Test Drive: 2009 Dodge Challenger R/T

Competes With: 2008 Mustang GT500, 2010 Camaro SS (available 2009)

Test Drive: 2009 Dodge Challenger R/T

The cars in front and behind me must have thought I was a first-degree jerk. However, had they been driving through New York City's Holland Tunnel in a manual-transmission equipped 2009 Dodge Challenger R/T, I'm willing to bet they'd do the same thing I did: 1) roll down the windows; 2) put the car in second gear and slow to 15 mph to allow some space ahead of me; 3) romp on the gas and listen to 5.7-liters of Challenger Hemi V-8 fury echo through the 1.6 miles of enclosed concrete; 4) repeat as many times as possible before emerging in South Manhattan.

The Dodge Challenger R/T is the middle child in the Challenger family, and as such, it straddles a difficult line. On one hand, with its V-8 engine and available manual transmission, the Challenger R/T guns for the performance crowd more comprehensively than the V-6 powered Challenger SE. But with its soft suspension and braking, this Dodge Challenger's not anywhere near the performance levels of the Challenger SRT8.

The advantage it has over both cars is price. For just a few dollars more a month than a loaded Challenger SE, you can step up to a real V-8 powered muscle car. On the opposite end, you get about 80 percent of the Challenger SRT8's goodness for about $10,000 less. Dodge predicts that the Challenger R/T will be the volume seller in its Challenger lineup, and although we think that the Challenger SE will probably take a larger bite of sales because of its better fuel economy, the price/performance ratio of the R/T is close enough to pleasing everyone that the company is probably right.

The Engine

The Dodge Challenger R/T boasts a familiar friend under the hood in the form of Chrysler's 5.7-liter Hemi V-8. Powering a wide variety of Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep products, it's a powerplant we know and mostly love. The thrust is immediate, the sound is glorious (especially in tunnels), and it's surprisingly muted when just cruising along. We wish that the Challenger R/T fuel economy were better; its 16 mpg city and 25 mpg highway is pretty good thanks to cylinder deactivation technology, but with gas as pricey as it is, it's still a little painful. In Challenger R/T form the Hemi boasts a few improvements to breathing, bumping power to 372 hp and 401 lb.-ft. of torque with the standard five-speed automatic transmission, or 376 hp and 410 lb.-ft. with the newly available six-speed manual.

Manual? Yes, after years of whining about wanting to row our own, Dodge has finally made a stick available with its Hemi V-8s. Available as part of the $995 Track Pak, it's borrowed from the Viper, including the dual-clutch mechanism, albeit with different gear ratios. Our advice: Get it. The automatic is fine, but its tendency to upshift even when in manual mode irritates us to no end. The stick shifts smoothly, has a great pistol grip that fits perfectly in your palm, and the clutch is progressive and easy. It even has a feature called "hill start assist," which holds the car on a steep hill from a dead stop, giving the driver a little extra time to get going before rolling backward in traffic. If you plan on using your Challenger as a burnout machine – and really, who isn't – the stick is the natural choice.

Ride & Handling

The compromise nature of the Challenger R/T shows up most in its handling. The ride is quite comfortable, and we found it perfectly capable of soaking up the bump and chatter of the potholed New Jersey roads without a problem. For a fast cruiser, you could do a lot worse.

For a track star though, you can do a lot better. The Dodge Challenger R/T's biggest problem is weight, because at 4,041 pounds, there's a lot of it to contend with. When driven aggressively on a track, it's clear that the springs, shocks and anti-roll bars are all tuned for more sedate duty. The Challenger R/T leans heavily in corners, is easily unsettled by bumps, and the steering is far too light to be considered "performance" feeling. The brakes, too, were inadequate for more than a couple of hard stops. In this way, the R/T is classic muscle car: great in a straight line, but not so hot when the road starts to bend.

Outside & Inside

Like the SE and the SRT8, the R/T has striking, classic musclecar looks from the outside. Its distinguished from the lesser SE and the badder-ass SRT8 with a body-colored rear spoiler (the SRT8 is flat black), different badges on the outside, and an optional R/T decal package that extends the R/T logo onto the front fenders.

Inside the story is even more the same. The Challenger R/T and SE share an interior, right down to the comfortable front seats. Like the 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT8 we had already driven, we were impressed by the quality of the interior fittings and their assembly. We were even more impressed that they hadn't been lowballed for this mid-level version: the dash is still soft-touch, as are the door tops, and there are nice feeling surfaces on most areas of the cabin. It's still not a particularly exciting design, but the functionality of it can't be questioned. It's also supremely quiet inside; you definitely hear the rumble of the V-8 more than the V-6 versions, but at speed on the highway, the R/T is a silent runner, one willing to soak up numerous miles without complaint.

You can soak up those miles with one companion, maybe two, but stuff four in the Challenger and it's more difficult. The 16.2 cu. ft. trunk can certainly swallow everyone's luggage, but the rear seat's limited leg room means it's temporary use only. Keep your passenger load limited to just one and you'll find you have plenty of room for cups of coffee, iPods, cell phones, purses, wallets, or a few Simon and Garfunkle 8-Tracks if you want to carry the retro theme to a logical conclusion.

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