Quote:
Originally Posted by 05stram
How is that the Challenger was the first retro car retintroduced (it was announced before the Mustang)? The first to offer performance above 400 HP. The first to offer a track pack. The first to introduce an eight speed transmission. The first to offer the same manual trans you have in the Camaro. The first to introduce HID headlights in the retro design. The first to introduce a full entertainment system.
I am confused by you assertion that they needed the SC engine to stay ahead of the curve. Just a FYI before 2008 they were on track to reintroduce the replacement for the Challenger. Still I do not see where Dodge is behind.
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Uhhh, a ton of your information is just plain false. The third generation Challenger was introduced at the 2006 Detroit Auto Show after the s197 Mustang had already been on sale to the public for a year having been introduced at NAIS way back in 2003 and sold to the public starting as a 2005 model year. The Challenger was not actually offered to the public for over three years after the retro Mustang went on sale in '05. The GT500 broke the 400hp mark by 100hp in 2007, again before the Challenger was even on dealer lots in any form. The 2007 GT500 also came with the tr6060, the 6-speed manual you are referring to. HIDs were also available on the Mustang in 2008, same time as the Challenger became available. That first year of '08 Challengers consisted purely of SRTs which were directly comparable to the '08 GT500 in price (about $41k base price for each), but down considerably in horsepower.
About the only first that can be attributed to the Challenger is the 8-speed automatic. Now Dodge is introducing a top-tier Challenger after the zl1 and gt500 have been battling it out for a couple years and the next generation Mustang and Camaro are just around the corner.