The April 2011 issue of Motor Trend published the long-term test verdict of the 2009 Challenger R/T. After 30,000 miles of driving, the maintenance cost was only $218.45. This was for routine maintenance such as oil changes, tire rotations, etc.

Here were some of the more interesting comments:

"No unscheduled maintenance, none of the supposed Chrysler quality issues. After nearly 30,000 miles of hard driving, the Challenger suffered nary a hiccup with us."

"I couldn't help but blast classic rock with the windows down and my arm resting on the windowsill. It's just that kind of a ride."

"Editors waxed poetic about the nostalgia the car generated in wide-eyed on-lookers, and the charisma the big machine exuded every time the burly Hemi fired up...The Challenger is an eight-track player in an iPhone world."

"I got flashes of Vanishing Point..."

"The Challenger is a car that we loved for all the wrong reasons. You're not supposed to love a car that's too big (197.7 X 75.7 inches), too heavy (4,150 lbs), and too thirsty (17.9 avg. fuel economy). But we did. And can you blame us? We're car enthusiasts, and our connection to cars is as emotional as it is logical, sometimes more so. Even when we are hard-pressed to explain, logically, why someone needs a Challenger. But we all know why we want one."

For the record, here are Motor Trend's performance times:

0-60 mph= 5.4 sec.
0-100 mph= 13.2 sec.
Passing 45-65 mph= 2.7 sec.
1/4 mile= 13.8 sec. 102.3 mph.
Braking= 127 ft.

 

17.9 MPG - They must STOMP the gas a lot! I "get on it" occasionally too, but just tooling around I average almost 21 MPG and on highway trips have gotten almost 25 MPG so far. Now granted, my car hibernates in the garage for winter and only has 4000+ miles on it... Please Spring, get here soon!

 

My grandpa's Ram gets better than that towing a 3,000 pound trailer with a 6,000 pound Yukon XL behind it. 21mpg.

But it does have the cyclinder shut off. (don't know if that would kick in when it was towing something.) And, for about 10 miles, there was a big downhill slope. I'm hoping that number will shoot up with the introduction of the cyclinder shut off system in the 2011's. SRT8's are supposed to get 25mpg. Sweet.

It could be worse. we could all be driving 96 Dodge Rams that get 12 mpg on a good day