Todays Shoot: 2013 Dodge Charger SRT-8 vs 2013 Dodge Challenger SRT-8

[cawimmer430]

Today I was Special NCIS Agent Jethro Gibbs or Tony DiNozzo - because I drove a Dodge Charger SRT-8. 

And during the course of the day I also drove the Challenger SRT-8 (again).

What I liked about the Dodge Charger SRT-8:
-The design and rims - nice
-The driving position - nice muscular hood from the drivers view
-6.4-l V8 is a total monster with great engine response, sound and acceleration
-Nice interior design (Who cares about the interior materials? It's not a luxury car!)
-Comfortable seats (not very supportive or sporty in feel though)
-Awesome navigation / suspension-tuning graphical interface - just awesome!


What I didn't like about the Dodge Charger SRT-8:
-Vague somewhat lifeless steering (this is a performance car, right?)
-Soft and bouncy suspension (is this really a performance car???)
-Somewhat bumpy transmission shifts
-Fuel consumption (O U C H)
-Somewhat confusing controls, though if I owned the car and learned to use them I wouldn't complain since I'd get and be used to them!!! <--- See, Consumer Reports? That's how it's done. That's how you review cars. 


So yeah, what was a bit disappointing about the Charger was the lifeless steering and bouncy suspension. I hate to make stupid comparisons, but our 2010 Mercedes E350 CGI has a much more direct steering response and sportier suspension setup. The body roll in corners isn't as "extreme" as the Charger SRT-8s! And I don't mean this as an insult at all. The Charger was a monster in the straights, but in corners at low speed it was rolling all over the place. I guess it's a true muscle car - straightline speed all the way.

And boy, this thing was fast. I was driving 60 km/h in the city, wanted to overtake a slower car and in no time is this thing doing 100 km/h. Oh shit! It's fast alright! The guys from the dealership encouraged me to have fun with the car. They drove the Challenger to the location and they were doing burnouts and kickdowns at every light. People loved it. I refrained from that, though I did punch the accelerator from time to time and loved the acceleration and engine sound. Engine response was great.

Interior materials? WHO CARES? Why does everyone want great materials in their interior, especially if it's not a luxury car. I'll be honest. The interior materials were nothing special, but they were decent for this car and certainly better than the stuff that Dodge/Chrysler produced in the '80s and '90s!

Believe it or not it snowed today. This morning we had a little snow storm in Munich and everything was white and covered in snow. THANKFULLY, THANKFULLY, the snow disappeared when the we did the shooting. I thought this day was going to be ruined by the weather gods who hate me...

Fun day. Loved driving those cars. Next shoot for these guys will be a Spyker C8 and a Ford Mustang Super Snake with 800-hp - the only one in Europe!!! I LOVE MY LIFE!!!!











Behind the scenes! I have a two-man cleaning crew that cleaned the cars, tires, interior etc. Actually they were dealership employees.








Why are American cars so thirsty? 





Tachometer with km/h bias.

[2o6]

The Charger really is a nicely-styled large family car at the start. The SRT-8 is the sport model. Think Opel Omega with a big engine.


Good to see your work taking off! Are you just in Photography, or Graphic Design as well?

[cawimmer430]

The Charger really is a nicely-styled large family car at the start. The SRT-8 is the sport model. Think Opel Omega with a big engine.

It was certainly fun to drive. I liked it. 

But at the end of the day the car is just to massive for Munich. I'm stuck with my parents MB E350 CGI for a week since they took the 1er with them to get the summer tires back on and maneuvering an E-Class through Munich is quite a feat I have to get used to again. There's a reason we like small cars for the city.

Both the Charger and Challenger look awesome from a styling POV. 

Good to see your work taking off! Are you just in Photography, or Graphic Design as well?

Thanks! 

I offer photography and editorial design for my clients. Editorial design is the creation, layouting, design and overall styling of magazines, books, brochures, newspapers etc.

Graphic design with a focus on logos etc. isn't really my thing, but I'll offer it if the price is right. 

[2o6]

Awesome. I'm trying to get back into school for that field.

[cawimmer430]

Awesome. I'm trying to get back into school for that field.

It's worth it. I studied business management and marketing in college and then decided to put my creativity to use by doing a three-year graphics design course. I learned a lot from it and I'm putting them to good use for my business. I'm designing my logo, font, corporate identity etc. all by myself. :-)

[Catman]

I like the new Chargers thought the dashboard styling is a bit ugly.

[TurboDan]

I had a Charger as a rental car last year. It was fast, but I had the same complaint as Chris: the handling took all the fun out of it. On highway exits you have to slow down significantly, much less on really curvy roads. It's extremely soft and the steering is terribly unresponsive. I didn't notice the transmission being an issue, though.

My other complaint was that it's tough to see out the rear windows for lane changes and such.

A big plus, however: If you're a rather large male with a very short haircut and Ray Bans on, everyone will get out of your way on a US highway.

[cawimmer430]

I like the new Chargers thought the dashboard styling is a bit ugly.

I like the design of the dashboard. It's not intrusive or offensive. Nice and conservative. 

[cawimmer430]

I had a Charger as a rental car last year. It was fast, but I had the same complaint as Chris: the handling took all the fun out of it. On highway exits you have to slow down significantly, much less on really curvy roads. It's extremely soft and the steering is terribly unresponsive. I didn't notice the transmission being an issue, though.

Yeah, the handling felt a bit "incapable" thanks to the soft suspension. The car felt like a comfortable cruiser with an insane engine up front, sort off like the 1990s and early 2000 Mercedes AMG models.

I think the transmission issue might have to do with the SRT-8 tuning. It wasn't bumpy all the time, especially at speed. It was bumpy at crawling speeds in traffic for the most part. It's not something that'll bother me, but I just noticed this.

My other complaint was that it's tough to see out the rear windows for lane changes and such.

Indeed, that was a bit problematic to. But the car has nice warning lights in the mirrors that beep if there is a car next to you in the other lane. For some reason I hate this feature in my dads MB E350 CGI, but here it was a godsent. 

A big plus, however: If you're a rather large male with a very short haircut and Ray Bans on, everyone will get out of your way on a US highway.

You should have seen how we traveled through Munich. Two black badass Dodge products with the same engine making badass sounds. Both these cars are MASSIVE by European standards. There were E-Classes and 5-Series next to us in traffic and they looked and felt small in comparison to these behemoths!



Challenger SRT-8 photo! 90% done...





Post-processing in Photoshop. This is the virtually the final image, but I am playing around with a nice warm filter and layer blending style to give the image a nice feel. I'll be burning the sky to. To your right you only see two layers - the Photoshop file of this image has over 30 layers! It's a tough job, but someone has to do it. 

[Catman]

If you get the charger like that facing the other way I want a copy!

[cawimmer430]

If you get the charger like that facing the other way I want a copy!

[Atomic]

gorgeous! both look spectacular in black, BTW. man, just thing about adding a third SRT to the dodge duo: a black SRT viper... now we are talking 

[cawimmer430]

gorgeous! both look spectacular in black, BTW. man, just thing about adding a third SRT to the dodge duo: a black SRT viper... now we are talking 

Oh yeah, that would have been awesome!

But Vipers are hard to sell in Germany because the bullshit T?V regulations screw them up. There's a bunch of stuff on that car that's deemed a "safety hazard" and has to be changed. For example, the side pipes are illegal here so Vipers will have quadruple exhausts protruding from the rear - looks stupid on such a car. 

[Catman]

Where's my wallpaper?

[giant_mtb]

Goddamn, those new SRT-8 Chargers look fantastic.

[cawimmer430]

Where's my wallpaper?

[giant_mtb]

Behind the scenes! I have a two-man cleaning crew that cleaned the cars, tires, interior etc. Actually they were dealership employees.

I'd love to be one of those guys.

[Raza]

That is awesome.

[Atomic]

^ was thinking the same thing. would make a fantastic pic for the dodge challenger brochure! many of the pics used today are not shot on location, rather pic over pic or even a simulated backdrop. these (especially the one raza points out) are super cool!

[cawimmer430]

I'd love to be one of those guys.

Well they usually drive "normal stuff" like Dodge Ram pickups, Durangos, Ford F-150s, Jeep Wranglers, Ford Mustangs, Hummer H2s and anything else the dealership sells.

[cawimmer430]

That is awesome.

Thanks! :-)

[cawimmer430]

^ was thinking the same thing. would make a fantastic pic for the dodge challenger brochure! many of the pics used today are not shot on location, rather pic over pic or even a simulated backdrop. these (especially the one raza points out) are super cool!

Most car shoots these days are actually done in a studio with perfect lighting and then the car is then placed into a location. I find that rather boring and I always aim to shoot on location.

Or the car is completely generated in a 3D program and placed into a location. Very expensive but still cheaper than seeking out a dedicated location and paying a whole crew, fuel for generators etc.


I do want to try shooting a car in a studio at one point, just to get a feel for how that would work.

[SVT666]

How come all the pics are coming up as "Forbidden"?

Oh and I disagree with the handling comments.  I drove an R/T pretty hard down a twisty road and I was blown away by how well it handled and how fast and flat it took corners.  The weight does come into play on really tight corners though.  It does weigh 4400 lbs you know.

[cawimmer430]

How come all the pics are coming up as "Forbidden"?

ImageCRAP 500-photo limit.  

Oh and I disagree with the handling comments.  I drove an R/T pretty hard down a twisty road and I was blown away by how well it handled and how fast and flat it took corners.  The weight does come into play on really tight corners though.  It does weigh 4400 lbs you know.

I know it's a heavy car. I didn't get to drive it hard in tight corners though. But I did notice that the car seemed to lean hard into the corners in city traffic when I took corners at 30-50 km/h. That gave me the impression that the car wouldn't handle well in corners at speed.

But maybe I am wrong. Maybe when the car is driven hard outside of the city it'll actually cope quite well. Sadly I didn't get the chance to do that.  



The series is almost done! One more photo edit and then I can post them all here! 

[Raza]

ImageCRAP 500-photo limit.  

500 photo limit?  Dude, you need to switch to Photobucket. 

[cawimmer430]

500 photo limit?  Dude, you need to switch to Photobucket. 

I have several Photobucket accounts, but I forgot the passwords to most of them. 

But I will definitely make use of one account for such picture threads. But I think they still have their shitty 1GB per month bandwidth limit...