2012 Dodge Challenger SRT8: Choose Your Own Adventure! - Ignition Episode 13 - video Dailymotion

MotorTrend

On this episode of Ignition

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:02 This week on Ignition, we try to beat a rainy day.

00:05 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:08 Well, it's raining.

00:22 And rain really isn't helpful to testing,

00:25 especially when you have 470 horsepower

00:28 and especially when you have rear wheel drive, like we do now.

00:33 Well, this actually may be a blessing in disguise

00:35 because we're in a Dodge Challenger SRT8.

00:38 And truthfully, this thing's strength isn't test numbers.

00:41 It's something more than that.

00:43 And locking it up here at the test track

00:45 seems kind of unfair.

00:47 So you know what we're going to do?

00:49 We're going to go for a drive.

00:50 We're going to escape the rain.

00:52 We're going to go for a drive.

00:53 And we're going to get some apple pie,

00:54 because we're not going to let rain get the best of us.

00:58 [ENGINE REVVING]

01:01 Like the Marshall Tucker van, we take the highway.

01:12 There's another reason why we aren't testing this car.

01:14 And it's because, well, we kind of already have.

01:17 We tested the SRT8 392 inaugural edition

01:19 back when that came out.

01:20 And that hit 60 in a 4 and 1/2 second range

01:23 and a quarter mile in 13 seconds, around there.

01:26 Thing is, a stock Mustang GT can match those figures,

01:29 assuming it's being well-driven.

01:31 And that's just a GT, not even a Shelby or anything.

01:35 Thing about the Mustang is, though, as fast as it is

01:37 and as modern as it may be, it lacks curb appeal.

01:40 It lacks the persona and the charisma that's

01:42 just dripping off this car.

01:44 I mean, this Challenger feels like it's

01:46 a direct transplant from 1971.

01:49 It feels like it came right out of Pixar's cars.

01:52 And it just evokes these feelings

01:54 of freedom and adventure.

01:56 You know, every time I look at it,

01:58 it's begging me to drive it a long distance.

02:01 This, then, is where it needs to be.

02:02 Not a test track, but the open road in top gear,

02:06 with nothing but miles and miles ahead of you.

02:11 So we headed south, away from the rain

02:13 and towards the Salton Sea.

02:15 Believe it or not, this thing actually takes pretty well

02:20 to a curvy road.

02:21 Sure, it's big, and it's a bit floaty.

02:23 And by big, I mean it's 16 feet long and over 6 feet wide.

02:29 But despite that, it manages to come together.

02:32 I mean, it's not a corner carver.

02:33 You still feel like you're guiding it through.

02:37 That said, steering feel is good.

02:39 The shifter is fantastic.

02:40 I mean, it takes a little bit of muscle

02:41 to go from gear to gear.

02:43 But that throw is so short, as is the gearing.

02:45 And it just feels good keeping this engine on boil.

02:48 Not that you really need to, of course.

02:49 This thing makes a ton of torque at 4,000 RPM.

02:53 And the sound it makes is this deep baritone blast

02:56 that just grows deeper and sweeter the more

02:59 you keep your foot into it.

03:00 It's wonderful.

03:04 And at the same time, I have my heated seat on.

03:07 I can turn on a heated steering wheel.

03:09 I have satellite radio.

03:10 All the modern touches that make this car

03:13 livable on a daily basis.

03:17 This thing has the vintage feel.

03:19 It's kind of like a '71 Strat, reissued,

03:23 plugged into a fuzz pedal, into a 30-watt 2-bam cranked 211.

03:27 I mean, it gives you all the vintage feel,

03:29 but with none of the vintage complexities or difficulties.

03:32 This is wonderful.

03:33 [ENGINE REVVING]

03:36 Now, curvy roads are nice and all.

03:40 But there's something I've always

03:42 wanted to do with the Challenger.

03:43 [MUSIC PLAYING]

03:47 You know, dodge Challenger through the desert

03:49 has been done a million times before.

03:51 The thing is, I've never done it.

03:53 And ever since I watched Kowalski take his Challenger

03:55 into the desert vanishing point, I wanted to do the same.

03:58 [ENGINE REVVING]

04:01 And right now, I'm really glad I have,

04:04 because there's just something wonderfully stupid

04:07 about driving a 500-horsepower car without any grip.

04:11 [ENGINE REVVING]

04:14 This Challenger just kind of demands

04:16 stupid adventures like this.

04:17 It just wants to go and play.

04:19 It doesn't really matter what you're doing,

04:21 so long as you go out and do something.

04:23 [ENGINE REVVING]

04:26 This is a car that looks right in adventures.

04:29 It's a car that looks right against scenic vistas.

04:31 It's a car that looks right just against open miles

04:34 on the interstate, or like we're doing in the desert right now.

04:37 [MUSIC PLAYING]

04:40 [LAUGHING]

04:44 [ENGINE REVVING]

04:47 It's just begging to go out on adventures.

04:51 [ENGINE REVVING]

04:54 [MUSIC PLAYING]

04:57 [ENGINE REVVING]

05:01 [MUSIC PLAYING]

05:04 [ENGINE REVVING]

05:08 [MUSIC PLAYING]

05:11 [ENGINE REVVING]

05:15 Well, we finally made it.

05:17 We had my pie.

05:17 I'm eating strawberry rhubarb, and I got my cup of coffee.

05:20 And well, this morning we started in Fontana.

05:22 It was pouring rain.

05:23 And we decided, instead of just canceling everything

05:26 and going home, to take an adventure.

05:28 So we went down east of San Diego,

05:30 went down to Brigo Springs, took this awesome road

05:34 that cut from the valley into the desert, which

05:36 was beautiful.

05:37 And then we went out to the Salton Sea,

05:39 just because I'd never been there before and wanted

05:40 to see it.

05:41 And then on the way back, we decided

05:43 just to drive through the desert, because why not?

05:45 Never done that.

05:46 Wanted to do that.

05:47 And now we're enjoying my second slice of pie here in Julian.

05:51 And it's going to be a long drive home tonight,

05:53 but it's a long drive home with memories of an adventure,

05:56 instead of just quitting for the day and going home early.

05:59 And that's something that this car makes you want to do.

06:03 The Challenger is something more than a car.

06:05 You can see it in the way kids stare at it as you drive by.

06:09 They look at it the same way they look at an ice cream truck.

06:12 Adults, too, they watch it with a sort of childlike glee.

06:16 This Challenger awakens something inside.

06:19 I wasn't alive in the muscle car era,

06:20 but this car makes me feel like I'm

06:22 living the stories I've heard.

06:24 Put the early classic rock on the stereo, the Doobie

06:26 Brothers, the Marshall Tucker Band,

06:28 and you catch a glimpse of the freedom

06:29 that defined the lifestyle of the early '70s.

06:34 The Challenger isn't a time machine.

06:36 It doesn't take you back to that period.

06:38 No, it brings the best parts of our past

06:40 forward so we never forget them.

06:42 [MUSIC PLAYING]

06:49 [SEALS BARKING]

06:52 [MUSIC PLAYING]

06:56 [MUSIC PLAYING]

07:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]

07:03 [SEALS BARKING]

07:19 [MUSIC PLAYING]

07:22 (animal sounds)

2012 Dodge Challenger SRT8: Choose Your Own Adventure! - Ignition Episode 13

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