New Excitement for the Pony Car Wars
Challenger, one of the most iconic names from the pony-car era has returned to the Dodge stable for 2008 after a 35-year hiatus. The design of the new Challenger, remains true to its heritage, but of course benefits from modern technology to deliver a whole new level of comfort along with performance.
The limited edition 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT8 is joined by the R/T and SE for the 2009 model year to complete the Challenger model lineup. Limited to just 6,300 units each, I suspect there are a lot of people hoping that it becomes an instant classic, and with the way the industry is changing, they may be right. But let’s talk about what the Challenger offers besides pure muscle car performance, which I’ll get to in a moment.
For those of use that lived in the heyday of the muscle car and owned more then our share, this car is pretty much what we hoped for when rumors first surfaced about it coming back. Unlike Mustang which has been around, Challenger is a throwback to a time when carhops and cruising was the happening thing and as with most nostalgic times, fondly remembered.
The beauty of the new generation of Challenger is that you can in fact take this car to the ball or the racetrack and it performs beautifully in both places. It has a great ride and plenty of air-conditioned comfort, and ended up being more of a head turner the I would have imagined.
The Challenger R/T, powered by a 370-horsepower 5.7-liter HEMI V8 with a 5-speed automatic transmission has power boosted to 375hp when equipped with the optional 6-speed manual transmission, which is what the test car was. What’s nice is that the R/T has 398 lb-ft of torque and that makes this car sit up and talk when you get on it. It’s on of the things I like best about American muscle cars.
This car is all about driving though and it has a huge fun factor; handling is much better then one would expect from such a big car that actually sits relatively high. Acceleration is invigorating and the exhaust note was so sweet that I rarely had the stereo system on. You don’t want to buy this car if you’re concerned about fuel economy with an EPA rating of 16/23, numbers that are in fact attainable but unfortunately not by me as I love driving this car as it should be, within legal limits I’m quick to point out.
Overall, I have to say that I felt very cool in this new iteration of an icon, and I don’t think Dodge will have any problem selling all they can produce. So if you’re looking for lots of fun in a throwback muscle car for under $40k, check out the 2009 Challenger R/T. I’m thinking you’ll be glad you did.
2009 Dodge Challenger R/T