OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
So, I've owned the GC since November 24th, 2016. almost 2.5 years.
Since owning it there have been only two issues with it:
1. How rapidly the big front brakes wear out (it's on it's 2nd set)
2. A bad body ground which caused some increasingly bizarre issues and also resulted in the alternator being needlessly changed at the dealership
Figure that now would be a nice time to do an update on how it has aged, how it performs, and criticisms.
We'll go over the positive stuff first:
- 475HP on tap with deep gearing backed by the glorious ZF 8spd. Comes out of the hole like a bear and never fails to impress with visceral acceleration. In Sport or Track, it hammers off the gears briskly and with great enthusiasm. Each shift is fast and firm, it's an amazing gearbox.
- Fantastic interior. The leather-covered dash, suede headliner and pillars, leather/suede door surfaces, quality feeling HVAC and other manual controls have, thus far, aged well. It has no squeaks or rattles and the seats are excellent.
- Fantastic factory stereo. It has the Harman-Kardon 19-speaker system which is exceptionally good for a factory offering. Paired with the excellent UConnect system, it's really a great setup.
- Very good sound deadening. No real road noise, but you can certainly hear the engine note. Pretty good balance
- Headlights (factory auto-levelling HID's) are very good
- Engine uses no oil between changes
- Towing performance is excellent
- Capability in snow is truly amazing. With the electronic locking rear diff and AWD system, it will paw through a remarkable amount; certainly well past the ground clearance of the vehicle.
- The brakes are utterly incredible. Everything else feels so under-braked once you drive something with big Brembo's.
Now for the negatives:
- Audible presence of the MDS system. Due to how loud the exhaust is, you can readily hear when the MDS engages
- Vibration from the MDS. Along with the sound, you also get a vibration when the MDS comes on at low RPM's. This was not noticeable on the Charger and isn't on our RAM. It's not a factor at higher RPM points.
- Right-rear passenger seat, the clips that hold the cover on keep coming loose under the seat. I'm tempted to put a zip-tie on them, as they aren't broken, they just come off
- When in "Auto" mode, if you drive it in a civil manner, it gets "lazy" feeling and will start out in 2nd gear frequently
- Backup camera gets obscured with dirt/debris easily. Be it snow or rain, this is a frequent occurrence.
- The amount of brake dust it produces is appalling. You can't keep the front wheels clean.
As I remarked in another thread, there appears to be a break-in process with the factory exhaust, which is essentially a big open pro-chamber style muffler that has no baffling with a couple of straight-through resonators in the rear. The matting used in these eventually compresses with use (I believe it's just like a stainless SOS pad type material) and it's surprisingly loud. The factory piping is extremely generous in diameter with an excellent layout. I can't see an aftermarket system providing anything other than more sound
It's extremely well-routed: tucked up and not hanging down anywhere, despite the massive tubing. Being underneath it, it's a very well-constructed vehicle with pretty heavy-duty looking parts and, despite two winters, no signs of corrosion anywhere (yet).
Gas mileage for something with a 475HP V8, is, better than expected. It's driven like it should be, so in-town yields around 375Km/tank, you can get over 700 on the highway. The engine note at full-song is sublime, so I am quite sure the exhaust system design, which conveys that, is intentional.
My main concern is putting new summer rubber on it, as options in its size continue to be extremely limited.
Rather than a pic of it in winter mode, I'll provide one from back when it was with us in Kincardine visiting Bruce Nuclear:
Since owning it there have been only two issues with it:
1. How rapidly the big front brakes wear out (it's on it's 2nd set)
2. A bad body ground which caused some increasingly bizarre issues and also resulted in the alternator being needlessly changed at the dealership
Figure that now would be a nice time to do an update on how it has aged, how it performs, and criticisms.
We'll go over the positive stuff first:
- 475HP on tap with deep gearing backed by the glorious ZF 8spd. Comes out of the hole like a bear and never fails to impress with visceral acceleration. In Sport or Track, it hammers off the gears briskly and with great enthusiasm. Each shift is fast and firm, it's an amazing gearbox.
- Fantastic interior. The leather-covered dash, suede headliner and pillars, leather/suede door surfaces, quality feeling HVAC and other manual controls have, thus far, aged well. It has no squeaks or rattles and the seats are excellent.
- Fantastic factory stereo. It has the Harman-Kardon 19-speaker system which is exceptionally good for a factory offering. Paired with the excellent UConnect system, it's really a great setup.
- Very good sound deadening. No real road noise, but you can certainly hear the engine note. Pretty good balance
- Headlights (factory auto-levelling HID's) are very good
- Engine uses no oil between changes
- Towing performance is excellent
- Capability in snow is truly amazing. With the electronic locking rear diff and AWD system, it will paw through a remarkable amount; certainly well past the ground clearance of the vehicle.
- The brakes are utterly incredible. Everything else feels so under-braked once you drive something with big Brembo's.
Now for the negatives:
- Audible presence of the MDS system. Due to how loud the exhaust is, you can readily hear when the MDS engages
- Vibration from the MDS. Along with the sound, you also get a vibration when the MDS comes on at low RPM's. This was not noticeable on the Charger and isn't on our RAM. It's not a factor at higher RPM points.
- Right-rear passenger seat, the clips that hold the cover on keep coming loose under the seat. I'm tempted to put a zip-tie on them, as they aren't broken, they just come off
- When in "Auto" mode, if you drive it in a civil manner, it gets "lazy" feeling and will start out in 2nd gear frequently
- Backup camera gets obscured with dirt/debris easily. Be it snow or rain, this is a frequent occurrence.
- The amount of brake dust it produces is appalling. You can't keep the front wheels clean.
As I remarked in another thread, there appears to be a break-in process with the factory exhaust, which is essentially a big open pro-chamber style muffler that has no baffling with a couple of straight-through resonators in the rear. The matting used in these eventually compresses with use (I believe it's just like a stainless SOS pad type material) and it's surprisingly loud. The factory piping is extremely generous in diameter with an excellent layout. I can't see an aftermarket system providing anything other than more sound
Gas mileage for something with a 475HP V8, is, better than expected. It's driven like it should be, so in-town yields around 375Km/tank, you can get over 700 on the highway. The engine note at full-song is sublime, so I am quite sure the exhaust system design, which conveys that, is intentional.
My main concern is putting new summer rubber on it, as options in its size continue to be extremely limited.
Rather than a pic of it in winter mode, I'll provide one from back when it was with us in Kincardine visiting Bruce Nuclear: