AutoWeek reviews the 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT8. Follow the link in the title of this post to AutoWeek.
The review is generally good, repeating all we've heard before about Dodge's new ponycar. But there are a couple of ominous words in the review. The 4th paragraph in reminds the reader that this car is built from a shortened 300C/Charger platform. 4 inches taken out of the wheelbase still leaves the wheelbase 9 inches longer than the Mustang. And the SRT8 weighs in at 4140, 200 pounds more than a Shelby Mustang coupe.
The driving sensations are quote "an interesting blend of past and present...the big vehicle feeling both agile and stable up to a point. When pushed harder, the Challenger does begin to show its weight and wallows a bit... They also tuned the shocks for some lift-throttle attitude change, because understeer is pronounced, and the wheel, which feels ship-large in the hands, takes a lot of angle to crank into an apex. We didn't like that in 1970, and we still don't. Maybe we weren't employing the lift throttle properly. Ride quality on everyday roads is a competent compromise between crisp and comfortable, and it takes a bad surface to make it seem harsh. Moderately fast mountain driving is pleasurable and doesn't seem to upset passengers, though there is a limit. This is no European sports sedan. We can't rate steering feel as world-class, unfortunately, and freeway running in a mild crosswind calls for annoyingly frequent corrections.".
These are not inspiring words from a magazine staff that tests hundreds of cars per year and therefore has far greater experience and perspective than the target buyers for the Challenger SRT8.
Compare and contrast this to the driving behavior of the much smaller Mustang which despite it's stone-age solid rear axle is a much better drive. This will also be source material for the Camaro product planners, who have a couple of months left before the final suspension tuning engineering freeze takes place and the first pre-production cars roll off the line before the end of this year (on-sale delivery date approx. next March).
In my own opinion, people likely to buy an SRT8 won't be concerned with these issues, not the sheer size of the car. Nor the gas mileage, which will be poor. Instead my concern is that "pedestrian" buyers, whom the volume-leader 2009 V-6 Challenger will be aimed at, will have a major problem with the size and weight of the car (3900 pounds?) and the resulting sluggish performance provided by the 250 HP engine. The net result will be a sales problem, at least after the first couple of years. Even the all-new V-6 engine expected in 2 years can't change the size and weight of the car. Given all the other challenges (no pun intended) of Chrysler, what will Cerburus think of a low-volume product? One which will certainly be viewed more cynically as the gas crunch worsens...
More reading: my site "ChallengerEnthusiast.com". Note the Challenger-specific blog with RSS feed.
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Barry Newman, star of the 1971 cult classic "Vanishing Point", will always be associated with the Dodge Challenger because of his epic cross-country race in a then-new white Challenger in the movie. 
