Ride Report - 2019 Dodge Challenger RT
 

Dear Dodge - We need to clear up a misconception. I am not an aging baby boomer who is looking to relive my glory days with glasspacks and a Hemi. What would otherwise been a really enjoyable rental vehicle was ruined by an absurdly loud exhaust system....

I got this vehicle off the PC aisle at STL very early on Thanksgiving day. It was one of 4 that was available. This one had about 4100 miles on it. The first time you hit that start button and the engine roars to life it sounds really cool but it gets old quite fast. Even putting the gas pedal down about halfway generates a roar that suggests to law enforcement and everybody around that nearby children and pets are in imminent danger of being run over. And this is when the car is NOT in sport mode. Switch on sport mode and simply putting the gas pedal down far enough to maintain a constant speed will generate a headache inducing drone. The noise really is a shame because otherwise this would have been a great rental.

The car came pretty well equipped:
- 5.7 Liter V8 - 375 HP/415 LB-FT of torque
- 8 speed automatic with paddle shifters
- Touch screen audio with Android Auto and Apple Car Play
- Power Driver Seat (except for the recline function)
- Blind spot monitoring and rear cross traffic alert
- Heated front seats and heated steering wheel

Other then the exhaust noise, the cabin was exceptionally quiet and the ride was not harsh at all. IMHO it was much more civilized then the Camaro SS. Unfortunately, I was not able to get much of an idea of how well this car could perform. I put less then 75 miles on the car and I was trapped in suburbia where there was no place to really open the vehicle up. The one or two times I tried to put the pedal to the floor I never even hit full throttle before the rear tires broke loose. The amount of noise the vehicle generated strongly discouraged me from any further experimentation. I am pretty sure I did not generate any of the 0 - 60 numbers in the seconds to last photo below.

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Born in 78. I think I missed the mark by a few years. :)

Why would you pick out a Challenger RT, an obvious muscle car, and complain about the engine noise? Then to complain to Dodge about it when obviously sound sells cars (to those darn aging boomers of course). My wife has an older Charger RT with the same engine but is much quieter. They didn't just add the exhaust sound on a whim. Sound sells - Ford, BMW, and VW pipe fake engine noise via the speakers on certain models.

I would agree that it would be pretty stupid to pick a muscle car and expect it to be as quiet as a sedan, but that was not what I was expecting. I have driven other cars in this class including the V6 version of the Challenger. I was expecting the vehicle to be louder then a sedan. If it had not had that V8 rumble I would have been disappointed. However this vehicle sounded like it had an aftermarket exhaust system. Given that there are a number of other v8 challenger models and that this vehicle has an active exhaust system, it seems like a shame that there isn't room soomwhere in the lineup for a version that is quieter. Other then the exhaust note the car could have been a good daily driver. Just my two cents.

Cheers!

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