![]() ![]() The tamest Challengers-the SXT and GT-use a 3.6-liter V-6 that can be found in everything from the Ram 1500 pickup to the Chrysler Pacifica minivan. ![]() Optional houndstooth cloth upholstery on some trim levels completes the look, but there’s no shortage of technology here, either. Its dashboard cants toward the driver and flows nicely into the high center console. Inside, the Challenger is a throwback specifically to one model year: 1971. The “Mad Max” widebody look is also available on the Challenger SRT Hellcat for 2018. At the rear, those fat arches hide enormous, street-legal Nitto drag tires. A massive, functional hood scoop stands by ready to gobble up Ford Fiestas. It’s squat, with fender flares that look like they’ve been cribbed from a 1990s SUV. Work your way up the food chain and the Challenger gets more aggressive, but it’s not until you reach the purpose-built Challenger SRT Demon that things really look different. Park one next to the comparatively sinewy Camaro and it’s obvious that this is a boulevardier-albeit one that handles remarkably well.Įven the Challenger SXT has the right look with several available graphics and wheel packages that work well. The Challenger masks its size reasonably well from the front, but its big rear haunches and slab sides serve as reminders that it’s a very large two-door. From the front, their deeply inset grilles and headlights are throwbacks to the late 1960s and early ‘70s. While its Chevy Camaro and Ford Mustang rivals have shed weight and tamed Germany’s famed Nurburgring in an effort to be true American sports cars, the Challenger proudly waves its stars and stripes bravado on its sleeve.ĭodge makes all versions of the Challenger look suitably muscular. Although curb weights top 4,000 pounds for all but the base SXT, the Challenger corners well with decent road feedback. For the most part, they’re quiet and composed on the highway and can hold their own when the road gets twisty. Even V-6 models provide decent thrills and upwards of 30 mpg, plus a roomy, comfortable cabin that can be outfitted with dressy Nappa leather and up to 18 Harman Kardon speakers. What’s perhaps most impressive about the breadth of the Challenger’s lineup is its depth. Thankfully, buyers get a day at the Bob Bondurant School of High-Performance Driving with the $86,000 SRT Demon-although that’s kind of like saying you’re qualified for neurosurgery after a semester of Biology 101. It’ll lift its front wheels nearly three feet off the ground as it lunges through the all-important quarter-mile in a world-record 9.65 seconds, Dodge says. Now, Dodge has gone far further with the 840-hpChallenger SRT Demon. We thought Dodge was loony (but in a good way) when the SRT Hellcat with its supercharged, 707-hp 6.2-liter V-8 showed up a couple of years ago with a choice between 6-speed stick and 8-speed automatic transmissions. For most of us, those naturally aspirated V-8s offer more than enough power and they’re available with 8-speed automatic and 6-speed manual transmissions. A 485-hp, 6.4-liter V-8 is shoehorned into the Challenger R/T Scat Pack, T/A 392, 392 Hemi Scat Pack Shaker, and SRT 392 Challengers. R/T and T/A models sub in a more appropriate 5.7-liter V-8 rated at 375 hp. The lineup starts with the 305-horsepower, 3.6-liter V-6-powered SXT and GT, which both come exclusively with an 8-speed automatic transmission. With up to 840 horsepower on tap in the new 2018 Challenger SRT Demon, this coupe is unlike anything else on the road today. Still, Dodge has done a heck of a job keeping it up-to-date and enhancing its performance appeal. It rides on a Mercedes-Benz-derived platform that dates back to the 1990s and even the Challenger itself hasn’t been fully redesigned since 2009. The Challenger’s swagger isn’t the only thing that’s a throwback about this big coupe. The street-legal drag-racer Demon’s the big news for 2018, but there’s also a new widebody kit for the Hellcat, a newly standard rearview camera, and available Brembo brakes for R/T models. This year, Dodge has grown the Challenger’s lineup to 16 different trims, starting with SXT and working its way through the all-wheel-drive GT and V-8 R/T to the real stormers of the group, the SRT 392, SRT Hellcat, and SRT Demon. We give this lineup, which ranges from tame style icon to drag strip-tamer, a 6.8 out of 10. It lags the Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro in modern amenities, but boasts superlative horsepower figures in top trims and a sense of humor. The 2018 Dodge Challenger is old school muscle like a playground bully. ![]()
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