2009 Dodge Challenger R/T Driving Impressions

Dodge Challenger R/T

Angus MacKenzie: Big steering wheel, like helming a yacht, with Benz DNA buried deep, as you can feel the slight pause as you swing through on-center. R/T suspension tune way softer, less controlled than SRT8's. More body movement, squirms around on the springs and bushings. Have to be deliberate with the car through the twisties -- brake, then turn, then get on the gas. Once it takes a set, though, it's quite predictable. Just gets flustered if you want to change direction in a hurry. Goodyear Eagle RS-A tires in nowhere near the same league as the Pirellis. You feel the shoulders juddering at the limit.

Default handling mode is understeer, amplified by lower-geared steering and big wheel. Brake feel the worst of the three. Terrific cruise car, though; just lopes along the freeways. Comfortable seats, ride. The 5.7 Hemi likes to rev. It's a nice engine and has well-defined V-8 sound in the cabin. Pedal placement is poor -- brake pedal high and widely spaced relative to gas pedal; makes heel-and-toe downshifts more clumsy.

Ed Loh: "This thing feels bigger by half" is the first thing I said after getting into the Challenger from the Mustang. Indeed, it's even about 25 percent larger than the Camaro, both in interior space (the Dodge's rear seat is the only one I'd want to be in on a trip longer than around the block) and the way it feels on the road. Drive the Challenger 20 yards on Sunrise Highway, and it becomes clear it doesn't stand a chance with the other two on the twisties. Even the much more expensive SRT8 would have trouble hanging with this crowd. With the R/T the power is fine, it's just the extra weight that translates to slow and deliberate handling. Asking it to carve up and down mountain roads is like asking a lineman to run double-out routes. It will do it, but it won't be pretty.

On my drives up and down Sunrise, the Challenger was the only car that substantially engaged stability control. Arrived at our turnaround spot with the brakes simply stinking. Simply too much mass to hustle around. For everything else -- highway blasts, cruising about town, roasting tires in parking lots -- the big orange Dodge is every bit the Mustang and Camaro's equal. I think it does so with more style, too; and no questions about the build quality (unlike with the Ford). I love that the modern Dodge Challenger's cultural touchstone is "Vanishing Point" -- an obscure movie from the era of the old car. I'm less enthusiastic that with the new Camaro everyone references a marketing campaign disguised as a summer blockbuster...

In a nutshell, the Challenger R/T is just too big and soft to hang with Mustang and Camaro when the road gets kinky; it's a Clydesdale compared with the two Thoroughbreds. The scales bear this out: The Challenger R/T presses down on the earth with 4154 lb, 295 more than the Camaro SS and a massive 582 more than the Mustang GT. Uncle Isaac Newton decrees there's simply no way this pony can gavotte like its rivals. On the other hand, Uncle Isaac just doesn't grasp the more subtle appeal of man-size cabin quarters and a classic bandit grille...