For anyone who came of age during the heyday of the unfettered big-cubic-inch American V-8, the feeling is deliciously familiar.
Stab the throttle, and there’s that rocket sled pressure across the shoulder blades as a 6.1-liter Hemi V-8 transmits its massive thrust to the pavement, provoking smoke and shrieking from the rear tires as they scrabble for grip.
The sounds and sensations after pushing the keyless-start button ignite memories of those thrilling days of yesteryear when an original Hemi V-8 lit up its Goodyear Polyglas rear tires and sent an original Challenger hurtling down the highway—or maybe Woodward Avenue—with a heady rush.
Whooma! Is that the ground trembling? Now, as then, the experience is seismic. Whooma! There’s almost nothing in the internal combustion inventory that can match the visceral experience that goes with exploiting the punch of a big ol’American V-8.
And now, as then, a big V-8 can produce some pretty impressive acceleration numbers.
The Hemi Challenger we tested almost 40 years ago was able to smoke its way through the quarter-mile in 14.1 seconds at 103 mph on tires that were considered hot stuff back then but would be only slightly better than linoleum compared with the performance rubber available today.
The latter-day Challenger, with its Goodyear F1 Supercar tires (245/45-20 front, 255/45-20 rear) is expected to rumble to 60 mph in 4.9 seconds, with a quarter-mile time of 13.3 seconds. To follow the action, the car gets a performance display similar to the one in the Caliber SRT4 that measures 0-to-60, quarter-mile and g-force.
We must add here that we have yet to put a new Challenger through its paces at a test track, and don’t expect to do so until April.
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