Photo 8 -- Charger

Since the new 2006 Dodge Charger hit the streets it has been tagged as a poser by devotees of the muscle car era because it’s got four doors instead of two. Many people were expecting a high-horsepower coupe that would resemble the original fastback Charger. But now, that job clearly belongs to the Dodge Challenger. While the new Charger might be a family four door, two of its trim levels offer plenty of raw power. If performance is what you want, choose the R/T or the SRT-8 versions. The new Hemi V8 engines found in these models uphold the Charger’s muscle-car image, making its four-door reality a non-issue. Although the Charger’s styling doesn’t hold true to the original – only faint themes in the roofline, rear glass, and fender haunches recall the older models – Dodge did what most American manufacturers have done in creating retro-modern automobiles. It borrowed a piece of the original Charger’s heritage and modernized the rest. The result, in the Charger’s case, is a fine family four-door that can perform and handle as well as competing models that cost twice as much, all while exhibiting a brash, in-your-face design just like the original model. Who says America can’t build cool cars?