Real Fiero Tech

Visited the fam'bly in Winnipeg a couple weeks ago. Didn't remember a damn thing about the drive home...

But after I'd had the chance to sleep off the Bennies and chocolate covered espresso beans, I came out to my car the next morning to find a large deer-shaped hole in the front of it....

So, after a quick and painless settlement with my insurance company, I wandered into a dealership in my old town and picked up this worthless rustbucket: Yeah, it's got a fucking hemi...

2005 Magnum R/T, Loaded, Leather, Power everything. Extended FACTORY warranty until 2011.

Kicker is, I clocked 36mpg between Winnipeg and Regina...

3 Weeks later, and I've already sunk 6,000km on the poor thing...

I did the same thing... this is the next morning.




36mpg? wow... wait... Canadian gallons or US? I really hate when Canadian is used...

Nice car, been contemplating an SRT-8 Magnum from the states, they are cheap a few years old

Don't know/care which gallon...
Whatever ~6.6/100km on a 3/4 tank of gas works out to :p

That is based on me topping my ass up on Portage Avenue on the way out of the 'peg, and topping it up again the next morning and glancing at the trip odometer... So obviously, there will be some margin of error in there.

Dollars wise, it cost me ~ 10% more to drive to Regina which is about inline with the 40mpg I usually got on the C'rolla... Of course, I usually drive Highway #1 at about 95-100kph out of habit... Which incidentally is the only reason that fucking deer didn't end up on my lap... I was spitting out chunks of glass as it was :p

Never in my life would have believed a big fatass car like this could A) get out of it's own way, B) take a corner like a bulldozer, or C) get reasonable fuel economy. It's really too bad Dodge decided to plow ahead with that Automotive Abortion they call a "Charger."


I've been thinking about having a Bumper Sticker made saying "Griswold 4 LIFE"
/obscure?

You Canadian's gotta stop hitting everything that wanders into the road. Nice ride though, it's too bad Dodge let that one go instead of updating it. And the Griswold sticker is still workable, though if you wait much longer it probably won't be.

I hit the deer in Montana doing 80-85mph. Just leaving Great Falls on the way to Nevada.

I had a test drive in a hemi charger a few years ago, I was impressed how quick it was. Pulls nice and strong for a tank.

Them Hemi's ain't nothing to laugh at. Of course, the cars themselves could stand to lose some weight.

No point really; I could yank out all the creature comforts, but I'd just be adding the weight back in spades when I pack all my tools, parts, and boxes though...

I think I'll leave this one more-or-less alone... It's quick and obnoxious enough at a red light to make me grin a little bit while at work

Mach10 wrote:3 Weeks later, and I've already sunk 6,000km on the poor thing...

What have you done to it?

crzyone wrote:I had a test drive in a hemi charger a few years ago, I was impressed how quick it was. Pulls nice and strong for a tank.

I'm not sure what they do to the Police Interceptor ones, but they're fucking slow. I never thought 345hp could pull like 245, but it does. They sound fucking sweet though, and will put bus lengths on a Crown Vic.

Fastback86 wrote:Them Hemi's ain't nothing to laugh at. Of course, the cars themselves could stand to lose some weight.

The 6.1s are even better! Are they aluminum blocks or no?

Aaron;

I've now managed 16,000km on it (8 weeks of ownership?). It's heading into the shop this weekend coming up for the scheduled maintenance. So far, the only thing "wrong" is a slight clatter from the front-end. Since it was a Winnipeg car, I'm willing to bet that the constant cheese-grater roads have probably boned a balljoint. It's still on warranty, though, so I don't really care. The front bumper is now evenly coated with a 50/50 mixture of stone chips and squashed bugs, so it's not quite as pretty...

340hp on this thing pulls it to 60mph at 7.2s from a dig, according to a borrowed g-tech... Given the size and weight of the car, it's actually a little bit frightening. My TDC fiero is much, MUCH quicker, but there is something a little disquieting about this heavy mofo when it's pulling... Feels unstoppable--and not in the good way Fortunately Chrysler put in massive 4-wheel disks... It's actually quite manageable. The previous owner gutted the exhaust on it. It's got an as-yet unidentified 2.5" mandrel-bent exhaust, with a single pair of resonators just beside the transmission, and straight back. It's relatively civilized in the car except for a drone on acceleration in the city, but I barely notice the engine at highway cruise. Blipping the throttle makes it bark like a rottweiler, though. I'd love to throw on a set of MOPAR headers for the sound--ricey, I know--but I really can't be arsed right now.

The long and short of it, though, is that I need the space, I need the size, and the fact that I can make a 6hr haul without needing so much as a yawn-break makes this--IMHO--the perfect car for what I'm doing. It's not the biggest, baddest car on the block(the guy 5 blocks north of me owns a late-90s Diablo VT), and I didn't buy it to be. But the pure fact remains that despite it being a heavy chunk of detroit iron, it handles and rides like a Mercedes.

Overall, I'm very impressed with the car. It's not a race car or a muscle car (though it sounds like one.) What it does exceptionally well is ride like a luxury touring car, handle like a Mercedes E-class, and have just enough testosterone to make passing not only easy, but enjoyable, too...

lol... "A.a.r.o.n" translates to "retard" now?

It handles like a Mercedes because that's what it is... just 10 year old Mercedes technology. But at 50-75% off the price, it's not bad.