Had to head out to the middle of Pennsylvania for work and decided that instead of putting miles on my car, I’d let the company pay for me to drive something different. Booked a full sized premium through National because 3 1/2 hour road trip but when I got to National they didn’t have any left. Bugger, I guess I had to go with option ‘B’:
A 2019 Dodge Challenger R/T with 7k miles on the clock. Awwwwww yissss.
Now I must admit I had a few preexisting notions on these cars (big, old and driven by actors with shaved heads) but man, was I wrong. Even though this is slower than a Mustang, every time I stomped on the skinny peddle I couldn’t help but have a giant shit eating grin from ear to ear. This car is FUN to drive, and pretty comfortable too. 3 hours in the car and still felt pretty good about it.
I did some reading one these and it seems that the Mustang is more nimble given it’s newer platform and having not driven the latest Mustang I can’t really compare the two so I’m just going to give my thoughts on the Dodge.
Acceleration:
Took a bit of getting used to because you run out of revs real quick mashing on that skinny peddle but once I had it down it I was able to get up to 60 around 4.5-5 seconds with the shit eating grin appearing instantly. Did I mention how fantastic that V8 sounds? No? Well it’s awesome.
Cornering:
This car feels big, and so it lumbers through the corners but still feels planted. In dry weather I took it down a few windy roads with 55mph limits that had a few sharp corners with yellow 25mph signs. I went around them doing 50mph and everything felt planted, tires weren’t anywhere close to losing grip so while I don’t think you’ll be the fastest around a track, I don’t think you’d be the slowest either.
Braking:
It’s a big car, but those big brakes can stop it. Had a few instances where traffic on the highway slowed down unexpectedly and I was able to stop without the “oh fuck oh fuck please stop” feeling. Although one time I had to move to the shoulder because I didn’t want the guy behind me ending up in my backseat and it was surprisingly nimble now that I think about it. Anywho, did I mention how fucking amazing that V8 sounds?
Comfort/Space:
It’s big inside and comfy, after 3 1/2 hours straight I didn’t feel all to tired. It feels like they’re more going for a GT feel than a track car feel which I dig because I could see this being a really nice daily. Trunk is huge and you can fit a good deal of stuff in it. Easily enough space for two people going on a weeks vacation. Not much of a back seat though so family carrier this is not, but that’s not the point of this car now is it?
Visibility:
Kinda sucks, pretty big blind spots initially but 10 minutes of tweeking the side view mirrors helped a lot. Seeing out the back is also crappy but the backup camera makes that a moot point and I didn’t have an issue backing into parking spots (yes I was that guy).
Economy:
The auto comes with some fuel saving tech so for a 5.7 V8, it’s actually not bad. I was averaging 21mpg through the Poconos at 80mph, Prius this is not but I was able to get around 400 miles out of a tank which when I think about older V8's I have driven that is pretty amazing. It’s around the same MPG as I get out of my AWD RDX V6 and given it has almost 200hp more and weighs the same that’s damn good.
Looks:
This thing is a looker, way more distinct than the Mustang or Camaro and I definitely was getting looks although that could also just be the exhaust note, did I mention how fucking amazing it is? Like, I went through a tunnel and I felt something very naughty in my tingly bits amazing.
It’s definitely a looker and honestly I think better looking of the big 3. Maybe it’s because it’s not often you see R/T’s around because these days I feel like every 5th car you see is a Mustang. Granted I may be biased against the Mustang because my neighours 55 year old wife drives a Mustang GT and every time I talk to her I want to open my fucking wrists just so I can get away from her. She is an Alpha Karen and I’m pretty sure she’s ask to speak to my manager under her breath a few times when talking to me about whatever is offending her that week. #justboomerthings I guess.
Final Thoughts:
Right now there is a certified preowned 2019 Metalic Green R/T on auto trader for $27k... not that I was looking almost imidiately after (reluctently) droping it off at the rental agency.
13/10 would hoon again in a heartbeat.