Love me the fun of building Fords of the last decade. New shit is expensive, complex and wel...l I don't have the bank. New GT500 is nice but I guess Dodge is the only American (*cough* Italian) company pushing some muscle cars. C8 is sick but not my cup o' tea. Ford needs to wake the **** up. I get not everyone is in the performance market but around here I see nothing but Hellcats, Daytona, C7 ZO6, etc all day everyday at 7am on the way to work. Hitting that sweet spot of power for the every-man price point (well on Long Island at least) is where Ford is out to lunch. New 5.0 is impressive as shit but take some mods and warranty voiding to really compete with some of those. Sad to say the Italians and Govt' Motors are making True Blue look bad.
2021 Dodge Durango, Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye and 2020 Challenger SRT Super Stock.
- Thread starter Bensin
- Start date
I really, really wanted to be an SRT guy. sold my SHO, snagged a CPO SRT Cherokee. initially all was good, no issues, ran like a scaled dog. then 70k miles hit. it became what I feared, I FCA product.
I still love them, and they're all hits. but its a no for me.
I still love them, and they're all hits. but its a no for me.
I'm not sure people realize how terrible Dodge engines are as they reach higher mileage. As someone who runs a shop, I'm seriously considering not accepting anymore major engine repairs for FCA vehicles because Im not lying when I say every single that includes head gaskets, head replacements, or valvetrain work has bit us in the ass... every.single.time! For example:
2007 Charger 3.5L - tear down reveals rocker arms that got damaged, we replaced and put back together only to start it up and have a connecting rod wrist pin start to make nearly an identical noise, a noise that wasn't there before.
2011 G Cherokee 5.7L - confirmed to have blown head gaskets as well as inoperable air bag suspension. $8k bill that and we fixed it all, but when we put it back together oil is leaking into the coolant. Tear it down again and send heads back out to be inspected and worked once more but they confirm heads are good and there is no signs of damage on the block. We try one more time in hopes it was something to do with the gasket but to no avail oil is getting into the coolant still so now I've got a reman engine on the way for the car that we are paying for.
2013 Cherokee 3.2 - Known issue with bad rollers that start to tick and eventually start to damage camshafts. Order new cylinder heads and install along with new VVT solenoids and phasers, put it all back together, car is running great at start up, tech takes it out for a drive and 15min in it makes a noise and he has to stop and we tow it back. Tear down shows an intake cam seized and snapped all 4 cam phasers straight through and obviously damaged the cam that seized. One of the oil passages likely got blocked from a piece of debris from the old camshaft that started to get damaged by the roller and dislodged and made its way up into the new cylinder head.
That is just the most current examples we are dealing with. Some of these obviously could have been solved if the tech had taken a considerable amount of extra time to try to prevent anything from happening, but a lot of it just can't be foreseen or there is no way to see what is going to happen. Both Jeeps were completed by an ASE tech with over 25 years of experience. I even called the Jeep dealer and asked them about what happened on our G Cherokee to see if they had ever ran into that issue and they confirmed they had experienced the same thing but they couldn't remember the cause. He confirmed they just put a new motor in also.
I talked to another shop a while ago who primarily does major engine repairs and swaps as they had received a Charger SRT8 that we had done the testing on but it needed an engine and we did not want to do the repair so it was taken to this other shop. Talking to the owner of that shop about the Hemi motors, he said they are the worst and he does more new Hemi motors at his shop than any other brand. Last year he did 57 Hemi swaps on various FCA vehicles.
Working in a shop you see patterns with the different brands in the types of repairs that come in, but I swear FCA vehicles don't have a pattern, they just have issues and it is different all the time. They are one of the only brands that have unexplainable issues and will regularly spawn issues out of nowhere. I'll never own one and I'm done losing money on them because they are too unpredictable, and I'm done with all the snapped head bolts and exhaust manifold bolts which are a given.
As far as these new SRT vehicles go though, at face value I dont hate them, but I am getting a little tired of seeing the same thing over and over again. The only reason they are doing this is because FCA can't afford to update the platform so they are throwing everything they have at it to keep the models and their sales alive.
This is validating the current state of the union.
SRT now has the sack that SVT did when it dropped the ‘03 Cobra and ‘13 GT500.
Dodge and SRT absolutely OWN the American Muscle segment and those who appreciate street/strip performance.
I’ll be at the Ford Performance Track Tour in Chicago next week and I will tell them EXACTLY how I feel.
There is a good chance I buy a ‘21 Redeye Charger over a ‘21 GT500.
Thankfully I’m able to consider trading away my new Ram and owning both, but it’s hard to look at all current offerings if you prioritize street/strip American Muscle and not choose Dodge for factory performance.
Yes, the Mustang still offers the best modding potential, but many want factory performance and it is VERY disappointing Ford and Chevy have no drag focused options.
If the Challenger/Charger was on a more modern chassis that was 500# lighter, it would be even more of a bloodbath.
Ford, you have Mustang GT PP1/PP2, GT350, GT350R, GT500 plus CFTP option, Mach 1 plus Handling pack option. To me it’s complete and total BS you can’t have even ONE Mustang model with a drag pack option. Just one would be worth the experiment to see how many chose the drag pack over a handling pack.
Rant over.
-J
SRT now has the sack that SVT did when it dropped the ‘03 Cobra and ‘13 GT500.
Dodge and SRT absolutely OWN the American Muscle segment and those who appreciate street/strip performance.
I’ll be at the Ford Performance Track Tour in Chicago next week and I will tell them EXACTLY how I feel.
There is a good chance I buy a ‘21 Redeye Charger over a ‘21 GT500.
Thankfully I’m able to consider trading away my new Ram and owning both, but it’s hard to look at all current offerings if you prioritize street/strip American Muscle and not choose Dodge for factory performance.
Yes, the Mustang still offers the best modding potential, but many want factory performance and it is VERY disappointing Ford and Chevy have no drag focused options.
If the Challenger/Charger was on a more modern chassis that was 500# lighter, it would be even more of a bloodbath.
Ford, you have Mustang GT PP1/PP2, GT350, GT350R, GT500 plus CFTP option, Mach 1 plus Handling pack option. To me it’s complete and total BS you can’t have even ONE Mustang model with a drag pack option. Just one would be worth the experiment to see how many chose the drag pack over a handling pack.
Rant over.
-J
Don’t waste time on the Scat, definitely go HC if RE out of range. Regular HC still lives up to hype.
-J
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2002
- Messages
- 1,069
All this power but no traction 
I daily drove, true daily drove 12k+ miles per year a Charger Hellcat for 3yrs.
It went from performance snow tires in later fall to drag radials in late spring.
You want any performance ride, first priority needs to be tires.
-J
It went from performance snow tires in later fall to drag radials in late spring.
You want any performance ride, first priority needs to be tires.
-J
Agreed, the lack of a drag option from ford is certainly frustrating. The current round of sub models in the s550 line up are plagued with track capable cars. Nothing wrong with one every once in a while, however making every model track focused is abit played out and redundant at this point. Understandably dodge is sort of doing the same thing with straight line performance. But at the same time dodge is offering alot of options like SUV, sedan, 2 door etc.... that along with carrying the TRUE muscle car banner is the main appeal with dodge. When dodge released that video it was the first time I had smiled in a while.
Sent from my SM-G960U using the svtperformance.com mobile app
LOL. I like the car but I am not a self described hemi nut swinger like you.
You won’t see any videos of me leaving mustang week in Myrtle Beach slamming into the crowd.
Yeah, but dump the black hood crap.
I know. I'm digging it!!
Especially when Ford "might" give the 5.0 cylinder deactivation?? Not sure if it's a rumor or not. I read about it on the other Mustang forum. Might as well cut the balls off. That's not for me.
Is it true that the Hellcat Durango is only a one yer vehicle? Is it because the platform is changing after that? I hope they continue it.
It's a one year run because it won't meet the emission requirements of 2022.
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I currently am on my 3rd SHO. 97, 10 and 15. 97 was a great car. 10 and 15 have had some issues. 2010 needed wheel bearings at 20k miles? 15 PTU and rear diff at 30k. Trust me, Ford has issues also.
Tons of new Ford pick ups with doors that freeze in the winter. Since 2015 they have had the chance to resolve the issue. My buddy traded his 15 for a 19 last summer. Guess what? Doors freeze in the winter on this one too. lol
I bleed Ford Blue, but....they need to step it up.
That's STILL happening?!?!
Wow.
Meh. I am into HPDEs, so nothing FCA makes interests me.
Wow if this is true, I wonder how many guys with highly modified cars are going to have to make revisions to their cars if the emissions is tightening up?
Couldn't agree more. Nothing dodge makes interest me in the least. Much prefer the way Ford is going. I'll take a GT500 over any challenger variant
It is more plausible to think it is one year only because the current generation Durango goes back to 2010. Chrysler's products and platforms are really old
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