[newmoon]

Well I finally pulled the trigger and parted ways with the SS. First let me say the Camaro was a great car and I really enjoyed driving it. My problem is I think I got a bit carried away with modifications and I found myself dropping way too much money into a car that was losing value quickly due to the mods. It was a no win scenario, the car needed upgrades because of the mods. After going through the stock clutch, wasting money on a garbage replacement clutch, I was faced with dropping another 2k in a quality clutch; I still needed axles, and a drive shaft. Then it was how long would the transmission and rear differential last.


I started thinking that I had done all these mods, spent all that money for what, to gain a few tenths at the track. It really didn’t matter because near stock 5.0s were just as fast. It was time to cut my losses.

When looking for a replacement car the Wife had urged me to please get something that our whole family could fit into for a weekend cruise, she missed that experience she had as a kid. Since I have 3 children and needed seating, the only muscle car choices were Challenger and Charger.

I’d been going back and forth on several Challengers only to have one deal not work out after another. First issues was the lack of any reasonable trade in offer on my modified SS, next Challenger I was set to purchase the dealer told me at the last minute that it was a dealer demo with 2800 miles on it, no thank you.

I had been tempted by a school bus yellow 2013 Boss mustang for sale, I never did take the car on the road as the dealer wanted a firm commitment first but it was nice. At that point my Wife reminded me she wanted a car for all of us.

Yesterday I received a call from the original Dodge dealer. They felt badly that our deal fell through on the first Challenger because they failed to disclose the mileage. He said he had another car he wanted me to look at and he would make it worth my while.
Upon getting to the dealership he pulled out a beautiful header orange 2012 Challenger SRT automatic car. It was loaded with just about every option, and had 8-miles on it. Taking the car on the test drive with a very cool salesman, gearhead. I stomped the car from a red light and ran her hard for a 1/8 mile. I said to him this thing will take my modified Camaro down. The car was a beast. The only thing missing was something to offset the Orange, the dealer agreed to stripe the car for me for nothing, flat black rally stripes. My deal was approx. 4k below MSRP, which I thought was very good. The trade on my SS was 26.5k but there is another $700.00 in tax savings vs. a private sale. Since I purchased the Camaro new for 28k I was essentially out my mod money.

Driving the car home was a joy; it doesn’t have the sport feeling of a Camaro or Mustang but runs harder, if that makes sense. The pull of the 470hp / 470 tq is fantastic, power and torque band perfect. I have no doubt this car will run 12:50s immediately, and I will widdle it down from there. In a stop light to stop light race this car will be hard to beat, traction and automatic transmission get this car off the line quickly. I would say my cammed Camaro would have it’s hands full with this car.

My only planned mods for this car is a CAI and a stickier larger set of street rear tires, it really doesn’t need anything more.

I’ll miss the thumping crackle of my cammed Camaro for sure, but if you have to have 5-seats in a car how can you wrong in a SRT Orange 392 Hemi car.


The reason for buying.