Dodge Challenger Super Stock from HighHorsepowerPhotography
The guys at Autoblog had some good news for Dodge this morning as they reported on Consumer Reports owner satisfaction survey for this year (click here for their piece). Over 380,000 new car owners were surveyed and when it was all said and done, the reigning champion Toyota Prius had been knocked off by the big Mopar muscle car. An amazing 92% of Challenger owners stated that they would make the purchase again if they had the chance…but based on the amount of enthusiasm around the Challenger it’s not surprising.
While talking with an employee within Chrysler who wished not to be named this morning, he told me that in his 20+ years with Chrysler he doesn’t believe that any single model had the amount of testing before going out to the public-not even the Viper. “They wanted to make sure that everything was right with the Challenger”, and based on this Consumer Reports statement those efforts paid off.
The other big news of the survey was the second place car. The Toyota Prius has been the favored vehicle in this survey for several years but showing that they can do hybrids as well as their Japanese competition, the Ford Fusion Hybrid (one of the Internet Car and Truck of the Year finalists) came in second with 91% of owners saying that they would buy it again if given the chance. The Chevrolet Corvette was also in the top group, joined by the Porsche 911 and of course the Toyota Prius.
This is great news for Chrysler but with it comes some bad news. It doesn’t come as a surprise to most of us involved in the auto industry, but the Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Nitro were at the bottom of the list with less than 40% of the buyers showing interest in buying another vehicle. However, with Chrysler’s struggles over the past few months and the poor sales figures for these two vehicles, this news was to be expected.
The Dodge Challenger stormed onto the scene with as much fanfare as any pre-release vehicle in the last few decades and it looks like the amount of engineering efforts that went into the new Dodge Challenger paid off and the consumers are noticing.
Stay tuned to the Detroit Autos Examiner for all of your Dodge news! Check out the gallery below for more Dodge Challenger Super Stock images!
Other Mopar related stories:
Introducing the new Dodge RAM brand.
MOPAR offers their first SEMA sneak peak
2009 SEMA Preview: Mopar Jeep Wrangler Overland
2009 SEMA Preview: Mopar Jeep Lower Forty
2009 SEMA Preview: Mopar Dodge Ram Bianco
2009 SEMA Preview: Mopar Dodge Challenger 1320
SEMA 2009 Preview: Speedfactory 440 Hemi Challenger
Dodge debuts the new Challenger stock car
SEMA 2009 Gallery: The Dodge Challenger 1320
SEMA 2009 Gallery: A walk through Mopar Alley
SEMA 2009 Gallery: A walk through Mopar Alley part 2
SEMA 2009 Gallery: The Mopar Jeep Lower Forty
SEMA 2009 Gallery: The Dodge Ram Bianco
SEMA 2009 Unveiling: The Mopar Dodge Avenger pro stock car
Comments
These are well deserving of the title. Dodge did a great job, they are fast and SAFE!!! It's hard to make the two happen.
All I can say is that Consumer Reports finally got it right. The Dodge Challenger is one of the best designed and built car I have ever owned. The designers and engineers did a fabulous job with the execution and delivering a car that is more than worthy of carrying the Challenger name. This car evokes the memories and more true to the original Challenger. The new Camaro isn't even in the same ballpark as the Challenger.
At least in the SRT version, I thought the Charger was actually the better car at speed, but hey, if CR wants to praise a Dodge who am I to argue.
The Charger may feel better at speed because the suspension is stiffer than the Challenger and the weight distribution slightly better as well.
The Challenger takes the cake, no doubt about it.
Rob E.
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