New(ish) Chargers, are they any good?

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Revhendo

Revhendo

Master ACME Tech
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So, I've gotten to that point in my life that the Mrs. needs a daily driver. She likes her little Ranger truck, but it's getting long in the tooth and I'm looking at getting something we can comfortably do some distance in on the weekends. I've test driven a few SXT V-6 Chargers and was actually pleased by them. I know, I know, Hemi, but I'm looking at better gas mileage, lower insurance rates and have to consider the leadfoot that will be the primary pilot.

So what say you? I'm looking at 2015s to 2018s and wondering what y'alls experiences are.
 
Revhendo said:
So, I've gotten to that point in my life that the Mrs. needs a daily driver. She likes her little Ranger truck, but it's getting long in the tooth and I'm looking at getting something we can comfortably do some distance in on the weekends. I've test driven a few SXT V-6 Chargers and was actually pleased by them. I know, I know, Hemi, but I'm looking at better gas mileage, lower insurance rates and have to consider the leadfoot that will be the primary pilot.

So what say you? I'm looking at 2015s to 2018s and wondering what y'alls experiences are.
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I have driven them as rental cars and thought they drove nice, nothing spectacular, but a nice drive.
Do you need a 4 door?
If not the two door Challenger with the V6 is also a nice driver.
If you are open to other makes,, my wife has a 2011 Altima that she bought new,
with close to 95,000 miles on it,, has been a reasonably trouble free car.
Gets way over 30 MPG on the highway, mid 20's in town,,
 
my winter beater is an 08 charger witt a v6
i bought it on 09 with 80K on it, it has about double that now
i have replaced on CV axle and a O2 sensor...nothing else, other then wear items
 
I have a 14 R/T. Bought it new and it has about 70k on it now. Normal oil changes and a set of spark plugs is all I have had to do with it. Find it very comfortable and have takes it on many long distance drives where it averages 27 mpg. City wise it will average 19. From what I have read on the Charger forum some of the later ones have had glitchy electrical issues.
 
my68barracuda said:
I have driven them as rental cars and thought they drove nice, nothing spectacular, but a nice drive.
Do you need a 4 door?
If not the two door Challenger with the V6 is also a nice driver.
If you are open to other makes,, my wife has a 2011 Altima that she bought new,
with close to 95,000 miles on it,, has been a reasonably trouble free car.
Gets way over 30 MPG on the highway, mid 20's in town,,
Click to expand...
Yeah, gotta be 4 doors. I agree, not spectacular, but nice. We had rented a 2012 several years back and we both liked it. My brother in law has an Altima, I thinks it's a great car, but the Mrs. really is digging on the Charger. (Which is nice because she initially wanted a 4dr truck and I don't have anywhere near the coin for that.)

diymirage said:
my winter beater is an 08 charger witt a v6
i bought it on 09 with 80K on it, it has about double that now
i have replaced on CV axle and a O2 sensor...nothing else, other then wear items
Click to expand...
Nice. I'm looking to stay within a few years old and with low mileage. Cal smog laws and whatnot.
 
I'm a fan. See very few of the 12's and newer come thru the shop. When they do, it's mickey mouse stuff.
The first few years had issues with front suspension. Bushings in the control arms rot and make a hell of noise.
Newer ones have that worked out.
 
The 2011 Chargers are built on a different platform that the 06-10 Chargers. The previous ones were the LX platform and 2011 and up are on the LD platform. It wasn’t a redesign, it was a totally new chassis platform.

I have an ‘06 Charger SRT LX that I have owned since new and was my daily driver for 10 years, 24/7 365 days a year in all weather. It has been great and I still love it. I also have a 2012 Chrysler 300C that is my currrent daily driver. The 300C is also still on the LX platform.

I have had minimal issues with both vehicles and over 220k miles between them.

The newer LD platform is reported to be even better than the LX was.


My SRT and 300 still both look and drive great.

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EDFE1491-FE92-4094-8F33-DB4FBF4E4920.jpeg
 
Revhendo said:
Nice. I'm looking to stay within a few years old and with low mileage. Cal smog laws and whatnot.
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understood, i just wanted to throw out what these cars are capable of, being 10 year old

come to think of it, i also replace the fuel door, since the stocker rotten out
 
diymirage said:
understood, i just wanted to throw out what these cars are capable of, being 10 year old

come to think of it, i also replace the fuel door, since the stocker rotten out
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I appreciate the input regardless of model year. I was a Dodge tech many many moons ago.
Correction, make that many many many many moons ago. Past performance is just as telling as current.
 
The 3.6 paired with the 8 speed is an awesome combination. When I was working for FCA one of my company cars was a 300S and it was my favorite. Super low gears give great acceleration and got nearly 30mpg on long trips. 3.6 doesnt have the same issues with eating cams or dropping valve seats as the hemi. The oil cooler can leak, which is a pain as its under the intake.
 
indirect_connection said:
The 3.6 paired with the 8 speed is an awesome combination. When I was working for FCA one of my company cars was a 300S and it was my favorite. Super low gears give great acceleration and got nearly 30mpg on long trips. 3.6 doesnt have the same issues with eating cams or dropping valve seats as the hemi. The oil cooler can leak, which is a pain as its under the intake.
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The dropped valve seats and cam eating was resolved on the 5.7L engine when the Eagle variant was introduced in 2008. My 300C with the 5.7L Eagle Hemi and NAG 1 5 speed auto gets close to 30 mpg highway.

This was after a 90% highway trip...

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I'm not saying the Hemi isn't great, just that the 3.6 is not a bad choice. Much better than the 2.7 and 3.5. Having the eight speed really narrows the gap. And while the valve seat issue may be resolved, lifters are still going bad and wiping cams. I think the problem is overblown, but I work with Chrysler techs everyday, and they only work with the broken ones. For every Hemi with a wiped cam there are probably 100 that are fine.
 
my68barracuda said:
I have driven them as rental cars and thought they drove nice, nothing spectacular, but a nice drive.
Do you need a 4 door?
If not the two door Challenger with the V6 is also a nice driver.
If you are open to other makes,, my wife has a 2011 Altima that she bought new,
with close to 95,000 miles on it,, has been a reasonably trouble free car.
Gets way over 30 MPG on the highway, mid 20's in town,,
Click to expand...

My wife works for Avis, she gets 3-4 weeks of free rental every year , we have driven quite a few over the yrs. The chargers have been the nicest driving we`ve had, the ford fusion , and altimas didn`t impress me , but that seems to be the ones we get the most.
Paying customers get the good ones first.
 
indirect_connection said:
I'm not saying the Hemi isn't great, just that the 3.6 is not a bad choice. Much better than the 2.7 and 3.5. Having the eight speed really narrows the gap. And while the valve seat issue may be resolved, lifters are still going bad and wiping cams. I think the problem is overblown, but I work with Chrysler techs everyday, and they only work with the broken ones. For every Hemi with a wiped cam there are probably 100 that are fine.
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City cop car is in the shop right now for that. 2014 Charger/Hemi with 7x,*** on the clock.
 
My wife had a 2012 Charger R/T 5.7 and replaced it with a 2018 R/T 5.7. Both will get 30+ mpg Cruising on the highway at 70-75 mph. I love them. We gave the 2012 to my daughter with 70K on the clock, still ran like new. Always ran 10w30 oil and changed it often.
 
famous bob said:
My wife works for Avis, she gets 3-4 weeks of free rental every year , we have driven quite a few over the yrs. The chargers have been the nicest driving we`ve had, the ford fusion , and altimas didn`t impress me , but that seems to be the ones we get the most.
Paying customers get the good ones first.
Click to expand...

'73red-duster said:
City cop car is in the shop right now for that. 2014 Charger/Hemi with 7x,*** on the clock.
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Yeah, I do like how the Charger drives. I said the word Nissan to the Mrs. and got some wierd noise and a look from her that no man should be subject to.
I'm a mechanic for the city, but we have the Exploders and Taurus Interceptors. Bigtime trans and PTU problems. The water pumps and motor mounts seriously suck. Most any other problems I can attribute to operator headspace and timing.
 
Revhendo said:
Yeah, I do like how the Charger drives. I said the word Nissan to the Mrs. and got some wierd noise and a look from her that no man should be subject to.
I'm a mechanic for the city, but we have the Exploders and Taurus Interceptors. Bigtime trans and PTU problems. The water pumps and motor mounts seriously suck. Most any other problems I can attribute to operator headspace and timing.
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The city of Tulsa went all ford, before I retired. ford must be giving them away , all of the bigger new trucks got 11 mpg.
The drove pretty good tho.
Did u guys see where chevy is whining about Ram replacing them at # 2 in sales ? Were only 100`s behind ford. A round here Dodges out number the other two put together , seems like .
 
famous bob said:
The city of Tulsa went all ford, before I retired. ford must be giving them away , all of the bigger new trucks got 11 mpg.
The drove pretty good tho.
Did u guys see where chevy is whining about Ram replacing them at # 2 in sales ? Were only 100`s behind ford. A round here Dodges out number the other two put together , seems like .
Click to expand...
Our Exploder Interceptors aren't getting any better than 7 - 8 mpg.

And, I guess we'll find out about how these cars are for me.
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20190427_084033.jpg
 
famous bob said:
The city of Tulsa went all ford, before I retired. ford must be giving them away , all of the bigger new trucks got 11 mpg.
The drove pretty good tho.
Did u guys see where chevy is whining about Ram replacing them at # 2 in sales ? Were only 100`s behind ford. A round here Dodges out number the other two put together , seems like .
Click to expand...

I looked at all three when I bought my Ram. Chevy was a short look, and having driven Ford trucks my whole life, I looked at them pretty hard. Couldn't come close on a comparable Ford to my Ram, and so far, I'm very happy with my decision.
 
FBE8E53E-4977-483D-A8E9-B8FC026819BC.jpeg
Hemi. Wife’s 06 Daytona the best car we own. Goes fast, does everything, 4 door convenience. New R/T’s priced right.
 
I have an 06 Charger RT, and it's a good thing they changed platforms in 2011. My suspension has clunked even though I had rebuilt it with all brand new stuff just two days later. However, she runs sweet and smooth, I love the 5.7.

But my boyfriend's got a 14 Challenger SXT with the 3.6. I've driven it a few times and I really do like it. It's quick off the line, gets to speed quickly, and it's been a great engine. He drives that thing hard and we've driven it from Washington to Nevada and all he's ever had to do was oil changes at 5k intervals and spark plugs at 100k. Another thumbs up for the 3.6!
 
They're pretty nice cars had a 2013 R/T, and driving a 2016 Hellcat now - happy with either (but admittedly happier with the newer one ;-))
 
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