The Dodge Charger is dead, long live the Dodge Charger. At least, that's how the Dodge guys in Michigan hope fans of the Chrysler Group's performance brand will receive the new Dodge Charger.

While its namesake was a two-door hardtop, and commonly, if not completely accurately, referred to as a coupe, the all-new Charger is a four-door sedan, albeit styled somewhat deceptively to diminish that fact. Further, it's as heavy as and actually larger in a couple measures than the Dodge Magnum, which is like a station wagon, and the Chrysler 300, a full-on, unapologetic, family-size sedan.

So is the new Charger intended to reflect what the original would have become had it stayed around and matured over the four decades since the model was launched in '66? Sort of like the latest reincarnation of the Ford Mustang? Or is it simply an opportunistic attempt to capitalize on a tradition-rich name, regardless of how it may diminish that name's legacy? Sort of like the current Pontiac GTO? The market will provide the answers, or for that matter, determine whether answers are needed.

As for the car itself, no doubt it doesn't really care. It's a bold design statement, however it's viewed, a blend of throwback cues and modern form architecture. Whether it pleases matters less than whether it draws attention. Its retro graphics assure the latter.

The new Charger illustrates just how multi-talented and accomplished today's high performance cars are compared to the uni-dimensional hot rods of yesteryear. The Charger has all the pavement-ripping, gut-thumping power of the old muscle cars, but is packaged with modern creature comforts and tempered by startling levels of handling competency. Put another way, it rides, turns and stops as well as it goes.

The 2006 Dodge Charger may cost a pretty penny, and it may not get the best mileage, but what it lacks in those measures, it more than makes up in grins.