Four Doors And Furious: 2007 Dodge Charger SRT-8
A late '60s vintage Hemi Charger in mint condition can easily cost you six figures, doesn't come with air conditioning or heated seats - and will only do 0-60 in around 6-7 seconds.It's also prone to overheating, handles like an overloaded cement mixer and slurps gas like a wino draining his MD 20/20.
Buy an '07 Charger SRT-8, on the other hand, and you'll get even more engine than the classic-era Charger boasted - a 6.1 liter modern-day Hemi belting out 425 horsepower that can deliver 0-60 runs in the low five-second range - along with climate control AC, a great stereo and the ability to run as comfortably cross-country (or take a fast corner) as deftly as it flies down the quarter mile.
And you can get your hands on all this for $35,920 - about what you'd pay to acquire a worn-out '60s-era Hemi Charger in need of a total restoration.
Granted, an '07 SRT-8's not a "classic" - yet. But back in 1970, neither was a Hemi R/T Charger. By 1975, in fact, it was just another oversized gas pig no one really wanted. You could find used muscle cars sitting sadly at third-rate consignment lots with "$2,200 or best offer" signs written in greasepaint on their windshields. It took years for the market to realize what gems those big-engined bruisers really were. And by the time that happened - and prices went through the roof - the average guy couldn't afford one anymore.
Don't let that happen to you this time.
And as far as the new Charger being a sedan - think about it a little bit. Those four doors are gravy, not a detraction. After all, here's a machine with more power under its hood than a new Corvette that can do to a stock 300-hp Mustang GT what Mr. T did to Sylvester Stallone in "Rocky III" - but which can also work as a daily-driven family car. Don't knock those extra doors. The ability to carry five people makes the Charger a purchase that can be considered - or at least, rationalized - vs. a hopelessly useless coupe like the Mustang or (worse) a two-seater like the Corvette.
But again, the Charger's roominess and back seat accommodations are just gravy. What really matters is how faithfully this thing delivers authentic '60s-era muscle car menace - and backs it up like a big-biceped wife-beater on "Cops."
With the ESP traction/stability control shut down and the gas pedal slammed, the SRT-8's humungous V-8 rears up and bellows through its three-inch pipes - all 420 lbs.-ft. of torque abusing the tires mercilessly, just like back in the day. There's no pistol grip-shifted four-speed manual gearbox to play with this time, but the SRT-8's heavy-duty five-speed automatic with AutoStick function delivers the same positive gear changes as a 1970 Charger's Slapstick-shifted three-speed Torqueflite automatic.
Or if you prefer:
Envelope the car in a spectacular mushroom cloud of angry blue-black smoke by holding the brake pedal down and easing into the gas - it just takes a moment for the Hemi to overcome the brakes and then the tires begin digging ruts into the asphalt - the prelude to a proper tail-out hard launch, the back end fishtailing happily as the overmatched rear skins struggle to regain their grip. The surging 6.1 liter jaw-breaker under the hood feels like it's going to rip itself off the mounts as the needle runs past 6,000 RPM and the tranny upshifts manfully into third - by which time you're closing in on triple digit speeds and trap times that would make an original-era Hemi Charger Plum Crazy with envy.
This car absolutely duplicates the massive, threatening feel of its ancestors - whether you're looming large in the rearview mirror of a left lane-dawdling Prius or simply oozing with street racer menace at a stoplight. The standard Charger already looks mean. Low-cut roofline, arched-up haunches - rattlesnake face that seems to be aching to sink its poison-dripping fangs into something. But the SRT-8 - with its bulging hood scoop, extra-fat (20x9-inch) rims, rear wing just amps up an already tough-looking customer to full Luca Brasi "sleep with the fishes" status. Like the Godfather's favorite hitman, The SRT-8 makes you an offer you can't refuse. Not enough? Take take it up another notch with the available Super Bee appearance upgrade. It adds bumblebee strips plus a numbered badge for future collectors to drool over.
But unlike its rough and tumble ancestors, the onetime kings of Woodward Avenue, the latter-day Charger SRT-8 is a complete car -- with brakes that are the equal of its engine (massive discs with red powder coated Brembo calipers all around) that feels good in a tight curve and which is perfectly composed at triple digit speeds. Taking a '70 Hemi Charger to 120 (or even 100) was taking your life in your hands. With the new car, you may be risking a massive ticket - maybe even a night in the slam - but high speeds like that are well within the envelope of the car's abilities.
The inside of the SRT-8's "envelope" is pretty nice, too. In addition to its heroic drivetrain, the car comes with highly bolstered sport buckets (with special "SRT-8" stitching on the headrests and contrast-color suede inserts), a thick-padded sport steering wheel with carbon fiber wrapping, unique gauge package with 180 mph speedo and attractive pewter/chrome trim. Available extras include GPS, a "Kicker" audio system with 276 watt amplifier and 11speakers, power sunroof and a rear-seat DVD entertainment system.
There are some hard plastics in evidence, but that was true "back in the day" as well. Ultimately, what matters are the car's bona fides, its ability to live up to the name on the fender - and the promise implied by that. Which it does. Where else, after all, are you going to find a muscle car packing 425 horsepower - new or old - for $35k?
And 425 horsepower plus room for five?
Get one while you still can. It can't last long. And when they're gone this time, it's doubtful they'll ever come back. Don't be one of those guys who complains, 20 years down the road, about the car he coulda/shoulda had "back then."
