Rental review : 2019 Dodge Charger

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I was in Idaho this past weekend for work. I rented a 2019 dodge charger in a sharp army green color. It had 4500 miles on it total.

Exterior: I like the looks, the body lines remind me of a old meets new sedan. Paint quality overall seemed quite good.

Interior : it was roomy, seats were sporty yet soft. Interior fabric was nice to the touch. Dashboard was a rubberized texture that was quite nice to look at and I think will hold up in the long term. Stereo system was a little too tech heavy for me, Climate control was built into it which I do not like. Visibility out the front was reasonable, quite good out the sides. Air conditioning was nice and cold. Trunk space was good for two full size suitcases.

Driving: The V-6 engine is quite peppy However the transmission was more clunky than I was expecting. I could feel the shifts during driving and when shifting from park to drive the whole car would shudder. Long term ownership of that transmission would concern me given the 4 day experience that I had. Fuel economy mix 50-50 was about 19-20 mpg, I was driving with a little bit of a heavy foot however. I was expecting a little bit better.

Overall: Excellent car to rent if you were just putting around town, I would personally get something more fuel-efficient if I were renting for a long-distance trip. I think 5+ years of ownership would be the max I would feel comfortable, the automatic transmission quality long-term has me concerned.
 
If driven hard the transmission logic adapts to that and starts shifting "firmer" which I agree comes off as kind of clunky. As for fuel economy, I'm averaging 27-28 doing 60/40 highway/city in my 300 (fraternal twin to the Charger).

I agree on not liking the climate controls being in the infotainment. I couldn't tell you the last time I opened that screen. I want a physical button for my seat heater!
 
Wife's '19 Charger SXT Plus is perfect to me. (She loves it) Trans will adapt to your driving style. 3.6 is perfect for the car. Averaging 20+ MPG 70/30 city/highway. Strictly highway it'll get over 29 MPG......with only 2700 miles on it. Very quiet driving with firm feel steering and handling. Got the leather interior with all the bells and whistles. I rarely drive it, but the controls to me are easily managed. On a ten scale it's a "10" to me.
 
A couple months ago I test drove a new charger v6 and loved it. Too expensive for a Dodge though. Saving up for a used one - it'll be my next car.
 
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I had a co-worker with a V8 Charger. I liked how it rode and drove, honestly. It's a big family sedan with ample power. Like an American 5-series, basically (obviously different luxury levels).
 
The 2014 WK2 in my .sig has the same drivetrain (Pentastar/8HP70). I changed it's oil last night and it's currently at 73,300 miles. We took it on a 3 week, 5000 mile road trip last spring, through everything from a Wyoming snowstorm to triple digits in Arizona, and had segments up to 28 mpg (25 average for the whole trip). So far it's been almost perfect, the one failure being that infotainment system that has to work in order to fully control the HVAC. 🤬 I'm not a fan of that feature either, but it's nearly universal here days with many vehicles being even more tightly integrated than Chrysler products. I've never understood why the automotive press tends to dump on Chrysler... through all the ups and downs, nearly being destroyed by Daimler and Cerberus, I've never had a Chrysler product that wasn't virtually bulletproof, especially the engines and transmissions. Of course never owning an 80s car or a late 90s minivan probably helped my record on the transmission front... 🙄
 
Originally Posted by FirstNissan
However the transmission was more clunky than I was expecting. I could feel the shifts during driving and when shifting from park to drive the whole car would shudder. Long term ownership of that transmission would concern me given the 4 day experience that I had.

If it's the ZF8 trans, then long term reliability should be good.

With that said, Chrysler's trans programming leaves something to be desired, even in my SRT, even in Sport mode. They could learn a thing or two from BMW programmers.
 
I was in high school when the first generation Chargers came out . Man , did I want one ! Alas , no money ! :-(
 
My folks had a 2013 SXT+ with the 3.6 and Chrysler-built ZF 8 speed, blacktop package on a red car made everyone take pause and do 15 under the limit if you pulled up behind them. Cops would park all around it thinking it was one of their undercover cars. V6 was perfect for that car, I could knock down 32MPG on the highway with it doing 75 but around town maybe 20MPG. They loved driving it and I loved driving it enough I was going to trade my Ram in for one...

Then it developed a drain on the battery that would kill it if you didn't drive it twice a day. None of the local dealerships could figure it out, alternator recall fix didn't resolve it. They traded it in on their Tundra and I stopped shopping for them and traded off my Ram based on the dealership service experiences they had and that I had with my Ram ("What do you mean my seized caliper isn't covered because I painted my wheels?" -That kind of nonsense). If I moved further away from work I might consider one again but I'd be taking FCA up on the lifetime warranty.
 
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Originally Posted by Macsignals
My folks had a 2013 SXT+ with the 3.6 and Chrysler-built ZF 8 speed, blacktop package on a red car made everyone take pause and do 15 under the limit if you pulled up behind them. Cops would park all around it thinking it was one of their undercover cars. V6 was perfect for that car, I could knock down 32MPG on the highway with it doing 75 but around town maybe 20MPG. They loved driving it and I loved driving it enough I was going to trade my Ram in for one...

Then it developed a drain on the battery that would kill it if you didn't drive it twice a day. None of the local dealerships could figure it out, alternator recall fix didn't resolve it. They traded it in on their Tundra and I stopped shopping for them and traded off my Ram based on the dealership service experiences they had and that I had with my Ram ("What do you mean my seized caliper isn't covered because I painted my wheels?" -That kind of nonsense). If I moved further away from work I might consider one again but I'd be taking FCA up on the lifetime warranty.


FCA is the one company that LOSES money on warranties, apparently, because they build total junk. To that end, they no-longer offer a lifetime warranty at any price on their products. Sorry.
 
Originally Posted by 440Magnum
The 2014 WK2 in my .sig has the same drivetrain (Pentastar/8HP70). I changed it's oil last night and it's currently at 73,300 miles. We took it on a 3 week, 5000 mile road trip last spring, through everything from a Wyoming snowstorm to triple digits in Arizona, and had segments up to 28 mpg (25 average for the whole trip). So far it's been almost perfect, the one failure being that infotainment system that has to work in order to fully control the HVAC. 🤬 I'm not a fan of that feature either, but it's nearly universal here days with many vehicles being even more tightly integrated than Chrysler products. I've never understood why the automotive press tends to dump on Chrysler... through all the ups and downs, nearly being destroyed by Daimler and Cerberus, I've never had a Chrysler product that wasn't virtually bulletproof, especially the engines and transmissions. Of course never owning an 80s car or a late 90s minivan probably helped my record on the transmission front... 🙄

Lucky you, noone I know has your luck. Even the RAM owners I know are all "Yeah, got a new one this year...no...the 2015 was okay except t he transmission went out again..." and such. I had a Jeep once. 2010 WK1 w/HEMI, etc. Junk.

Anyway, no, not everyone integrates HVAC into the infotainment. That's wild. My Mazda, if the infotainment doesn't work all I'd lose would be my infotainment (sound/NAV/Bluetooth, you know, infotainment things).
 
Originally Posted by Ws6
Anyway, no, not everyone integrates HVAC into the infotainment. That's wild. My Mazda, if the infotainment doesn't work all I'd lose would be my infotainment (sound/NAV/Bluetooth, you know, infotainment things).
The Charger has physical buttons for basic HVAC controls: on, off, auto, temperature up/down, fan speed, A/C, recirc, front defogger, rear defogger.

Other stuff like heated/cooled seats and steering wheel heating require messing with the touch screen.
 
Originally Posted by Quattro Pete
Originally Posted by Ws6
Anyway, no, not everyone integrates HVAC into the infotainment. That's wild. My Mazda, if the infotainment doesn't work all I'd lose would be my infotainment (sound/NAV/Bluetooth, you know, infotainment things).
The Charger has physical buttons for basic HVAC controls: on, off, auto, temperature up/down, fan speed, A/C, recirc, front defogger, rear defogger.

Other stuff like heated/cooled seats and steering wheel heating require messing with the touch screen.




Not the end of the world for sure, but not my preference. Mine isn't like that (Mazda), nor was my WK1.
 
Originally Posted by Ws6


FCA is the one company that LOSES money on warranties, apparently, because they build total junk. To that end, they no-longer offer a lifetime warranty at any price on their products. Sorry.



Nice to bring up something from a previous company which no longer owns Chrysler.
 
Originally Posted by dave1251
Originally Posted by Ws6


FCA is the one company that LOSES money on warranties, apparently, because they build total junk. To that end, they no-longer offer a lifetime warranty at any price on their products. Sorry.



Nice to bring up something from a previous company which no longer owns Chrysler.


FCA still owns Chrysler, and FCA is who cancelled the lifetime warranty during the time FCA owned them.
https://www.christopherprice.net/mo...nded-warranties-on-november-30-4228.html
 
Originally Posted by 4WD
Who can keep up … been married more times than Liz Taylor was

The tramp that keeps getting passed around the industry, lol!
 
Yeah, lately we can't have any threads without Ws6 proclaiming his love for Mazda.

Why base vehicle purchase on company short term performance, acquisitions or other such things?
Not too long ago Mazda was a big unknown after they broke up with Ford. They are still a small player and may be swallowed up at one point.

Nissan is another similar story. Their stint with Renault didn't exactly do them any favors as far as quality of vehicles goes, yet I don't see anybody criticizing their cars because of that. And their future is questionable again.

I know, someone will came back with "what about warranty?". So how many people were left without warranty by Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep? Any guesses?
 
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Originally Posted by KrisZ
Yeah, lately we can't have any threads without Ws6 proclaiming his love for Mazda.





Whatever. Most brands make good stuff these days, with s few exceptions, personally, with 400,000+ miles from a Plymouth, 300,000+ from a Dodge, 250,000+ from a1993 LH car, 200,000 from two different Jeeps, 70k and 65k with zero issues on our current 2014 and 2012. Plus the dozen or so my Dad had over the years. Yeah, I can't possibly be THAT much of an outlier. All the people who categorically call Chrysler products "junk" have owned between zero and way less than half as many as I have.
 
I rented a 3.6 Challenger in 2014(IIRC); it had the five(?) speed automatic and it was a bit too slow for my tastes. In 2017 I rented a Charger R/T and I liked it a lot- although Quattro Pete is correct that the ZF 8HP calibration is not as polished as you would find in a BMW. Having said all that, if I was going with a Charger, it would have to be either a Scat Pack or an SRT.
 
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