Wife and I had some time to kill this past Sat. and decided to head to the local Dodge dealer to check out the Challengers. Found a black auto and off we went. It was a demo unit, navigation package, classic package, super track pack and had a cat-back. She drove with the salesman down the Interstate while I stood in the lot looking under the hood at several other cars to see what/how maintenance would look like. 10 min. later and they show up. I then took it for a drive. Impressions:
Interior -
Did not like that the driver seat did not fold down to let passengers in the back seat.
Loved the seat belt strap holders.
Ton of room.
Dash and door panels were all plastic. Not real desirable.
Ergonomics were great.
Seats were comfortable.
Nav unit was nice.
Stereo sounded great.
Drivetrain -
I was pleasantly surprised. It did not have the power of the GT500 or my GT but it was very respectable. The auto shifted smoothly and I liked it. Nice exhaust tone.
Felt as good as my SS.
Under the hood the engine bay is more cramped than the 5.0 and SS but still enough room for ease of maintenance.
Exterior -
20" rims looked fantastic.
Brilliant black paint was gorgeous.
Very nice looking.
Overall -
I was surprisingly impressed with the Challenger. I prefer it over the Camaro. I left my contact info for the salesman (who was a Mustang fanatic; tattoo's on arms, etc..) to contact me when they get some 2011's in. I just may add one of these to the stable in the near future.
On a side note, took the GT500 to the track last night and ran a best of 12.84@114 (bone stock down to the crappy F1 tires, 1200' D/A). Raced a SRT8 Challenger with full exhaust and CAI. Spanked him by 1.6 seconds.
