I dont think i would ever buy this thing, but I do like it. It's a different path for Dodge. And I hope you all realize that they aren't doing this 4-door hatch for their own health. What type of vehicles are you seeing more and more? 4-door hatch backs / mini-suv's, vans, etc. They see what the market trend is right now and performance 2-door cars (or even 4-door for that matter) aren't in the scope. It's different, its not the neon, get over it.
To those who bash the 6-speed, i think it's gonna be great for that car. Closer ratios and faster accelleration sell it for me. That's what keeps my dad's Mini cooper S alive in a race (obviously not with our cars) is because of its excellent 6-speed. It may not be very powerful comparatively, but those closer ratios really help it get going. And that tranny is going to help that cow of a caliber get it moving alot better than any 5-speed would.
I personally think that the caliber is going to do very well, we'll see how the SRT variant does, but the regular caliber fits the current market to a T.
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Pablo Tuned
380whp/396WTQ I'm a meth addict...
Stage 3R powered
There were four of these things at the dealership here in town and they were gone in a week. I'm also starting to see them around town. Not that I would by since the srt won't be AWD.
To those who bash the 6-speed, i think it's gonna be great for that car. Closer ratios and faster accelleration sell it for me. That's what keeps my dad's Mini cooper S alive in a race (obviously not with our cars) is because of its excellent 6-speed. It may not be very powerful comparatively, but those closer ratios really help it get going. And that tranny is going to help that cow of a caliber get it moving alot better than any 5-speed would.
That really depends on how peaky the torque curve of this new 2.4 is. If you look at the Mini you used as an example.... little 2.0, supercharged... it needs to rev to make torque. The powerband is MUCH narrower than the '03-05 2.4 Turbo for example. Closer ratios and more gear changing would be a detriment to accelration times. No matter how fast you THINK you can shift, an extra shift will hurt your ET's by .2-.3 seconds.
In reading one of the million articles there have been comparing the EVO and STi, one journalist noted that 0-60 runs for the EVO are hampered by the fact that the driver must shift into 3rd before 60mph is reached, while the STI's broader gear split allowed it to reach 60 in 2nd gear.
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2004 Neon SRT-4
Mods: #2 Extra Power Combo with Fries (S2 w/toys)
1986 Plymouth Horizon "GLMF"
Mods: Super-50 trim, Spearco, Menegon head.
NEW Best ET: 11.43
NEW MPH: 119.9mph
Eric, what is the maxmium PSI (based on the compressor map) for the TD4 stockk turbo?
If you're talking on the Neon SRT-4 there aren't any direct compressor maps specifically for our turbo, but going off a small 16g compressor the max efficiency is something around 18-20 psi range and tapers off the higher you push it. On the Caliber SRT-4 all we know is that it's a TD04, which is just a family of turbochargers. Kind of like how the compressor side of the popular 57, 50, and 60 trim hybrid turbo's commonly used on the SRT-4 are all from the Garrett T04 family. Until we get more specs on the exhaust side and what compressor they're using it will be had to say how much more potential the Caliber SRT-4's turbo has in it.
Quote: Originally Posted by manic_mopar
To those who bash the 6-speed, i think it's gonna be great for that car. Closer ratios and faster accelleration sell it for me. That's what keeps my dad's Mini cooper S alive in a race (obviously not with our cars) is because of its excellent 6-speed. It may not be very powerful comparatively, but those closer ratios really help it get going. And that tranny is going to help that cow of a caliber get it moving alot better than any 5-speed would.
The Mini Cooper S has the same 6-speed Getrag 285 that's in my SVT Focus. The first two gears are way too tall on it for the SVT's 2.0L and the supercharged Cooper's 1.6L (and until recently the Cooper came with even taller gearing than the Focus). It hurts acceleration from a stop in 1st and 2nd gear but is great for an auto-X event where you don't have to shift as much. For pure acceleration they could actually be geared better. If you swapped in a 5-speed with better matched ratio's it would more than likely out accelerate the 6-speed in the standard testing numbers.
The new Caliber SRT-4 shouldn't be a peaky engine because it sounds like they're torque managing it to maintain that 260 ft-lbs across a broad plateau in the power band while still making decent top end power. Overall acceleration is all going to come down to how well they were able to match the gear and final drive ratios to the power output. I hope they're matched up well and that they're not just using off the shelf parts developed for another application because they think a 6-speed is a good marketing ploy.
The Mini Cooper S has the same 6-speed Getrag 285 that's in my SVT Focus. The first two gears are way too tall on it for the SVT's 2.0L and the supercharged Cooper's 1.6L (and until recently the Cooper came with even taller gearing than the Focus). It hurts acceleration from a stop in 1st and 2nd gear but is great for an auto-X event where you don't have to shift as much. For pure acceleration they could actually be geared better. If you swapped in a 5-speed with better matched ratio's it would more than likely out accelerate the 6-speed in the standard testing numbers.
Quote: Originally Posted by contraption22
That really depends on how peaky the torque curve of this new 2.4 is. If you look at the Mini you used as an example.... little 2.0, supercharged... it needs to rev to make torque. The powerband is MUCH narrower than the '03-05 2.4 Turbo for example. Closer ratios and more gear changing would be a detriment to accelration times. No matter how fast you THINK you can shift, an extra shift will hurt your ET's by .2-.3 seconds.
Thanks for explaining that. I get what you guys mean. I guess it really just depends on the application. And i agree with you on the gears blackbird, it's almost useful just to skip 2nd gear sometimes in the MCS.
And i agree with you on the gears blackbird, it's almost useful just to skip 2nd gear sometimes in the MCS.
Yeah, a 6-speed manual where you can bump 70 mph in second gear when there's four more gears to go and it tops out at 135. First to sixth really isnt a problem if you wrap it out to 7200 rpm's for some reason. :
I think the current 2.4L turbo is a proven performer up to 300 horsepower and beyond but the new engine is unproven as to how far it can be pushed. There are a lot of nice features that are built into the new engine family but it's yet to be proven as to how far they can be pushed and what the weak links are. I guess we'll see how well Hyundai did on the short block development.
I like some of the new added features for the SRT engine. I could be wrong but I dont believe this engine will have a problem proving itself. I dont see it being as torque as the current engine but the higher redline is a plus along with the other features.
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ATTN : Everything said on the forums is 80% truth at BEST
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This damn thing is still too ugly to even consider buying. Yeah, my neon is ugly too, but it's an ugly with character. I personnaly would have killed the SRT-4 all together than give this little turd the badge. But then again, I despise these little econo wagons popping up all over the place, so I'm definately biased.
All the power in the world wont save it from looking like ass, unfortunately.
Our SRT-4 started life as that fugly little monstousity of a car that just wanted to say HI! Remember those ads? And evolved into the hot little street machine it is now. Hopefully this ugly duck can also transform into a swan.
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