More Fire, Less Cross: SRT-6 is the Quickest Chrysler (Remember, Viper Is A Dodge)
By MARK VAUGHN </B>
[font=Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif-serif]<TABLE cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=7 width=345 border=0 valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD><!-- PHOTO GOES HERE --></TD></TR><TR><TD class=box2 bgColor=#000066>(Photos by Bill Delaney) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
2005 CHRYSLER CROSSFIRE SRT-6
ON SALE: July
BASE PRICE: $45,695
POWERTRAIN: 3.2-liter, 330-hp, 310-lb-ft super-charged V6; rwd, five-speed automatic
CURB WEIGHT: 3240 pounds
0 TO 60 MPH: 5.0 seconds (mfr.)
We received two different viewpoints on the new, more powerful Chrysler SRT-6. The first was from SRT director Dan Knott, who said the SRT-6 features "sophisticated, refined performance technology." The second was from SRT marketing manager Christie Stevens, who said it is "bold, bad and bitchin'." Take your pick, but we like Stevens' spin.
The SRT-6 adds everything that was missing from the plain old Chrysler Crossfire. Specifically, that includes bigger brakes, stiffer shocks, meatier tires and a supercharged engine. Plus, a nifty rear wing and front air dam.
When the Crossfire debuted almost a year ago, it was more of a styling statement than a performance coupe. We liked it, but said it needed more power and a stiffer suspension. Now we see there is no reason to be careful what you ask for. With the SRT-6 we got what we asked for-and then some.
Let's start at the heart of the car, the engine. The 18-valve V6 is straight out of the AMG version of the previous SLK. Why reinvent the wheel, was SRT's logic. Hence we get the same helical supercharger from IHI.
Funny thing is, Chrysler lists output for this powerplant at 330 hp and 310 lb-ft of torque, while Mercedes lists the identical AMG powertrain at 349 hp and 332 lb-ft. It boils down to transatlantic squabbling and Mercedes' ego. Put a Crossfire SRT-6 on a dyno and, dollar to a donut, it will make 349 hp and 332 lb-ft of torque, or close to it. Slight discrepancies might arise because of emissions calibrations and exhaust tuning, the latter aimed at a more distinctive sports-car burble in U.S. cars.
Either way, the SRT-6's power puts it under the 1:10 power-to-weight ratio, or approaching sports-car territory. Curb weight on the coupe is 3240 pounds. If we go with the 330-hp figure, that makes the power-to-weight 1:9.82; and with the 349-hp figure, 1:9.28. Both are well ahead of the 1:14.2 for the normally aspirated Crossfire coupe.
Whatever the power, it is all routed through an upgraded version of the Crossfire/SLK's five-speed automatic with Auto-Stick. As with many small-volume gran touring coupes, and with SRT-6 sales expected to come in somewhere in the low thousands, it would not have been worth it to federalize another transmission, especially since manuals sell in far lower numbers than automatics in the United States.
The power goes out the back and to the ground via new, second-generation Michelin Pilot Sports, measuring a very sporty 225/40ZR-18 in front and 255/35ZR-19 rear.
While stabilizer bars are the same 19 mm front and 25 mm rear, the springs are stiffened considerably, 49 percent in front, 43 percent at the rear. Shocks are also stiffened.
Brakes are vented discs all around-330 mm front and 300 mm rear-with dual-piston calipers up front. Chrysler says 60 mph to 0 takes up only 115 feet, very good for a 3240-pound car.
The only thing not cranked down more that should have been is the steering. The SRT-6 retains that luxury-car's-best-friend recirculating-ball. That setup was a Mercedes specialty back when the first SLK was being engineered and so that's what we get here. Cost and complexity kept Chrysler off the rack.
Even the exterior is tuned. When they added the front air dam it increased rear lift, so they tuned the rear wing in the wind tunnel and now they have downforce front and rear with about the same drag as the regular Crossfire (which is not that impressive at 0.39).
The interior has a few unique features like grippy Alcantara leather seats and a 200-mph speedo. But it is very cramped inside.
Almost all is forgiven when you drive it, though. We spent a day on two-lane mountain roads and drove many laps around the big course at Willow Springs.
In the mountains we really noticed the imprecision of the recirculating-ball steering, at least compared to rack-and-pinion setups. But the transitional handling-the way the car behaves, shifting from one corner to the next-is so smooth as to be almost unnoticeable. There is very little roll and the tires grip forever.
On the track the stiffer suspension, which seemed too bumpy for comfortable city driving, is at home. The extra power really feels good. Power is not peaky at all, but feeds out smoothly and evenly across the tach. Our coupe hit 110 mph entering Turn Eight and maybe 120 or so entering Turn One, so the engine does what it is supposed to. We never saw the 165-plus-mph top speed the car is capable of, but we don't doubt it; neither do we doubt its 0-to-60-mph time in 5.0 seconds, though we would like to try it out at a drag strip.
Launch date for the car is July 7, priced at $45,695. If that's too low, wait until September when the SRT-6 roadster arrives in showrooms for $49,995[/font]
