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I travel every month for work, and rent a car every time. My company typically reserves me an intermediate car, but at 6'4 I usually upgrade if it costs less than $10 extra per day. Typically that puts me in an SUV, or something with a V6. This trip, however, there were a lot of cancellations because of bad weather in the area (NJ) so there were a lot of cars available. I noticed the Charger immediately sitting next to a couple of G35 sedans, but I had enquired about the G35s previously and they were considered premium, so I didn't even worry about it. The gal in the office made me the standard upgrade offer; I told her I could do an extra $10 a day, no more. She was like ok, let's go outside and see what we can do. To my great surprise, she offered me a choice between a couple 300Cs, and yep...you guessed it, the Charger. Not only that, upon closer inspection I saw the Hemi badge on the side. I was like, "um, Charger please, thanks".
She got one of the guys to pull it out because it was parked in a tight space. From the time I heard the engine roar to life, I knew that this could be fun. The guy pulling it out barked the tires every time he hit the gas...yeah, definitely could be fun. When he pulled it up, he was like "Ok, this is the Hemi, you're going to have to be easy on the gas, it's real powerful" I said "I think I'll be ok" (I have driven several Supras, both BPU and APU
).
So after finishing up the paperwork, I got in. Initial interior impressions:
Comfy but supportive driver’s seat. VERY plain interior, but the gaps were minimal and even. Large, easy to read gauges. Thick, adjustable steering wheel; HORRIBLE cruise stalk placement. It's right where the indicator should be, you have to go around it to get to the indicator. Pretty good sound system, but the tuner SUCKS...wouldn't hold a station cleanly. Side mirrors could be a bit bigger; it's a large car so they made it hard to see the ends of the car like I like to be able to do. Very roomy interior. Rear seat looks like it would be very comfortable for two large adults, 3 if average size. Only had driver’s window auto-down, kind of a disappointment considering the Hyundai I had the month before had auto up AND down for all 4 windows!
Driving impressions:
I’ve never driven a car with this much instant torque. From a standstill, even with traction control on you could easily light up the rears (It didn’t help that the car was SEVERLY under-tired - 235/55R18 Michelin HXs front and rear). There was a noticeable drop-off in pull after 100mph, though, but I suppose you shouldn’t be driving that fast anyway:lol:
For such a big car, the handling was not bad at all. Transitional response was quite good, and while you were definitely aware of the car’s heft, it never felt out of control. Some body roll, but not enough to unsettle the car. Passing other cars was a breeze: pull out, foot down, repeat as necessary. And the engine note! I never thought of Dodge cars sounding particularly good, but I found myself burying the throttle just to hear the roar. Of course, this behavior killed my gas mileage, but whatever, I wasn’t paying for it.
Speaking of the throttle, it was fairly touchy and non-linear, but not unreasonably so. The cylinder deactivation was completely transparent; if I didn’t know the car had it, there would’ve been no indication otherwise. The tranny shifted crisply, without any excessive jerkiness, and held gears as long as I wanted them.
Final thoughts: this would definitely make a fun DD or even weekend toy, if you can afford to have a heavy right foot. That being said, I feel like the fit, finish and options on the car were rather lacking given the price point; to use the Hyundai comparison again, the Hyundai’s interior was orders of magnitude better than the Charger’s in a car that is $10k cheaper. You definitely pay a premium for that engine, and it’s almost worth it.
Cliff’s: Great engine and styling, decent handling for its size; needs more rubber, better fit and finish, and should be better loaded for its price point; also, if you drive it the way it should be, you’ll be stopping for gas real often
She got one of the guys to pull it out because it was parked in a tight space. From the time I heard the engine roar to life, I knew that this could be fun. The guy pulling it out barked the tires every time he hit the gas...yeah, definitely could be fun. When he pulled it up, he was like "Ok, this is the Hemi, you're going to have to be easy on the gas, it's real powerful" I said "I think I'll be ok" (I have driven several Supras, both BPU and APU
).So after finishing up the paperwork, I got in. Initial interior impressions:
Comfy but supportive driver’s seat. VERY plain interior, but the gaps were minimal and even. Large, easy to read gauges. Thick, adjustable steering wheel; HORRIBLE cruise stalk placement. It's right where the indicator should be, you have to go around it to get to the indicator. Pretty good sound system, but the tuner SUCKS...wouldn't hold a station cleanly. Side mirrors could be a bit bigger; it's a large car so they made it hard to see the ends of the car like I like to be able to do. Very roomy interior. Rear seat looks like it would be very comfortable for two large adults, 3 if average size. Only had driver’s window auto-down, kind of a disappointment considering the Hyundai I had the month before had auto up AND down for all 4 windows!
Driving impressions:
I’ve never driven a car with this much instant torque. From a standstill, even with traction control on you could easily light up the rears (It didn’t help that the car was SEVERLY under-tired - 235/55R18 Michelin HXs front and rear). There was a noticeable drop-off in pull after 100mph, though, but I suppose you shouldn’t be driving that fast anyway:lol:
For such a big car, the handling was not bad at all. Transitional response was quite good, and while you were definitely aware of the car’s heft, it never felt out of control. Some body roll, but not enough to unsettle the car. Passing other cars was a breeze: pull out, foot down, repeat as necessary. And the engine note! I never thought of Dodge cars sounding particularly good, but I found myself burying the throttle just to hear the roar. Of course, this behavior killed my gas mileage, but whatever, I wasn’t paying for it
.Speaking of the throttle, it was fairly touchy and non-linear, but not unreasonably so. The cylinder deactivation was completely transparent; if I didn’t know the car had it, there would’ve been no indication otherwise. The tranny shifted crisply, without any excessive jerkiness, and held gears as long as I wanted them.
Final thoughts: this would definitely make a fun DD or even weekend toy, if you can afford to have a heavy right foot. That being said, I feel like the fit, finish and options on the car were rather lacking given the price point; to use the Hyundai comparison again, the Hyundai’s interior was orders of magnitude better than the Charger’s in a car that is $10k cheaper. You definitely pay a premium for that engine, and it’s almost worth it.
Cliff’s: Great engine and styling, decent handling for its size; needs more rubber, better fit and finish, and should be better loaded for its price point; also, if you drive it the way it should be, you’ll be stopping for gas real often
