Is It Worth it to Mod the 3.6L?

Same here. I test drove the RT 5.7 Hemi and the SXT. I went with practical over hot rod and find the SXT peppy enough.

No mods for me. Though I did get stripes and a hood decal. People who don't know any better ask if it's a Hellcat. I just smile.

 

My car looks exactly like any other Challenger. I bought it because I like the look of the car. Had absolutely nothing to do with what I could afford. I put $8000 into it in mods so far, and have another $8600 in mods to do in the next 3 months. I simply had no reason to buy a V8. It certainly wasn't because I couldn't afford it. I also just moved into a brand new $260,000 home. I just laugh at people who actually think the only reason anyone would buy the V6 is because they can't afford anything else. Bwawahahahaha

 

Count me as one of those who doesn’t see the sense of buying an SXT and then dumping thousands in performance mods into it, rather than simply purchasing an R/T. Since you didn't state what specifically your mods were/will be, I certainly wouldn't venture to comment on your motives. For all I know, your mods have nothing to do with performance. In my experience, there are many reasons why people purchase the specific model cars they do. With models like the Challenger, there are obviously many ways for owners to enjoy them. Again, in my experience, most people who purchase the entry level cars in any model lineup generally do so for monetary reasons. Many also just plain love the look of the car but have little or no interest in performance. The funny thing is that many people have a change of heart after they buy. They get sucked into the enthusiasm of modifying their cars as a means of personalizing it and some actually find that they would like more power than their car came with.

Bottom line, in the industry, we always used to say, "there's an ass for every seat". Was true back then. Still true today. Vive La Difference!

 

I have done work to my exhaust and installed a Pedal Commander. Everything else is just cosmetic personalization. Never raced, never going to race, no reason to buy anything other than the SXT Plus. Thought about adding a supercharger but decided against it as I still wouldn’t race or track my car. If I had a Demon I still wouldn’t. It’s not my thing. I do think it’s funny that the Hemi owners shit on the V6 owners, because they probably wouldn’t have the Hellcats and such if they weren’t making a killing on the sales of the SXT models.

 

I'm a V8 guy. Spent years in the industry and completely understand that technology can more than make up for displacement but nevertheless, I still prefer a V8 under the hood. I know plenty of people that could easily afford the top tier trim on whatever car they are shopping for but end up with something less for various reasons. Those guys are generally not performance enthusiasts in my experience. Or at least they aren't anymore. My Father-in-Law was a perfect example. He had millions but seldom ever bought the top tier trim of anything. He wasn't really a car guy though. Me? most of my life I usually bought a couple year old whatever so I could dodge the depreciation but I couldn't afford top of the line anyway. Fortunately, I had company cars every 2 years and I got to pick any car or truck I wanted. So I seldom actually owned a car since my wife also had company cars. Nowadays, luckily, I could buy whatever I want so shopping for a "toy" to replace my Cobra the last couple years has been fun. I'm just so happy I finally found my way to the Challenger. First one I drove was an R/T with a manual trans. Totally fell in love. At that point, I fully assumed I would go buy a Hellcat but after some exhaustive research and a bunch of test drives, I ended up with the Scat Pack Widebody. In my estimation, the "best" Challenger out there. It's not the most expensive, or most powerful but since I have zero interest in taking my car to the track, a Red Eye or regular Hellcat just don't make sense for me. I drive on the street. I love cooking down back roads. I wouldn't mind taking the car to a road course someday but that would be it. In the end, it's the perfect car for me, and I intend to have it for a long time.

 

My car is mine until I die, long story, but that's why I have no problem putting money into it. It will never be sold while I'm alive, so I do to it what makes me happy and what I enjoy. Got a $2600 stereo system going in, new break pads and rotors by Power Stop, $1600 Coil overs by KW, a Hellcat Redeye hood, new Vredestein tires, Nasty Rings, a K&N Typhoon CAI, and more. I also see quite a few Facebook pages filled with people who mod the hell out of their SXTs, many of whom had to leave other Challenger pages because so many Hemi owners claim the only reason anyone would buy the SXT is because they can't afford a higher trim level. I think that's absolutely hilarious. I tell everyone it's an SXT, and would even have badging to point that out but the place only took Paypal. Lol.

 

That’s why I think it’s so ridiculous. The V8 owners constantly crap on the V6 owners, but the 6.4 hemi owners don’t make fun of the 5.7 hemi owners. Hellcat owners never tell SRT owners they should have bought a different car. Not sure why people talk such shit about the Challenger models Dodge sells the most of. I just don’t get it.

 

It's been like that since I was a kid. Back then, if you showed up to school with a six cylinder in any car that had sporting potential, you got a big thumbs down. And don't even get me started about what would happen if you actually put mags or any performance oriented mods on that six cylinder car! No difference, just now you add greater amounts of feedback (both good and bad) because of the internet.