Wow it was AWESOME!!! The new Challenger is a beauty. It’s comfortable and the power is just crazy. My best friend's uncle got one shortly after it arrived at the dealer and he was willing to take us out for a spin. Right off I was very impressed with the way the dials and gauges were laid out.
The stereo is like a mini media center PC with a hard drive and even a port to connect a USB drive. There are so many features built into it that the book for it is like an inch and a half thick. The computerized stuff carries over to other parts of the car with a mileage calculator and even a built in performance meter. We tried out the quarter mile and did like a 14 at 106, although I’m not too sure how accurate that was considering we were going up hill during the run.
The seats are leather but way better than any I’d sat in before. The center of the seats is covered in suede which feels really nice and helps keep your butt planted on those hard corners. The front buckets are wide enough for a large person to be comfortable with large side bolsters. Overall the seats feel very cushy and they left me with the impression that they’d be perfect for long road trips and stints around a track.
My friend and his uncle are both big tall guys and they had no trouble getting into the car or with room once they were seated. The rear seating area is kind of tricky. Like my old stang the amount of leg room is limited (depending who is sitting up front), but all pony cars are like that. Honestly I found the rear seats to be more comfortable than any other two door car I’d ever sat in with the exception of my friends Buick GN. The challenger had an armrest between the two seats with real cup holders.
The plastics were plasticy, but I had to touch them to tell that. Again, things seemed well laid out and the armrests were all covered in soft material just adding the comfort of the car. Honestly I was trying to be overly critical while I was in the car so as to discourage me from ever wanting to jump the shark and try and buy one.
The overall dimensions of the car were surprising. It is a big muscle car. I think it’s actually larger than my 73 mustang. I’m egger to drive down so I can see the cars side by side. The windows are high up on the belt line and the wheels and tires massive (the rims are like 20” crazy huh?) so it all look well proportioned. To me it looks exactly like the old car, well nearly. I especially love the way the rear of the car looks. It’s smooth and uncluttered.
We didn’t drive the car too hard, but even at triple digit speeds the car felt well balanced and planted in sweeping corners. There was very little body roll, actually I didn’t really feel any, but the ride felt soft. Amazing how these new cars have their suspensions so well tuned for both street and performance. Way unlike my old 73 mustang which bounces over bumps getting unsettled because of the stiffer front and rear springs I added. The traction control seemed a bit invasive but apparently there are multiple settings for the system, course with us all being newbies to the cars computers control center we had no idea how to change those settings.
I drove the car for a little bit, maybe 5 miles or when I had to stop before the excitement killed me. There’s a massive grin on my face as I type this. Man it was awesome. It felt so easy to drive that I had to remind myself that the car had a limit and it be best if I not try and find it before it even had 500 miles on it. The steering was, well it felt precise, smooth, and light. Strangely I expected a little more effort to be required in the turns, but the car was so easy to guide along, and keep, on a path that it felt like a much smaller lighter car to drive. Understatement carries over to the exhaust note. Inside the car at least the engine sounds very subdued.
Ok, so now I want to drive a V6 Challenger when they finally make it to market. The SRT8 is a beautiful car and the engine is just overpowering, but even if I could afford the 37,000 base price I couldn’t afford to feed that big Hemi. If you get a chance I suggest you go drive one. You will not be disappointed.
