The 2011 Challenger coupe evokes the designs of muscle cars of the late 1960s and early '70s, appealing to the Baby Boomer fans of the original coupes as well as a new generation, by offering modern tech and comfort features within a thoroughly retro exterior that hearkens back to the 1970 Challenger. Depending on your perspective, it can appear as cartoonish, crisp and modern, or a blast from the past.
At the top of the Challenger range, the high-performance SRT8 adds some modernity and a new exotic look in the way of faux-carbon-fiber trim and xenon headlamps, but its deeper front air dams and functional brake ducts give the design even more street cred. What's not available, appearance-wise, as a factory option inside or out is bound to be available as a dealer-installed Mopar accessory. Various striping packages, wheels, a Ram air hood, and suspension kits serve to give you whatever customized muscle-car look you want.
The base Challenger SE comes with a new 305-hp, 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6, and it remains the option for those who don't make performance the top priority but want this muscle-coupe's street style at a more affordable price. At the top of the range, the SRT has an exotic-like 470 hp and 470 pound-feet of torque. In either variant, as soon as the road turns curvy the Challenger reveals its greater mass and feels neither as lean and nimble as the Mustang nor as overtly athletic as the Camaro. What's mostly to blame is the steering, which feels overly light and imprecise.
The Challenger has a very comfortable and well-appointed interior, for the most part, and it's a step quieter and more civil—as well as roomier—compared to other sports cars or pony cars. But it's a different story for rear passengers; there are three seatbelt positions in back, and Chrysler claims best-in-class headroom, though if there are tall people up front, there's little or no space for knees or feet in back, and the very thick pillar lends to claustrophobia as well as a lack of visibility. On the bright side, the Challenger has a huge trunk. There's more than enough space back there—more than 16 cubic feet—for just about any long weekend. But the other big plus for comfort: The 2011 Dodge Challenger rides really well—better than most larger coupes—and the suspension damps out severe jolts without drama (or trauma).
Interior materials have also been improved a bit for 2011; Dodge has added LED cupholders, a new hand-stitched leather-trimmed shift knob, and standard climate control, plus upgraded Nappa hide on Challengers with the available leather interior.
For 2011, Dodge has reconfigured the Challenger's feature list and bolstered standard equipment across the lineup. A new Garmin touch-screen navigation system is available, and it's not only simpler to use but functionally a step ahead many other original-equipment systems. Uconnect Web is also on offer, turning the Challenger into a wireless hot spot, and the available Sirius Travel Link suite brings real-time weather, fuel prices, sports, and movie information.
A number of performance and appearance packages are offered to give the Challenger a custom look or a specialized driving feel. The downside of all these options, of course, is that you can drive the sticker price up toward (and past) the $40k mark for an R/T or near to $50k for the SRT8—where there's top-notch coupe competition from Audi, BMW, Cadillac, and Mercedes-Benz.
Of all the American retro muscle machines, the 2011 Dodge Challenger is arguably the most retro on the outside, but it's appealing, cohesive, and mixed nicely with modern cues. See details and best of the Web The 2011 Dodge Challenger offers strong acceleration now no matter which engine is under the hood, but it's not the best pick for hustling on mountain backroads. See details and best of the Web The 2011 Dodge Challenger is surprisingly more comfortable and practical than you might think, given its muscle-car pedigree. See details and best of the Web Outward visibility from the 2011 Challenger isn't great, but safety equipment is impressive and past tests suggest that it offers good occupant protection. See details and best of the Web The 2011 Dodge Challenger offers a lot of features for a reasonable base price, but those who option up an R/T or SRT8 might be shocked at the sticker. See details and best of the Web The 2011 Dodge Challenger V-6 is reasonably fuel-efficient for such a showy muscle machine, but the V-8 variants are still guzzlers. See details and best of the Web Classy, retro-modern designSRT8's drag-strip-worthy accelerationGood ride comfortNice, light manual gearboxGet Dealer Price Quotes Ever-present, fatiguing exhaust soundTough backseat accessLight, imprecise steering feel
It's abundantly clear from the hard evidence presented in these pages over the past months that these are the best of times for car guys, if vehicle performance is your measure of such things. And yet, yank a geezer's chain at a car show, and he'll jabber on about how the new ponycars just can't compare with those of the late 1960s and early '70s. Is there anything to these lunatic ravings? To find out, we've gathered three modern high-spec ponycars and matched them with their glory days ancestors. We're pitting a 2011 Camaro SS against the '69 Camaro SS396 that inspired its design; a 2011 Challenger SRT8 meets the '70 Challenger it so faithfully resembles (ours is an R/T SE 440 Six Pack); and a freshly minted Shelby Mustang GT500 convertible meets its '69 forebear. We'll turn them all loose on a closed section of road in L.A.'s Griffith Park and see what happens, but first, let's have a look at those good old days. 
The late 1960s was a golden era for American automakers. Those pesky imports were nibbling away at the margins, but at the dawn of 1970, they accounted for a little over 11 percent of sales. Design reigned supreme, and designers had yet to be reined in to any great extent by buzz-kill pedestrian safety regs, crash-survivability standards, bumper strength laws, aerodynamics, etc. Gasoline was plentiful and cheap, and engineers were finding better ways to burn as much of it as possible in halo performance models that earned the brands big headlines and drove sales up. Vehicular variety was on the upswing, too, with new automotive platforms of different sizes and configurations making their debut throughout the 1960s. All those babies conceived by randy veterans returning home from World War II were now grownups ready to buy their first new cars, and they accounted for 20 percent of the market. They didn't want what Dad was driving. They wanted a car to lure a backseat mate-something with a long phallic hood, two doors, and a pert, short trunk. They wanted ponycars. To keep the cars affordable, OEMs shared compact-car underpinnings, and prices started just a bit higher (Dodge and Plymouth moved their ponies up to midsize architecture for 1970). The formula worked. By 1970, the pony market topped a half-million annual sales.Motor Trend Rating: 
