I live in Detroit and I use my SRT-4 as a four-season daily-driver. I want to upgrade the performance, but I can't afford to spend $3,000.00 for the Mopar Stage III w/o toys, and any upgrade I do MUST be reliable as the car is my daily-driver. Does anyone out there have the Turbo XS boost package (about $500.00) or something similar? Are there any RELIABLE alternatives to the Mopar Stage II w/o toys? Plus, how do the alternatives deal with the MAP and TIP sensor issues that are addressed by the Mopar Stage kits? Buying the Mopar "toys" is not worth it to me, as the intercooler sprayer bars the use of washer fluid, I run four-season tires that make the boost "wheel" virtually useless, and I can barely afford 93 octane gas right now let alone 100+. Lastly, does any out there have a long-pipe ram cold air intake that they use in the winter? I'm just wondering if the "splash guards" really work. Sorry for the long-winded message -- I'm new to the forum. ;-)

 

Welp Im not too sure about anything other than the intake. I have an AEM shortie on my car currently, however on my Stratus R/T coupe I had a K&N long CAI without a guard around it. And it did awesome in the winter, even with the car dropped 2" on KYB AGX's. The only times I ran into a problem were when we had extremely excessive rainfall that caused some flooding, and even then, the K&N surpassed it and sucked NOTHING into the head itself. Its definitely worth it, even with the shield.

And yes, gas is re****ingdiculous right now. 2.92 where I work for 93 and thats OBNOXIOUS for Rhode Island, and theres a few spots that are up past $3. It took me 29.00 to fill up my tank today from the second my gas light came on (9.853 gallons). Usually I barely hit 23.00 on dead up empty. And I only buy 93, i refuse anything less.

 

ok so i'm going to try to answer these questions, but i'm going to break it down.

the turbo xs package consists of a wga, mbc, and a rfl. this set up is no way comparible to stage 3. this will get you in the low 13's, possibly high 12's (just not on street tires), and that's assuming that the rfl doesn't leak all your boost out. partial throttle boost could be an issue as well.

simply, no. i have gone with the mopar stages, and i have friends that have gone aftermarket. i have seen over the last two years the relitively minimal issues that i have had with my car, and all the problems that they have had. needless to say my car has been much less of a headache than theirs. the map and tip sensors are only available through mopar. the only other way to get the 3 bar map is with a power paq as it has it integrated.

living in the snow belt the toys would be more worth it to you than you think. the 0 setting is meant for adverse weather conditions, like snow. it limits boost to very low levels so that it's easier to control the car. fyi - 4 season isn't going to cut it. invest in a set of snow tires for the winter. in the summer the extra boost settings are great, and you can always turn it down to save gas. the intercooler sprayer does use the washer fluid, although i'm not sure why you portray this as such a negative. the point is to cool the intercooler, and that's what it does. high octane mode can be held in these cars by using water injection, so you don't necessarily have to get 100+ octane fuel.

i have a cai. never had a problem with it.