14 out of 14 people found this review helpful.
Did Dodge Miss The Mark?? Slightly...Maybe....
Date of Review: Feb 26, 2006
The Bottom Line: If you are looking for muscle stay far away from the 6 cyl
A quick take on this all-new vehicle.
In terms of styling, the Dodge Charger is a modern muscle car.
I recently had a chance to drive the 6 Cyl version of this car. I picked the car up with 230 miles on it and drove it for another 600 or so miles.
I find the car to be heavy on the road, and a bit spongy in cornering. But still gives a very nice ride for what is is built to be a new version muscle car.
Off the line the 6 Cyl version of the car does not get out of its own way, it is sluggish, and whiney to get going. Once it is up and moving it does accelerate nicely, and has some pep in its step. Just be patient to get there.
Enterprise does not rent the 8 cyl or the Hemi version, I would have loved to see and feel the diff.
The 6 Cyl is stated to get 19 mpg city and 27 mpg highway. I have not seen this at all. In fact I was luck to get a solid 14 mpg city, and 20 highway after two tanks of gas. The 250 hp 6 cyl does feel weak, don't look for any real punch out of it. You are not spinning the wheels with the 6 cyl it is a weak 250 hp..
The gauges are easily read, and are nice to look at. The various option such as Cruise Control Information, Outside Temp, Trip, Odometer are all on the exact same gauge making information tough to access in a pinch. Not an issue for some, but for me I would prefer to have a separate information cluster for other than Trip and Odometer. Having the Tach on the right side of the speedo takes a little getting used to as well. Most cars have it the other way around.
The brakes are actually very good, as is the ABS. This is a heavy car, but still stops very responsivley with little to no fade.
The car leans a bit much in tight turns giving the feel of a slide which would be tough to recover from with a lack of power from the 6 cyl. Not having driven the 8 I can not state with any certainty it woud or would not be better. Unlike a sports car (Corvette) where if the back gets a bit fishy you can easily compensate I was unable to do the same with this car.
The interior is not plush, but in a muscle car why would you want it to be. The interior is quiet, I would prefer hearing some exhaust tone, but the mfg has done a great job to limiting outside noise.
In comfort and function, it's a family sedan. In total the new Charger is a masterful balance between a muscle look and feel, just not power in the 6 cyl.
The transmission is a smooth shift, and very soft shift even on hard acceleration.
All in all it is a nice car given what it is for $21,000 it is not a bad deal at all.
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