Had to go to St. Louis yesterday on business and had to rent a car. Got it from National/Alamo and they gave me a "free upgrade" to the Emerald Club. With this upgrade, I got to choose any car on the lot.

I'd been eyeing the Dodge Charger since they came out. I think it's a nice looking car and always wanted to try one out.

I got a 2007 Charger V6 (auto) with only 7k miles on the clock.

The interior was really nice with the exception of the gay silver painted plastic steering wheel trim that looked like it belonged on a PowerWheels toy car.

I was kinda let down as far as performance goes as well. It's got an extremely high center of gravity and was slow as balls as far as acceleration goes. Maybe if they'd had a V8 Hemi it would be a different story.

What are your thoughts on the V6 Charger?

7/25/2008 12:54:16 PM

that thang got a hemi?




don't lose that much mpg by going up to the hemi. might as well get it and be able to have some fun.

they're nice looking cars to me.

[Edited on July 25, 2008 at 1:03 PM. Reason : .]

7/25/2008 1:00:07 PM

not a fan.

[Edited on July 25, 2008 at 1:03 PM. Reason : l]

7/25/2008 1:02:51 PM

They look good to me, although I'd say the v6 is probably the main letdown. You'd have at the minimum decent acceleration with the hemi version.

3.5 L V6 produces 250 hp (186 kW) and 250 ft·lbf (339 N·m) of torque
R/T version produces 340 hp (254 kW) and 390 ft·lbf (525 N·m) of torque.
SRT-8 version produces 425 hp (317 kW) and 420 ft·lbf (569 N·m) of torque.


[Edited on July 25, 2008 at 1:23 PM. Reason : definitely]

7/25/2008 1:20:33 PM

i had one a few weeks ago, pretty damn anemic, and shitty on gas

7/25/2008 1:23:21 PM

I wish rental companies stocked V8 manuals, haha.

7/25/2008 1:55:54 PM

The only real "negative" that I hate about that Charger was the weight. It's over 4000lbs!!!

Despite this, it handles like a champ. I mean, I had one of the sales associates take me out after it had just rained on some new back roads (twisties). The traction control is just awesome, since the car stuck to the road like glue (~90 mph), something I know think was possible... There was only a hint of understeer in the Charger when I drove it.



[Edited on July 25, 2008 at 2:03 PM. Reason : .]

7/25/2008 1:57:57 PM

If you are going over 10mph attempt to start the car while driving - this will completely disable the traction control in the Charger. Enjoy buying new tires.

7/26/2008 12:42:51 AM

one with a v8 is a night and day difference. i like them. i do wish they'd offer a manual version to compete with the pontiac g8. maybe it'll get one after the challenger does since they're basically the same platform.

^^it's a large 4 door family car. what do you expect?

^^^rental cars are for utility purposes only. they just buy the cheapest version of whatever cars they use. at most they'll upgrade to a cd player and power options if need be. several companies do rent v8's in their premium/luxery classes. like the 300m, grand marquis, dts, etc.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=8Kwd41bx4uo

[Edited on July 26, 2008 at 2:01 AM. Reason : .]

7/26/2008 1:57:12 AM

A v6 Charger with bad performance, no way!!!!!!!

7/26/2008 5:16:36 AM

6/12/2013 1:14:19 AM

May have had one with a 2.7l the damn thing weighs a ton anyway

6/13/2013 9:06:05 PM

I had a co-worker with a 2.7 300. He hated that car, partly because it was a slug, partly because shit kept breaking. I had been vaguely thinking about a 300C or a Magnum, but his problems with the 300 cured me of those thoughts.

Seems like everything weighs a ton these days. I rented a Camaro convertible for my honeymoon (Florida Keys) and, while it was by no means slow, it didn't feel any faster than my old Marauder did despite being a good deal smaller and having 20 extra HP. Looked up the numbers and, lo and behold, it wasn't any faster, probably because the damn thing only weighs 100 lbs. less (3995 for the Camaro, 4100 Marauder).
323 HP from the V6 model still isn't bad though...

6/13/2013 10:34:01 PM

WIth that much weight, it's all about the TORQUE

6/14/2013 12:47:21 AM

Good point. For all the gaudy HP numbers, torque is only 278 ft-lbs. The Marauder had 320. Same story with the current V6 Charger--292 HP but only 260 ft-lbs. One wonders if displacement is the limiting factor here.

6/14/2013 11:45:54 AM

Chrysler replaced a bunch of shitty V6 engines with one good V6 for the whole lineup that they paid somebody else to design...

6/15/2013 9:39:45 AM

I bet it had awesome cloth seats.

6/16/2013 1:15:09 AM

Quote :

"I rented a Camaro convertible for my honeymoon (Florida Keys) and, while it was by no means slow, it didn't feel any faster than my old Marauder did despite being a good deal smaller and having 20 extra HP. Looked up the numbers and, lo and behold, it wasn't any faster, probably because the damn thing only weighs 100 lbs. less (3995 for the Camaro, 4100 Marauder)."

Convertibles are heavy. The Camaro goes from ~3,750 to 4,116 lbs one you add the convertible top.

6/16/2013 1:48:28 AM

Huh. Knew it added weight, didn't know it was that much. Also interesting how much space the top mechanism takes up--that thing had the smallest trunk opening I've ever seen.

6/16/2013 2:04:32 PM