New Muscle Cars

Since the turn of the century, new muscle cars have tried to regain some of the popularity they had in the 1960s. New revisions of the Dodge Charger and the Pontiac GTO have reintroduced muscle car styling and performance to a new generation of car enthusiasts.

The latest generation of the Dodge Charger, which was first available for sale in 2005, has made numerous improvements over older Charger models while retaining some of the classy looks of the second generation Charger. Borrowing the interior of the discontinued Dodge Magnum, the Dodge Charger now comes equipped with a 3.5L V6 engine with 250 horsepower standard, but devoted muscle car fans will splurge and purchase either the R/T or SRT-8 versions, which include a much more powerful Hemi V8 engine. In fact, the 2009 Charger Daytona R/T has 368 horsepower and the current SRT-8 is powered by a roaring 425 horsepower, 6.1L engine. In addition to being one of the most powerful new muscle cars, a police version of the Charger is used by local and federal law enforcement.

GM revived the Pontiac GTO in 2004, and manufactured this new muscle car in Australia. While the new GTO used a powerful Corvette engine, critics were skeptical of the convential appearance of the car. Other more popular muscle car resurrections, like the Mustang or the Chrysler 300, also contributed to the general public disenchantment with the Pontiac GTO. As a result, the GTO was once again discontinued after the 2006 production year.

Modern muscle cars have had mixed success. They are criticized for their low gas mileage (though this was a characteristic of the original muscle cars) and often clunky maneuverability. However, fans of powerful midsize cars seem to be satisfied with the return of muscle cars like the Mustang Shelby GT500.