Got my 09 Dodge Challenger RT in November 0f 09 after almost a 2 year wait. The car came totally black without any stripes so to match my 74 Challenger I put on the Classic RT side stripes... they look white in the pictures but are actually silver...there is 1 picture of the car totally black with no stripes for comparison....definately looks better with them...these were aftermarket stripes since Dodge did not yet have them in their inventory...got them from a company called Rider Graphix and I have a link to them on this page....... I take all my cars to local car shows.... People definitely gather around this car...most have never seen one in person. With the Manual 6 spd Tremac 6060 VIPER transmission and the 5.7 HEMI...this car moves! A true modern Muscle Car. It conservatively rated at 375 HP but I think it is underated. It has the ESP stabilization system that helps right the car if control is lost. There is a switch to shut it off 100%... especially is you want to leave some rubber or drift around some curves. I have a break-in period of 500 miles so can't get on it too much for another couple of weeks. Have done a few mods already...AIRAID cold air intake, MOPAR Tower Brace, engine compartment chrome accents, underhood and in cabin LED lights for night car shows...Pending mods-Lower the car 1" using new springs, painting the brake calipers red, possibly installing a new Shaker hood system with functional Ram-Air and a new classic rear spoiler......                                                                        

Most Magazine articles panned the interior of the new Challenger saying it was too plain jane, but I think it's very Muscle Car looking very functional, comfortable and roomy....notice the modern pistol grip shifter..it's a very easy grip with a short throw to shift

Rear shot with the continuous rear light(aka the 1970 look) and the 2 chrome exhaust tips ..they should have come thru the cowl like in the 70's cars..the Manual cars have a more throatier exhaust as compaired to the Automatic models...has a nice HEMI rumble....

5.7 ltr HEMI 375 net HP and I think that is a conservative figure, top speed for the R/T is suppose to be about 150 MPH. Aftermarket AIRAID cold air Intake-should add 10-12 HP

 Trophies are piling up already at local car shows....

 Shot of me driving down the road...taken by a friend in a Z06 Corvette over his shoulder-Nice Shot Ron!

 let me tell you---this is RETRO DONE RIGHT!!...as you can see in the picture below, the lines on the car closely resemble the 1970 Challenger...although this car is somewhat bigger than the previous generation.... it was done properly everthing is in scale as safety measures would allow(the bumpers have grown tremedously) ....one item that did not make it to the production car  from the prototype was the ability for the 1/4 window in the back to open like it did on the older cars...the side view looked so nice without seeing any glass...but rollover requirements prevented the glass from opening.  Well, here it goes....finally got a shot of my below of my 2 Challengers together...as you can see the 2009 is much larger in almost every direction, 5" taller, 2" wider and 2" longer ..but you have to admit, the classic lines are still there.....

          Below is the Official publicity photo from Dodge

Two examples of 1970 and  2008 Challengers next to each other..as you can see the 08/09 Challenger drawfs the old cars...the extra safety freatures and impact bumpers had alot to do with that..it all translates into somewhat heavy car(about 4000lbs) but very roomy and comfortable interior..........

 Here are a couple of facts that might interest you:

-the 09 Hemi in the 5 spd automatic version has an MDS system to shut down 4 cylinders to increase gas mileage....in the manual version, this is not done, full 8 cylinders all the time.

-Again on the automatic version, the ESP(stability control)has a switch so you can turn it off......unfortunatey, it is my understanding that it can only be diabled about 60%...now on the manual cars, the same switch will disable the ESP system totally 100%.

On the automatic cars, for some reason the designers tried to hard to mask the sweet HEMI rumble with a suitecase muffler just to the rear of the console underneath the car... along with a resonator right before each exhaust port...forcing many Gearheads to remove that large muffler or opt for an aftermarket exhaust system to increase the sound...I was truley disappointed the 1st time I heard an 08 SRT Challenger pull away from the parking lot....but luckily in the manual car the suitcase muffler has disappeared replaced by cats and again with the resonators right before the exhaust port...some people are removing the resonators to increase the car's rumble....my car sounds good...but would not mind it being just a little louder...so I may remove the resonators.... 

Cool Mopars at a local Carshow
Manasota Mopar - Bob Boast Dodge Car Show 09