“I don’t wanna spend Canada Day in jail. I don’t wanna spend Canada Day in jail.”

The was my mantra for the week in the 2012 Dodge Challenger SRT8. This car was another of those lucky bookings I occasionally get. I was all set to fly down to a couple of events in the Detroit area, spending one day cooped up in a hotel room between events, when our Chrysler Group PR rep came to my rescue with this email: “Might be difficult to get a vehicle in Detroit as they’re all being used for the event… but I’m throwing this out there… if you want to drive to Detroit, I could hook you up with a Challenger SRT8 out of Mississauga and you would have a vehicle for your entire week.”

My response: “YES, PLEASE!!!!”

Not only did my hero spring me from a boring day in a hotel room (working, probably, ughh…), but he hooked me up with an epic car that I’ve been dying to drive ever since I read Paul and Grant’s Made In Canada Comparison of the Camaro and Challenger years ago. As you may recall from my Chrysler 300S review, I can get a bit patriotic about Canadian-built cars, especially ones built practically in my backyard at Chrysler’s Brampton Assembly. It doesn’t hurt that they are cool cars, too, ranging from this big, old-fashioned coupe to its platform-cousins, the Dodge Charger and aforementioned Chrysler 300, old-school large sedans with new-school, European interior quality (thank you, Fiat!).

Driving any Challenger is an event, but this is the SRT8 392. As in, the 6.4L Hemi V8 making 470 hp at 6,000 rpm and 470 lb-ft of torque at 4,800 rpm. Thank you SRT! (Street and Racing Technology, for those that care.) Incidentally, this is a gain of 45 horsepower and 50 lb-ft over the 6.1L Hemi that was recently put out to pasture. Fire it up, and every window on the block will rattle in its frame as the engine gurgles and barks to life. I spent several minutes just turning it on and off before I even went anywhere. And then did that repeatedly almost every time I went somewhere. A soundtrack I’d be love to have as a ringtone…

But listening to it is only the “How d’ya do?”, and I was thrilled to see that all this cacophony was hooked up to the six-speed manual. Actually, at first I didn’t notice, because the pistol-grip shifter seemed to me more like an automatic-type handle. It only dawned on me when I looked at the footwell and got confused about the third aluminum pedal off on the left…. And then I was, like, “Oh yeaaaahhhh.”

2012 Dodge Challenger SRT8 392 in front of Chrysler's Brampton Assembly

2012 Dodge Challenger SRT8 392 470-hp Hemi engine

That clutch-shifter combo was a delight—a firm clutch pedal, but not tiring, even in the heavy stop-and-go jam I was in on the first leg of my road trip. The shifter isn’t exactly precise, but it slots through the gates with a rewarding grabbiness in the gates—very ‘manly’ feeling. It took a while to get the hang of the slightly rough action, but eventually the quick shifts started falling home with a bit of muscle.

On my part, I also kept expecting a couple thousand more revs for some reason and hitting the wall at redline until late in the week when everything really clicked. Some time on a closed course with this gearbox really helped get a feel for it—pedals aren’t ideal for heel-toe downshifting, but I think a bit more work and I’d have sorted it out. There’s nothing like track time or strip runs to really appreciate a car’s ability, especially 470 hp and 470 lb-ft worth of ability.

Ultimately, though, the tight runs of an autocross or even a tight track just aren’t the Challenger’s element. The brakes, despite being upgraded Brembo calipers clamping down on big discs (painting them red does nothing to improve performance, sadly), hauling that much weight down from speed will wear down even the best steel brakes, though they were excellent on the road, with good feel and control.

2012 Dodge Challenger SRT8 392

On the track, it has a tendency to float when you want it to bite, even with the adaptive suspension set to Sport, and the steering gets vague and squirmy under heavy steering loads. Granted, this is your average hack driver we’re talking about, not Sam Hubinette, so it’s also clear my weight-transfer skills are sorely lacking. Its shorter wheelbase (2,946 mm compared to the Charger and 300’s 3,052) might also contribute to a less balanced chassis, something also observed by Peter Bleakney in his First Drive of this and the other SRT8 offerings at Willow Springs Racetrack last year.

If I had more skill at the pedals, I would have spent more time pulling off drifts, because there’s no questions this vehicle had the ability to kick the back end out, and I got the sense it would happily do sideways circles all day long, given the right environment to practice.

2012 Dodge Challenger SRT8 392 wheel

Its true element, though, would be the drag strip, and though I didn’t have a proper one to practice on, there were a couple of occasions to feel the massive torque hooking up to the rear wheels (20×9-inch forged aluminum SRT rims with 255/45ZR20 rear and 245/45ZR20 front Goodyear Eagle F1 high-performance rubber), and getting some spin before biting and launching this 1,891-kg muscle machine up to highway speeds. The Challenger should be capable of five-second sprints to 100 km/h, but not in my hands…

One thing that I did do right was test out the efficacy of the new-for-2012 cylinder deactivation system developed for the 6.4L Hemi V8 in the SRT8 models. I drove the Challenger a total of almost 2,000 km, from Brampton to Ann Arbor and back, with a day trip up the Lake Huron coast. With likely about 90 percent of that driving on the highway, I finished my trip at a respectable 10.0 L/100 km (official NRCan ratings are 8.8 highway and 15.1 city), and requiring only two fuel stops and reaching home with a little less than half a tank. This is one fine highway cruiser.

2012 Dodge Challenger SRT8 392 interior

Aside from its efficiency, which almost seemed to get better the faster I went, the engine turns at a diesel-like 1,600 rpm in sixth when doing 120 km/h, and at 130, the motor still spins below 2,000. The low rpms contribute to a mostly quiet ride with occasional groaning when trying to pick up speed in that long sixth gear—despite its size, this engine does not have huge low-end torque, so quick acceleration on the highway was a best done in fourth, or third if you want the full sound effects.

Also making the long drive seem shorter were the amenities of this fully loaded model. Deep bucket seats that hugged and supported, with manual lumbar adjustment; XM satellite radio, with stations like Classic Rewind that will put you in that throwback mood with tunes like Golden Earring’s “Radar Love”—boy did that ever make me nostalgic for my classic rock–phase; another great station to break up the monotony was LaughUSA with its standup comedy tracks—a great way to ease the stress during traffic jams; and a navigation system that can be programmed easily with voice commands, or by typing in the destination on the touchscreen.

2012 Dodge Challenger SRT8 392 interior

However, it should be noted that this navigation and touchscreen are carryovers, not the new giant screens with thin-film transistor technology in the Charger and 300, or the Garmin navigation system, as in the new Dart. But it still got the job done and was easy enough for me to learn. Unfortunately, the rest of the interior also seems to be carried over, without the premium interior surfaces as in the sedans, although I can’t say I took issue with the interior styling or materials if not compared to those. But while I’m bitching, I should mention that I would have gladly traded the heated steering wheel for cooled, ventilated seats, as it was scorching hot on the return trip.

As mentioned earlier, the Challenger SRT8 features an adaptive suspension, which allowed it to offer a surprising degree of comfort for such a dedicated performance model. But as has been said elsewhere, of the three American coupes–Mustang, Camaro, and Challenger–it is this one that best suits cruising. While I can’t speak for the other two, I can confirm that this was one great highway car, and also great just for cruising a main drag. That nostalgic design works for me from every angle, and I loved it in this Tungsten Metallic with the Radar Red interior leather—the colours work with each other, and it’s a car that certainly deserves some flash.

2012 Dodge Challenger SRT8 392

This was one of those drives and cars that will stay with me for the rest of my life. Setting out from Brampton, the home of this muscle car’s current production, driving down to Detroit, the breeding ground of muscle cars in their heyday, struck me as both ironic and appropriate. If there was one moment that really made this trip, it was driving along the highway through Detroit, spotting another Challenger in the rear view mirror and pulling up to my rear three quarters, then entering an underpass, where I gratuitously dropped the car into neutral and floored the pedal. Just before the next exit, he sped up and pulled alongside just long enough to give me a thumbs up, which I returned. A car like the Challenger SRT8 might not sell that well or even be a relevant product in today’s quest for efficiency, but boy is it a great car.

Pricing: 2012 Dodge Challenger SRT8

Base price: $49,095
Options: $5,925 (Tungsten Metallic paint $100; Intreior Appearance Group $1025; Premium Sound Group $1500; 6-speed manual transmission w/3.93 rear axle ratio $2000; Media Centre with Nav $950; Performance Goodyear 255ZR20 rear and 245ZR20 front tires $100; 20×9 inch aluminum wheels $250)
A/C tax: $100
Freight: $1,500
Price as tested: $56,620

Specifications
Buyer’s Guide: 2012 Dodge Challenger

Competitors
Buyer’s Guide: 2012 Chevrolet Camaro
Buyer’s Guide: 2012 Ford Mustang

Crash test results
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS)