rickerda

Lets see, the Challenger has a back seat and a trunk that are both usable and it is the best looking of the three. Some times size does matter.

Thor77

I hate to see complaints that SS vs R/T is not "fair". For someone who wants a muscle car under 40K, it is a perfect comparison.

Keep in mind that there "should" have been a Camaro Z28 with a supercharger and ~550hp. It was axed by the crisis at GM.

See one article about it here:
http://www.motorauthority.com/previe...amaro-z28.html

If Dodge quits producing (heaven forbid) the SRT after it comes out of bankruptcy, does the now-top-model R/T have to be tested against the GT 500 for a fair comparison? Of course not.

To the extent that you would line up a top/middle/base grouping for Ford, GM, and Dodge it would be Shelby/GT/V6 vs. Z28/SS/LS vs SRT8/RT/SE. Take out the stillborn Z28 and the SS is the highest model available, but its price and volume targets are more appropriately compared to the R/T and GT.


I think an SRT vs SS vs "the most Shelby-tastic Mustang Ford sells" test would be great. It could crown the king of the muscle cars. But then the testers would ramble on about the huge price advantage of the SS, and it would probably win that test too.

Bottom line, magazine tests are fun, but you don't have to buy what they tell you. The Chevy is the winner by the numbers, but to me is just not as cool.

09ChallengerRT

I just got back from a car show and took a good look at the 2010 Rousch 427R Mustang and must say that even the owner and sales people are kind of iffy on the Mustangs "new" look. They all told me that as far as looks go the Dodge Challenger wins hands down. I heard the same thing from the chevy sales people as well when I went to the Camaro unvailing.

Yes, the camaro and the mustang may handle and perform better on the track then the challenger, but they are smaller, lighter cars and dont share a chassis platform with another, bigger car. They are stand alone products.

I personally LOVE the Challenger and am proud to be the owner of one. If I could afford to buy a Camaro and a Mustang as well I would, because I am a car guy first and think each has its own unique quality, but the Challenger would still be my daily driver and the others would be weekend toys.

I dont care about a half second here or there in a quarter mile or if it runs a quicker slolem. My car is fun to drive and looks fantastic, and thats good enough for me.

Thor77

^^^ True.

germansheperd

I dont care how fast the Camaro is,its just plain ugly.

RLSH700

The thing that amazes me is that any of you are surprised by CR is already indicating that they Challenger will loose their competition. They hate Chrysler with a passion. If you ever watch their videos you can tell hear the loathing in their voices of Chrysler and their respective products. The thing to remember about this is CR is basically like a whining child, they will pound on the floor yelling out "I want it, I want it, I hate you, I want it..." in the sense that they think they can change people's minds by taking cheap shots at who they don't like and it will succeed.

The thing I find humorous is that the proudly state that they didn't like the Charger but loved the G8. That should tell you something about their connection to customer's likes and the free market offerings as the Charger has been a success; meanwhile, the G8 that they loved is far underperforming it's predecessor's (the Grand Prix) sales that they hated and sadly is going down with Pontiac (I'm not happy by anymeans about that move, I think Pontiac is part of the path to getting GM back on the path of success).

I have very little stock invested in the automotive press's OPINIONS, but CR in my view hold the least level of credibility. Their reliability ratings hold next to no credibility with me as I've owned several cars that they say are awful in reliability and never had the problems they were complaining about and know many other people who will confirm this prespective. Most of the time, their complaints are subjective and a matter of taste. The other problem that they have is they don't even try to balance out their opinions like the other ones do.

The normal magazines will list 3 positives and 3 negatives. CR will often list one positive and a laundry list of negatives. This is a foolish and non-objective approach. Even the worst offerings if you look have more than one positive point. They just pick favorites and do little to cover for that throwing a blanket up that "we are non-profit; therefore, since we are not a normal company we must be honest." Garbage, all organizations non-profit, Gov't, and for profit are run by human beings and human beings are flawed and as a result their works will have flaws in them as well. It's the people who claim to be perfect that you should be aware of and CR likes to do this all the time.

We also must remember this, GM won the bang-for-your-buck war nearly every time against the Mustang and in the magazine comparisons, but the Mustang won ultimately in sales because it was a better balanced car. I think from what I've seen the Mustang and Challenger are better balanced models. The only problem I can see the Challenger has to deal with is it's massive size as it is closer to a GTO than it is a Mustang. I think the other area where the Challenger is going to need work is I think the sooner they can come out with the Pentastar V6, the better and hopefully they will have a more efficient transmission to come with it. I also hope that a new SRT engine is on the way.

cfan

Howdy Challenger fans, I notice this forum spends alot of time on the performance comparisons--is that the main reason you guys bought your challengers? I have been racing for years and a fan of racing/all types . Dodge has always been punished by the sanctioning bodys forever,but I've still been faithful to Mopar cause I like alot of their cars.I would like to Thank Dodge for building the new challenger---except for the Viper,we haven't had a 2-door muscle car for years---the camaro & mustang fans have had alot more time to get their performance issues right while we have had to rebuild our 35 year old cars to compete. Dodge made the new Challenger RIGHT,we will make it perform--THANK YOU DODGE FOR THIS PLATFORM--cfan

lear4406

Amen well said.