kikimiqbalsoft - With a turbo four-cylinder Ford Mustang now a real thing, we’re moved to reexamine the genre of the entry-level muscle ...
kikimiqbalsoft - With a turbo four-cylinder Ford Mustang
now a real thing, we’re moved to reexamine the genre of the entry-level
muscle car, long associated with secretarial pools and rental-car lots.
Under discussion today: the V-6–powered Dodge Challenger SXT, sporting a new eight-speed transmission and a redesigned interior. Is it still more show than go?
It’s certainly still got “show.” For 2015, Dodge adds 1971 cues to the
basic 1970 styling theme, including its split-port grille inserts and
quad taillamp treatment. Other updates include headlamps with
stern-looking LED halo rings and smoother front and rear fascias.
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If the Challenger’s body changes only a little, an utter transformation
occurs inside. Stylists placed a 1971 Challenger dashboard in the studio
during the design process, and its influence can be found in the sweet,
conical gauges with hidden needles and classic fonts. But, overall,
this is a modern space, with strong forms, soft-touch panels, and real
aluminum trim.
The 3.6-liter V-6 is unchanged, but the new ZF eight-speed automatic is a
massive improvement, exploiting all of the engine’s 305 horsepower and
268 pound-feet of torque while helping to raise fuel economy from 18 mpg
city/27 mpg highway to 19/30. Zero-to-60 acceleration drops a bit from
6.4 seconds to a respectable, if not-quite-muscle-car-worthy 6.2. The
weighty Challenger trails its V-6–powered competitors by about a second.
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The Challenger's pleasant new interior manages to avoid hackneyed retroness despite its throwback gauges.
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So the eight-speed auto doesn’t bring much in the way of performance
improvements, but it is a nice piece with smooth, decisive shifts and
predictive downshifting in sport mode. Steering-wheel paddles come with
the Super Track Pak option ($695), which also brings 20-inch wheels, a
more buttoned-down suspension, revised steering, dual-piston front brake
calipers around larger 13.6-inch front rotors, and Dodge Performance
apps.
Hustling around Portland International Raceway, the SXT with the Super Track Pak could easily hang with the 485-hp Challenger SRT 392
in the kinkier sections thanks to communicative steering, Goodyear
summer tires, strong brakes, and roughly 300 less pounds, most of them
coming off the front axle. With the powertrain settings in sport, the
eight-speed always found the power band’s sweet spot, allowing us to
simply leave it in drive and still post impressive lap times.
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On the road, the V-6 proves competent and unobtrusive, though the
handling never lets you forget that the Challenger is essentially a
Charger sedan with a few less inches in the middle. Dive into a tight
corner and the car lists at turn-in, finds its legs, then stabilizes
with some throttle. The grip is there, but it drives big. Classic
muscle-car stuff.
And yet, the Challenger SXT needs to be a bit quicker—and sound
meaner—for us to consider it a true muscle car. That would help justify
our loaded SXT Plus test car’s $37,255 price tag. But, especially with
the Super Track Pak option, the V-6 Challenger is getting closer
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