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2015 Dodge Charger R/T Scat Pack Quick Spin

"Scat Pack" is plucked from The Big Book of Dodge Nameplates to describe what is basically the average of the Charger R/T and Charger SRT 392. Unnecessary horsepower always seems to go down better with a dose of heritage. If you think it's a silly name, just be thankful Dodge didn't call it an S/RT or an R/T-S. In previous years, a similar formulation was known as the SRT8 Super Bee. Going by another name, it's still as sweet and wears the same hurried-looking pollinator on the grille. We do wonder: What has displeased him so, and why does he have wings and wheels? The packaging is at least fresh. All Chargers get updates for 2015, including improved interiors and a Dart-on-steroids exterior redo. The new lines work especially well on the more aggressive models, including this Scat Pack car. Like the Super Bee before it, the Scat Pack gets the 6.4-liter engine from SRT 392; for 2015 it gets a slight output boost to 485 horsepower and 475 pound-feet of torque, respective increases of 15 and 5. It does without the SRT three-mode suspension and comes with cloth seats (leather is an option) to keep the price down. The Scat Pack also has slightly smaller Brembo front brakes, narrower wheels, and different rubber. It does, however, cost eight grand less and is just as quick in a straight line. Intriguing. Driving Notes Scat Pack cars get an electronically controlled active exhaust that we'd call hyperactive. It's loud all the time, opening its widest at startup, idle, and when you ask for any appreciable amount of power. Sport mode supposedly makes a difference, but we couldn't discern loud from louder. It's a delicious and appropriate loudness, with a brassy trumpet tone to it, and the engine makes top-fuel noises at full tilt. The squeal of the rear tires can be heard from every stoplight no matter the road conditions. A light touch avoids leaving a mark if you're so inclined. We weren't. When the tires eventually smear into the realm of traction, this thing is pretty quick – hitting 60 miles per hour takes 4.5 seconds. There's also an adjustable launch control mode if you want to cut out some of the wheelspin. The eight-speed transmission shifts smoothly. Quicker, more-palpable shifts are had in Sport mode, but occasionally the transmission still needs a moment to drop down from seventh or eighth when you mash the throttle. Despite its two overdrive gears, this Charger is still loud on the highway. In a good way. Probably.

Jay Leno's Dodge Challenger raises $585k for USO in Scottsdale

Of all the metal moved in Scottsdale, AZ, this holiday weekend, the one you see here was hardly the most expensive. But it's noteworthy for another reason: despite being a relatively humble, second-hand 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT8, raised an impressive $565,625. That's because, first of all, it belonged to Jay Leno, and secondly because the proceeds were going to the USO. Leno donated the modern muscle car from his collection to benefit our men and women in uniform, and was on hand to present the car on stage at the Gooding & Company auction, along with USO president J.D. Crouch II and former Army chief of staff General George W. Casey, Jr. After frenzied and patriotic bidding, the gavel ultimately dropped at $360,000, accompanied by over $200,000 in additional contributions, bringing the total amount donated to the USO to over half a million. Commendable though it was, of course the Challenger didn't garner the highest bids at the auction. A 1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider sold for $7.7 million and a 1968 Ferrari 330 GTS fetched $2.4 million. A rare 1962 Ferrari 400 Superamerica Series I Coupe Aerodinamico sold for over $4,070,000 – which, according to Sports Car Market, is the most ever paid at auction for a 400 Superamerica. And a 1966 Porsche 906 Carrera 6 also sold for a record $1.98 million. Featured Gallery Gooding Scottsdale 2015 News Source: Gooding & CompanyImage Credit: Jensen Sutta, Mike Maez/Gooding Celebrities Dodge Ferrari Porsche Auctions Classics dodge challenger srt8 gooding ferrari 400 superamerica

8 things you learn while driving a cop car [w/videos]

Let me start off with the obvious: it is absolutely illegal to impersonate a police officer. And now that that's out of the way, I'd just like to say that driving a cop car is really, really cool. Here's the background to this story: Dodge unveiled its redesigned 2015 Charger Pursuit police cruiser, and kindly allowed Autoblog to test it. That meant fellow senior editor Seyth Miersma and I would spend a week with the cop car, and the goal here was to see just how different the behind-the-wheel experience is, from a civilian's point of view. After all, it's not technically a police car – it isn't affiliated with any city, it doesn't say "police" anywhere on it, and it's been fitted with buzzkill-worthy "NOT IN SERVICE" magnets (easily removed for photos, of course). But that meant nothing. As Seyth and I found out after our week of testing, most people can't tell the difference, and the Charger Pursuit commands all the same reactions as any normal cop car would on the road. Here are a few things we noticed during our time as wannabe cops. 1. You Drive In A Bubble On The Highway Forget for a moment that our cruiser was liveried with Dodge markings instead of those of the highway patrol. Ignore the large "NOT IN SERVICE" signs adhered around the car. Something in the lizard brain of just about every licensed driver tells them to hold back when they see any hint of a cop car, or just the silhouette of a light bar on a marked sedan. Hence, when driving on the highway, and especially when one already has some distance from cars forward and aft, a sort of bubble of fear starts to open up around you. Cars just ahead seem very reluctant to pass one another or change lanes much, while those behind wait to move up on you until there's a full herd movement to do so. The effect isn't perfect – which is probably ascribable to the aforementioned giveaways that I'm not really a cop – but it did occur on several occasions during commutes from the office. 2. You Drive In A Pack In The City My commute home from the Autoblog office normally takes anywhere from 25 to 30 minutes, and it's a straight shot down Woodward Avenue from Detroit's north suburbs into the city, where I live. Traffic usually moves at a steady pace, the Michigan-spec "five-over" speed.