# Bye Bye W8



## un4givun2 (Jun 11, 2007)

*HELLO SRT8 CHARGER!!* 

*425hp*, 

For the same price I paid for a 3 year old 2002 W8 Passat back in April 2005, I bought a 3 year old CERTIFIED 2007 SRT8 Dodge Charger 2 weeks ago. My insurance only went up $6.00 a month. That's not all.....there are TONS of aftermarket goodies available for this car at 1/4th of the price of the OEM parts for the Passat. For example, the 150 amp alternator I paid $1,010.00 for on the Passat only cost $239.00 for the Charger (160 amps) and you can actually get to it to replace it without removing the front fascia. 

I know, everyone is thinking "OMG", this guy is comparing a German made VW to a Canadian made Dodge. Guess what? The transmission in this car was built in Germany and is exactly the same internally as the Mercedes flagship AMG transmission used in $80,000.00 plus Mercedes. The suspension geometry/technology is all Mercedes as well. 

Here's the icing on the cake...My biggest concern was gas mileage. In 50/50 city/highway driving on my daily commute to work every day it averages 19.0mpg and the Passat W8 averages 17.5mpg. In 90% city driving the SRT averages 17.1mpg and the Passat averages 16.5mpg. Did a weekend road trip and actually went 364 miles without even setting off the low fuel warning. What's so significant about that? It only has a 19 gallon tank. *It held 16.5 gals when I filled it up for a whopping 22mpg.*:clap: 

This car is physically bigger, has more wind resistance, has 155 more HP, has a 2.1 liter larger engine, has huge 20" rims, weighs 200 pounds more, and has huge 14" diameter Brembo brakes that all subtract from the efficiency of this car. There is no way in hell this car should get better gas mileage than my W8 Passat. 

There are only 2 areas the Passat W8 wins over the SRT8 and that is wet weather traction and steering geometry. The W8 blows everything else off the road on wet pavement. The steering feedback on the W8 is dead on perfect. There is no bump steer (steering wheel moving when you hit a bump). Those are all typical Audi characteristics that VW inherited when they were using the Audi platform for the pre-2006 Passats.


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## seatowjoe (Aug 29, 2004)

It will be nice not to have to listen to yer whining anymore. Enjoy your Dodge.


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## un4givun2 (Jun 11, 2007)

*Trust me, no one here is more glad to not hear me whine about this W8 more than my wife.*


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## VWGUY4EVER (Nov 17, 2000)

Congrats.. Hope you have better luck with this one..


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## un4givun2 (Jun 11, 2007)

*could a had an R32*

I really had my heart set on a 2008 Blue R32. It has only 9K miles on it. They are asking $26K for it. My wife wouldn't let me after having to take out 3 separate loans to keep the W8 running. I couldn't convince her the 3.2L was a proven engine. It's in Memphis TN just 4 miles from my house


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## RedDevil (Sep 21, 2001)

un4givun2 said:


> I couldn't convince her the 3.2L was a proven engine. It's in Memphis TN just 4 miles from my house


This is just just plane verbal dirrehea! I bet she has no clue if W8 or SRT8 is a proven engine. :screwy:

WTF is a proven engine?


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## rugbychad (Apr 12, 2010)

*mileage comparison flawed*

You're comparing a 2002 engine to a 2007 engine. Of course the newer one is going to get better gas mileage. I've never heard of a car company putting out a new model and saying that it gets worse fuel economy than it's predecessor. Every year companies figure out new ways of squeezing more performance out of every engine in their stable whilst simultaneously somehow getting them to get just a bit better gas mileage. I'm not surprised --even though you're comparing an American engine to a German one-- that you're getting (and the improvement is almost an imperceptible one at that) better gas mileage out of a significantly newer motor. Plus, half a mile per gallon is such a small delta that you could chalk it up to other factors like the amount of humidity in the air etc. on the various days when you drove to make the comparison. I'm not sure what all the fuss is about, actually. Also, you're talking about a much newer car in the sense that you're comparing the Passat now, when it's much older, to the Dodge now, when it's still much younger. Obviously over time a vehicles inherent fuel economy goes down as things on the car age. This comparison doesn't appear to provide any truly helpful data other than that you get better gas mileage --in 2010-- out of a 2007 model year car over a 2003 model year one.


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## Corrado1900T (Dec 2, 2002)

^^^Also Dodge worked out the 4-6-8 that Cadillac/GM couldn't make work in the 80's. My buddy has the SRT-8 300 and loves it save for the warping front rotors. The transition from highway speed 4 cylinder running to full throttle is instantaneous. I thought about a SRT-8 but I just love the way my GTI handles. Just can't give that up. Enjoy the car but beware of the Cops as that SRT badge seems to draw them in.


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## sparkalot (Aug 11, 2005)

hope the warranty on the dodge is a good one. those cars are pretty slick but turn into BIG turd's at 40-50k miles, especially the transmission that is in all '$80,000' merecedes


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## EuroSportChicago (Jun 9, 2010)

un4givun2 said:


> I really had my heart set on a 2008 Blue R32. It has only 9K miles on it. They are asking $26K for it. My wife wouldn't let me after having to take out 3 separate loans to keep the W8 running. I couldn't convince her the 3.2L was a proven engine. It's in Memphis TN just 4 miles from my house


What ever makes you and the your speed happy. One weekend my mom went out of town for business, when she got home the convo went like this
Dad: Hey guess what?
Mom: What?
Dad: I bought an apartment building.
Mom: 

their still together 20 years later, go with what ever car you want

the 08 R32 is nice, as well as the SRT, good luck, BA car!


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## 2deepn2dubs (Oct 27, 2002)

chrysler products suck! i know cause i work as a bodyman at a chrysler/dodge dealership the crap falls apart and breaks when you take it apart!!! in a couple years youll see what i mean, good luck...


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