Rippin' It!

Quick, if I said Mopar was releasing a Mopar 10 Challenger that included “hardcore performance upgrades” what’s the first thing that comes to mind?  For me when I first read Mopar was going to to a “Mopar 10″ high performance Challenger I felt faint and my heart started racing as I quickly scanned the article for the horsepower ratings.

Could it be true?  Was the V10 Viper engine going to be put in a few Challengers?  Was the Challenger “10″ going to be a 600HP monster to compete with the Shelby?  Was the V10 going to be coupled with a manual 6 speed?  Was the RWP going to be over 500?   An 8 liter Hemi in a Challenger!!!

I started calculating how much a 2nd home mortgage was going to cost me as I was scrambling to find the number to the local Dodge dealership.  I figured I would sell my boat and motorcycle this weekend to get the money to secure my place among the 500 lucky “Mopar 10″ owners.  Once I got the security deposit together I could 2nd mortgage the house to get enough to actually pay for my “Mopar 10″.

Then I read the article.  Here is what was posted on the Mopar.com website:

Mopar and Dodge have created a modern performance classic and the epitome of enthusiast desire:  The Mopar ’10 Dodge Challenger R/T.  This limited edition package combines hardcore performance upgrades and traffic-stopping style.  The only question is:  Will you own this future collectible?

The V-10 would be a “hardcore performance upgrade” for sure.  So what do you get with the Mopar ’10?  Well here is Mopar’s definition of “hardcore”:

• Front and rear braces.
• A cold air intake.
• Under hood venting and water management system for the T/A hood.

That’s it?  That’s “hardcore”?  From this “Every passerby will know that you’re driving a true performance machine, as Mopar is prominent throughout the exterior…” Seriously?

A little reading and one quickly realizes this is a marketing gimmick that is hardly “hardcore”.  The only thing even remotely close to a performance upgrade is the CAI, available at most parts houses for under $300.00.  Even then a CAI is arguable in the performance world.   So what exactly does one get with the “Mopar 10″… well a black R/T with some graphics, the goofy looking snorkel scoop and some hood pins.

Whoopie.

The “Mopar 10″ is a standard R/T complete with the 5.7L Hemi that comes with all other R/T’s.  Some stripes have been added along with some hood pins.  It does have a Katzkin leather interior but the Katzkin interior is basic black with some colored piping.   Shameful as Katzkin makes some awesome interiors for the Challenger, this just isn’t one of them.

The promo propaganda includes, “The Mopar 10 R/T is built with the Mopar Cold Air Intake System, which picks up air directed from the performance hood scoop through a new Mopar hood venting system”.

Really.

I captured this image from the YouTube video of the Mopar ’10 release.  There doesn’t appear to be any under hood porting to the air intake.  Instead this appears to be a standard Mopar CAI with the same crappy sheet metal surround.  This is certainly nothing like the  the Cervini’s Ram Air system available for $299.00.

If you watch the video you’ll notice the bulk of the video is about creating graphics.  Mark Trostle, Chief Design Studio, spews on and on about creating graphics and a “unique stripe” that we “have not offered” before.  Yawn.

Trostle then says they wanted the Mopar ’10 to take on “this menacing look”.  How did they do that?  They painted the wheels black and then blacked out the grill.  Sort of Darth Vader’ish.  With the “unique Mopar 10 graphic”.  They added the hood pins to get back to the pure Challenger “essence”.  Dan Zimmerman, interior designer, also talks about the “essence” of the interior.

Zimmerman says, “One of the striking performance aspects of the car is the new performance steering wheel”. Striking?  Striking performance aspect?  Really? Zimmerman then talks about the logo’s and graphics including the little “M” on the quarter windows.

Next is Ralph Gilles, President and CEO of the Dodge Brand, who talks about… are you ready… the “Mopar 10″ on the seat and the body decal “on top of all the great parts that come with the vehicle”, which are graphics and decals apparently.

Seriously?  Is this the best we can expect from Dodge?

The comments on the YouTube video video start with, “Really, Mopar ’10′ and no V-10 motor? that’s just stupid”, here’s some of my personal favorites from the comments posted:

“It looks like a Challenger covered in Pep Boys shit”

“So they put stickers on it?  What did they do to the engine to make it better”

“A failure of epic proportions”.

“So it’s just a lot of stickers with some colored stitching and painted wheels? Great….”

“Epic Fail”

I couldn’t agree more.  It would seem Dodge could do better by hiring advisers off of YouTube.

If you want to create a serious performance Challenger “for the enthusiast” you need to do something other than adding vinyl to the sides and quarter panels and calling it “hardcore”.  That is seriously insulting. I have a 2010 R/T Track Pak Challenger with a few modifications done in my garage that will have the “Mopar 10″ for lunch.

Ordinarily I am opposed to street duals but I’m going to make an exception in this case.  If I ever see one of these “hardcore” insults driving down the road I’m going to peel the “unique” side stripe off the door.  Dodge should reassign everyone involved in this project to the mini-van division to make sure none of them ever get to have a say in a Challenger related issue ever again.

Repeatedly throughout the video there is talk of the “essence” of the Challenger.

The only “essence” I get from this car is the essence of an outhouse.

The Challenger exhaust systems are different for the automatic and the 6 speed car.  The automatics have a suitcase style muffler mid-body while the 6 speed cars have bottle style glass packs in front of the differential.

In either case though the Challenger has amazingly huge “resonators” that are tucked in the rear quarter panels between the rear wheels and the rear bumper.  Huge seems almost like an understatement as I couldn’t believe how big (and heavy) these things were when they came out from under the car.

If you’re wondering what a resonator is, well one definition is, “a hollow chamber whose dimensions allow the resonant oscillation of electromagnetic or acoustic waves”.  For me, I just like to think about it as another muffler.

Did I mention this thing was huge?

From Blastin’ Bob’s Exhaust I ordered this kit (GP250CE) which arrived at my door three or four days later.  Naturally it arrived on a day when it was snowing, about 28 degrees with a howling wind.

At the suggestion of a friend I went to a local muffler shop who said he would install them while I waited for $50.00, including welding in the pipes rather than clamping them in.  It was worth every bit of $50.00 since I also installed the ‘skip shift eliminator’ while the car was on the lift.

The muffler guy ended up spending about 45 minutes on each side of the car mostly because he had one hell of a time getting the rubber grommets out of the factory mounts and because he was being careful around the car.

This is a job you could do in your own garage or shop if you have a sawzall or similar exhaust cutting tool and a few hand tools.  For me, although mechanical by nature, I’m glad I took it to a place with a lift and paid the $50.00.

So once installed how’s it sound?  Not bad.  I did the following before and after video to show the difference from the outside of the car.

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YouTube Direkt

The total price of the pipes and install was around $250.00.  Certainly cheaper than the $900 to $1,500 cat back exhaust systems for the Challenger.  The car sounds good at idle and awesome WOT.  When you mat the pedal, even at speed with the windows down you can tell the pipes are really talking.

Okay so you’ve decided you want a Challenger, and you’ve decided on a Hemi version. The next question becomes should I get an automatic or standard? Dodge has a “Track Pak” option. Dodge’s official statement reads like this:

The available Track Pak features the Tremec TR-6060 six-speed manual transmission with “pistol-grip” shifter for $995. When the six-speed manual transmission is paired with the 5.7-liter HEMI V-8, it produces an estimated 375 horsepower (280 kW) and 404 lb.-ft. (548 N*m) of torque. The Track Pak also includes Hill-start Assist, limited-slip differential, bright pedal covers and performance steering.

In addition, if you order the 20″ wheels you also get 3.92 gearing as opposed to the 3.06 gearing for the automatic and the 3.73 gearing for the 18″ wheel standard transmission options. We can talk about rear gears for several pages but the condensed version reads like this…

A higher number, like 3.92 vs 3.06, means the car will have more launch capability and feel more powerful on acceleration. The trade-off is higher RPM at cruising speed and probably less gas mileage. In the old 4 speed days the top gear (4th) was generally a 1:1 gear. Today’s 5 and 6 speed transmissions usually include a 4th gear 1:1 and then 5th and 6th are overdrive gears.

So what does all that mean?  Well it means the Track Pak cars are going to feel more powerful, and they actually are, although only slightly over the automatic cars.  The question becomes how much gas mileage do I give up and does the relatively low 3.92 mean I’ll have less top end.

Lets answer the top end question with this video.

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Here we have a 2010 Challenger Track Pak car with a 3.92 rear gear.  From a slow rolling start and easing through the first two gears the acceleration becomes pronounced in 3rd and 4th gear.  The car reaches 130mph after having just barely shifted to 5th gear.  6th was never used.

Short of planning on racing at the Sunday Nextel Cup the car retains plenty of top speed with the low gear.

Gas mileage, according to Dodge, is 16 / 25 for the automatic, 16 / 25 for the manual so that’s pretty much a wash. However, reading further into the Dodge propaganda reveals the manual transmission car is slightly more powerful, at 375hp rather than 370hp and 404 lb-ft of torque versus 398 ft-lbs of torque in the automatic.

The Track Pak Challenger R/T also comes with a “full off ESP” button meaning if you find yourself with an excess amount of money you can roast up some Goodyears. The sales brochure also says the Track Pak has enhanced steering and a sportier less restrictive exhaust.

It is interesting to note the Track Pak R/T has 404 lbs-ft of torque versus the SRT’s 420 lbs-ft. The R/T weighs 130lbs less than an SRT with the same options. That makes the cars awful close in acceleration performance. The SRT wins the breaking competition hands down with those big Brembo’s though.