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2006 Dodge Charger SRT8 Road Test

In an automotive landscape filled with car companies claimingboldness with effete, neutered transportation conceived at the altar of efficiency, it's nice to see the occasional lumbering dinosaur swooping its massive jaws down to chomp off a few heads at their rather thin pencil-necks. If the Dodge Charger SRT8 isn't a T-Rex in the land of Care Bears and My Little Ponys, then you can come down and sit behind the exhaust pipe next time I have one in the garage. I say CVTs, variable valve timing and cylinder deactivation be damned, I want something that will punch the snot right back into my brain even if it occasionally means going straight through corners and knowing where all the gas stations are. Okay, I admit, I couldn't really afford to keep a vehicle like this purely because of the hole in its wooden leg, and I didn't actually ever park it in my garage due to logistics of maneuvering so much mass in my cramped stall, but every morning that it was in my possession

SRT: three letters that should send many "performance" machines running. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)

was like witnessing a dragon rumbling to life, waking me up with it.

So is it a dragon or is it a dinosaur? I guess I'll stick with the dinosaurmetaphor that so many screeching greenies will be sure to cast at it, although comparing it to the sound either might have made is purely an exercise in imagination running wild, while the SRT8's black-lung rumble is as real and daunting as any sound you can find under $40,000. For some tastes, a refined German straight-six might push their buttons; for others, a screaming blown-four with custom exhaust does the trick, but I have a love affair with V8s, and you can check back to my Audi

What else is there to do with 425 horsepower on hand than burn rubber? (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)

S4 and Corvette Z06 reviews to confirm this. While the Teutonic 4.2 has a silky purr and the Wixom 7.0 sounds like Armageddon through a pipe, the Charger SRT8 manages to hold its own with a guttural roar a bit short of the 'Vette, but louder and endearingly less refined than the Ingolstadt 8, yet not quite like Jag's playful 4.2 V8 in the new XK.

This is a lot of time to spend discussing engine notes, but thiswill matter to anyone interested in the Charger SRT8, as it is the most aggressively tuned of the three LX-chassis SRT8 triplets in the Chrysler and Dodge stable (Dodge Charger and Magnum and Chrysler 300). They all use the modern-day Hemi bored out to 6.1L with higher compression, higher-flow valves, more aggressive cam profiles and a

But it's no rolling antique; SRT8 has Brembo brakes, ESP and a five-speed automatic gearbox. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)

bunch of other engineering stuff that has already been hashed over again and again to the point that I don't care any more. I think it's enough to say that it is bigger, badder and it works real good. For the record, total output is 425 horsepower and 420 lb-ft of torque, linked to a rear-drive layout through an adequate 5-speed automatic tranny, well up to the task but not fancy or particularly engaging.

In many ways, that little phrase can adequately sum up my experiencein the Charger SRT8... up to the task but not fancy or particularly engaging. The looks scream fast and mean and slightly deranged with a twitchy trigger finger, and a quick dab at the throttle is all it takes to reaffirm its balls-out speed and berserker mentality. However, it also loafs about town in traffic without offering much inspiration, although I'm not really sure

Those Brembos do a swell job of hauling the SRT8 down from high speed. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)

the daily commute is where we should all be looking for our daily dose of excitement. It's easy enough to find in little runabouts like the Mini Cooper or VW GTI, mind you, at a fraction of the fuel costs. Chalk it up to direct but rather numb steering and a bit of that large-car floating, disconnected experience caused by thick, padded cushions on the seats and a dated chassis once again absorbing road feel. Don't get me wrong, it performs gloriously, as it's meant to: going fast and loud on big back roads or big tracks and practically lifting the nose right up in the air on full-pedal take-offs; it simply isn't meant to be a fun-in-town kart-like lane carver, though I imagine a sociopath could make it an effective getaway vehicle.

I had a chance to feel up all three of the aforementioned triplets (and the Viper Coupe, too)on Chrysler's Chelsea Proving Grounds as well as a specially designed SRT autocross course, and they all deliver fearsome acceleration and uncanny

The face of the beast. It's the most sinister of the LX-Chassis SRT8 cars. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)

handling for such large machines. The unmentioned Jeep is kind of like the evil cousin nobody ever talks about, and it likes to wander off playing with dead animals by its lonesome anyway, so we won't include it as part of the SRT8 group since its basic architecture is so different (although it's faster to 60 mph and disgustingly stable in corners). The Charger is both the loudest and the stiffest of the bunch, most suited to the individual that constantly drives hard every time a lane or ramp opens up. Surprisingly, it indulges smooth coasting on the highway and doesn't beat up occupants with excessive shock transmission despite a capable chassis upholding some serious track-oriented suspension calibration.

SRT engineers spend their lives calculating and recalculatingminute details like suspension geometry, dampers, spring rates, bushings and aim for the best possible track or autocross performance within tolerable limits for a daily-use car like the Charger. One last great strength brought to light by the autocross course was the specially tuned ESP, which nicely

For a machine of such high performance, the Charger is surprisingly comfortable. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)

lays off until the back end is way off line and the helpless driver clearly needs some electronic magic to rescue him… uh, thanks again, ESP. Speaking of rescues, SRT figures huge four-piston Brembo brake calipers biting down on 14.2 inch vented discs in front and 13.8 inch discs in back are enough to keep you from needing rescue crews of a municipal variety, and I had no reason for complaint once nearly decapitating my camera man as I experimented with left-foot braking; call me silly, but I thought it was a clutch for a second, which was all it took to send him reeling nearly into his camera and dash. Helping it both ways (stopping, starting) are SRT-developed forged 20-inch aluminum wheels strapped with Goodyear F1 rubber. Decent, but all-season tires seem a waste to me, except when you consider how well this vehicle behaves as an all-rounder.

Despite being a hardcore enthusiast's toy, it is a very livable day-to-day car, with four wide-opening doors and tons of leg, head, shoulder and elbow room that means none of the passengers will have anything to complain about, unless you really swing it around when carpooling your coworkers to work. Bolstering in the front is

Interior dressed up with suede-trimmed buckets, but at heart, it's still a Charger. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)

okay, but non-existent in the back, so they'll be grabbing at each other for grab handles if you don't warn them to hold on. Another let-down is a well-featured interior that simply does not live up to its price, unless you consider that it is mostly the same interior plastics and trim as in the low-$20K base Charger. Sure leather seats trimmed with red stitching separate it from cheaper models in the lineup, but the tacky plastics on the steering wheel, on the dash and around the radio and shifter, along with teeny little nav knobs and buttons don't say much for Chrysler Group's rise in interior quality. It all works well though, and I don't see interior fit and finish being a stumbling block for power-hungry fans of American Muscle.

The Charger SRT8 is the rebirth of American Muscle, and it shows, with a grille that will send small children running to their mothers' skirts as it cruises around bland, nondescript subdivisions, an engine that will cause the elderly to trip over their walkers as they shake their fists at you while choking on the fumes of burnt rubber as you tear away from stoplights, and a price tag that makes it one of the cheapest and quickest ways to become a social outcast. Yup, this is your ticket to freedom, but you'll have to make frequent stops to refuel.

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