Pack – All about car

Brian Harper: Were banging our heads against the wall, kid. Tilting at windmills. Spitting into the wind. Trying to objectively analyze two legendary muscle cars (actually, pony cars back in my youth) when their respective fan bases have long ago made up their collective minds is just going to get us in trouble. But we gotta try, dont we? Ford Mustang versus Dodge Challenger. Off and on rivals going back 50 years. Not the ultimate versions of each, maybe not even the most livable for the street, but traditional V8 power and six-speed manual transmissions, the cars augmented by optional performance upgrades that give them superior handling and grip. Stripping it down to the basics, its a fight between tradition and evolution. Whats it going to be?Nick Tragianis: Well, the Mustang GT certainly makes a compelling case for evolution. Starting with a 5.0-litre V8 under the hood making 460 horsepower and 420 lb-ft of torque, and of course, hooked up to a six-speed manual and riding on independent suspension at all four corners, its without a doubt the closest the Mustangs ever been to sports car territory, Shelby GT350 (and GT350R) notwithstanding. It pulls hard, sounds incredible and, most importantly, it can boogie around corners.The key ingredient to this formula is what Ford calls the Performance Package Level Two, or as its known to enthusiasts, the PP2. It adds a laundry list of track-spec trinkets, such as beefier springs and sway bars, more chassis bracing, magnetic dampers, a Torsen limited-slip differential, super-sticky (and wide) Pirelli summer tires, and more. Much more. Too much to list, in fact. All you need to know is, the PP2 is magical. The grip is absolutely unreal, though it makes the Mustang somewhat twitchy near the limit and ride quality suffers. I think this package is a requirement, but something tells me youre not one to agree, old dude. BH: Its a qualified agreement, kid. I love almost everything about PP2, except those meaty P305/30ZR19 Michelin Pilot Sport tires. Ungodly grip in the dry, yes, but with next to no tread, and thus a very limited lifespan. I had to wait to pick up the tester because new tires were being installed, and the car had just 6,000 kilometres on the odo! And unless youve found a perfect stretch of unsullied tarmac, the GT tramlines over every uneven surface. Both hands on the steering wheel here.Interestingly, the Challenger Scat Pack fitted with the Widebody had similar 305-width rubber P305/35ZR20 Pirellis and was nowhere near as frenetic on real roads, though that is clearly not its forte. The big Dodge is definitely Old School muscle car, with blistering straight-line acceleration courtesy of its 485-horsepower, 6.4L V8. Its perfect for the quarter-mile, equipped with line lock, launch assist and an improved launch control setup (hold time is increased to 10 seconds from five for optimal launch and consistent straight-line acceleration). Oh yeah, larger six-piston Brembo front brakes and a stiffer suspension. Still, you feel the difference in the two cars weights the Mustang is 220 kilograms lighter especially on a serious set of twisties (or a track). I have to say, though, the Mustang is no slouch over 1,320 feet, either, not with its own line lock and Drag Strip mode. NT: And therein lies the biggest difference between the two. The Mustang is definitely the better car, if you will the steering, clutch, and shifter action are more precise and nowhere near as heavy as the Challenger. You can pretty much tailor the Mustang to however youre feeling on any particular day with its adjustable drive modes and optional active exhaust system which, by the way, should be standard. And inside, the Mustang may as well be in a completely different league: Your butts positioned far lower to the ground, and the eight-inch touchscreen infotainment system and fully digital instrument cluster add a sense of modernity. There are a few quibbles, though: The optional Recaro seats, particularly on the passenger side, arent friendly to shorter passengers, and forking over the extra $1,800 for these means you lose out on power adjustability, and heating and ventilation. Overall fit-and-finish, too, while reasonably good overall, feels a bit cheap in some areas.But its almost as though the Mustang feels too complicated, too modern for its own good. This is where the Challenger truly comes into its own, indulging the old-school crowd these days far better than the Mustang or Camaro. It seems to be working the design might be more than a decade old, but the Challenger still turns heads and it even outsells the Camaro. But its very much a one-trick pony; the Challenger takes a corner just fine, but whether youre peeling off with the go-fast pedal pinned and slamming through the gears, or just eating up the highway at 120 km/h, the Challenger is happiest going in a straight line. <img
Origin: Car Comparison: 2019 Dodge Challenger Scat Pack 392 vs. 2019 Ford Mustang GT

2019 Dodge Challenger Scat Pack 392 WidebodyChris Balcerak / Driving So, you want the finest-handling Dodge Challenger ever. Well, then you definitely need the new Scat Pack 392 Widebody. Along with the de rigeur muscle car 6.4-litres of 485 horsepower Hemi goodness, the Widebody option adds stiffer springs, SRT-tuned adjustable damping suspension and six-piston Brembo front brakes, not to mention 305/35ZR20 Pirelli PZero tires. In other words, pretty much everything a tuner would throw at a sometimes wayward chassis to keep it between the trees.And it works pretty much as expected. Although the Widebody is also two-tenths of a second quicker through the quarter mile than the standard Scat Pack 392, its in that other, less obvious (if you drive a Dodge Challenger) realm road racing that it really ups the ante. According to FCA, in fact, the Widebody is some two seconds or 12 car lengths quicker per lap around some unnamed race course. I believe it. While hardly Porsche-like it still is a big blunderbuss of a sports car this Challenger actually goes more or less where you steer it, more or less stays on track once you get there, and stops more or less rapidly once youre passed where you meant to be. Its truly competent I wont beggar belief by claiming its extraordinary and it wouldnt be out of place on a curvy road. That might not sound like much of a compliment, but drive an early Challenger and youll appreciate how far Dodge has truly come.Throw in typical Challenger attributes the most faithful replication of the originals profile of any of the current muscle cars probably being primary and a few atypical ones according to J.D. Power, the Challenger is the best built muscle car of them all as well as the best put together Dodge product and you have an unlikely backroads bandit. That said, I am not sure how much of a market there is for a superior steering Challenger. Owners of muscle cars in general and the Challenger in particular dont tend to rank roadholding as a priority in their buying decision. Chevy probably produced the best-handling pony car ever the previous generation Z/28 and it was largely ignored by one and all.Those shopping Challenger tend to get excited about two things in life: Power in which case theyre shopping some form of Hellcat or the look of power, in which case a Dodge salesperson will usher them over to the SXT with its more rational V6 engine and all-wheel-drive powertrain. Im guessing the Widebody variant of the Scat Pack 392 will, despite its relative goodness, end up near the bottom of the order guide. 2020 Chevrolet Camaro Handout / Chevrolet You’re a Chevy guy. Well, then youre shopping Camaro, arent you? Which is a bit of a problem, I suspect, for mainstream muscle car buyers. Oh, the V6 variant is a real gem, the finest handling of all entry-level pony cars, and by far the sweetest-sounding V6 in the segment.After that, however, the Camaro lineup doesnt shine. The Z/28 which I considered near miraculous for turning ill-comportment into Porsche-baiting track worthiness is no more. The SS version has always been kind of milquetoast, and every time that GM ups the ante with the mega-horsepower ZL1, Dodge just slaps a bigger supercharger pulley onto the Hellcat. On top of that, the Camaros Transformer-like styling has always been polarizing. If I specifically wanted a fine-handling V6-powered muscle car, Id be shopping Camaro. Otherwise, not. 2019 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 Jonathan Yarkony / Driving You have a blue oval tattooed on your right butt cheek. Well, I guess were driving a Mustang, then. If so, and you like driving, please ignore the base EcoBoost model. Oh, if youre a dental hygienist who just wants the look and dont care that it sounds like a fart in the wind, no worries. But if you have any love for internal combustion at its sportiest, move on.That said, if you want the finest handling muscle car available, the Shelby GT350R version of the Stang now holds that mantle. Secure steering, prodigious grip and well-bedded brakes all make the Shelby something of a terror around a track. It wont quite keep up with a Porsche 911, but nothing with a pseudo-1960s profile will come close. A sweet-sounding, flat-plane crank V8engine, enough power 526 horsepower is nothing to sneeze at, even in a straight line and a truly well put-together styling package give it even more authentic bona-fides. Its the best Mustang available. 2018 Dodge Challenger Hellcat2018 Dodge Challenger Hellcat Nick Tragianis / Driving You want muscle. Big muscle. Well then, the strongest steroids to be had will be found at a Dodge dealership, wont they? That would be the Challenger Hellcat and its lunatic fringe sibling, the Hellcat Redeye.Its hard to know what to write a Hellcat. It is, by even the most generous and by generous, I mean truly demented standards both overpowered and undertired. In any circumstances, not picture perfect
Origin: Want a 2019 Dodge Challenger Scat Pack Widebody? The competition is all muscle