On this episode of Ignition
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MotorTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:02 This week on Ignition, we try to beat a rainy day.
00:05 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:08 Well, it's raining.
00:22 And rain really isn't helpful to testing,
00:25 especially when you have 470 horsepower
00:28 and especially when you have rear wheel drive, like we do now.
00:33 Well, this actually may be a blessing in disguise
00:35 because we're in a Dodge Challenger SRT8.
00:38 And truthfully, this thing's strength isn't test numbers.
00:41 It's something more than that.
00:43 And locking it up here at the test track
00:45 seems kind of unfair.
00:47 So you know what we're going to do?
00:49 We're going to go for a drive.
00:50 We're going to escape the rain.
00:52 We're going to go for a drive.
00:53 And we're going to get some apple pie,
00:54 because we're not going to let rain get the best of us.
00:58 [ENGINE REVVING]
01:01 Like the Marshall Tucker van, we take the highway.
01:12 There's another reason why we aren't testing this car.
01:14 And it's because, well, we kind of already have.
01:17 We tested the SRT8 392 inaugural edition
01:19 back when that came out.
01:20 And that hit 60 in a 4 and 1/2 second range
01:23 and a quarter mile in 13 seconds, around there.
01:26 Thing is, a stock Mustang GT can match those figures,
01:29 assuming it's being well-driven.
01:31 And that's just a GT, not even a Shelby or anything.
01:35 Thing about the Mustang is, though, as fast as it is
01:37 and as modern as it may be, it lacks curb appeal.
01:40 It lacks the persona and the charisma that's
01:42 just dripping off this car.
01:44 I mean, this Challenger feels like it's
01:46 a direct transplant from 1971.
01:49 It feels like it came right out of Pixar's cars.
01:52 And it just evokes these feelings
01:54 of freedom and adventure.
01:56 You know, every time I look at it,
01:58 it's begging me to drive it a long distance.
02:01 This, then, is where it needs to be.
02:02 Not a test track, but the open road in top gear,
02:06 with nothing but miles and miles ahead of you.
02:11 So we headed south, away from the rain
02:13 and towards the Salton Sea.
02:15 Believe it or not, this thing actually takes pretty well
02:20 to a curvy road.
02:21 Sure, it's big, and it's a bit floaty.
02:23 And by big, I mean it's 16 feet long and over 6 feet wide.
02:29 But despite that, it manages to come together.
02:32 I mean, it's not a corner carver.
02:33 You still feel like you're guiding it through.
02:37 That said, steering feel is good.
02:39 The shifter is fantastic.
02:40 I mean, it takes a little bit of muscle
02:41 to go from gear to gear.
02:43 But that throw is so short, as is the gearing.
02:45 And it just feels good keeping this engine on boil.
02:48 Not that you really need to, of course.
02:49 This thing makes a ton of torque at 4,000 RPM.
02:53 And the sound it makes is this deep baritone blast
02:56 that just grows deeper and sweeter the more
02:59 you keep your foot into it.
03:00 It's wonderful.
03:04 And at the same time, I have my heated seat on.
03:07 I can turn on a heated steering wheel.
03:09 I have satellite radio.
03:10 All the modern touches that make this car
03:13 livable on a daily basis.
03:17 This thing has the vintage feel.
03:19 It's kind of like a '71 Strat, reissued,
03:23 plugged into a fuzz pedal, into a 30-watt 2-bam cranked 211.
03:27 I mean, it gives you all the vintage feel,
03:29 but with none of the vintage complexities or difficulties.
03:32 This is wonderful.
03:33 [ENGINE REVVING]
03:36 Now, curvy roads are nice and all.
03:40 But there's something I've always
03:42 wanted to do with the Challenger.
03:43 [MUSIC PLAYING]
03:47 You know, dodge Challenger through the desert
03:49 has been done a million times before.
03:51 The thing is, I've never done it.
03:53 And ever since I watched Kowalski take his Challenger
03:55 into the desert vanishing point, I wanted to do the same.
03:58 [ENGINE REVVING]
04:01 And right now, I'm really glad I have,
04:04 because there's just something wonderfully stupid
04:07 about driving a 500-horsepower car without any grip.
04:11 [ENGINE REVVING]
04:14 This Challenger just kind of demands
04:16 stupid adventures like this.
04:17 It just wants to go and play.
04:19 It doesn't really matter what you're doing,
04:21 so long as you go out and do something.
04:23 [ENGINE REVVING]
04:26 This is a car that looks right in adventures.
04:29 It's a car that looks right against scenic vistas.
04:31 It's a car that looks right just against open miles
04:34 on the interstate, or like we're doing in the desert right now.
04:37 [MUSIC PLAYING]
04:40 [LAUGHING]
04:44 [ENGINE REVVING]
04:47 It's just begging to go out on adventures.
04:51 [ENGINE REVVING]
04:54 [MUSIC PLAYING]
04:57 [ENGINE REVVING]
05:01 [MUSIC PLAYING]
05:04 [ENGINE REVVING]
05:08 [MUSIC PLAYING]
05:11 [ENGINE REVVING]
05:15 Well, we finally made it.
05:17 We had my pie.
05:17 I'm eating strawberry rhubarb, and I got my cup of coffee.
05:20 And well, this morning we started in Fontana.
05:22 It was pouring rain.
05:23 And we decided, instead of just canceling everything
05:26 and going home, to take an adventure.
05:28 So we went down east of San Diego,
05:30 went down to Brigo Springs, took this awesome road
05:34 that cut from the valley into the desert, which
05:36 was beautiful.
05:37 And then we went out to the Salton Sea,
05:39 just because I'd never been there before and wanted
05:40 to see it.
05:41 And then on the way back, we decided
05:43 just to drive through the desert, because why not?
05:45 Never done that.
05:46 Wanted to do that.
05:47 And now we're enjoying my second slice of pie here in Julian.
05:51 And it's going to be a long drive home tonight,
05:53 but it's a long drive home with memories of an adventure,
05:56 instead of just quitting for the day and going home early.
05:59 And that's something that this car makes you want to do.
06:03 The Challenger is something more than a car.
06:05 You can see it in the way kids stare at it as you drive by.
06:09 They look at it the same way they look at an ice cream truck.
06:12 Adults, too, they watch it with a sort of childlike glee.
06:16 This Challenger awakens something inside.
06:19 I wasn't alive in the muscle car era,
06:20 but this car makes me feel like I'm
06:22 living the stories I've heard.
06:24 Put the early classic rock on the stereo, the Doobie
06:26 Brothers, the Marshall Tucker Band,
06:28 and you catch a glimpse of the freedom
06:29 that defined the lifestyle of the early '70s.
06:34 The Challenger isn't a time machine.
06:36 It doesn't take you back to that period.
06:38 No, it brings the best parts of our past
06:40 forward so we never forget them.
06:42 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:49 [SEALS BARKING]
06:52 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:56 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:03 [SEALS BARKING]
07:19 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:22 (animal sounds)