Debating with someone as narcissistic as John is like trying to teach your dog to speak French!
When someone spends their life admiring his reflection in the pond, the reality that everyone has a different perspective is totally foreign to them, and that is sad.
Looking back, it is surprising to see this thread resurrected itself from back in early January. I wonder what happened with the OP? Did he buy a Camaro or Challenger, or give up on the idea altogether.
The bottom line is that asking a question like the OP's is not really reasonable. When deciding about buying a special car, the decision is entirely personal. So where does anyone else's opinion fit into the equation?
In my case, I bought my first Challenger in high school 30 years ago. In my HS and college days I spent a lot of time checking out ads looking for Challengers and cudas for sale, but most of what I found in my area was rotted out or beat and modified to hell.
I dreamed of what it would of been like if I had been older, and been able to head into a showroom and seek out one of my beloved E bodies brand new, unmolested, unrusted, with the color and options I wanted.
When the new Challengers came out, I was able to, in a sense, do what I had dreamed about decades earlier. Worked for me! And since I am 6'4", having the extra leg and headroom was a great thing for me and a great improvement over the first ones. I'm a stick guy, but quite frankly, I am very uncomfortable driving '70-'74 E bodies with manuals, I bang my knee on the steering wheel when working the clutch.
Also the headroom is OK but could be better for me. The new Challenger is really comfy and the clutch is a dream for me!
Nothing in a Consumer Reports or Road and Track comparison test had any importance as to why I wanted one, if a competitors product is .2 seconds faster 0-60 and gets 1 mpg better mileage, for $1000 less, in my case, it wasn't important.
But what does that mean to a guy who is 20 years old, 5'3" and whose buddies all drive tuners? Nothing, of course. My reasons for finding the new Challenger to be a car to be passionate about have nothing in common with what he finds important in a car.
And what does my perspective have that is relevant to the OP, who apparently is in Europe? Probably not much either. I don't know his background, his degree of passion for the original E bodies, what he wants to do with the car. A new Camaro is not a very comfortable car for a guy my height, but to someone 6" shorter, that probably isn't an issue for example.
I freelance as a pilot and sometimes carry a big flight bag, and sometimes I stop at a Home Depot to grab some stuff for a home project, so the Challenger's big accessible trunk is a good thing for me, the Camaros tiny inaccessible trunk because of its narrow lid would be a big PITA for me. But for someone who lives in a condo and never carries anything bigger than a gym bag, the trunk might not make a difference to them.
I've not in the SCCA and have never run a car on a road track, so performance handling is not a major factor for me, but to others certainly it would be.
So again, everyone's perspective is different, and what is right for one guy might make no difference to someone else.
And to repeat a thought I expressed earlier, I find that the only people who seem critical of the Challenger's looks are some Mopar enthusiasts and I do find that somewhat confusing ("they eat their own"). I am sure there are a number of reasons, in some cases my earlier thought that some who can't afford one like to find fault in the car to make themselves feel better is probably true, in other cases, some might want the car to be identical to the original and nothing else is acceptable.
But outside of a few in the Mopar community, it's rare to find anyone who doesn't think the car looks great. Just about every new Challenger owner has stories of people coming up to them at gas stations or stores to compliment the car. And I've heard a lot of stories about people who have had people tell them they thought the car was a restored original Challenger! They don't think it's a big bloated boat apparently.
Get what suits your needs, your passion, your dreams, screw anyone else's opinion as it is irrelevant to you (unless it is your wife or girlfriend's opinion, than maybe it is relevent!
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And try to bite your tongue when you think of criticizing other's choices in cars, it's their dime, their dream, your opinion doesn't matter! (that is unless we are talking about Priuses, there is no excuse for those ugly things.
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My choice works for me, I'm continue to be happy with it, and I hope everyone is happy with their cars, whatever that might be (unless it's a prius of course)!
