Driving the Challenger is a Challenge

If I had a shotgun, I would be in jail right now. Since Chrysler LLC refuses to acknowledge TTAC's existence and won't give us access to their press cars (unlike Audi, Bentley, Aston Martin, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, and a lot of others), we have to bug dealers for test drives. Seeing dealerships in the greater Oklahoma City Metro area receiving Dodge Challenger SE's (the V6 4-speed auto-only versions), I went a-hunting. Fowler Dodge: "you cannot drive a Challenger until you sign the paperwork to buy one, even the $25,000 model, because people want NO miles on them, as they are collectors items." David Stanley Dodge possessed no less than six Challenger SEs. They flat-out refused a test drive, demanding a sizeable deposit for the "collectible model." Mark Heitz Dodge scoffed and refused to even open up the their car. Bob Moore Dodge in Edmond roped theirs off (I'm pretty sure I saw an SRT8 in an inflatable bubble). ALL of the Challengers I encountered had at least a $5K markup on the windshield (some disguised as a "chrome" package). Meanwhile, the base $25k model is already finding its way into the rental fleets (check out your local Thrifty– they might have one already). The behavior of dealers like these is a big reason Chrysler finds itself in such trouble. Time after time, they insult the customer with ridiculous markups, patronizing sales tactics and flat-out deceit. Jackie Cooper BMW will let you take out a $75,000 BMW M3, Mercedes of Oklahoma threw me the keys to an SL55 and Porsche of Edmond called me to tell me about their new Boxster S. Dodge dealers, I hate to break it to you, but your $25,000 Challenger SE, while good-looking IS NOT THAT SPECIAL. It's a $25k Mustang competitor. Let as many people as you can drive them, price them right and maybe, just maybe, you won't have them stacking up on your lots in three months.