bob

Hmmmm.... hard to top that one... bah, Ford could always use the lame Toyota excuse when they decided to use drum brakes on the rear of their hybrid cars. "Its for efficiency".

exgto

I don't understand your statement regarding power to weight. Sounds like you are implying that the GT has a better power to weight than the Challenger. Which isn't the case, as even the current and reportedly heavier Charger SRT8 has a better power to weight ratio than a GT, and also out handles and out brakes our GT's. The "oink oink" Challenger will come in around what a GT500 weighs, and frankly all the slag about weight only has merit if the suspension, chassis and engine are not up to the task, but I digress. We live in a different era now, and to date the only domestic performance car I have seen successfully manage the issue of curb weight is the Corvette.

To the point, of course this guy is going to talk is product up and play to it's strengths. There is no doubt the Chally will cut into some market share and fill a niche, particularly with the Mopar loyalists. If Ford is awake at the wheel they will pay close attention and make a great car even better by adding some displacement to stay competitive. No question the 425hp 6.1 Challenger will walk all over a stock 3V - especially with the optional 3.91 and a 6-speed. We need Ford to step up and give us a forged 5.0 and another 50-75hp.

WaltM

Jeff -
Great info. You're on top of things as usual

Vermillion06

from Motor Trend's tests of the Mustang GT and the Charger SRT8

Looks pretty even to me The Charger doesn't beat the the Mustang GT in any handling category. But the SRT8 is .1 sec faster 0-60, has 1ft less stopping distance, all for only $16,410 more than a Mustang GT! Talk about a bargain! I think it all has to do with those three miraculous letters: I. R. S.!!!
Yes that is questionable. The Charger SRT8 is pretty much even with a run of the mill, lowly GT. Challenger will probably be about the same. Ford is already giving us almost equal preformance for less money.

exgto

Interesting, thank you for posting that. However, I recall reading some other articles where there was a bigger disparity in how the two cars performed. I will tell you this though, the SRT8 is the faster car, no doubt about it. Although it's the exception not the rule there are stock SRT8's running high 12's with the average times in the very low 13's. It's actually right about on par with the LS2 GTO's. Bare in mind the Charger is a 5-speed auto with 3.08 gears also. The Challenger will be faster with it's available 3.91's lighter weight (reportedly). Moreover, the 6.4 500+hp engine looks to be the top plant for '09. Don't confuse my defense of the SRT8's with disloyalty to my GT either. As somebody that also owns an SRT8 I'm at liberty to share some of that experience first hand with you guys.

The Mustang will continue to be very successful. It is an amazing bargain, but in the face of faster competition I hope Ford keeps the performance gap to within a discretionary level. The Mustang niche is good performance at a bargain price. I don't see the Challenger being a huge threat to that unless the 380hp 5.7 R/T Challenger is priced at or below the GT. Even then the Mustang aftermarket is so much more appealing.

Boomer

Sounds like something they'd do to the 2010,
if IRS isn't on the list, to improve the SRA even more.

05fordgt

Well, the Challenger is basically the same in terms of weight, so thats a negative it has going (one of only a few, as I LOVE the look of the car), but for a car that costs as little as it does COMPARED to the SRT8, and to perform the same is an incredible feat in terms of price and value. Now about the 6.4L Hemi, this would be the "Shelby" fighter. And about the 5.7L R/T? If the SRT8 costs in the low $40K range, the R/T will be in the mid to upper $30K range. It won't cost less than the base price of a V8 Deluxe GT. Just look at the prices of Challenger R/Ts or Daytonas. Heck, their V6 LX cars are in the upper $20,000 range.