SRT

NEW YORK--Fans of the old Dodge Viper may be disappointed in its rebirth. While still driven by a ridiculously powerful engine, and maintaining its cabin far to the back of the car, the 2013 SRT Viper comes with unforeseen refinement.

Instead of strict power to the wheels with no electronic interference, the new Viper comes with traction and stability control. An active suspension system lets the driver choose between street and track modes. Body work around its side pipe should even protect the legs of passengers getting out of the cabin.

But it would be foolish to lament the previously … Read more

BMW says touch me, Ford takes mirrors high tech for quiet, the Chevy Volt is off the hook with the Feds, and how much would you pay for Obama's Chrysler 300? And we drive the Chrysler 300 SRT8.

An automaker may think it has engineered a car to perfection, but there is always someone, somewhere, who can improve it. A cottage industry of tuner companies has arisen around automakers, retuning engines and suspensions, swapping out parts, all in a quest to make these cars perform better.

The practice has become so popular and effective that some automakers either buy an independent tuner or build up an internal division to build performance variants of their standard-model lineups. Names such as AMG, STI, SRT, Callaway, and Shelby become synonymous with speed and squealing tires.

Check out this collection of tuner car photos. … Read more

Earlier, we featured the 470-horsepower Dodge Challenger SRT8 392, boasting more displacement and more power than the standard SRT8. But for pure bragging rights, the aftermarket can always do better. Enter the Cult Motorsports Challenger SRT8. This menacing custom, set to debut at the 2010 SEMA Show, has a look that borders on demonic and an estimated power output that you wouldn't believe.

Photographer Webb Bland of Not Bland Photography brings us the first look at the Cult Challenger. Details are slim, but the rumors circulating this matte-black beast point to an 8.3-liter blown V-8 replacing the standard … Read more

At the end of our week with the 2010 Dodge Challenger SRT8, we had a short list of cabin-tech quibbles that could stand improvement (starting with putting a voice-control button on the steering wheel), but we didn't want to get greedy and ask for "more power." Fortunately, Dodge's engineers can think for themselves and will be unveiling a new, more powerful variant of the SRT8 at the 2010 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, the 2011 Dodge Challenger SRT8 392.

The 392 designation at the end of the model name refers to the engine's displacement, its … Read more

The Philips universal remote line has a new top dog. The Prestigo SRT9320 combines a 2.8-inch color touch screen on the top half with hard buttons on the lower portion. The screen handles both channel favorites (replete with familiar icon logos) and customized commands. The SRT9320 can control up to 20 devices, and it's completely programmable as-is--including learning modes and multidevice macros--without the need to connect it to a PC. (A USB port is included only for future software updates--presumably things like additional channel icons.)

While the Prestigo SRT9320 has a premium $249 price tag, it's missing … Read more

The difference between HDTV and standard-definition TV is pretty drastic, and there's not much any device--television, DVD player, or cable box--can do to make standard-definition look like high-definition. But don't tell Toshiba.

The 46XV545U, a 46-inch LCD TV, represents one of the company's latest attempts to persuade buyers that with the right video processing, "all your DVDs and TV channels will be displayed in near High Definition picture quality." If you believe that, I have a burning five-dollar bill I'll sell you for a grand. Every company touts their upconversion technology, but Toshiba's "SRT Super Upconversion" blares its trumpets louder than anything we've heard.

In our tests, SRT basically added artificial sharpness, aka edge enhancement, to standard-definition images. You may like the look (we didn't), but you won't confuse it with HD. Without SRT, the television's standard-definition looked a good deal softer than other TVs in our comparison, for what it's worth.

It is worth mentioning that, as with all other standard-definition processing, SRT is irrelevant if you use an external source that does the conversion itself. Such sources can include upconverting DVD or Blu-ray players, or cable box or satellite boxes set to convert everything to HD.

But enough about standard-definition video processing; how does this HDTV perform otherwise? Click through to find out.

Read the full review of the Toshiba 46XV545U… Read more

Dodge revealed the Dodge EV as part of its line of all electric concepts a few months ago. We've also had a peek at what's happening under the hood of Dodge's electric roadster and come to the conclusion that it's fast.

But Dodge has another fast car that's already in production, our Editor's Choice Dodge Challenger SRT8, but which one's faster? Will it be the silent 248 horsepower and electric 480 pound-feet of torque supplied by the EV's batteries or the brutally, loud 425 horsepower and 420 pound-feet from the Challenger's … Read more

I'm a middle-aged guy, so sure, I read the CNET review of the new Dodge Challenger SRT8 just to get vicarious kicks imagining what it's like to drive a 425-horsepower muscle car. It sounds like a real thrill ride, and sure it's a serious gas guzzler: "The EPA rates the Challenger SRT8 at 14 city mpg and 22 highway mpg. However during our leadfooted testing, we only managed 13.7 mpg over a mixed city and highway cycle."

Even so, I suppose the Challenger's tested price of $43,730 will place it in the affordable range for a lot of folks, or let's be honest, guys. It's a car to get noticed in, but no one's fooling themselves into believing the SRT8 is merely reliable transportation. It's a toy, and if you can swallow the fuel bill, it's a heck of a ride.

Same can be said about high-end audio. It's not practical and it can be expensive to run, but once you get used to what it can do when it's playing your favorite tunes, a $500 HTIB won't cut it anymore. High-end audio isn't an appliance, it's supposed to get your heart pounding and blood flowing, not so different than the SRT8.

Thrill seekers lusting after a muscular audio system equivalent of the SRT8 should check out the following system.

Muscle cars are as American as apple pie, so I went for American made hi-fi where I could. I reviewed Klipsch's mighty RF-83 tower speaker ($2798/pair) for Home Theater magazine last October, but it's still a current model. With three 8-inch woofers and a 1.25-inch horn-loaded titanium diaphragm compression tweeter, the RF-83 mos' definitely will rock your world. Add the 12-inch Klipsch RT-12d subwoofer ($2,199) to ensure the deepest and tightest low bass. … Read more