factory alarm or aftermarket ?

[upndnigo]

looking to purchace a 2008 charger srt8 my question is do i go with the factory alarm or an aftermarket ? Concern is quality not price.:knockout:

[pikapp]

Well... The factory alarm isn't a true alarm. Meaning, it doesn't have shock sensors, interior sensors etc. All it does is honk the horn if a door is opened. For me, the factory alarm along with the immobilizer that come on the cars is fine. I personally don't like car alarms going off all the time. Nobody pays attention to them anymore anyways, it's just "background noise" now. But if you want a true alarm, you will need to get one installed. One of the things to remember though is that I think the auto start will not work with an aftermarket alarm. But I could be mistaken on this?

[upndnigo]

thanks for your reply . i went ahead with the purchase yesterday so i'll have it for spring srt8 black option groups I II & III sunroof and high intensity discharge headlamps.. can't wait.

[mnunes]

The factory immobilizer is supposed to be really, really good. I don't recall hearing anyone on the forums say that their car was stolen by someone breaking in and hotwiring it (or whatever they do these days). If there was one feature I'd want in an aftermarket alarm it would be notification that the car is being tampered with (a cell phone call or text message).

Regarding remote start working with aftermarket alarms, I don't think that should be a problem unless the new alarm also tries to do an ignition disable. You'd have to have a way for the remote start to re-enable the ignition.

As an aside, I'm not a fan of remote starts since to make it work you essentially have to have a key in the car to bypass the immobilizer. Just doesn't sound like a good idea to me.

[pikapp]

As an aside, I'm not a fan of remote starts since to make it work you essentially have to have a key in the car to bypass the immobilizer. Just doesn't sound like a good idea to me.

The remote start is an awsome feature! Especially now during the winter. In the morning, I start the car from inside the house a couple min before I leave, and it's nice and warm when I leave to work. Same thing while leaving from work, a store etc. I start it when I walk out, and by the time I get to the car after walking through the parking lot, it's nice and warm.

The immobilizer isn't disable when you use the remote start. The doors also remain locked. The immobilizer stays armed until you get into the car and insert the key key fob and turn it to on. At that point the immobilizer is disabled and the car is functional. It still isn't possible to steal the car even if you turned on the engine with the remote start.