Finally, the 2016 Dodge Dart SRT is coming to town! All wheel drive. A winning Mopar formula of higher performance specs and thousands of dollars under the competition. Also, they have dropped the cylinder numbers in the SRT name. Go team USA, and Italy, and ah Maserati...
I was looking at the CLA45 recently and the car has a great engine but not a lot else I liked. Optioned up how I'd want they're also around to the same price point as an outgoing C63 with standard equipment (which you can't order anymore as the plant is switching over to the new C-Class which should go up in price to give the CLA45 some breathing room). Stock power is nice and linear and the car does make nice noises, especially with the AMG performance exhaust option.
The Mercedes dual-clutch automatic responds quick enough to paddle shifter input but is merely okay in normal, automatic mode driving. And although I didn't get to push it on any backroads, the reviews show the simple AWD system is more for traction and doesn't do any torque vectoring to aid handling. Combined with some low-rent interior pieces, the nearly unusable back seat and high price it wouldn't be my first choice in a high strung turbo four, but if they offered the A45 AMG hatch here I might reconsider.
I have a feeling this car won't make less than 380 or more.
Ever since that hellcat reveal it seems as though dodge / SRT is going balls to the wall!!! Trying not to just beat, but bury the competition!!
You really think Dodge is going to make a 380+ hp 4-banger and still try to keep it around the $30K mark? I can't see that happeneing but that's just me. My guess is they'll shoot for 300whp.
in THEORY its a great idea... lets just see if they end up coming out with it. the reason it has taken so long is bc the engineers can't figure out how to turbo charge the engine in the dart. but if they do it will be on the top of my list when i am finally done with my neon srt4!
I definitely agree with your form of thought, there may very well be a 300 hp SRT but it seems now like a SRT hell cat will be a very much more potent vehicle!
I was quite content to lace my fingers, sit back, and smile as I have "seen this all before".
You have to remember, the Caliber was rumored to have AWD and IIRC, was also on a slide-deck as such. It was also supposed to come out in 2007.
The Hellcat Charger and Challenger have made me seriously reconsider my thoughts that Dodge will never have an affordable SRT product aimed squarely at the "hot hatch / compact car" segment ever again.
That being said, I sure hope they haven't exhausted their "lightning in a bottle" with the Hellcat twins. The original SRT-4 was one hell of an act to (still!) beat.
There is no way they will try to push this thing to 400 hp, if they do it will be 40 to 45,000 dollars, and that's outside of where they are aiming for.
You have to realize something, Dodge WANTS people to buy stage packages to do these upgrades themselves, it was a lucrative business for them. I am not sure why Mopar even dropped the packages because if you can find a decent kit generally it STILL costs nearly what a new one cost back in the day (3 to 4000 dollars depending on what you are getting).
And that's how I want it too, I don't want a "Hellcat" SRT-4, I want a Dart SRT-4, stage 1, 2, or 3, and maybe of course an AGP Stage 4
Toaster, they haven't exhausted anything... checkon what is going on with the Viper heh heh, supposedly 860 hp with photos smuggled out of the SRT labs of the V10 with a supercharger on it.
Dodge the division doesn't care about people buying performance upgrades because they sell cars. The Mopar division probably doesn't mind cashing in on selling upgrade kits and the money from a car sale and a performance part sale both eventually goes towards the bottom line of Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles, but a stage kit wouldn't have any impact on the design decisions of the Dart SRT/SRT-4 outside of the individual SRT team maybe trying to push something through that doesn't cost anything extra and might accommodate the upgrade part later on.
As for the current Mopar Performance "Stage" kits on the Neon SRT-4, the main reason they won't sell you one is supplier and component issues. The cars is pretty old now, most of the original OEM suppliers aren't building components or it isn't worth it to spool up for a small production run. It also didn't help with many going out of business during the financial downturn.
The main thing that killed the "Stage" kits was the NGC-3 computers. I'm pretty sure they were building them at the Huntsville plant but they couldn't get components to build them and you're limited to remans now. Flight Systems who packaged the kits for Mopar and did the programming would gladly still do it but they can't get new computers to program (side note, they apparently just scrapped all the tools to do the old SMEC/SBEC computers for the older turbo Dodges so there won't be any more of those either). While the Stage kits were decent sellers when the cars were new there's also a lot more options now for tuning so they likely won't be offered again for the Neon even though some would still prefer a factory engineer-backed bolt-on kit.
To the speculation on an SRT Dart power output it will come down primarily to durability and drivability. The car is still going to be warrantied and needs to be rock solid, meet emission requirements and not overpower the chassis and driveline. While they could build a 400 hp engine, the driveline and other factors are going to dictate how much they'll be able to push.
I hope they don't push the envelope too far with the HP. The pricing will be absurd. RTShadow has the idea..This whole new idea of buying the car at it's peak (Hellcat) leaves the idea of a community in the dust. Every Mopar show there is countless people who take their Challengers and sit them in a line as if they're a one off hemi superbird, but 95% of them are completely stock and still smell like they're brand new. Where did it all go wrong..
The car was built by dodge knowing owners would be modding them (hence the stage kits/ all the mopar parts.) I see dodge doing the same with the Dart. I think they should stick with that formula, Keep the price low then offer packages/kits (hellcat could be one) for those wanting more power.
With what I am doing right now with vipers, I am looking forward to see what is going to be the final product. With what Dodge, and SRT are doing right now with thier cars, you KNOW this car will be something really spacial.
:smile:
With what I am doing right now with vipers, I am looking forward to see what is going to be the final product. With what Dodge, and SRT are doing right now with thier cars, you KNOW this car will be something really spacial.
:smile:
Has anyone heard anything else of this? Getting antsy to say the least... i spoke with a dealership close by who gets all the srt vehicles, they had no clue about the dart srt.
NEVER ask a dealership about even their own vehicles, they don't have a clue. Some of the dumbest so called "car guys" are car salesmen.
This isn't all inclusive, we have a few guys on here who work in the business who are very savvy about cars, but man some of the stupidity I've run into while trying to buy a car...
The Honda salesman who came up to me as I was getting out of my SRT-4 and asked "Looking to upgrade to something a little quicker?" to which I said "Why, you have something other than Hondas here?" and he stopped smiling.
Hey that's awesome news! I really like the St.. and honestly have been trying to talk myself out of getting it. Can't wait to hear how the RS is gonna be, that may just push me over the edge.