I will give a bit of a TLDR, for context my old car was a 2002 Toyota Avalon XLS with a busted o2 sensor, leading to worse mpg than average, so the comparison metrics will be vs that. The car i'm comparing against is a 2008 chrysler 300 SRT8
Relevant specs:
- Engine: 6.1L V8
- HP: 425 HP @ 6200 RPM
- Torque: 420 Ft-Lb @4800 RPM
- Redline: 6200 RPM
- Fuel economy: 14 mpg average, 19 highway, 12 city. 91 octane.
- 0-60: 4.7s
- Rear wheel drive
- Brakes: 4 piston brembos front and rear
- Curb Weight: ~4,046 – 4,213 lbs
- Length: ~197.4 inches
- Width: ~74 inches
- Height: ~57.6 inches
- Wheelbase: 120 inches
TLDR:
- Acceleration: 7/10- much punchier
- Speed: 7/10- much faster
- Comfort: 6/10- much better, but sport tuned suspension is rough
- Fuel economy: 3/10- atrocious
- Space (trunk and cabin): 8/10- incredible, it is a full size sedan with a massive trunk
- Visibility: 4/10- Rear pillars make backing up a disaster, huge blind spots
- Handling (cornering at speed): 6/10- sport tuned suspension allows rapid cornering for a big sedan
- Braking distance: 7/10- brembos are good, brake dust is atrocious
- interior quality: 5/10- plasticity, huge dashboard cracking.
I have owned this car for several months. There are several gremlins that have appeared:
Right passenger tire has a slow leak, more evident in cooler temps, nonissue in summer
Previous owner kept OG gas cap, led to a check engine light, swap solved it.
Sway bar bushing likely original, ordered a set, car stopped making noise, go figure.
Performance is stellar, aggressive enough for daily driving and being a noise-making asshole, but not aggressive enough to be a cop magnet like hellcats. The NAG1 transmission has obnoxiously tall gears, this is great around town, but kills my fuel economy. I didnt get the car for fuel economy, but still, 13 mpg in the city is not fun.
As a full size sedan, you can fit 5 people easy, and I have actually done so twice without issue, with no complaints on comfort and leg room, it can make an excellent grand tourer if not for the god awful mpg.
Handling is great for a fat pig of a sedan, but there are major limitations. Under no circumstances should you do a hard pull before a corner. Straighten yourself out first.
Insurance premiums are actually not bad for a performance car, I pay $1100/yr, but I also have a pristine driving record and am over 25.
Do I recommend this car as a daily driver? Fuck no, while it is objectively practical in hauling people department, the fuel economy kills it. I can only justify it due to my immensely short commute bi-weekly (1 week home/1wk in office). As a collector car, it is solid, but as a daily, just get a coyote equipped mustang GT and be done with it. While you will deal with atrocious bake dust like me, you will have an easier time parking.
The closest common straight line rivals I have seen from experience (via actual races) are the following:
C5 corvette base
First generation CTS-V
Pre-coyote mustang GT's
Charger/Challenger RT
Comments
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Ass
Gosh I'm in love. Words cannot describe how magnificent this is. I'm inspired to save for a v8. Tho I'm not sure it's available in my country lol.
Depends on the country for sure, import taxes can also be a huge issue
by Pancreas Harvester
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Exactly TOT.
by Ass; ; Report
itz_deshybleh
wowwww i love american cars! that hemi looks gorg! in the UK we hardly have any V8s driving around here, the biggest common engines here are like V6s or Inline 6s in German cars like Audis n BMWs etc. i do sometimes see a few V8s (some american imports from the americans working at the local air bases near me or some German sports cars/Luxury cars) so its quite nice to see your Hemi :3
This car would probably be a bit too large for London streets to drive comfortably. Even here I’m always a bit nervous I’m gonna sideswipe someone lol. The hemi is a great engine! A totally different experience from a European spec V8
by Pancreas Harvester
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yeah haha its a nightmare to drive any modern car (post 2015) as cars are huge here too, cant imagine a US car on narrow streets XD
i love Hemis i met up with a Mustang 5.0 and a Challenger RT Hemi 5.7 manual to do photoshoots for them theyre beautiful cars
by itz_deshybleh; ; Report
la4hmet
Jealous af lol
The car culture over in my country is kinda different people often prefer 1.3 to 1.8 engines i believe this is because the current economy and how widespread they are.
Anyways cool af hope you can use it with joy
those smaller engines can also be deceptively punchy, and you cant argue with that efficiency, but v8 just has a different sound entirely.
by Pancreas Harvester
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Yeah but they aren't even close to that v8 kick
by la4hmet; ; Report
Cysper04
Hm, that car you got there looks awesome and I really liked it. :)
Great car there.
Thanks!
You also don’t find too many of these anymore, at least in stock condition or that haven’t been super clapped. At the risk of sounding like a corvette guy, I’m gonna stop while I’m ahead. Reversible mods only probably.
by Pancreas Harvester
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soyelmismisimo
you've got a nice piece of machinery there
The eggheads over at chrysler did a fine job with the car thats for sure, just be sure to keep up on those oil changes
by Pancreas Harvester
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Fusion
really nice car i love the Chrysler 300 thing is a boat 0_0 lowkey faster than most sports car and like really luxurious i heard
There are luxury adjacent features, here's a few:
auto dimming headlights
electronic steering wheel adjustment
rain intensity detecting windshield wipers (they will adjust speed vs rainfall rate)
bolstered seats
It is faster than even some modern sports cars, but the rest of the interior is really meh, tons of plastic, it makes weird noises sometimes and its generally less refined than its European peers or even american adjacent competitors like the CTS V. The upside is much cheaper maintenance.
by Pancreas Harvester
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all downsides aside crazy idle i assume though
by Fusion; ; Report
Yeah, even at stock it’s pretty sweet, my plan is to get a Borla atak so I can piss off my neighbors even more
by Pancreas Harvester
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honda civic type shit yeah thats so tuff twin
by Fusion; ; Report
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As a quick aside, this car has a 19 gallon tank, I do not let it get below 75%-50%, due to excessive gas prices. My most recent fill was 91 octane/$4.5/gal for ~$9. If I had to extrapolate a full tank fill from 25%, it would be roughly $65-$100 at $5.1/gal which I had to fill a few times at, but I average ~$80/mo on gas, I do hard pulls sometimes but it is not all the time, mainly on weekends, and only for a few seconds.