The Hemi Highway Tour Kickoff At The Chrysler Museum |
 
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Posted on November 16, 2010
Over 100 diehard and passionate Mopar gearheads gathered last Sunday at the Walter P. Chrysler Museum in Auburn Hills Michigan to be a part of the HEMI Highway Kick Off party.
What brought these individuals together was not only their love of the Dodge brand, but to get an up close and personal view of the new 2011 Charger R/T and 2011 Challenger SRT8 392.
During the kick-off event, Dodge Engineers and Designers gave attendees a detailed and intimate tour of the Charger and Challenger while discussing styling, performance and safety improvements for 2011.
“Road Warriors” Scott and Heather, Dodge Product Specialists, who are driving these HEMI powered musclecars on a high-octane cross-country odyssey, were also on hand to meet fans and well wishers.
Make sure to check Red Letter Dodge for updates along the HEMI Highway!
Nov 18, 2010 @ 16:10:53
I met Scott and Heather today at Security Dodge in Amityville, N.Y. Wow Scott thanks for letting me sit in the car and rev it a few times. It was a rush even though we were basically standing still. I cannot wait to have a 392 parked in my garage. Thanks for the pictures Scott. Enjoy your cross country trip.
Matt
Nov 21, 2010 @ 09:05:40
I also met Scott and Heather yesterday in Wilmington, NC. Had a great time meeting new folkz!
Jan 06, 2011 @ 11:39:41
do u have any dodge pickups????????????????????????????????????????
Feb 07, 2011 @ 12:13:51
I would be very careful before you buy one of these Challengers with the Manual transmission. I have the 2010 SRT8 with the 6 speed and can tell you that it grinds going into 2nd and 3rd. The dealer has given up trying to fix it and Chrysler typically comes back and says that grinding gears are normal for this transmission. Query as to why it did not do it the first 3000 miles or why other Challenger 6 speeds I have driven do not. Once again, Chrysler’s true customer relations come through as awful.
Feb 07, 2011 @ 13:00:21
A further comment on the 6 speed manual transmission in the SRT8 Challenger. Beware of engineering issues with this transmission. I too was at the kickoff event of the Hemi Highway tour in Auburn Hills and spoke extensively with one of the lead engineers on the Challenger drivetrain. I explained the grinding of 2nd and 3rd gears and he told me that they had the issue in 2009 but had resolved it with the 2010 model year. I told mine was a 2010 SRT8 with the 6 speed and it started grinding around 3000 milles. It now has 5500 miles on it. He told me it should not do that and to take it to the dealer. I did and 39 days in service and replacement of the synchros did not fix the grind. If anything, it is worse. They drove the car to my house while I was out of town and said it was fixed. When I called them on it, they then said it is normal to grind. However, in the write-up they also stated they had driven another Challenger on their lot while mine was in service and it shifted smoothly with no grind. How can this be normal. I don’t mind if problems occur and they get fixed, but to make up stories in order to not resolve issues is bad, bad PR and customer relations. I tried going the customer complaint route through Chrysler, but they just shifted to different parties and to the District Manager for Northwest Ohio who never even called. I am now going the lemon law recourse in my state. I would like to see Chryler get in front of an arbitrator and tell him that it is normal for some 6 speeds to grind and not others.
Feb 07, 2011 @ 14:55:31
Mark Giveins, it isn’t just the manual transmission. If you back up your car when it is cold and then try to drop it in drive, it doesn’t mesh and jars the whole car. I have to back out of a parking space, stop, wait a few seconds and then put it in drive. My buddy said he has the same problem with his Challenger. The HEMI RAM 1500 I had never had a problem and I beat the crap out of it. I raced everything that moved. Their trucks are great. I should never have sold it. They need to move the truck engineers over to the car engineering department. Dodge can build trucks, however, they have issues with their cars. Little things like that get people to think about throwing their loyalty down the drain. My plum crazy Challenger looks good and I receive a lot of compliments, however, it needs to be perfect. They really need to resolve a lot of the issues I have been mentioning in these blogs before they release a car. I would love to see Dodge survive and grow, but they first have to correct issues that people complain about. Maybe they outsource too many of their parts and cannot monitor the quality like they would like to. Who knows. They just need to stay vigilant!