[ and yes the challenger is a big heavy car, WITH BIG HORSEPOWER WOOOOOOOOOOOOO lol
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This is probably the smartest stmnt i've heard and counters my disappointment w/ the size of the chally. If the 5.7 has 380hp then the r/t will be a decent performer and not kill the wallet w/ gas guzzler tax and gas period. Plus you can actually use the backseat for pax.

 

thank you for the compliment hahah , and to add to your post , the 380 hp revamped engine should keep your wallet full on the price of the car and the gas with the mds. it will performe better/

 

kevin, I think you're really missing the whole point. Which is: For the negligible amount of difference the top-end Challenger bests the entry-level V8 Mustang by, the price variance between the two is difficult to justify. Nobody is doubting the GT is outmatched in every way possible (performance wise), but can you honestly justify spending roughly $13-$15K more on an SRT8 Challenger for just 0.2 seconds 0-60 and be neck-in-neck down the 1/4 mile? I think that's what this whole discussion boils down to. At first, I could not. But then I realized that not only do I have a desire to keep driving a performance car, but I also want to drive something you don't see out there everyday...10 times a day. That's all I got...

PS: If you don't think you will get thrown back in your seat in a 4.6 liter stock GT, swing out to Boston and I'll let you take mine on a little beat-run. You'd be very surprised / impressed, my friend. Cheers and have a good weekend everybody...Beener out.

 

I think a lot of it is knowing your car and knowing how to drive. Last summer I blew the doors of some kid in a late 90's GT in my standard Crossfire. He just didn't know how/when to shift. On the Crossfire's best day it can't keep with an R/T Charger... I think the Challenger will do just fine and I can't wait till the '09's come out so I can get mine. I think the driver can make or break the car. IMHO

 

Your exactly right 66Cuda, the driver can make all the difference.

 

Customer's always right, it isn't too difficult. You can save 10 or so thousand but at the end of the day if the Mustang isn't the car you want. Also, you've completely discounted the additionally enhanced components you're getting on the SRT. It ain't just engine. Brembo's, the way I hear it, don't come cheap, nor do any of the other standard amenities you're getting for your duckets.

Just a little more grist for the mill Albeeno. Since you're in the know on the 'Stang side, are they considering a fast back version? It'd be a tight homage to rework as well.

 

we need the The Stig

 

I know my posts make it seem to some of you like I'm a Ford troll and that I dislike the Challenger. Nothing could be further from the truth. I am currently saving up for my first, and probably last, performance car. After years of driving reliable small sedans (like Civics, Corollas) I decided I want to experience a nice car like the Challenger at least once in my life. I owe it to myself to have that experience. I have almost 6 grand saved up already and plan on buying in 2010.

I had my heart set on the Challenger, and I still like the look of the car a LOT. If they tweak the performance, drop some weight, and keep the price around 40G's I may yet pick one up when I go out to buy my car. As things stand right now however I'm a little put off.

Hopefully some of you can understand where I'm coming from here.

 

Being a hardcore lifetime fan of the mighty mopars... uhh... no, I can't say I could begin to understand...

 

All I can say is wow. Alright, I'll begin with tass. I understand that you like the more aerodynamic styling. I also like aerodynamic styling, but the simple fact of the matter is that we are in a boxy era and the Challenger is using an ex-luxury car platform because thanks to Deter, Chrysler had to use the a MB platform instead of making their own to cut R&D costs, though I question if this really saved anything. My advice is be thankful it was built in the first place. The car is so heavy because the market demands safer cars. Ever since the whole Firestone Wilderness incident, people have been getting quite anal-retentive about safety, if it doesn't perform perfectly in the crash tests, the manufactures will be accused of "intentionally trying to make dangerous cars with the intention of killing their customer" because we all know that the car companies want to kill their customer base so then they can sell more cars. I think the only way that this could be resolved is by shorting the platform further as I have said many times that I think the new Challenger could have been called the Charger with how large the car is, but unfortunately, I'm not the decision maker. I understand that your not crazy about the current styling, the issue is that the Challenger was probably never going to receive the concept styling. It is rare when the interior styling is carried into the production. The fact of the matter is the Challenger shares exactly the same amount of styling to the Charger as the Mustang has the interior of the MKZ. Companies share parts between models, they do this because of economies of scale. Its just the way things are. I understand that back in the day the Challenger could fight against the Corvette although it was meant to go against the other pony cars, but the problem is again times have changed and so has the industry. They can't make the Challenger both safe, lightweight, and affordable at the same time with what we have to work with in the industry. Part of what you are forgetting in this comparison is how aggressive GM is right now with the Corvette, they keep updating it like crazy to make it into a world-class sports car by trying to aim it for the Supercar class, whereas they weren't nearly as aggressive with the Vette as they are now back in the 70s.

Now to Albeeno, I understand what you are saying about the quick changes from the Taurus, to the Five Hundred, back to the Taurus, but there are a few things you are mistake on. Although they looked similar (probably why it was a flop), the Five Hundred pretty much shared only one thing with the Taurus, the 3.0L Duratech engine and that is it. The platform Ford used for the Five Hundred is a completely different platform than what they used on the Taurus, they used a Volvo platform for the Five Hundred whereas the old Taurus used a Ford platform. For the "new" Taurus, Ford's changes were very minute. They put in a different grille, different head lights, different tail lights, dropped in a new engine and transmission and lost the CVT for the AWD (thank goodness). The point is the shape of the overall car remained pretty much the same. The Charger to the Challenger is a whole different animal. Chrysler first wanted to test the waters for RWD before trying the full-blown muscle car approach. Once they saw that the market was their, they decided to do the Challenger right by not only making it a coupe on a platform that had only been used for sedans in the past, but also really changed the overall look and so forth. The reason why this stuff took so long was the fact that you have to put it through all the different gov't required testing. I remember hearing in a documentary on the 04-06 GTO, the reason why it looked so much like the Grand Prix was because this was a way to let them get it out on the road faster so then they wouldn't have to go through all the testing they had to go through otherwise, and it turned out to be