Good photos that show the new Dodge Challenger...

Sing it with me now Fellow F-Chatters!

Just two good old boys
Never meanin' no harm
Beats all you never saw
Been in trouble with the law
Since the day they was born

Straightnin' the curves
Flattenin' the hills
Someday the mountain might get 'em
But the law never will

Makin' their way
The only way they know how
That's just a little bit more
Than the law will allow

Just two good ol' boys
Wouldn't change if they could
Fightin' the system like
Two modern-day Robin Hoods

 

Still amazing how folks on this board talk of items they have no clue about. (speaking as an owner of a 05' GTO). I happened to also of had a 1970 at the time and sure, its not like the originals but, the new one has an excellent drivetrain, nice interior (ie. not what you think of as standard GM) and runs like an animal. (also seems to win in the Rolex series so its engine is quite proven)

 

what does that have to do with the challanger?

 

I'm sorry, I thought DaimlerChrysler was, like, a German Company. And I love how you can tell that it looks cheap and plasticy from spy-photos that don't show any where near enough detail to make that kind of distinction.

 

Sure, it's "technically" a German company, but we all know that its a pure American brand and design.

And you can tell plenty by those spy photos. For starters, look at the rims...they scream uninspired and low-quality. Then look at the front grill and headlights...they look like an afterthought and don't have the nice integration with the hood that most modern designs have, as if Dodge were going for plug-and-play instead of continuity. Then the whole shape of the car - its like the original, just bloated a bit - thats 90s era design! No new interesting curves, surfaces, or shapes to modernize the design. And then the rear, the worst part. There's no creativity there at all! Plus, it looks like overall visibility would be very poor - worst than most coupes out there...short windows and thick pillars.

In my opinion, Dodge could do much better. The money they spent to make this could have been spent on a much more innovative vehicle. Retro doesn't automatically mean good, and I feel like a lot of people forget that.

 

This car will not be another charger. Corvette keep with it over the years and that is why a corvette is corvette and that is also why a Mustang will always feel like a mustang (even the 4 and 6 bangers to an extent.) But cars like the charger and the T-Bird have been out of the run for so long they are not even the same cars at all. They havn't evolved. They have been rebread and mean nothing. Why not just give it a new name.

 

I was wondering when Dodge would catch up with Ford... at least they have the right idea, although we'll see how it turns out. Now Pontiac and Chevy need to do the same. For once Ford has made the best cars.

I'm with BigAl here - where did we come up with 40 grand? I don't see anything in the article about price.

 

‘We all know’? You seem mis-informed. Germans are running DC, Dodge et all right now. They’re German Designs using old Mercedes parts. Calling them American designs is like calling Hondas that are built in the US American designs. These are German designs that are being built in the US and sold under US names.

Um, uh. yeah.... Big five spook rims. Pretty much the standard muscle car fair, and indeed all that muscle car fans want.

Wait, so going against what everyone else is doing is now bad? The car looks good. There is no reason to make the car follow current fashion trends when this looks better. Frankly you just sound bitter that the car isn't toeing the line when it comes to modern fashions.

Uh huh, so? They're going for a retro look. Therefor things stay rather similar. Perhaps you’re not familiar with what ‘retro’ means. The design looks good. People will eat it up. It doesn’t need to revolutionize anything.

 

Sorry, have to disagree. Dodge/Mercedes have stayed independent of each other. There are some cars where they raided each others parts bin (Chrysler Crossfire) but Dodge is still doing engineering independent of Mercedes in Detroit. You're not going to see a Hemi in a Mercedes or vise versa.. at least not yet. Sharing of technology maybe, but the cars are still being engineered independent of Mercedes for the most part and are not just reskinned Mercedes designs.

 

I'd glady go dig up the reference article if I still had my magazine archive but Motortrend or Road and Track had a nice article about the positioning of Germans at the head of virtually every single department in the Chrysler group. Of course that was a few years ago and things could certainly have changed since. If I'm wrong so be it. :shrug:

 

The D in D/C calls all the shots....from design to engineering to marketing.

I think it is an excellent attempt at capturing a significant market share of what guys like me(60's, 70's muscle car buyers, the same guys who shell out 100k for a vintage muscle car at an auction) will purchase. Would I buy it? In a heartbeat.....as long as it has the 425 HP hemi.