Road & Track tests the 2008 Challenger
 

R & T finally tested our beloved Challenger. They've got 3 features:
A full road test (0 - 60 in 4.7 seconds, 13.0 second 1/4 mile!)
A video review
A video of the '08 hot-lapping around Infineon, along with a '70 Challenger Trans Am race car

Here's the road test...

[b]Sweet. This adjective used by those two lovable lunks in the "that thang got a Hemi?" ad campaign pretty much sums up the Dodge Challenger SRT8. This latest addition to the Dodge stable not only recalls the styling of the original 1970 Challenger but also provides the same kind of tire-smoking straight-line fun with the added bonus of being able to handle a curve or two. Sweet.

There was no doubt when the concept was unveiled a little more than two years ago that Dodge was going to build it. And it has done yeoman's work in keeping the shape of the street version true to the retro-inspired show car, although the proportions are slightly different to accommodate production needs. There are a few cues from the show car that are missing and a few new touches added. On balance, the production car is largely better for it.

Built on a shortened version of the LX platform that underpins the Dodge Charger, the Challenger has a 116.0-in. wheelbase and measures 197.7 in. overall. At 75.7 in. wide, it is some 4 in. narrower than the concept. And it's a tall car, standing 57.0 in. high — we noticed in a parking lot that the roof of the Corvette parked alongside just barely cleared the top of the Challenger's outside rearview mirrors.

Unlike the original Challenger, which had a shapely "fuselage" body that wrapped under at the rocker panels, the new car is slightly more slab-sided. But that's a good thing because it makes this muscular car, with its 20-in. wheels and tires, look as if it is firmly planted to the tarmac.

The Challenger has a classic long-hood, short-rear-deck profile that remains compelling to this day. The grille opening is faithful to the original Challenger's and provides welcome respite from the tyranny of the Dodge family's cross-hair grille design inspired by the Ram truck. Anyone with just a passing familiarity with the division's history will immediately recognize it as a Dodge. The only caveat is if someone catches a fleeting glimpse of the car's C-pillar treatment. Although it clearly has lineage to the original, it also is remarkably similar to Chevy's reincarnated pony car, so much so that a UPS driver, when he first spotted the car, stopped, jumped out of his truck at a stoplight and asked if I were driving the new Camaro.

Still, exterior designer Jeff Gale (son of former Chrysler design vice president Tom Gale) must be complimented on keeping exterior filigree to an absolute minimum. There is one Challenger badge in the front grille, two discrete SRT plates, the Dodge Ram's head emblem on the top of the front fascia and Dodge lettering across the rear. That's it.

In wind-tunnel testing, Dodge discovered that the large horizontal grille is actually a pocket that causes lift at triple-digit speeds. Gale's solution was to look back at the Challenger Trans-Am car of the early 1970s and design jutting chin and rear decklid spoilers similar to those used on the racer. But other than these two devices, the car eschews clichéd wings, rocker extensions and other aerodynamic bits of flotsam and jetsam.

Other changes from the concept include making the hood scoops functional (they primarily vent the engine compartment rather than provide any ram air for the engine) and adding a chrome filler door marked FUEL in the original typeface from the 1970 model.

While the concept was a B-pillarless hardtop with retractable rear windows, in production, the Challenger needs that extra roof support. The pillar is hidden behind fixed rear quarter glass so that in profile, the car retains the hardtop look of the show car.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment is the interior. It is handsome and functional, but

RE: Road & Track tests the 2008 Challenger
 

Thanks for posting. :)

Here is a link to the article, photos, and videos. (This same isue of R & T also contains a good article on the new Camaro).

http://www.roadandtrack.com/article....rticle_id=6836

RE: Road & Track tests the 2008 Challenger
 

[sm=Flahssssss.gif]

RE: Road & Track tests the 2008 Challenger
 

Sweeeet.

RE: Road & Track tests the 2008 Challenger
 

4.7 quarter... keeps getting better and better... maybe it will be 4.5 soon... :D

RE: Road & Track tests the 2008 Challenger
 

13.0 quarter mile and guess what a high 12 is just a track test away:D I believe they will have a 12.99 or lower before the 6-speeds hit the street;) And when the 6-speeds hit the road you will see a 4.5 0-60:) Man this just keeps getting better and better.

RE: Road & Track tests the 2008 Challenger
 

It is said, that patience is a virtue.

I say, patience gets you a better car. :D

RE: Road & Track tests the 2008 Challenger
 

the '08s don't have limited slip diff?? weird

RE: Road & Track tests the 2008 Challenger
 

Quoted from Edmunds.com:

RE: Road & Track tests the 2008 Challenger
 

I guess that explains the ridiculously bad donuts and burnouts that was on display in one of the videos. Sucks to be stuck with an '08 lol