2010 Dodge Challenger R/T

2010 Dodge Challenger R/T
The newest version of the Dodge Challenger has been on the market for over a year now, so you'd think people would be used to seeing them around. On the other hand there are at least two reasons people might not think of them as ordinary. One is that they are still fairly rare on the street, though there are half a dozen in our "neighborhood." The other is that many people don't see them as new cars.

A common question for us as we drove the new 2010 Dodge Challenger R/T was, "What year is it?" Apparently many people didn't recognize it as a "retro" design, but thought it was an original Challenger or even a Plymouth 'Cuda from the early 1970s. While that may be a nice tribute to Dodge for building a terrific retro car, it won't help them sell many.

For the record, the new Dodge Challenger is like the new Mini-Cooper: while it may have the same proportions as the original, it's actually a much larger car. That said, unless they are parked side by side, it's pretty tough to tell they aren't the same size.

The fact that the new Challenger is a fairly large car is a real bonus, simply because it's more versatile. (Not that it works for everyone. One woman was really interested in our pretty blue test car, but between them she and her husband have five kids. Even a really big sports coupe isn't going to fly for them)