Can anyone justify why the new Challengers are 4400 pounds?

[Cooter]

The Drag Paks aren't even close to street legal.  The engines don't even run from the factory.  You have to install your own ignition system.  I think there are two different hemi engines available(maybe just one) a SB 360 magnum and a big V10.

Exactly. I read once where the average public can't even buy them either. You have to be a professional racer to even get your hands on one.
It comes deliverd with what looks to be pieces of a hand cart with "Casters" on it to roll it around in the rear. The engine is just bolted in, NO WIRING, no crumple zones, air bags, saftey equipment, etc.
No way in hell you'd ever register one for the street. Drag Pack today = Race Hemi Darts of Yesterday. $60K For a car that you will dump another $50K into in order to make it perform. BS on that.

Shrink that size down to the Mustang GT, Give the Customer some buying power with choices like Deleting the Nav system, Sound deadner, and all other unrelated Crap, make it weigh in around 3780 LBS, and Gimme the 426 C.I. Hemi with a 6 speed and Dana 60....Oh Yeah, wrap all this up in a nice, neat little package for around $30K....Where do I sign?

[TinCuda]

Exactly. I read once where the average public can't even buy them either. You have to be a professional racer to even get your hands on one.
It comes deliverd with what looks to be pieces of a hand cart with "Casters" on it to roll it around in the rear. The engine is just bolted in, NO WIRING, no crumple zones, air bags, saftey equipment, etc.
No way in hell you'd ever register one for the street. Drag Pack today = Race Hemi Darts of Yesterday. $60K For a car that you will dump another $50K into in order to make it perform. BS on that.

Shrink that size down to the Mustang GT, Give the Customer some buying power with choices like Deleting the Nav system, Sound deadner, and all other unrelated Crap, make it weigh in around 3780 LBS, and Gimme the 426 C.I. Hemi with a 6 speed and Dana 60....Oh Yeah, wrap all this up in a nice, neat little package for around $30K....Where do I sign?

   Sounds like someone ^^^ should write Ralph Gilles a little letter...


.,

[hpe600rt]

you could always push out the fat girl 

[JS27N0B]

They must be pretty stout to weigh as much as my one ton pickup.

Seriously? I am wondering if you need to weigh that truck again! Mine is over 7,000lbs and isnt a duallie.

[TOC UnClub]

Yes they are heavy but when you get 370hp from 345ci ( 6-speed), the weight to hp is close or better. And please stop SAYING my LC is an LX, as these cars are built 4 square and have 6-speeds available, something the FLOORPANS of the Chrarger and 300 will NOT allow! Mine may be slower in a straight line than the Gen1s, but on twisties, you will be in a ditch long before me!;)

[ViperMan]

Shrink that size down to the Mustang GT, Give the Customer some buying power with choices like Deleting the Nav system, Sound deadner, and all other unrelated Crap, make it weigh in around 3780 LBS, and Gimme the 426 C.I. Hemi with a 6 speed and Dana 60....Oh Yeah, wrap all this up in a nice, neat little package for around $30K....Where do I sign?

I believe you sign somewhere around 1985...  Come on Cooter - I know you're a bright man, but you're in the wrong century, bud.  Hell a 426 Hemi ALONE costs what, $16,000 these days?

Even the high-powered Mustangs cost over $40,000.  Sorry man, but the days of Disco are Dead.

[back n black]

I believe you sign somewhere around 1985...  Come on Cooter - I know you're a bright man, but you're in the wrong century, bud.  Hell a 426 Hemi ALONE costs what, $16,000 these days?

Even the high-powered Mustangs cost over $40,000.  Sorry man, but the days of Disco are Dead.

 

[Jesus H Chrysler]

Shrink that size down to the Mustang GT, Give the Customer some buying power with choices like Deleting the Nav system, Sound deadner, and all other unrelated Crap, make it weigh in around 3780 LBS, and Gimme the 426 C.I. Hemi with a 6 speed and Dana 60....Oh Yeah, wrap all this up in a nice, neat little package for around $30K....Where do I sign?

   With all the looking back and retro styling Chrysler has been doing, they seem to have forgotten one very important thing from the past.  The lesson of the Road Runner/Super Bee.  Take your cool car, strip it of the "non essential" options, stick in the big engine=> Profit!

When I went shopping for my new Challenger, I went specifically looking for the lowest optioned R/T I could find.  No nav, no heated seats, no HID's etc.  What I found was, the price difference (at the dealer) was so negligible, it was a better deal to buy the fully optioned model.  Now if they put together a package like the cop car model (rubber mats, cloth seats etc.) and stuck the SRT engine in there for the same price, I'd have jumped all over that.  I would have gladly forgone the creature comforts in exchange for more power and less weight.  Is a 6.4 Hemi really that much more expensive to produce than a 5.7?  Are Brembo's really that expensive to justify 10 grand over the cost of an R/T?

Like most people I'd love an SRT, and I understand they need to protect the SRT brand.  But I think they should have produced the Yellow Jacket as a budget performance model with all the power of an SRT, with none of the bloat.

[1970 RT Challenger 1970]

I've heard that the new cars have anywhere from 2 miles to 47.5 miles of wire in the wiring harnesses, with all the electronic crap.

http://www.superchevy.com/technical/0602sc_successfully_wiring_a_car/index.html

[ChallengerHK]

And some of those harnesses are very heavy, too.

[hpe600rt]

 

[71gogreen]

I heard the american obessity rate has increased also,maybe that correspondes to the car market.

[hpe600rt]

maybee for some lol

[brads70]

I heard the american obessity rate has increased also,maybe that correspondes to the car market.

    good one! 

[ViperMan]

And some of those harnesses are very heavy, too.

ALL of those harnesses are heavy.  Probably contribute to a good 100+ pounds.  I've built some custom harnesses for my cars - hell even when I rewired my entire Cuda's engine bay.  Just carrying the bundle from inside the house (where I was soldering it) to the car, I could really feel the weight of it.  And that wasn't even a lot of wire!

The most obvious sign inside the Challenger though (and I've been in a few) is the noticeable beam that runs across the roof at the B-pillars.  They had to mold the headliner around it.  That is a solid, 200 pound (IIRC) Magnesium beam that had to be added for strength in the event of a roll-over.  And it doesn't matter what model of Challenger you buy - they ALL have it.