It is no secret that American cars have never really done much for us. We have admitted in the past however, that certain Corvettes and most certainly the Ford GT are indeed worthy cars- if not great cars; proving that American car manufacturers can (when they want to) build really competent automobiles. Now, we have found a third- The Dodge Challenger 6.1 liter SRT8. Why? Keep reading….

Staying true to our “driving impressions” theme and writing only about cars that we have the good fortune to drive on real race tracks (having to turn both left and right) we had the opportunity to experience what the new Dodge has to offer and we have to admit- it is pretty damned impressive.

The exterior design of the car is right out of the 70’s and if muscle cars were your thing (or, are your thing) the cars aesthetic design is truly from that era and works really well on the new car. It is a great looking car.

Better yet, the car has monster power and enough torque to pull a mile long freight train- or so it seems. Wanna tear up some asphalt- let’s rephrase- a few hundred yards of asphalt? Holy Moses…it goes!

The cars owner, our good friend…let’s call him “Jeff”, brought his 2009 Challenger SRT8 equipped with a real gear box….you know, the one that requires three pedals on the floor, to Spring Mountain Raceway a couple of weeks ago and we had the opportunity to experience how well it would do on a road course.

Keep in mind that Spring Mountain Raceway is a very technical track. There are a number of very slow, late apex- off camber corners that come up VERY quickly, with this car- off of very fast straight sections of tarmac. Add to that the 4,200 pounds that this car weighs and…it is a ride, but, surprisingly; not a handful.

Acceleration in this new Dodge is mind boggling. The car just pulls and pulls AND pulls. Given enough room, one can easily see how 160mph plus is not hard work for this car. We ran out of race track well before that number, but, the car is (as our good friend Caaarl- an Aussie- would put it)….”waaarp speed fast”.

The car is also equipped with huge brakes and thankfully so! The brake pedal feel, modulation and pedal pressure are good, but, typically American. That is not to say that the brakes don’t work well, they could just use a bit more feel. Brake fade however, was never an issue. The car stops very well indeed!

Steering feel is another area that could be improved on. Perhaps a reduction in the amount of power steering assist would help. The steering feel is very, very good and a boat load better than what we would have expected from anything coming out of Detroit.

The handling of the car is pretty darn good given its heft. It is not a car that can be easily thrown around and was never designed to do be. If the driver takes this into consideration and slows the car sufficiently, the car turns in well and stays nicely balanced. Try to throw it into a hard corner too quickly and the car will object with a fair amount of under- steer. Get on the throttle too soon or too quickly and all of that power will force the rear end out. Drive the car smoothly, brake early-keeping the car balanced; squeeze the throttle and the car does everything remarkably well. You just can’t over-drive the car; it is not a 2,000 lb. sports car.

All in all, we really like the car a lot! It would be better suited to a high horse power track like Willow Springs rather than a tight, technical track like Spring Mountain, but, given that the car was not really designed for tight road course action it still did everything very, very well. And, did we mention that this thing hauls ass?? !!!

What the car is; is a very fast, very competent and great looking piece of machinery. It again proves that American car manufacturers can indeed build world class cars when they set their minds to it. The new Challenger may prove to American car companies that the light at the end of the tunnel is not the 5:00 train; though this car pulls like one!

We would like to thank “Jeff” for the opportunity. If you are in the market for a car that reflects that great muscle car era with even better performance, remarkably good handling characteristics and brakes that work…not requiring the State of Main to stop the car…put this car on your list.

O.C.C.E