There are cars which are so wild looking that they make you want to drive them as fast as possible and one of those is the newly unveiled 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT8. It’s appearance alone makes you think that just touching the pedal will burn rubber as well as asphalt.

From the specification, it doesn’t like anyone will be disappointed either. Under the hood is a 6.1 liter V8 engine which produces 425 hp and can reach 100 km/h in 5.1 seconds. Sure, these are all numbers, but a clearer idea of what that 6.1 liter engine means can be seen when testing it against the 2008 Ford Mustang Bullitt.

Both have a V8 engine and even have some similarities in terms of exterior. The difference in price is not so great, although the Ford is cheaper by $5,000, although the Challenger is heavier by 637 pounds. Even so, it manages to leave its rival standing. According to Edmunds the transmission of Dodge is pretty good as well.

As far as automatic transmissions go, we have to admit the W5A580 five-speed in the Challenger SRT8 is a pretty good one. Intelligent and aggressively programmed, it usually goes about its business unobtrusively, but it’ll pop off an upshift crisply with a momentary pause between gears that sounds something like Satan belching fire through a stainless-steel esophagus. Torque converter lockup is so aggressive that it’s almost necessary to lean your melon against the headrest when you upshift at full throttle.

Watch the video below for the full test.

Photo: © mmcnabb3

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