I drive a 2006 Dodge Charger R/T HEMI. I got it on a 27 month lease. It’s an absolute piece of shit and a mechanical embarrassment on nearly every level, but I’ll come back to that later. First things first.
It’s worth noting that my prior two cars were nearly flawless: a 2001 Acura CL Type-S, and then a 2004 Infiniti G35. The G35, in particular, was an excellent machine: I took it into the dealer one time because an oxygen sensor died, which led to the relatively benign problem of a warning light being lit all the time. The dealer gave me a loaner car, sent me on my way, and called me back a few hours later to tell me the job was done. And they washed my car too. Nice.
About the same story for the Acura: nearly no problems except for a headlight that killed itself prematurely, plus the time I decided to take a turn too fast after a winter storm and plowed headlong into a pile of snow. That resulted in a cracked front clip, which was all fiberglass, that had to be replaced. My error, not Acura’s, and I did learn the lesson that a 4′ pile of wet snow is denser than you might think. I got a free loaner car in that scenario too, even though the repair wasn’t warranty work.
So. Let’s get back to the Charger and that whole piece of shit thing.
When it came time to turn in my G35 at the end of its lease term, I decided I wanted something cheaper. Around here in Detroit, you hear a steady cacophony of rally cries to support the local American automakers which, allegedly, will help our ailing local economy. Like some flipper-armed idiot, I decided to listen to it. To pay my dues, you know. To show my support for local industry. To be a patriot.
Aesthetically, I think the Dodge Charger R/T is a nice looking car, which is more than I can say for 90% of American cars. In my opinion, American cars are quotidian and safe, which means boring to anyone who has any sense of industrial design. (Today’s most notable exception might be Cadillac, whose new CTS is delicious-looking and actually has an engine worth noting.) After some ado, I found a dealership, started to haggle, and wound up with a fantastic lease price on a new Dodge Charger R/T HEMI, fully loaded.
It wasn’t my dream car, but then again it wasn’t supposed to be: I was going to support my local homeboys and get a cheaper car payment. That was my mission. Plus it was fast, and anyone who doesn’t appreciate a fast car has never driven one (properly).
As I write this, I’m just over one year into the Charger’s lease, and I can tell you that the car is easily the most confusingly odd and problematic car I’ve ever had, bar none. It’s been to the shop four times (three for the same two problems), and some of the decisions that went into the car’s features are so braindead that I wonder if they were literally added as an afterthought by engineering interns.
Let’s start with the shitty feature design first.
What would you say to 8-way power driver and passenger seats but NO seat memory? You can take 20 minutes to tweak your seat and lumbar support across a hundred different adjustment axes, and when young punkass valet gets in and fucks with the settings, too bad. You have to try to recreate them by feel. Stupid.
How about a DVD-based navigation system that shows VIRTUALLY NO street names except very few major ones? If I’m driving looking for a side street in a foreign subdivision, I can’t see the street names unless I take my eyes off the road and move the annoying little crosshair cursor to the street I think I’m looking for and click a button. I can have the entire map displayed rather broadly, and no matter what level of zoom I’m in, I’ll see anywhere between two and six street names, all of which are major thoroughfares. Nothing else. This makes the entire system almost completely unusable. How did this software design get approved? Stupid.
How about a steering wheel radio channel control that, when activated, jumps to the nearest channel with any signal whatsoever instead of your next preset favorite? Who does that? When I’m whipping through my radio presets, I want to go from one to the other. I don’t ever feel the desire to change from one of my presets to some backwoods, half-ass station that’s three parts static to one part signal. Do people do this? How was this design decision reached? We’re talking about a car with the top-end, Sirius-equipped radio in it. Stupid.
How about a rear-view mirror that doesn’t autodim (like both my Acura and G35 did) unless you have — are you ready for this? — the Bluetooth phone option equipped on your car. If you don’t select this option, you get an old school, 1981 Chevette-style mirror that you need to adjust yourself according to situation. Somehow, someone at Chrysler decided that the logical pairing for something as simple as mirror autodim is the Bluetooth option, because only Bluetooth people have eyes that shouldn’t get seared out of their skulls by the dude behind them with the highbeams on. Stupid.
How about not offering a Xenon headlamp option on a fully-loaded model? You can’t get one, period. When I asked about this at the dealership, my salesman laughed said, “Hey, this is a Dodge, not a BMW.” Haw haw haw.
Yeah? Then why are you charging just under $36,000 for this? That’s not crap musclecar territory, that’s squarely in Lexus, Infiniti, BMW and Acura-land. Wait — you don’t understand your market very well, do you?
As I explain to people who ask, the Charger is a great car — for $24,000. For almost $36K, it’s a piece of shit. The only thing tethering me to sanity is the fact that I’m not paying a lease payment that’s anywhere near what the sticker would suggest. I got a great deal and I’m still pissed.
All of this illustrates one thing: Dodge has no idea where it wants the high-end Charger to compete. It’s not a sport luxury sedan, because it lacks such basic features that clearly Dodge isn’t gunning for that market, even though the price says otherwise. It’s not a full-on racecar, because it’s a 4-door beast and way too heavy to really let the HEMI do its job the way it wants.
(And it’s still fast, to which I say: at least Chrysler’s powerplant team knows what it’s doing.)
So overall, the car is in no-man’s-land: it’s neither fish nor fowl. And it shows.
If this is the state of American engineering, we’re in trouble. I know there are better examples out there (I have to think the new CTS wouldn’t suffer these failings), but my experience shows me that the Japanese automakers (and the Germans, but at this point in this rant, that should just be inferred) just flat-out kick the shit out of the American competition. I regret buying the Dodge, and if I could get out of the lease today, I would. In a red second.
I’ve told everyone who will listen that this is my last American car, and barring a miracle, it will be. By “miracle,” I probably mean “company car or car allowance that is only applicable to an American car.” Which, translated one step further, means “free car.”
Before you bitch too loudly at me in the comments, go read the title of this post again. See the “part 1”? That means there’s another part, and it’s probably the part where I tell you about the horribly maddening problems the Charger had and how two dealerships couldn’t fix them in under three visits. And we’re not taking about failing transmissions here: we’re talking about a horn that honked by itself randomly.
A horn. Honking by itself. That couldn’t be fixed by two allegedly 5-star dealerships until I raised holy hell.
More to come. Stay tuned. I would tell the story now, but I’m over 1400 words here and you deserve a minor medal for just making it this far. Nice work.
28 responses so far ↓
Bill // November 11, 2007 at 9:23 pm
I bought my dream car, a 92 Corvette new, as I would only buy American. Parts just ‘fell’ off of it. Bolts were not tightened, fasteners became unfastened. At least the engine was good. For Winters, I leased a Jeep Grand Cherokee, for a total of 3 in a row. The last had rattles everywhere, and leaked water from a window that was ‘fixed’ by the dealership, who kept screwing with the dash/glovebox area since they never listened to me to where it was leaking. Finally, after sending them the lemon law letter, the listened and fixed the leak that they had created, but the rattles became much worse and intolerable. I then bought a Lexus SUV, but the dealship were clueless if something and it cost a fortune. My wife had the Infinity i30 until 3 kids came along, then a minivan. Finally, we decided to go German. My E350 AWD and her R350 Benz are just what the doctor ordered. Two year on each lease and all is well. I must say that the Infinity was sweet as well. I guess that they are i35 now. My brothers criticized me for not buying American, until I gave them the Lexus and the minivan [Honda].
Goinglikesixty // November 11, 2007 at 9:34 pm
Just cruising the tags and ran across you post, and I just wanted to say:
AMEN.
2006 Magnum Hemi: I’ll add my complaints: can’t see cruise control lever and it is not intuitive. Push in to set, pull forward to set, push up to resume? I think? I don’t use it a lot because I drive around town mostly. When I get on the highway, I always have to fumble around to refresh my memory.
I (and others) never did how to change the clock for daylight savings time. The cheapest clock I own has a little hole and you push in a paper clip to change it. I know: read the manual. I refuse to read a manual to know how to set the clock.
Speedometer broke. MPH no, odometer OK.
Navigation in my town doesn’t have turn by turn!!! I don’t live in Podunk, it’s a town of 50,000.
I am having a ball drifting tho!
Our other car is a Sebring convertible, fun car, but same piece of shit. We bought extended warranty because we knew the time would expire before the mileage. So far replace brake rotors and replaced transmission - twice!
Mr Keller // November 11, 2007 at 9:48 pm
Wasn’t your family big on Fords? Or at least before the Grand National came around.
Then again I never pictured myself driving a Ford Truck.
Jeff Ventura // November 11, 2007 at 10:16 pm
James: The Mases were huge on Fords. My dad stuck to GM. We didn’t really care, but my dad has always harped on me endlessly about buying American.
SymbianUser // November 12, 2007 at 1:43 pm
I have to ask this - why on earth did you go from a G35 to a Charger??
The Charger looks like a yeehaw POS. It reminds of those vehicles that are probably sold with a shogun and a .38 as an option.
American car nowadays have little styling whatsoever. When the Ford Mondeo came out in Europe (5 years ago?) I was wowed by the lines. Everyone here got the North American version, a.ka., the Contour…
SteveP // November 12, 2007 at 3:12 pm
Jeez! None of this stuff should have been unknown before you leased! At least not to you! You don’t strike me as the kind of person who doesn’t AT LEAST read a few reviews and has at least SOME awareness of “quality” issues in each camp.
To even think for a minute that you should expect the same things in a Dodge - the worst of the “Big 3″ (!) as you found in the higher end Japanese cars - let alone in a Honda or Nissan or Toyota - just somehow strikes me as incredibly “fucking stupid”.
It’s worse than buying the cheapest Dell and comparing it to a high end Mac.
What did you really effing expect???
Sorry, I think a ton of the blame here is on you!
Jeff Ventura // November 12, 2007 at 4:45 pm
Steve: the reviews on the Charger, even the long-term ones, are *excellent*. Go do the research for yourself. You’ll be surprised at what you find.
I didn’t expect it to be as good as the G35, but I didn’t expect this, either.
Cedric // November 12, 2007 at 6:47 pm
Well I’m the proud owner of a Charger R/T and I haven’t had any problems so far…. going on 2 years. I don’t know what you we’re expecting, but normally I research a car before buying. A lot of this is your fault.
Bill // November 12, 2007 at 6:58 pm
Jeff, you didn’t build it, so it’s not your fault. Sorry guys, but I expect perfection above $30,000, or at least something that does not fail or fall apart. At $60K, the dealer should blow me.
Amanda // November 12, 2007 at 8:01 pm
I bought the Charger Daytona R/T and I love it. There are no complaints at all. It isa well put together mean machine..
Flash // November 12, 2007 at 8:25 pm
The biggest downfall in the American Auto industry is going to be the dealers. I’ve had my Charger for over a year and tons of miles. The only thing it’s been in the shop for is a broken windshield. I would gladly take my Dodge Daytona R/T over a G35 or an Acura any day. Seems to me like part of your problem is the dealership and part of it sounds like you had a few flaws from the factory. Both could be overcome.
DrivingIntoWallz // November 12, 2007 at 8:45 pm
As far as going through your presets using the steering wheel mounted buttons… on the left side of the steering wheel, try the little arrow that points to the right. That button should take you through your presets while the up/down arrows will “seek”. I agree with the no HID “xenon” headlight option, although it is available on the 2008 model. Sorry you’ve had a bad experience, you should try reading your owner’s manual or looking into forums related to the Charger, you might learn some cool things about the car.
Chase300 // November 12, 2007 at 11:05 pm
Are you kidding me? How about reading the manual if you can’t figure out how to operate the radio controls on the steering wheel. One is for the presets, the other is for scan. Yes, the Charger doesn’t have all the luxury features, like memory seats, xenon headlights, that is why Chrysler sells the 300C. That is the luxury car that more competes with Lexus, Infinity. The Charger was more sport, think Chevy, Toyota, Nissan competition. The Nav system is great, its easier to use and input an address than the G35. I’ve used the G35 and the Mopar Nav is better in many ways. Your rank is baseless, no one buys the Charger at $36K, they sell for around $30K for an R/T. The G35 is nice, but not really what I would call a direct competitor to a Charger.
Jose // November 12, 2007 at 11:08 pm
If you had an ounce of common sense, you would have done research before leasing this car & found that it had no seat memory & wasn’t equipped with Xenon headlamps. Are you so lazy that you can’t lean your ass forward & put your little arm up to adjust your rear view mirror? You are the kind of obnoxious asshole that prances into a dealership, tells them who you think you are & wants your ass kissed for being someone that you think they should give the slightest shit about. If you want to act like a prick, go buy yourself a BMW 3 series, you’re exactly the kind of person who would get the absolutely cheapest model just to boost your overinflated ego by saying that you have a BMW
Scott // November 12, 2007 at 11:59 pm
The main problem the american automakers have is that our own government screwed them over by having unfair trade agreements with other countries. They have no labor laws in these other countries and they tariff the hell out of american cars. imports get great deals to sell their products here when they are made with cheap labor over there. our cars are taxed so heavily abroad it’s cheaper for them to buy over here and ship them on a boat overseas. the politicians sold this country a long time ago and you are helping them. by the way, many of the least reliable cars are foreign (german and british are notorious for being in the shop when you look at the stats). Cars will sometimes have problems but if you have a warranty, you don’t have to pay for the repairs. And you’re all wondering so I’ll say it- dodge charger owner here with no problems, just pure joy as I blow your doors off.
Jeff Ventura // November 13, 2007 at 12:26 am
Chase: I’ll grant you the radio issue. That’s good to know that there’s a way around that problem. Cool.
To the other things: bullshit. The car is full of engineering flaws, and for the price it’s stickering for (not that I paid), it needs to be better. The nav system is horrible (everyone who sees it thinks there’s a setting that I haven’t discovered, but alas, no), the lack of memory seats when you’re going to give me 6- or 8-way adjustable power seats is inexcuseable, and the crappy old-style mirror is a major gaffe.
For VERY LITTLE ADDITIONAL INVESTMENT, Dodge could have addressed these issues.
And about the 300: if I wanted a car more suited to older men, I would have selected the 300. But I preferred the styling of the Charger over the 300. I also wanted to buy American this time around, but I had no idea that such basic features would be missing or so poorly implemented.
(One I didn’t mention: how about those power windows that have auto down, but not auto up? Who’s the genius who decided that?)
Remember: you haven’t heard about the endless series of problems with the car yet. Will you still defend it? We’re talking a horn that honks all by itself, steering wheel radio controls that intermittently stop working, a heating system that provides heat for a certain amount of time and then goes FULL COLD until I wiggle the thermostat dial, and brake rotors that warped at 11K miles (like every other Chrysler product I’ve owned had). The majority of these problems took two dealerships and three visits to fix.
The car isn’t impressive once you get past the engine. Even though I knew it wasn’t my dream car and I was just leasing it to go American for a change, it’s been a HUGE disappointment.
Never again. From here on out, the Japanese or German automakers get my money. Life’s too short to deal with crappy products for the sake of a symbolic economic battle.
Flash // November 13, 2007 at 12:45 am
Actually the windows do have an auto up Jeff. Do you have your heat system on auto? If that’s the case it will get really hot until it reaches the set temperature, then the a/c will kick on to restore the balance. Maybe the features aren’t as user friendly as what you’re used to in your G35’s or Acura’s, but spending a few minutes with the owners manual to learn how to use it wouldn’t hurt you. When you got your first computer you took a minute to learn how to use it didn’t you? Or did you just smash at the keyboard saying “INPUT BLOG NOW!” until it worked? In a way, that’s kinda what you’re doing with the Charger. I am however curious to hear about your other problems.
Scott // November 13, 2007 at 8:59 am
I could go on and on about problems with a german car such as the situation with VW’s and ball joints. However, concluding anything based on a limited amount of data such as a single case is either representative of poor science or an axe to grind.
Jeff Ventura // November 13, 2007 at 9:52 am
Flash: my climate control is not on auto, no. I keep it on manual. If it were on auto, I would understand that it would periodically kick to cooler air to maintain the ambient setting. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.
AM // November 13, 2007 at 10:19 am
OK, Let me begin by saying I have a 2006 Dodge Charger R/T. It has had two issues since purchase and has almost 50K on it. Both my headlights had to be replaced due to moisture condensation on the inside of them. Other than that the car has been flawless.
I made an impulse purchase, as I loved the look and style of the LX platforms, and my expanding family.
Looks like you need to do more research before your purchase. If you going to spend your hard earned money, you shouldn’t rush into a product until you’ve did the upfront work.
My navigation system works great and is easily used in Dallas where I live. I get good directions and can easily navigate around the area with it.
Sorry you’ve had a bad experience, you should try reading your owner’s manual or looking into a product before you spend you hard earned money on it.
Go buy your self a Lexas, or BMW and think these cars are far superior. This is your choice. You’re allowed to have your opinions.
For every jack*&$ like you that will never be happy, there are 20 people like me that are truly happy with their Canadian Vehicle
Mark // November 13, 2007 at 11:24 am
I too am a proud Charger owner and as for the Germans kicking our ass, you mean Daimler Chrysler??? I agree that memory seats would be nice and the mirror sucks, but HIDs are available this year. If you want a luxury car, go buy one, pretty simple. I knew exactly what I was buying when I got mine, and I love it to death!!!
Flash // November 13, 2007 at 11:39 am
Actually Jeff I think that’s just part of that infrared sensor. If you set the temp on 75 and the temp in the car is 45 because it’s a cold morning I think it adjusts the heat accordingly (or in some cases blasts you with hot air) until it reaches that temperature and then backs off. Honestly it seems like some of the features you crave are on the 300 and not on the charger.
As far as the windows, next time you roll them up, hold button in the up position once they’re fully up for five seconds. Presto! Automatic roll up windows.
Jose // November 13, 2007 at 12:24 pm
What engineering flaws is the car full of? You whine about petty things, you want luxury features without having to pay for them. If you had looked into the options, you would have found that there is indeed an options package that includes bluetooth, which is apparently a major engineering flaw to you, along with lack of seat memory & no auto dim mirror. If you need an auto dim mirror that bad, order 1 yourself & install it, if you can figure out how to work a screwdriver & glue.
Chase300 // November 13, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Jeff, as someone pointed out, the windows ARE auto up and auto down.
I don’t understand the Nav issue, it will scale down to 1/20 and you can see most street names. Most people use the Nav by inputing an address they want to go to, or some destination and let the Nav guide you. Also, unlike the G35 Nav, do you know that you can modify the Charger Nav to play DVD’s? Or hook up a playstation and hook up a rear camera too? Pretty neat and makes the Nav much more functional than just a radio and map system. I too like the Charger styling but bought the 300C because as you found out, the Charger is missing some comfort parts that I wanted and when you add them to the Charger its more expensive than the 300C. To be honest, the only thing I really like is the Xenon headlamps. I don’t use the memory seats, so I can’t comment. I will agree with you on the brake rotors, as I’ve had 3 Chrysler products and they all had poor rotor and brake pads. I solve those with aftermarket parts, but it is an annoyance. However, the G35 has had the same brake rotor issues as well as tire wear issues. Also remember that Germany, Mercedes was running Chrysler when you bought the Charger. Its basically a stretched E Class with the Hemi engine. Transmission, suspension, rear end are all Mercedes parts, as is the Cruise Control…right out of the Mercedes parts pin. I know how frustrating it is if you have issues and the Dealer can’t resolve them, so I understand the rant, but some of your issues are not warranted.
PS. The good thing is your lease is well within the warranty period, so I would not sweat it.
koolio // November 20, 2007 at 10:29 am
Sorry to hear about your headaches with the Charger.
The last American car I’ve owned was a ‘98 Jeep Grand Cherokee (which was great) but I 100% agree with you: if the Big 3 want to stop their market share loss, they need to build cars that excel in every category - design (exterior and interior), usability, functionality, quality and price. Surprisingly, Cadillac is has been able to achieve most of these.
Also, GM needs to learn that they can’t take one model and sell it under 2-3 different brands…do they think their customers are that stupid? Oh, and get rid of the Fisher Price buttons in the interior.
2008 Prius vs. 2006 Charger R/T « GracefulFlavor // May 7, 2008 at 2:30 pm
[...] on two different occasions. Even some of its features, in their designed-as-intended state, are stupid. I often want to punch the car but don’t for fear of something important falling off/out, like an [...]
fifthdecade // May 7, 2008 at 10:48 pm
I don’t think you really did your homework on this one - were you just having one of those “blind patriot” days? If so a simple bit of research on Wikipedia would have shown you that the Charger is actually made in Canada, not in the US.
Still, everyone makes a boo boo every once in a while: this was just your worst one for a while. Or are there worse?
Gas Price Heat Map « GracefulFlavor // May 27, 2008 at 3:20 pm
[...] suckered this morning: I saw $4.05 on the gas station’s corner placard, so I pulled in so my piece of shit Dodge would get me to work and I wouldn’t be victimized by its 18 MPG behavioral disorder. [...]
Leave a Comment