Originally Posted by SuBXeRo

Hey everyone. I've been patiently the last few days for my account to be activated and finally!

I currently drive a 2012 challenger R/T and have been pretty happy with the car over the past 4 years (1 year of payments to go ~$3,500 left). I'm 29 and have had two leased altimas and as my first car a 96 infiniti i30 green granny mobile.

I am playing a "maintaining equity" strategy with my cars. I prefer to own over lease, always. I put 15k down on the challenger originally and ideally i will keep trading cars in when they are valued around the $15k-$18k mark so i can keep buying in the $30k-$35k range. Based on what i drive and that i'm not buying junk, it seems that at around the 4-5 year mark is when that value hits. I am also trying to avoid the maintenance that inevitably comes up with an aged car. I'd rather do basic new car maintenance than old car maintenance. I don't make a ton of money but handling $300 a month for the long haul is OK at the moment, i figure ill have to sock away $300 a month anyways for repairs and the down on a new car if i keep my car now. I love cars, it gives me a ton of joy and i do a lot of driving, not to mention i live in phoenix and the weather is awesome 91% of the year, 92% if you round up.

I put on about 20k miles a year, no kids and work as a commercial property manager, mostly just me driving around. A few things that have bugged me about my car is that the dash over the passenger side has sunk....twice. The getrag rear end whines like a bitch and there is no fix, its a common problem unfortunately. I've had a few things fixed under warranty thankfully like my gas tank check valve seizing shut which only let me fill like 2 bucks at a time and they put a damper kit on the rear end to try to quiet it.

About a year out from a new car acquisition I typically start my research process, this time around im looking at a new challenger R/T or Scat Pak and a 370z. The two car are very different beasts, I've test driven both (a 370z sport) and a new r/t. I don't particularly like the new 8 spd in the challenger, i find take off to be sluggish, just doesn't seem a good fit for aggressive driving, it just seems to hesitate. Really, that was the only draw back, its a solid car and feels great. The 370z i didn't really like at first, it just doesn't feel like it has a lot of power like the challenger but i am keeping in mind that the VQ is extremely linear while the hemi just gives you this crazy surge of power. I had the same sentiments though when i drove my buddies camaro, very linear power production. I know that on paper, the Z and the camaro spank my RT and at the end of the day i just need to adjust to the driving differences. At the end, i just want more speed, i'm an acceleration junkie and love spirited driving. I'd love to FI the car but its not a likely scenario in actuality.

Now that you all kind of know the back story here, i can get down to what i need to know. I am specifically looking at the sport model for the enhanced brakes and other small accouterments that come with it. Bose sounded pretty good given its Bose but i have some Arc amps that'd i put in and do some speaker swap stuff myself. What are the common flaws in the new 370's, mechanical, aesthetics etc. I want to know what you guys have encountered, even if its a piece of trim that faded weird once.

I did read a few threads of those who have a challenger still and a Z and those who've made the jump, additional input from you guys is great too!

thanks guys,
Ian