On the eighth day of Christmas!

I don’t care how big my Christmas tree needs to be. I’ll find it and put it up if it means I wake up Christmas morning with this underneath. The 2016 SRT Challenger 392 is by no means the most luxurious or most expensive car I’ve had the pleasure of driving this year. But it puts a smile on my face like no other. It’s impossible to be sad when you’ve got a bright orange, or ‘Go Mango’, Challenger in the driveway.

While it might not be powered by the famed 6.2L 707 horsepower Hemi Hellcat of recent years, this 6.4L 485 horsepower Hemi makes for the best of both worlds. Paired with a 6-speed manual gearbox and 475 lb-ft of torque, it has the power to make you and your seat a single entity for as long as you’d like. And that won’t just be from gas station to gas station like with the Hellcat.

As far as modern muscle cars go, the Challenger is by far the largest; a fact Dodge is not shy about. The large body and resulting spacious interior are immediately apparent when sitting in the cockpit. So too are the supportive leather front seats, surprisingly large rear seat and the simple, but fully functional, dash complete with an 8.4 inch Uconnect touchscreen. Being able to adjust your suspension and view 0-100 km/h, quarter mile and top speed stats from the screen is an added bonus.

The 2016 SRT Challenger 392 will turn heads and have people checking it out everywhere you go. Some may drool and block your way because they can’t stop looking. Others will criticize it for being unpractical and not fit as a daily driver. But for my part, when you’ve got a Hemi under the hood and a stick shift in your hand, all negativity flies out the window. The world is perfect inside my wall of smoking tires, and the donuts just keep coming. Then watch as my signature taillights disappear faster than Santa’s sleigh, with all the Christmas presents neatly stuffed inside the incredibly large trunk.

Guess I better start tree hunting!