Cuda340

May 6, 2008 Top Gear Review of 2008 SRT Challenger:

"Just got back home after driving the SRT-8 Challenger at Willow Springs Raceway and I've got a few things to add to the story you'll see in the May's Top gear magazine.

When I wrote that, we had only had a relatively sedate drive in the car, which was more of a pre-production model.

Now I've had an unlimited blast in the later SRT-8 Challenger on the canyons above LA and on this old, fast raceway, I've got to know the car a lot better and, it's fair to say, I like it.

It's not perfect - the seats are too short to support your thighs properly, and you could lose a country in the gap between second and third gears - but other than some other very minor grumbles, it goes like a train. I even got to like the interior, which isn't fabulously authentic but screwed together so well, it feels like it'll last. That's progress.

But the really write-home point that quickly became clear yesterday was just how well this car handles at all speeds. Yes, it's got some slack in the suspension to mop up bumps on the road, but once it's settled, you can steer just as much with the throttle as you can with the wheel.

Not in the guns 'n' glory style of the cart-sprung Mustang, but in a way that's not apparent in any other muscle car I've ever driven. I was expecting it to be all show and then get badly out of shape at the track. That just didn't happen.

We were hitting almost 130mph on the entrance to the monstrous Turn 8, but the 4,000lb+ Challenger was happy to take the abuse for as long as we cared to hand it out. If you tried to do that in most production Mustangs, they'd still be picking up the pieces in a year. It's not that the Mustang's not huge fun - it is. It's just that the Challenger is miles better.

This isn't down to expensive components, even though it does have independent rear suspension and some big-name bits like the Brembo brakes and Goodyear F1 tyres. It's how the engineers have tuned it all that really makes the difference. The bits we never talk about, like the bushings and the springs and the aerodynamics.

And the people. The SRT-8 Challenger chassis was developed by a team led by Erich Heuschele. Erich is clearly petrol-powered and was probably an engine in a previous life. The way he describes how he got this big, heavy car to top 170mph and corner like something half the size and weight is like listening to your best mate describing a big night out.

The Challenger reeks of that kind of enthusiasm, which inspires you to enjoy it not just on the outside for the killer looks, but also the inside too, where it counts. No question, this is the new benchmark muscle car."

Thor77

Nice write up. Nice to hear a favorable track impression. Should help soothe some fears that it wouldn't handle due to the big weight.

lear4406

After reading reviews for the Month of may, I have to say they have all been positive. I have'nt read a bad one yet and for all the gloom and doom guys who have been complaining from just shear speculation. Here it is in print from many diverse automotive platforms and your silence has shown that you really should learn patience and hard facts first and foremost. So we have learned to wait and let the reviewers do their deal before we jump the gun with baseless complaints.

DSkippy

Well, it ain't poetry, but it is music to one's ears.....

It's not that the Mustang's not huge fun - it is. It's just that the Challenger is miles better.

ahhhh

It's not that the Mustang's not huge fun - it is. It's just that the Challenger is miles better.

yeahhhhh


Lear, that is SO true. Everyone throwing out claptrap, on cold stats and this and that, w/o remember a good car is more than the sum of its parts, a good car, can be automotively synergistic and have an essence that transcends its components...

A master tailor can take the same wool fabric a sweatshop takes and create a work of art in lieu of an "off the rack" suit and it sounds like the SRT team did just that. I'm not implying that the R/T will not be as inspirational, I am comparing this mopar product to the producers of non-mopar cars.

JJMPB

wonder how the write up of the R/T is gonna go cause that is the car i think most people are gonna have

RLSH700

What is funny is the magazines had pretty much dug a grave for the Challenger and created a head stone in their reviews before they drove it, now they have done a complete 180 on their viewpoint. Like you said, we should be patient and let actual reviews happen and not depend on paper stats and speculation.

JJMPB, I'm expecting few difference and expect that the R/T will receive positive press as well. Dodge would not make the SRT as close to perfect as possible, then let the R/T turn to junk as they need the sales of the R/T. It won't be as good as the SRT, but it will still be good.

What is also interesting is this outlet hated the 300C SRT-8, and yet they like the Challenger. This is a good sign.

Jeremiah 29:11

I am sure I will strike a nerve here, but for the same reason the best college team voted on by peoples opinion is also the same reason I do not like magazine reviews on a car they have not drove yet.

I like real playoffs for football like the Superbowl and not peoples opinions. I want a real test drive not somebodies opinion of what they think it will do.

The proof is in the pudding. You gotta taste the pudding not describe what it looks like to really enjoy the pudding.

RLSH700

Agreed. There are too many elements that you can't predict. I can't count how many times that I liked a car on paper, then after I drove it, I hated it with a passion, and other cars I hated on paper then fell in love with. A funny story is that I slammed the exact same Intrepid that I own the first time I saw it on the lot since it had a several dings and the paint on the hubcaps from scraping a sidewalk and said I was sure this thing would fall apart in no time with the life it probably had, after I drove it and found that it was structurally and mechanically sound.

LOL! I like your analogy with the pudding.

JJMPB

that is why they should let the Stig write the review