The SRT gang strike again

November 18, 2005 - By John LeBlanc

$100 grand for a Volkswagen? I’ll take two! New VW boss, ex-Chrysler suit, Wolfgang Bernhard, last week decided that enough is enough. As of early next year, the big-car-with-little-sales, the Phaeton, will no longer be. Released in 2003 sharing a platform with Audi and Bentley, the full-sized Phaeton was VW’s no-holds-barred attempt to move up the food chain and take on no less than German rival Mercedes-Benz. The Phaeton’s sales folly was mainly due to a lack of brand heritage (vitally important at this rarefied end of the market), precipitous depreciation and the not-very-upscale sales experience of having well-heeled Phaeton customers having to rub elbows with Golf buyers in VW showrooms.

It must be “premium”, look at the pricing A couple of weeks ago, you read here that Honda Canada officials confirmed that the Acura EL’s replacement, the CSX, would—yet again—be a loaded-up Civic sedan. Wonder why Honda was holding out on the pricing? Where the donor Civic’s 2006 pricing remains pretty much status quo from the last model, the base Acura CSX, at $25,400, is priced similar to last year’s top EL model, the Premium, with this year’s Premium carrying a whopping 30% increase to $31,900. Honda will argue that with a leather-trimmed interior, navigation system and automatic transmission as Premium standards, it’s a good value. Hot tip for returning EL owners: Wear rubber boots to prevent the inevitable sticker shock.

Quattro Club membership granted Looking more like a TT five-door coupe than a compact hatchback, Audi last week confirmed the availability of their A3 with a 250-hp 3.2-litre V6 engine hooked up to a six-speed Direct Shift Gearbox (DSG) automatic transmission and Quattro all-wheel-drive. The 3.2 Quattro S-Line is in Canadian Audi dealers now for $44,990.

Faster, Audi, faster! If the new hot A3 isn’t quick enough for you, Audi also announced last week its long rumoured, mid-engined supercar would make production by mid-2007. First seen as the LeMans concept at the 2003 Frankfurt show, the production Audi R8 is based on Lamborghini’s Gallardo (Audi owns Lambo, natch) and will have “far less horsepower” than the smallest Lamborghini’s 500 and will sell between US $80,000 and US $120,000 range.

Rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated, fur shoor A mild facelift for the big 9-5, rebadged Subarus and Chevys being sold as “new” product, and with General Motors selling off their stake in Subaru, the killing off of the Subaru B9-based Saab 9-6 crossover—pardon yourself if you thought Saab was on their ninth life. Apparently, you can hold off on the last rights for now, as Automotive News is reporting that Saab will show a front-wheel-drive, concept two-seater “that will have the DNA of our Sonett sports car” at the Geneva auto show in March and is also developing a small SUV similar in size to the BMW X3.

Maximum MINI Although barely into its mid-life cycle, the engineers at BMW have dropped some weight and added some muscle to their MINI. Specifically, the Cooper S John Cooper Works-tuned Grand Prix adds 8 hp to now reach 218 hp. The diet involved stripping out the interior, which loses the rear bench seat, sound-deadening floor material, aluminum instead of steel control arms in the rear suspension and lightweight 18-inch alloy wheels. MINI Canada has not determined whether they will bring the Cooper S JCW GP into Canada.



Along with the intro of the new Viper SRT10 Coupe, Chrysler also handed the over the keys to the Street and Racing Technology (SRT) gang's take on the Charger. Full FTLOD Review to follow, but here are some intial impressions:

Hands up those who thought the latest Dodge Charger had enough in the go department? No? Well, then you’re exactly the type of customer whom Chrysler’s SRT skunkworks has created its 11th product in two years for. Similar to SRT-breathed-on versions of Chrysler’s 300C, and Dodge’s Magnum, the Charger SRT8 gets more power (courtesy of an all-new 425-hp 6.1-litre HEMI), tighter suspensions bits, heftier brakes, and functional and aggressive-looking exterior and interior enhancements. It all adds up to some impressive numbers: 0-96 kph in the low 5 seconds, and SRT’s signature performance test of 0-160-0 kph in less than 17 seconds. The Charger didn’t feel out of place dicing it up on the track with the new Viper Coupe at Chrysler’s preview event and was equally adept on real roads. But here’s one last Charger SRT8 number that should get your attention: it can be had for $44,790.

- John LeBlanc, Publisher, www.straight-six.com

© National Post 2005. This article originally appeared in The National Post's Driving.