Though it’s cleverly disguised as an automobile, don’t be fooled. The 2011 Dodge Challenger SRT8 392 is the world’s ultimate portable smoke generator. The fact that it can pull double-duty as a method of transportation is nothing but a quirky side benefit to its purpose in life. Consider it a value-added feature that helps justify its seemingly high $45,000 price tag.
Autoblog has done a review on the Challenger…here’s what they said:
It’s really quite ingenious. All that’s required to create your own massive plume of thick white smoke is premium-grade gasoline and two 245/45ZR20 tires, both of which are readily available, and both of which are consumed in roughly equal quantities. The actual process of making the smoke-screen is so simple even a caveman could do it. One step: Mash the throttle pedal to the floorboard. Done.
Strangely enough, during our First Drive of the beast, we found out that it’s possible to do other things with the
Dodge Challenger SRT8 392. For instance, with a modicum of restraint at the specific point at which your right foot comes into contact with the throttle pedal, you can drive the 392 in a straight line. Equally as surprising, at least to those who know anything about classic muscle cars, the Challenger is even capable of traveling in directions other than forward, and for more than 1,320 feet at a time.
We’re just as shocked as you.
We decided to borrow one of these weapons of mass (tire) destruction for a week with two goals in mind: to see both how much smoke can be created from one set of tires (or one tank of gasoline, whichever comes first…) and how the most powerful Challenger fulfills the unlikely role of an everyday driver.
Dodge has done an absolutely stunning job of camouflaging the Challenger SRT8 392 as an automobile. When compared to its most direct rivals, the Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro, the Challenger is the design that most successfully draws on its muscle-bound coupe heritage. To our eyes, the high beltline, kinked rear quarter panels, recessed front grille, (non-functional) hood scoops and beefy oversize tires all add up to one menacing muscle car. Not beautiful necessarily – just mean, reared up on its haunches, ready to pounce like a jackrabbit with a mysterious nasty streak.
Perhaps Dodge missed the message that it was supposed to extend the retro cues past the exterior and into the interior. We’re sorry to report that style has most assuredly taken a back seat to function inside the Challenger SRT8 392. Despite the fact that Dodge saw fit to echo its colorful ’70s past by fitting our tester with eye-searingly bright white-and-blue leather seating surfaces and door panels (rather soft and buttery leather, at that), there’s just no hiding the fact that the instrument binnacle and dashboard are nothing more than massive blocks of solid black plastic, albeit covered in soft-touch materials. That said, the front buckets are admirably comfortable and supportive. Even when the aforementioned throttle is gasping for air under the weight of our size-13s or when all four tires are screaming for mercy at the very edge of adhesion, the seats do a fine and dandy job of keeping the front two occupants firmly in place.
Sadly, the same is true for the rear passengers, bless their souls. Only in this case, it’s not the ample bolstering keeping the two average-sized adults from sliding back and forth – it’s because they’re on top of each other. Despite its ample exterior dimensions and 4,100-plus-pound curb weight, we’ve come to think of the Challenger as a two-passenger coupe. In fairness, the Mustang and Camaro have even worse back seats – at least the Challenger has some head- and leg-room back there.
We wouldn’t make such a big deal about the scant interior space if the Challenger weren’t such a large car. But it is a Large Car… by exterior dimensions at least. Break out the measuring tape and you’ll find that the Challenger has roughly the same rear-seat accommodations as a compact sedan, only there’s significantly less glass back there, which can make for some claustrophobic passengers if you plan on using the SRT8 392 as The Dodge Boys intended… as a smoke generator, of course. Or as a missile pointed straight down the gullet of a quarter-mile-long strip of asphalt.
If there’s anything else the 2011 Challenger SRT8 392 is good at, it’s accelerating from a dead stop like a 14-year-old girl going for the best seat in the house at a Twilight sequel on opening night.
You can tell the SRT crew had acceleration on the brain when you browse through the list of functions that the in-dash computer is capable of measuring. Sure, there are functions for lateral Gs and braking performance, but the real items of import are the 0-60 and quarter-mile counters. We had a little bit of fun with the LCD readouts, measuring a best run to 60 miles per hour in an unverified 4.2 seconds. How accurate is it? We have no idea. How satisfying is it to set a new fastest time? Immensely.
