2010 Challenger R/T review

[wbt]

Wife and I had some time to kill this past Sat. and decided to head to the local Dodge dealer to check out the Challengers. Found a black auto and off we went. It was a demo unit, navigation package, classic package, super track pack and had a cat-back. She drove with the salesman down the Interstate while I stood in the lot looking under the hood at several other cars to see what/how maintenance would look like. 10 min. later and they show up. I then took it for a drive. Impressions:

Interior -
Did not like that the driver seat did not fold down to let passengers in the back seat.
Loved the seat belt strap holders.
Ton of room.
Dash and door panels were all plastic. Not real desirable.
Ergonomics were great.
Seats were comfortable.
Nav unit was nice.
Stereo sounded great.

Drivetrain -
I was pleasantly surprised. It did not have the power of the GT500 or my GT but it was very respectable. The auto shifted smoothly and I liked it. Nice exhaust tone.
Felt as good as my SS.
Under the hood the engine bay is more cramped than the 5.0 and SS but still enough room for ease of maintenance.

Exterior -
20" rims looked fantastic.
Brilliant black paint was gorgeous.
Very nice looking.

Overall -
I was surprisingly impressed with the Challenger. I prefer it over the Camaro. I left my contact info for the salesman (who was a Mustang fanatic; tattoo's on arms, etc..) to contact me when they get some 2011's in. I just may add one of these to the stable in the near future.

On a side note, took the GT500 to the track last night and ran a best of 12.84@114 (bone stock down to the crappy F1 tires, 1200' D/A). Raced a SRT8 Challenger with full exhaust and CAI. Spanked him by 1.6 seconds.

[GEEo]

IMO the price of the challenger is to much for wut the car is!

[Entaille]

Originally Posted by GEEo

IMO the price of the challenger is to much for wut the car is!

this is the challengers downfall imo - they price themselves out of the competition.

I like the car though.

[Stoned Hemi 6]

I used to own an RT and traded for my SRT8. I am very impressed by the comfortability, performance, and overall look and feel of the vehicle. If there was no Challenger then I would probably be driving a Camaro...

[GEEo]

Originally Posted by Entaille

this is the challengers downfall imo - they price themselves out of the competition.

I like the car though.

I agree the car looks good!

If The challenger wasn't so over priced. I would probably be driving one instead of a camaro.

[wbt]

Originally Posted by GEEo

IMO the price of the challenger is to much for wut the car is!

Originally Posted by Entaille

this is the challengers downfall imo - they price themselves out of the competition.

I like the car though.

It depends. Base pricing is more however the options are cheaper. I.E. I priced out a Mustang GT Premium with comparable options and it was more than the Challenger with similar options.

[GEEo]

If you really think of it. Our cars is not so cheap either!

My dad got my camaro for $39k and it doesn't have Nav, Backing Camera, etc....

And the new 5.0 has all that and probably more for the same price.

But I don't and will never regret that I got the Camaro instead of the 5.slow or the Mopar!

not even 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000.1 %

[TaylorRyanSS]

The car only looks good when it has a bunch of exterior mods. Stock it doesn't look that great imo. I prefer the 5.0 over the SRT8.

[ViperTomcat]

When you think about it..none of the new 3 cars are "cheap".

Good review OP, very fair and I agree.

[xs29j8]

Good review, I agree with almost all points...

One of your complaints is a very good one,the lack of back seat access on the driver's side. This has reportedly been corrected on the 2011 Challengers, but was one of my few dislikes on the Challenger. You did not mention another irritant to me, the steering wheel and cruise control layout... also apparently being upgraded on the 2011s.

Overall I like the dash & door panels... my SRT has padded inserts in the door panels, but I do not recall if the R/T is the same. While I really like the styling of the dash, a softer feel to the pad would have been nice. But, overall less of a "hard plastic" look than the Camaro, and I do not recall the one new Mustang I looked at to compare it...

The will apparently be other less obvious changes, like re-tuned suspensions. The following is from a Chrysler LLC internal communication, but attributes the input to Consumer Reports (who never seem to have much good to say about domestics, especially Chrysler):

Yesterday the group at Consumer Reports got their first look at 11 new or refreshed Chrysler products and the response was very encouraging. While they received some suggestions for improvement, the overall feedback was extremely positive. In fact by the end of the day, their biggest concern was our ability to let the public know that we had worked some kind of miracle and were now making great cars. They were really shocked that the cars were this good and that we could have done so much in the time we had done it.

<Other model comments removed>

Dodge Challenger (5.7L) - Big improvement in ride, handling, steering. This is now better than the Camaro.

[wbt]

Originally Posted by xs29j8

Good review, I agree with almost all points...

One of your complaints is a very good one,the lack of back seat access on the driver's side. This has reportedly been corrected on the 2011 Challengers, but was one of my few dislikes on the Challenger. You did not mention another irritant to me, the steering wheel and cruise control layout... also apparently being upgraded on the 2011s.

Overall I like the dash & door panels... my SRT has padded inserts in the door panels, but I do not recall if the R/T is the same. While I really like the styling of the dash, a softer feel to the pad would have been nice. But, overall less of a "hard plastic" look than the Camaro, and I do not recall the one new Mustang I looked at to compare it...

The will apparently be other less obvious changes, like re-tuned suspensions. The following is from a Chrysler LLC internal communication, but attributes the input to Consumer Reports (who never seem to have much good to say about domestics, especially Chrysler):

The dash was the main point for me. When I can tap it and hear a rattle, it needs to be fixed. One of the complaints I have with the Camaro on the passenger side dash.

Yep on the 2011 driver seat and new dash. Dodge fixes those 2 things and I am sold.

[TaylorRyanSS]

Originally Posted by wbt

The dash was the main point for me. When I can tap it and hear a rattle, it needs to be fixed. One of the complaints I have with the Camaro on the passenger side dash.

Yep on the 2011 driver seat and new dash. Dodge fixes those 2 things and I am sold.

tap where? I do not hear any rattles on my camaro

[Rockhead]

Yeah they are a wee bit pricey. I don't like the interior but what do I know . I'm the only one who likes the interior on the Gen 5 Camaro.

Dodge knocked the ball out of the park into the next county with the exterior looks.

[wbt]

Originally Posted by TaylorRyan74

tap where? I do not hear any rattles on my camaro

On the passenger side directly above the glove box. Had this on my SS.