It’s a cabin that’s more curvaceous, more upscale and more luxurious all at once, with higher-end materials, fewer square panel intersections, and a flowing, swoopy and deep center console, all angled towards the driver, with a six-speed shifter sticking out the centre. It’s tidier, more current, and still instantly Challenger at a glance.

From the outside, Challenger remains instantly recognizable despite calling an arsenal of styling tweaks online to soften and modernize its retro look. New fascias, revised taillamps, a re-sculped hood, and various new wheel and stripe options are flaunted for a street-smart flare that’s clean and updated. The tester packed numerous appearance upgrades, including the newly-available Shaker hood, to turn heads with some functional throw-back novelty factor.

Said Shaker hood sits atop the 392 HEMI SRT V8, using 6.4L of highly-effective displacement to generate 485 horsepower. This engine was once reserved for the top performing SRT8 model, but can now be specified via the RT Scat Pack, for SRT8 power levels at a lower price. Where the SRT8 is a track-ready weapon, the RT scat pack with the big HEMI is more of a rocket cruiser, and ideal for someone after top output without the extra cost.

There’s power everywhere, but the big V8 really breathes when you get it spinning past 4,000 revs, and the sound is pure Detroit: you can picture the hearty and throbbing exhaust pulses reflecting back to you off of nearby buildings on a muggy big-city night, even if that’s not the case.

Gears are browsed via a tough and beefy six-speed stick that operates with a gentle but positive effort and doesn’t feel flimsy or delicate. It’s all controlled by a grabby clutch with decent feel and hearty weight, though not so much that it becomes tiresome in stop and go traffic. There’s a charmingly mechanical feeling to the whole setup.

Beneath Challenger’s skin, the abundant updates enhance, and more importantly, maintain the underlying Dodge Challenger character that your writer has found so attractive over the years. Chassis tweaks, lightened axles, a retuned suspension and steering system, improved brakes and enhanced bushings have all been specified, but she still feels like a Challenger through and through. This is a good thing for shoppers after a retro highway cruiser that’ll do double duty as a rough and tumble hot-rod performance car.

For highway cruising? Big comfortable seats, abundant room around the driver, and a feeling of sitting deep and low in a big, wide coupe lay the basis for cruising comfort. Noise levels are kept nicely in check, the constant hum from the tailpipes is delightful but modest, and the suspension soaks up all pavement imperfections at highway speeds with little more than a tight, soft undulation of the body over the wheels. Leave it in sixth, and there’s enough low-end torque to climb and pass without a downshift, too. It’s laid back.

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