Dodge is now giving the base Challenger the Hemi treatment with the Challenger SE Rallye. No, the 6.1-liter 425 hp V8 is from the SRT8 is not the standard engine (it’s a 3.5-liter V6), but it’s five-speed automatic does fine a home in the Rallye package.
Other features of the package include 18-inch rallye wheels, racing stripes and body colored spoiler. The whole package starts from $26,490, and is a small price to pay to look like it’s got a Hemi in it.
The guys over at Garage 419 are shamelessly ripping off Top Gear, but they not only admit it, they also added a third element. While Top Gear challenges usually pit a car against one form of mass transportation, these guys are putting a Dodge Challenger SRT8 up against a plane and a train.
Mr. Norm was a muscle car pioneer. He saw the demand for muscle cars in the late 60’s and embraced the trend by modifying Mopars at his Chicago dealership. When a customer purchased a performance car at Mr. Norm’s Grand Spaulding Dodge they got exactly what they wanted. If Chrysler didn’t offer enough grunt, Mr. Norm would add a more aggressive camshaft a larger carburetor tune the vehicle on a dynamometer and actually show the new owner how much power their dream car just made. Even though Mr. Norm’s Garage has moved south to Florida, the man is still determined to give the people what they want. Two fine examples are the Kenne Bell supercharged Mr. Norm’s Super Challenger and Super Cuda based on the 2009 Dodge Challenger SRT-8.
If you’re going to go retro, why not go all the way? Dodge revealed a special edition called the Challenger R/T Classic, which takes even more elements from the original 70s Challenger.
The price for this extra throwback is $34,005, which is a $3,460 premium over the base price of a regular Challenger R/T. But with this extra cash comes some extra goodies. This includes dual throwback A-line body-side R/T stripes, ‘Challenger’ fender badging in classic script, large 20-inch polished-chrome heritage wheels with all-season performance tires, classic egg-crate grille with heritage ‘R/T’ badge, body-color rear spoiler and chromed fuel-filler door.
The R/T Classic is powered by a 5.7-liter HEMI V-8 engine that delivers 376 hp and a peak torque of 410 lb.-ft. of torque. This is the same powerplant as the regular R/T, so 0 to 60 mph in under 6 seconds should be expected in the R/T Classic.
Wanted to buy a Bugatti Veyron, but you wanted to buy something domestic instead. Fear not, because now RDP Performance has tuned a Dodge Challenger to give a very Veyron-like 1,000 hp.
RPD took a stock Challenger SRT8 and added a Twin Bullet/RDP Harrop Supercharger system and a nitrous boosting system from Nitrous Express. The other revisions consist of a new fitted rear end with custom half-shaft and a quaife center, a 4,000 RPM RDP Street/Strip Torque Convertor, long tube from Kooks and a custom exhaust system. The full result took the stock 425 hp, and boosted it to the grand mark.
See, we’re no the only ones who liked our Dodge Challenger SRT8. The German tuner Eibach has a Challenger package for the home market. We never said the Challenger was perfect. As much as we liked the car, we also were a little weary of the loose ride that is truly old-school muscle car. While a light suspension is an occasional nuisance in the U.S., it’s downright dangerous on German b-roads.
Eibach seems to agree. It didn’t touch the 425 hp 6.1-liter Hemi engine, and instead focused purely on a suspension package (also probably because Eibach specializes in suspension packages.) Eibach has equipped the Dodge with the Coil-Over Suspension System Multi-Pro-R2. This car also features Toyo Proxes T1R tires and Botticelli III 9.5 x 22 inch OZ-rims. The best part is that all of these modifications are also available in Eibach’s U.S. catalogue.
So now an American can use an American car to drive like a German...simple.
Back in August we got a preview of what Hurst could do when it gets its hands on a Dodge Challenger. Now we have the full breakdown including pricing schedule for the Hurst Hemi Challenger series.
The output starts with the Challenger Series 2 R/T 5.7 that has 352 hp and 408 lb-ft of torque. These figures makes us scratch our heads a little because a 2009 Challenger R/T comes with 376 hp and 410 lb-ft from the factory. At least one package we can appreciate it the top-of-the-line package for the Challenger SRT8 that boosts the factory 425 hp to 572 hp.
We loved the Dodge Challenger in our fleet for the raw power it offered. Now it seems the Swedish design firm Vizualtech thinks it would be the perfect car to hit the LeMans series racing. It put together a fender flared rendering of what a track-ready Challanger would like.
General Motors has already put in the time, money, and effort to win with the dominating Corvette C6.R, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be two Yanks making the assault on Europe. Screw building electric cars; this would be the perfect thing for Chrysler to put the bailout cash towards.
The 2009 Dodge Challenger left a lasting impression on us. It’s been a few weeks since we gave it back, but it still was one of our early favorites when deciding our top ten cars for 2008.
This is a continuation of the first part of our time with the Challenger. Before that featured the interior and exterior in depth. Now we get the part we like the best, the test drive.
Retro cars are held to a higher standard at TopSpeed. When a designer doesn’t have to spend as much time working on how a car looks, we expect more time spent on performance. This was the standard applied to the 2009 Dodge Challenger SRT8 when it showed up on our doorstep. Then again, it wasn’t going to be too hard for us to love a car with a 425 horsepower, 6.1-liter Hemi V8.
We got a little excited about this car. We got a lot of double-takes from people we passed on the street, and the exhaust note is an enthusiast’s dream. As a result, we had a little more footage of the Challenger than we usually do. So here is our review and opinion of the retro exterior and interior. The test drive will be posted in a few days.
Picture Gallery
Post a comment
RSS -
Webmaster free news |