease off the gas and slow it down, since I am getting closer to my exit. He keeps on the gas and get's over into my lane so I decide to pace him until my offramp. His turn signal goes on before mine so it looks like we are getting off at the same exit. As we approach the light at the end of a long offramp, it turns yellow. We're both doing about 45 mph and we are both in one of the two lanes for the offramp that only goes left. I'm waiting for him to slow down and since he doesn't neither do I. He whips into the corner and his tail end keeps going straight as he turns the front end into a hard left to go underneith the freeway. I'm only about a car length behind him and bank hard around the corner still doing about 45 pmh into a 90' degree turn, only the SRT-8 doesn't slide the rear tires, but grips right up, so much so that I am instantly right beside the Mustang as he is attempting to overcorrect his spinout. I realize in the next second that if he is not careful, he's going to fishtail right into me. We are both pointing towards the underpass now and it is a two lane road. I don't even think about it as I give the car enough gas to shoot past him. As I do, I look in my rearview mirror only to see his rear end whip into my lane as the SRT-8 is moving out of the way. This happens all in the space of about 2-3 seconds.

Now I been a drag racer for several years and I am used to hooking a car straight from a tail spin, so I felt a little more confident about what I was about to do going into that turn, but I tell you even I realized that if I'd been driving a lighter car, I would have ended up in an ugly accident. I have MUCH more respect for the Chrysler engineering team tonight. This car handles well enough for me and this is not a statement I make lightly. By the way, I have the AS tires. Like I said, the SRT-8 is MAKING me respect it, and I will not be playing around anymore in the rain, but at least I know that if I need to move out of the way of something quickly in the rain, the cars going to stay on the road. Be safe Y'all, cause you can't have fun in a totalled car.

Shame on you for driving in the rain. I hope that was a 300 group meeting!

[stang]

Watch out for that new shelby cobra GT-500 mustang though, being shown today in new york's auto show,that baby is supposed to have at least 450 plus horses in it,and it is one sweet looking car!!! Ol' Shel still won't be undone!!!It has the 5.4 liter supercharged ford gt motor in it,just pullied different ala 450 plus horsies!!! All that and keeping price under 40,000!!! It's a great time to be an American--Let the muscle car wars begin!!!!!!!

[Dan SS2471]

Nice job XCITnSU. Watch out for the '03 + Cobras. They're beasts.

I'm a 1/4 mi. guy too and I'm waiting to hear some realtime numbers. Any plans to run it? I'm most interested in what these will do once broken in based on the magazine numbers I've seen. I know magazine racing isn't worth the paper it's printed on but the encouraging thing is that Motor Trend was able to pull a 13.2 @ 108 and they're typically .2 - .3 tenths off what cars wound up turning with decent drivers. Don't get me wrong, if I can pull a low 13 I'll be very happy but that MPH and E.T. has got my interest peaked. Wonder if a ringer could see a 13.00 - 12.99. Now that would be sweet!!

Thanks for the write-ups guys. Keep them coming.

Dan