Challengers 5 - Car and Driver
SPECIALTY FILE
1970 DODGE CHALLENGER T/A pushrod 16-valve V-8 339 cu in (5563cc) XV CHALLENGER pushrod 16-valve V-8 345 cu in (5654cc)
124
NOV 2007
$4056 (1970)
290 @ 4400 $86,000 340 @ 3200 (SAE gross ratings)
443 @ 6400 $140,000 $176,000 385 @ 5000
straight on in. It gripped about as hard as a jumbo SUV, at 0.68 g. The old T/A isn’t without its charms, which, by and large, have been successfully transferred to the restomod: the lack of wind turbulence inside the cabin with the windows rolled down (try that in a modern car), the lope of a big V-8 coupled to free-flowing mufflers, and, of course, the big, bold shape. What you don’t get is the 1970s laundry list of Achilles’ heels. If all this sounds good to you, XV can do a similar treatment on convertibles, Plymouth Barracudas, and Dodge Chargers. ●
50–70
30–50
ROLLING 5–60 MPH
¼-MILE @ MPH
0–100
0–60
0–30
WHEELBASE
HEIGHT
TOP GEAR MPH
BRAKING 70–0 MPH (ft)
ACCELERATION (seconds) MPH
ROADHOLDING 300FT-DIA SKIDPAD (g)
XV Motorsports, Two Bridge Street, Irvington, New York 10533; 914-963-1122; www.xvmotorsports.com.
DIMENSIONS (in)
WIDTH
TORQUE LB-FT @ RPM
WEIGHT
LENGTH
POWER BHP @ RPM AS TESTED
CHALLENGER²
POWERTRAIN
% FRONT/REAR
C/D RESULTS
BASE
* C/D EST
PRICE ($)
TRANSMISSION/ FINAL DRIVE:1
BEST IN TEST
around a 300-foot-diameter circle, the tires were nearly turned to glue circling tail-out. It was hard to resist because few cars today are so willing to oversteer, and this one lets you control it and play professional drifter. Without the tail-out antics, the XV pulled a maximum of 0.90 g on the skidpad. The stock T/A, on the exact other hand, understeered horrendously. Any turn of the wheel simply caused the front tires to plow. Mad provocations of the throttle, which in other rear-drive cars can sometimes flick the tail out, had no effect. It’s as if the goal of the Dodge engineers were to guarantee that this car couldn’t get loose, lest someone tap the gas midcorner and end up fishtailing onto someone else’s lawn. With the unmodified car, you’d simply go
CURB (lb)
During our romp on two-lane roads, the restomod rode a bit harsher than the stocker, but the body didn’t quiver and the chassis felt planted. Sweeping curves that required a 50-mph tiptoe in the original car could be taken effortlessly 20 mph quicker. The steering wasn’t as communicative as, say, that of a Mazda Miata, but the power assist, a quicker ratio, and a fair measure of precision were huge improvements. One thing we weren’t thrilled with was brake feel because there was a slight time delay between pressing on the pedal and the actual slowing of the car. The problem, we learned weeks later, was a routing issue with the hydraulic assist supplied by the power-steering pump, and the makers say the problem has been remedied. In regard to performance, there was no comparison between the two cars. The stock T/A would easily spin its rear tires and felt perfectly comfortable doing so, but it still needed 7.1 seconds to reach 60 mph and didn’t pass the quarter-mile until it reached 92 mph and 15.2 seconds had passed from standstill. If this is a muscle car, we thought, it could use some gym time. To be fair, 1970 Challengers with the optional 425-hp Hemi would probably be quicker by a second in both benchmarks, but the fact is a $24,550 Mazdaspeed 3 could conk this V-8 pony car. The little 3 isn’t all that much slower than the restomod, either. Although far quicker than the original (0 to 60 in 5.1 seconds and the quarter in 13.5 seconds at 107 mph), the XV Challenger is still no match for a modern-day Corvette and about on par with a Mustang GT. Part of the problem is that the restomod weighs 3718 pounds, 224 more than the original, thanks mostly to those effective body stiffeners. This car should relocate your spleen when you jump on it. For that, you’ll have to upgrade to the 600-hp, 6.1-liter V-8, which was not available at the time of this test. Despite the weight, the restomod handled fantastically. Fun occurrence: On the skidpad, where we drive as fast as we can
15.4
4-sp man/ 3494 58.1/ 191.3 76.4 51.4 111.0 2.4 7.1 18.3 @ 41.9 3.55
92
8.1 5.0 4.9 279 0.68
13.5
5-sp man/ 3718 54.7/ 192.0 76.4 50.4 111.0 2.1 5.1 11.7 @ 5.6 8.4 7.9 183 0.90 45.3 3.91
107
CARANDDRIVER.CO M
1970 DODGE CHALLENGER T/A pushrod 16-valve V-8 339 cu in (5563cc) XV CHALLENGER pushrod 16-valve V-8 345 cu in (5654cc)
124
NOV 2007
$4056 (1970)
290 @ 4400 $86,000 340 @ 3200 (SAE gross ratings)
443 @ 6400 $140,000 $176,000 385 @ 5000
straight on in. It gripped about as hard as a jumbo SUV, at 0.68 g. The old T/A isn’t without its charms, which, by and large, have been successfully transferred to the restomod: the lack of wind turbulence inside the cabin with the windows rolled down (try that in a modern car), the lope of a big V-8 coupled to free-flowing mufflers, and, of course, the big, bold shape. What you don’t get is the 1970s laundry list of Achilles’ heels. If all this sounds good to you, XV can do a similar treatment on convertibles, Plymouth Barracudas, and Dodge Chargers. ●
50–70
30–50
ROLLING 5–60 MPH
¼-MILE @ MPH
0–100
0–60
0–30
WHEELBASE
HEIGHT
TOP GEAR MPH
BRAKING 70–0 MPH (ft)
ACCELERATION (seconds) MPH
ROADHOLDING 300FT-DIA SKIDPAD (g)
XV Motorsports, Two Bridge Street, Irvington, New York 10533; 914-963-1122; www.xvmotorsports.com.
DIMENSIONS (in)
WIDTH
TORQUE LB-FT @ RPM
WEIGHT
LENGTH
POWER BHP @ RPM AS TESTED
CHALLENGER²
POWERTRAIN
% FRONT/REAR
C/D RESULTS
BASE
* C/D EST
PRICE ($)
TRANSMISSION/ FINAL DRIVE:1
BEST IN TEST
around a 300-foot-diameter circle, the tires were nearly turned to glue circling tail-out. It was hard to resist because few cars today are so willing to oversteer, and this one lets you control it and play professional drifter. Without the tail-out antics, the XV pulled a maximum of 0.90 g on the skidpad. The stock T/A, on the exact other hand, understeered horrendously. Any turn of the wheel simply caused the front tires to plow. Mad provocations of the throttle, which in other rear-drive cars can sometimes flick the tail out, had no effect. It’s as if the goal of the Dodge engineers were to guarantee that this car couldn’t get loose, lest someone tap the gas midcorner and end up fishtailing onto someone else’s lawn. With the unmodified car, you’d simply go
CURB (lb)
During our romp on two-lane roads, the restomod rode a bit harsher than the stocker, but the body didn’t quiver and the chassis felt planted. Sweeping curves that required a 50-mph tiptoe in the original car could be taken effortlessly 20 mph quicker. The steering wasn’t as communicative as, say, that of a Mazda Miata, but the power assist, a quicker ratio, and a fair measure of precision were huge improvements. One thing we weren’t thrilled with was brake feel because there was a slight time delay between pressing on the pedal and the actual slowing of the car. The problem, we learned weeks later, was a routing issue with the hydraulic assist supplied by the power-steering pump, and the makers say the problem has been remedied. In regard to performance, there was no comparison between the two cars. The stock T/A would easily spin its rear tires and felt perfectly comfortable doing so, but it still needed 7.1 seconds to reach 60 mph and didn’t pass the quarter-mile until it reached 92 mph and 15.2 seconds had passed from standstill. If this is a muscle car, we thought, it could use some gym time. To be fair, 1970 Challengers with the optional 425-hp Hemi would probably be quicker by a second in both benchmarks, but the fact is a $24,550 Mazdaspeed 3 could conk this V-8 pony car. The little 3 isn’t all that much slower than the restomod, either. Although far quicker than the original (0 to 60 in 5.1 seconds and the quarter in 13.5 seconds at 107 mph), the XV Challenger is still no match for a modern-day Corvette and about on par with a Mustang GT. Part of the problem is that the restomod weighs 3718 pounds, 224 more than the original, thanks mostly to those effective body stiffeners. This car should relocate your spleen when you jump on it. For that, you’ll have to upgrade to the 600-hp, 6.1-liter V-8, which was not available at the time of this test. Despite the weight, the restomod handled fantastically. Fun occurrence: On the skidpad, where we drive as fast as we can
15.4
4-sp man/ 3494 58.1/ 191.3 76.4 51.4 111.0 2.4 7.1 18.3 @ 41.9 3.55
92
8.1 5.0 4.9 279 0.68
13.5
5-sp man/ 3718 54.7/ 192.0 76.4 50.4 111.0 2.1 5.1 11.7 @ 5.6 8.4 7.9 183 0.90 45.3 3.91
107
CARANDDRIVER.CO M
