Dodge – Car News

dash board kit quality dash kits. Challenger: Sure,Dodge gave us the icing before the cake by putting a limited number of performance Challenger SRT8s on sale in 2008 with a 6.1-liter Hemi V-8 with 425 horsepower and 420 pound-feet of torque to titillate the buying masses forced to wait until 2009 for the more affordable SE and R/T. A 5.7-liter Hemi V-8, good for 372 horsepower and 401 pound-feet of torque with a five-speed automatic transmission moves the R/T models. Opt for the new six-speed manual with a pistol-grip shifter, and the output is 376 horsepower and 410 pound-feet of tire-melting torque. Chrysler says Challenger R/Ts—which should weigh about 130 pounds less than the 4189-pound SRT8—will hit 60 mph in less than six seconds. The entry-level Challenger SE has a 3.5-liter V-6 making 250 horsepower and 250 pound-feet of torque, but the only tranny is a four-speed automatic. The consolation: 18 mpg city and 25 mpg highway for the SE versus 15/23 for the R/T automatic and 16/23 for the R/T manual. For 2009, the SRT8 gets the manual and a new limited-slip differential, and red joins the palette that consists of orange, black, and silver. A Challenger Classic R/T will be available late in the 2009 model year, in blue with a wide black side stripe inspired by the original 1970s Challenger and a badge in a retro-style script. The Classic will have 20-inch five-spoke polished aluminum wheels.  dash board kit quality dash kits.

2008 World Car of the Year

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Now, before we get too deeply into this, remember that this is the World Car of the Year award. We want to make this clear right up front for one very good reason: Several of the nominees, and all but one of the winning cars, are not available in the U.S.

OK, on to the awards. This is the fourth-annual presentation of this award, an honor bestowed by a group of international automotive journalists. There are actually four awards: The overall winner gets the biggest trophy, and three smaller ones for Green Car, Performance Car and Design. Nominees are selected from whatever’s new in a given year, and available in a wide enough variety of markets, with different criteria for the three lesser trophies.

The “wide variety of markets” part limits any North American-produced vehicles, since so few of them make it outside of the U.S. The Cadillac CTS was nominated, and probably would have made it to the finals if it was more widely available, but alas, it was ultimately excluded. The Chevy Tahoe Hybrid was also nominated, and we wish it could have made it to the finalists list if for no other reason than it’d be funny to see the big honkin’ SUV alongside things like the Smart For Two diesel. Alas, Europeans refuse to think 6,000 pound body-on-frame SUVs are cool enough to drive, hybrid-ized or not.
Ultimately, the finalists broke down like this:
World Car of the Year: Ford Mondeo (not sold here), Mazda2/Mazda Demio (not sold here), and Mercedes-Benz C-Class (available now!)
World Performance Car of the Year: Audi R8, Audi S5 and BMW M3 (all available here)
World Green Car of the Year: BMW 118d with Efficient Dynamics (not sold here), Smart For Two cdi (not sold here), Volkswagen Passat 1.9 TDI BlueMotion (again, not sold here)
World Car Design of the Year: Audi R8, Volvo C30, Mazda2/Mazda Demio (whaaa?)

We weren’t terribly surprised when the Audi R8 took home the trophies for performance and design. After all, which one would you pick in those categories? The BMW 118d was not very surprising either, since if you’re going to go green, you may as well do it in a sporty little BMW.

So who took the trophy for World Car of the Year? The Mazda2 of all things. Quite a change from last year, when the Lexus LS 460 took home the big trophy. Now, before you say “so what” and scroll to the next post, keep in mind that we’ll see the Mazda2 as the Ford Fiesta sometime soon. This bodes well for the small Ford, and the company could certainly use a successful small car to supplement its lineup. Mazda itself is unsure whether it will bring the 2 to our shores, but now that it’s won the World Car of the Year trophy, all bets are off.

One final note to manufacturers: If you win the trophy, hold on tight. If it falls to the floor, the gracefully suspended planet at the top of the award will break off embarrassingly. How do we know this? After the ceremony, a loud “thunk” came from the stage, then a chorus of “oohs,” and finally a couple of chuckles as organizers vainly tried to put Humpty Trophy back together again. Don’t worry, guys, a little JB Weld will fix it right up. Dodge hid kits quality dash kits.