Description

Cars.com experts walk you through the 2009 Dodge Challenger SRT8 and its important new features.

Transcript

2009 Dodge Challenger SRT8 Review Male: Cars.com auto review. David: Hi, I’m David Thomas for cars.com. By the time you see this video, some bad news may have broken about Chrysler. But if there’s such a thing as an automotive swan song, the 2009 Dodge Challenger SRT-8 is it. This year’s challenger packs the same as that engine it did last year. It’s good for 425 horsepower. It’s a 6.1 liter hammy. That’s a lot of power. It’s really fast but the best thing about the ‘09, the big change for lots of enthusiast everywhere have been really waiting for is a dish of a six speed manual. The 2009 comes with the six speed manual transmission as an option. Not really sure it’s an option, I think everyone who buys this car is going to want it and you know what it’s terrific. It has a lot more fun to driving experience compared to the last year’s automatic. It’s still fun to drive because you have 425 horsepower but now you have to control it a little bit more. One thing people might not like about it is there’s a very slimmer transmission to what’s in the Corvette which has a skip-shift feature which means you go from first gear to the fourth gear if you don’t accelerate really hard on the first. So, if you’re lazy, it’s going to go on the fourth. Let’s hit the mileage bumped up and it does get bumped for 2009’s 40 miles per gallon in the city and 22 on the highway. So that’s a lot better than last year but you still get the gas guzzler tax. Our Challenger has pretty much the same interior. All Chrysler gets dinged a lot for their interior quality. I find the Challenger’s pretty good especially for a muscle car. It’s very basic but it’s not that bad so, don’t believe all the negative things you might read. The Challenger SRT-8 gets some upgraded seats which are really comfortable. It’s also all black inside of the black headliners. So it’s menacing like a muscle car should be. Also, Challenger’s packs some practicality in it price tag. There’s a really big trunk in the back for this kind car and for dads out there, you can get the kids to sit in the back. One option is Chrysler’s Uconnect system. What is Uconnect? Why does Uconnect sound like a funny name? It’s because Chrysler used to call this the “My Gig” system. What it does, it contains a navigation system and infotainment system which has a lot of different options. In fact, it is so robust I did a whole video on this last year. So, if you search You Tube or cars.com for “My Gig”, you’ll find the video that I did last year. So, this year you can still download software with USB, use all the navigation. But an added feature is full iPod integration stored here in the center console. Just plug in your iPod, all the artist, playlist you may have and song titles, all that comes up here on the screen in a very clear way. It’s a great addition. In troubled automotive times when we don’t know what car is going to be around tomorrow. We can understand why car shoppers won’t miss a Dodge Caliber or a Dodge Avenger. They are not really great cars. What I think that everyone will miss and what we hate to disappear is a Dodge Challenger. Male: For more car related news, go to cars.com or our blog, kickingtires.net.