Car Review: 2009 Dodge Charger

Wait! It’s not what you think. Really. Drive this car for a few days and you may be pleasantly surprised, I was.  Yes, it’s a stripper rental version, so I wasn’t really so much surprised with what it is, but I was surprised with what it could be.

Go back in time several years. Every carguy was screaming at the Big Three to make a proper  RWD sedan. Chrysler actually listened and they came up a series of cars based off the W210 Mercedes. With very low expectations I rented a Charger (mostly only because it had Sirius radio). Read the below review keeping in mind that this vehicle is suppose to go against cars like Taurus and Malibu.

Vehicle:
2009 Dodge Charger SXT RWD. 3.5L V6. Rented from Dollar, approximately 4400 miles.

Engine and transmission:
Rough sounding V6. Awful 4-speed automatic. Overall, it wasn’t horribly slow but it had to work hard to get itself going. On the highway, in cruised comfortably up to around 75mph. Any faster than that the engine felt like an old dog; it really wanted to run but was lacking the strength and stamina.

Highway acceleration was a complicated thing; a kick from the transmission, a scream of the old dog and finally it got going… but not too long, this fast thing running is tiresome. Ok, so the engine/trans combo sucks, but wait… what if you throw in a pair of cylinders and an extra cog?

Handling:
Steering feel is on the light side but not sloppy with a hint of actually being direct. Suspension is on the soft & comfortable side but it’s far from wobbly. I couldn’t really push the car, but in daily driving and highway ramps it felt balanced and like most cars set up for understeer. But what really got me was how predictable the handling was; yea, it was soft, it was vague, but as long as you kept that in the back of your mind there were not going to be any surprises. Tighten up the steering, recalibrate the suspension, get proper tires and you will have a very entertaining vehicle to drive.

Interior:
God, I can already here hear the complains about plastics, fit and finish, the feel, etc. Shut up, it’s a cheap car, I expect the interior to be cheap, so let’s look beyond the above.

• Dash layout: Three simple knobs for HVAC. Typical Chrysler radio, little different but you get used to it. I actually like how the pre-sets are setup. Gauges are clear but sometimes obstructed by the big airbag and thick spokes of the steering wheel.
• Console, etc: two big cup-holders, a little area that’s perfect for most cell phones. The lid to the spacious, 2-level, center compartment seemed to be poorly designed, but you can live with it.
• Seats: Lacking support, but after a four-hour drive, I was not tired and my ass or back did not hurt, making it a very comfortable road trip car. Rear leg room is decent.
• Stereo: sound was ok. The display on the headunit told you what you needed to know, and was generally intuitive to use. Sirius and aux input were present even on this stripper car.*
• Decent trunk size, however the opening could be little wider and lower which could come in handy when loading big objects (strollers, etc). Fold down rear seat* is a nice, but again, the opening is a little on the small side. Chrysler, please look at German sedans for properly designed folding rear seats.
• The most annoying part was the blinker stalk. It was too low, and you had to move your hand down if you were holding the wheel at the 9-o’clock position. Further, in addition to blinkers and high-beam flash, it also worked as the wiper and windshield washer switch… too much crap in one place, had to look down to turn the wipers on and that function was way behind the steering wheel.

Exterior:
Judge for yourself. To me the Chrysler 300 looks better and the Charger is something that looks better with a pair beer-goggles.  

Overall Impression:
I’m not really impressed with this base Changer, but keeping in mind what car was designed for, it’s not that bad. I am however very impressed with what it could be; more power, more gears, better suspension, and it could be a very entertaining vehicle. Hopefully I’ll be able to get my hands on a SRT8 one of these days.

Dodge website.

*STX features only, not on base model