DrivingEnthusiast.net Prior Blog Posts by Date DRIVING: that's what it's ALL ABOUT! A blog and website for automotive driving enthusiasts, featuring my interests as I see them: news and opinion about manufacturers of interest, significant enthusiast cars, and driving them hard and well. February 2008 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat           1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29   Jan   Mar RSS Feed for DrivingEnthusiast.net About DrivingEnthusiast.net Index of prior posts by title Use this calendar to navigate thru prior blog postings by date. Wednesday, February 06, 2008    Motor Trend drives the Challenger!   Now it's Motor Trends turn to report on their first drive a few months ago. Follow the link above to the Motor Trend site for the full report. Some unique information here: seems that the Dodge engineering team has a "trademark" lane change test at 150 MPH and a lot of aero work was put into the car in order to make sure it passes. And that's assuming the Dodge product has an engine which would support 150 MPH - most Dodges and Chyslers aren't even close to that. This one goes  all the way to 175 MPH. View and add comments: Trackback: Trackback Link and count:;[] Permalink for this post:  See similar posts in these categories: Chrysler - Dodge Challenger | Media: Motor Trend Search for similar posts on the web: Google It! RSS Feed for DrivingEnthusiast.net About DrivingEnthusiast.net  AutoWeek drives the Challenger   Now that the press is free to discuss their test drives of the Challenger last month, we get the full story about a miserably cold day at the Motorsport Ranch south of Fort Worth. What a coincidence, we were there the week before the press event and again just last weekend! Follow the link above to AutoWeek and the full story. Now here's the bad news: despite a wheelbase 4 inches shorter than a Charger, the car weights within 20 pounds of it at 4,140 pounds.  With a very similar weight distribution of 55.6/44.4 fr/rr. That's why 425 horses only yields a 4.9 0-60. It takes that much HP to move this much car. Compare and contrast to the porky Shelby with it's antique solid axle at 3980 pounds (coupe) and with 58.5% of it's weight over it's nose. Not only is it an antique, it has arthritis built in. It will be interesting to see what the similarly-sized Camaro weighs! Like the Challenger, it will also have an IRS -  although it will use struts up front. And, all of it's engines use aluminum blocks so figure on 150 pounds or more difference right there. I can tell you without a doubt that the Challenger won't work on the roadcourse track. We've had Chargers and 300C SRT8s at events before and they just don't work - too large, too much mass, too heavy. But the Challenger is a handsome car, competent enough for quick street driving, and has appealing options. Veyr few will be made ultimately... and it's very hard to imagine much more HP coming down the road (undoubtledly the SRT engine will someday get the phased cam technology that the base "Hemi" will get in 2009). This would be a good buy now. View and add comments: Trackback: Trackback Link and count:;[] Permalink for this post:  See similar posts in these categories: Chrysler - Dodge Challenger | Media: AutoWeek Search for similar posts on the web: Google It! RSS Feed for DrivingEnthusiast.net About DrivingEnthusiast.net  2008 Challenger Introduced!!   Dodge has introduced the 2008 Challenger SRT8, after several months of ramp-up from the original concept and several thousand advance (sight-unseen!) sales. A press videoconference this morning brought out several facts about the car, and included this quote slamming the Mustang: "We'd rather run like a thoroughbred than ride like a pony", in reference to it's independent rear suspension. Yes, the Challenger has a 5-link IRS and they made it clear that they wouldn't have it any other way (and neither would I).  The SRT8 is the only model available in 2008... all cars will have identical mechanical specification and only a handful of options. Production is limited in the first year. While it wasn't announced today, it's known that the 2009 model year will have a full range of models, engines, and options. Quick factoids from this morning's introduction: First 6800 built will have sequentially numbered dash plaques. Dash instrucmentation includes 0-60, 60-0, and skipad digital readouts "Functional" hood scoops (but after looking at engine compartment pics I don't see how)  HID headlamps >500 watt "MyGig" entertainment system with 13 speakers and a 200-watt sub-woofer .95 Gs on the skippad 4-pistons Brembos on all 4 wheels, 14.2" front brakes, 60-0 in 110 feet 0-60 in 4.9; 13.3 quarter mile 175 MPH top speed This car out-does the original HEMI Challenger in every single way (we'll see what happens in collectability... if we live long enough). And the engines makes more HP power per liter than anything Chrysler has ever built. I'll have full-res imagery later... meanwhile you can get all the background on my site ChallengerEnthusiast.com (link above). View and add comments: Trackback: Trackback Link and count:;[] Permalink for this post:  See similar posts in these categories: Chrysler - Dodge Challenger Search for similar posts on the web: Google It! 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