Mopar muscles up 2011 Chargers - Detroit News

For more than 70 years, Mopar made its name on race tracks and in the parts departments of Chrysler dealerships.

Well, actually Mopar took its trademarked name from a contraction of MOtor and PARts, but the name became well-known and well-respected among hands-on car enthusiasts as the source for parts and accessories that made their cars look good and go fast.

A year ago, the name was applied to a turnkey vehicle, the Mopar '10 Challenger, a limited-edition of 500 Mopar-tweaked — and for the first time right on the assembly line — Hemi-powered Dodge Challenger R/T muscle cars.

Those 500 Mopar '10 Challengers were sold out within hours of their unveiling. The program was so successful that Mopar decided to do another vehicle for the 2011 model year. This time, the vehicle would be the new Dodge Charger. Mopar expected as many as 1,000 customers and had to cut off orders after 1,500 were ordered within two days of being offered. Each car was priced at $39,750 (including delivery).

All Mopar '11 Chargers wear Pitch Black paint with a Mopar Blue racing stripe from the grille back over the hood, the roof, the deck lid and the special rear spoiler.

But this stripe isn't merely an exterior feature. The stripe runs through the car's interior as part of the Katzkin leather-covered driver's and left-rear passenger's seats.

The interior gets special dash treatments, door sills, floor mats, pedals and a pistol-grip shift lever so the driver can explore all the potential of the 5.7-liter, 370-horsepower Hemi V-8 with its 395 pound-feet of torque.

Enhancing that experience is a "Super Track Pak" that includes larger front and rear stabilizer bars with braces across the front and rear shock towers. The rear brace runs through the car's trunk, but can be removed should an owner need that space for luggage.

The Mopar '11 Charger rides on special 20-inch Envy wheels with a 45-mm offset and 245/45-aspect, Z-rated Goodyear F1 Supercar tires.

Add in a 3.91:1 final-drive ratio, and Mopar says its Charger can accelerate from a standing start to 60 mph in the low 5-second range, a full second faster than the standard 5.7-powered Charger.

To slow the car toward zero, front brakes are 345x28 mm with dual-piston sliding calipers while the rears are 320/22 with single-piston calipers.

Each vehicle comes with a special owners kit that includes a keychain; license plate-size plaque the features the car's specifications and is designed to use at car shows; a Mopar flag; special set of photos; a drawing signed by the car's designer; special Mopar heritage literature; and a die-cast scale model with the same serial number as the real car.

A special website is being established so Mopar '10 Challenger and Mopar '11 Charger owners can interact.

In several cases, Mopar '10 Challenger owners also are owners of Mopar '11 Chargers, and it's likely that those Challenger and/or Charger owners will get first dibs on ordering whatever model Mopar tweaks for the 2012 model year.

(P.S. We not only got to see a Mopar '11 Challenger during a visit to Mopar's workshop in Center Line, we got to do a test drive and found the car tire-smoking fast, stayed flat around corners and freeway ramps and was just a bunch of fun to drive.)

Larry Edsall is a Phoenix-based freelance writer. You can reach him at ledsall@cox.net.


From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110908/AUTO03/109080331/Mopar-muscles-up-2011-Chargers#ixzz1XMK5l5PM