Posted on: June 28, 2011 – 11:04 am by RLD
There’s been a flurry of activity in the ‘Blogosphere’ on our 2011 Avenger and Charger. Numerous lifestyle websites such as Bullz-Eyes, Cool Hunting and Latina on Mission posted some great reviews of our vehicles. Click on the links below to read all about their driving impressions from these diverse bloggers with different audiences.
Bullz-Eye hits New York City with Dodge
Cool Hunting: 2011 Charger R/T
Posted on: April 27, 2011 – 7:00 am by RLD
Futurists and computer experts may dream of creating intelligent robots that are capable merging man and machine into a single unity. The thought of having these plug and play humanoid machines free us from the daily shackles of careers, housework, grooming, taking care of our family and even driving is pretty scary.
Therefore, it’s time once again for the Dodge Rebellion – 21st century style. So grab your Charger R/T and let’s smash these evil creatures with a dose of pure HEMI® muscle. Robots may think their smarter, but only humans can fully appreciate the feeling of 370 horsepower planting their spine firmly in the seat and that’s what the future of driving should be!
Posted on: April 21, 2011 – 7:00 am by RLD
The team at The Fast Lane Car knows a thing or two about fun-to-drive cars. When they aren’t slaving over a keyboard, they’re behind the wheel of some of the world’s most powerful and entertaining automotive products. So when it came time to pick out the most fun to drive vehicles of 2011, it should come as no surprise that both the all-new 2011 Dodge Challenger and the all-new 2011 Dodge Charger made the cut. We’ve packed in a warehouse-load of new features in both vehicles to make them engaging, powerful and efficient to boot. Hey, we know that last one rarely factors into how much fun you’re having behind the wheel, but it’s a big part of the new Dodge.
When it came to the 2011 Dodge Challenger 392, The Fast Lane Car team had just three reasons that it made their list of most fun-to-drive cars of 2011. Number one was the fact that we upped the displacement of the big-boy HEMI engine from 6.1-liters to 6.4-liters. That little bump was important for turning up the power, but we wanted to make sure that we weren’t sacrificing drive ability or fuel economy in pursuit of tire-smoking glory. To that end, we made sure that the new 6.4-liter HEMI V8 actually improved its fuel economy numbers, despite the added displacement.
Need another reason why the 2011 Dodge Challenger made The Fast Lane Car’s list of fun-to-drive cars of 2011? The editors pointed to the 470 horsepower from the new engine as reason number two. We certainly can’t argue with that, nor can we find issue with reason number three. According to the editors, the final reason that Challenger joined the ranks of the most fun-to-drive cars of 2011 was the 477 pound-feet of torque from the all-new HEMI engine.
While The Fast Lane Car was all about the power in the 2011 Challenger, the Charger won the site’s editors over with its whole package. The number one reason that the Charger beat out the competition was the fact that our new electronic power steering system actually delivers better feedback than the old hydraulic setup without draining fuel economy. We know that enthusiast drivers typically enjoy electronic power steering about as much as rotten brussels sprouts, so our engineers worked double time to make sure that our system went above and beyond to be just as intuitive and provide as much feedback as the old hydraulic power steering.
We’re making it clear that Dodge is built for drivers who want more than transportation from their vehicles, so for 2011, we’ve completely reworked the suspension of the Charger to be more precise, with better handling and a more confident ride. If you’re looking for reason number two as to why the 2011 Charger made the list of most fun-to-drive cars of 2011, look no further.
Finally, The Fast Lane Car made mention of the significantly improved interior in the 2011 Charger compared to the last generation as the third reason our sedan made the list. Specifically, the editors loved our new sculpted steering wheel, though we’re pretty fond of our driver-oriented cockpit and real metal dash surfaces. Stop by a dealer to take a look.
We’re proud to see that two of our all-new cars made The Fast Lane Car’s list of fun-to-drive cars of 2011, especially considering that with just 10 vehicles on the list, not every manufacturer found their products in such rarified company. Head over to The Fast Lane Car to read the full list as well as the site’s reviews of both the 2011 Dodge Challenger and the 2011 Dodge charger to see what the editors really thought.
Posted on: April 15, 2011 – 1:12 pm by RLD
Hopefully you didn’t make plans tonight as we have a special treat for all you speed junkies out there. At 7:30pm EST, we’ll be streaming live from the Fast Five red carpet premiere in Rio de Janeiro. The stream will be on www.Dodge.com/fastfive. We’re sure you’ve already seen the movie trailers that have been teasing you with glimpses of the awesome action-packed, adrenaline-fueled car chases that feature our new 2011 Charger along with stealthy looking 2010 SRT8 models. But that’s all we are going to let on for now. Grab a comfy chair, a close friend, popcorn to see what the stars will be pulling up to the red carpet in. Don’t forget to also register to win a special edition 2011 Fast Five Charger R/T while you’re watching this evening.
Posted on: April 15, 2011 – 9:31 am by RLD
The action packed Fast Five movie is ready to make its debut in two weeks and Dodge is now offering you a chance to win a specially prepared tricked out Fast Five Edition 2011 Dodge Charger R/T. These 5.7L HEMI® powered Chargers have a unique and somewhat sinister matte black paint job and a one of a kind leather interior with the Fast Five logo embroidered on the seats. Only five copies of these collectibles will be available for you speed junkies out there so go to http://www.dodge.com/en/fastfive and register for a chance to win your very own 2011 Charger R/T Fast Five Special Edition. The contest runs through April 30, 2011 so kick it in gear and step on it!
Posted on: April 8, 2011 – 3:23 pm by RLD
Now that we have your attention, head over to www.Dodge.com/FastFive to get all the behind the scenes action, learn more about the movie and cars and check out the 2011 Dodge Charger. As if that was not enough to get your heart pounding, the site also features an exclusive sweepstakes to win one of five custom Fast Five Edition 2011 Charger R/Ts that we will feature right here on RLD. Good luck and don’t forget to catch the movie in theaters nationally April 29th.
Posted on: April 7, 2011 – 7:00 am by RLD
Our friends at Mopar have released a sketch of their proposed ’11 Charger that will guarantee to get the enthusiasts buzzing with excitement. We don’t have many details we can share with you but one thing’s for sure, it will be chock full of performance goodies and accessories that will make it stand out at the local car shows and cruise nights. Mopar hit one out of the park last year with their ’10 Challenger package. With its sinister black paint and wheels, 1970 T/A inspired hood, blue body stripe, retro pistol-grip shifter and unique Katzkin interior appointments and serialized dash plaque, it had musclecar fans flocking to their local dealership. As soon as we get more “insider information”, we’ll be posting them here at www.redletterdodge.com.
Posted on: April 6, 2011 – 7:00 am by RLD
Our 2011 Charger has been the talk among the motoring press since it’s introductions a few months back. Journalists and bloggers have commented on the fantastic retro “coke bottle” styling cues ,new tail lamps, hood and side panel scallops that our designers took from the Chargers forefathers of the late 60’s.
All of you enthusiasts and gear heads out there love the abundance of power that the 5.7L HEMI® puts out, but we all know that you go into a high-octane feeding frenzy when the SRT8’s 6.4L fires up and sends that distinct exhaust note through its 4” chrome dual exhaust tips. Beyond the sex appeal of the sumptuous sheet metal and the muscular testosterone laced engines, is the new interior. Our designers showed “a lot of love” to the inside and took the soul from the new body and power train and let the driver’s experience those sensations.
The first order of business on our total interior makeover was the dash, steering wheel and seats because this is the core of any cockpit. Our team started out with a new instrument panel that included a high-impact three dimensional gauge cluster with real billeted aluminum bezel insert. The center console is race inspired and is reminiscent of what one would find in European sedans costing a lot more greenbacks. The driving experience is further enhanced with the new three-spoke leather wrapped feel will let you carve up those twisting roads with ease. Heck, you can now opt for that wheel to be heated which comes in nice during those frigid January mornings in the Snowbelt. Our new seats come in either premium cloth or Nappa leather with some great new colors such as tan, black or even radar red. Go beyond the seating surfaces and you’ll find a brand new design that incorporates a unique serpentine spring suspension for better weight distribution while multiple layers of foam create a “pillow-top” feel provides great support for jaunts across town or across country. Our power 4-way lumbar support eliminates the need for a chiropractor visit after those long road trips and your passengers in the back will dig their heated seats.
Speaking of road trips, our newest generation of entertainment systems has everything but the kitchen sink in the way of technology. You’re in command thanks to the SIRIUS® Satellite Radio, Uconnect® Voice and Web that is WiFi enabled at 3G broadband speeds. The 2011 Dodge Charger is more than just a hot car, it’s now a “Hotspot”! There’s also a Garmin® Navigation system with an available 8.4” touch screen that would make a space shuttle commander jealous. Now you can now multitask without making a wrong turn, getting stuck in traffic or missing an appointment.
As you can see, we’ve shown the Charger a lot of love for 2011. So much so it’s a whole new relationship between driver and the car. However bring some passengers, there’s enough to go around.
Posted on: March 31, 2011 – 7:00 am by Geoff Stunkard
It was the summer of 1967. Music was in the air at Monterey Pop, and lots of things were new – the first Super Bowl, the television show Sesame Street, and Rolling Stone magazine all debuted that year. On the streets of Detroit, Dodge prepared to unveil one of the most iconic designs of the muscle car era, the 1968 Charger.
Prior to 1968, the Charger had been an attempt at restyling the Coronet with wedge-shaped body panels and a fastback roofline. It worked; David Pearson won the Grand National title with one the year it arrived on the scene, 1966. The car was marketed as a sports model, available with Hemi power if desired, four bucket seats, and a futuristic dash layout. However, the stylist team had other ideas for Charger when it returned in 1968; indeed, with Detroit’s muscle car fire burning brightly, 1967 Charger sales fell to just over 15,000 units. What showed out that summer to replace the first-generation Charger indeed ‘far out,’ as they might of said on the well-remembered Smothers Brothers show.
A survivor 1968 Hemi Charger graphically displays why it was a popular car; less than 500 Hemi R/T Chargers were sold in 1968, making it quite rare today. However, the redesigned body sold 96,000 examples total that year. Photo by John Stunkard, car owned by Steve Fox
The hard refined lines of the Coronet origins were replaced by a double-diamond ‘Coke bottle’ design, swelling slightly outward from the front wheel openings and again at the rear. Styling insets were laid into the body and door panels, adding ‘speed’ cues to the sheet metal itself. The covered headlight motif that had identified the first-gen models, though the grille, was now deeply inset into the front end styling. Round taillight and side marker lights finished off the look, which was augmented by a flip-top racing-inspired gas cap on the driver’s side rear quarter panel and a rear window that fell steeply down to recess into the fastback.
Did it work? How about 96,000 units sold, a 460% increase in sales? How about appearing on the cover of magazines like Look? The factory reworked minor styling cues during the next two years, but the basic street design remained the same. For NASCAR racing, the inset grille and rear window that styling had used to such great success proved to be problematic at speeds over 170 mph, so the factory released two special models, the Charger 500 in late 1968 and the radical high-wing Daytona the following summer, to alleviate those issue and return to the winner’s circle. The desire to create a more aerodynamic basic package meant a completely redesigned package for 1971, but when people think ‘Charger’ from a historical standpoint, the design flying in the movie Bullitt, jumping in the TV show The Dukes of Hazzard, and crashing in the more recent film The Fast and the Furious is what comes to mind.
The Dukes of Hazzard was one of several shows that used the 1968-1970 Charger design. However, the inset grille and rear window mounting proved problematic at speed. This is during the Labor Day Mopar Thunder weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway.
A change came in late 1968 for the 1969 Daytona 500; named Charger 500 for the number of production examples needed to be legal in racing. The Charger 500 was modified with a flush grille and flush back window. However, the Fords were still a little faster so…
…they released an even more radical version in the early summer of 1969 called the Charger Daytona. It has a pointed nose and high deck wing with wide upright pylons. The height of the wing was determined by the need to open the deck lid. After running for a season, NASCAR required them to run a small 305” engine. Despite the lack of cubic inches, a small-block powered Daytona was in the running to win the 1971 Daytona 500 until it got tangled up in a multi-car piled up midway during the race.
It is now 2011, and for this year, Dodge has taken a page from the past with the newest Charger. Indeed, perhaps its best testimony came from noted Charger collector Tim Wellborn of Alabama. When the model arrived at his muscle car museum in Alexander City as part of the redletterdodge.com tour, he was pretty succinct on his assessment of the rework design.
“The best thing was that these cars, the Charger especially, looks right at home with the classics; it’s finally a Charger that looks like a Charger,” Wellborn remarked.
Later, after driving it as part of a road test we did for Amos Auto Enthusiast magazine, he went even further in his accolades. “All I can say is – it’s a Charger! I’m all about the styling, because the first thing anybody does is look at your car. With the right color and stripes, this one will get attention coming and going.”
At the Wellborn Muscle car Museum, a vintage Charger Daytona advertisement is on a display billboard. The new Charger has been redesigned to take in some of the styling cues that helped make the second-generation Charger a classic. Note the body indentations.
What impressed Wellborn and the others who have seen it as an entire package. The ‘speed’ styling cues that defined the body and hood lines in 1968-1970 have returned in 21st century form on this car, which remains in a four-door format for practicality in the present age. A new taillight treatment using LED lighting harkens back to the 1970 models, while the front end design retains a notable connection to the present styling cues Dodge has refined over the past decade. One thing that did not return was the notchback roof line, which should let the guys who go really really fast at places like Daytona and Talladega, breath a little easier in traffic.
Here is the LED taillight design, which harkens back to the 1969-70 design.
Beauty is more than skin-deep. The car has set new standards for interior layout and comfort, as well as similar real-world improvements in suspension and braking. Power comes from the most recent incarnation of the 5.7L HEMI engine in the R/T version. Even the economy minded will appreciate the horsepower increase that has arrived with the Pentastar V6, which can deliver 27 mpg on the highway.
Styling has been a hallmark of the Charger during its most legendary appearances in the Dodge line-up. The people who desire a two door model now have Challenger choices; for the midsize car buyer, the latest version of Charger is indeed ‘Days of Future Passed.’
