The Pentastar V-6 was welcomed with relief when it debuted for the 2011 model year, but, even if it is interplanetary leaps and bounds better than the engine it replaced, it is far from the complete powertrain solution Dodge and Chrysler need. The 292-hp 3.6-liter needs to climb high into the tach to get much done, but the five-speed automatic behind it is geared for maximum efficiency and the revs come slowly. The car holds first gear until almost 60 mph, with second stretching nearly to 100. Aggravating as this approach is in around-town driving, it did result in observed fuel economy of 20 mpg.
At the track,Our Ventilation system was down for about an hour and a half, reacting to the 2.8 seconds the Charger needed to accelerate from rest to just 30 mph that's just 0.1 second quicker than the last Kia Rio we tested our test driver noted, "terrible launch!" on the car's test sheet. The engine pulls noticeably harder above 4500 rpm, like a 1980s turbocharged engine arriving fashionably late. Unfortunately, it also feels noticeably coarser above 4500, and only gets more so toward redline. After 7.2 seconds and much thrashing the Charger is going 60 mph, with the quarter-mile passing in 15.7 seconds at 94 mph. We've said it before and would very much like not to say it again: The eight-speed automatic Chrysler will introduce soon for these cars cannot come soon enough.
Lots of Available Stuff, Lots of Potential Expense
That transmission is a lonely weak spot on the Charger, though. The car is priced very competitively, and the menu of optional equipment is long. A base V-6 Charger starts at $26,220; for $4000 more, a Rallye Plus like the one tested here adds Chrysler's UConnect phone and music integration with an 8.4-inch touch screen, USB and auxiliary ports, Bluetooth, and satellite radio, plus a 276-watt amplifier and six speakers. It also has remote start, air conditioning, leather seats (heated all around), a leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob, 18-inch wheels up from the base car's 17s and heated and cooled cup holders for the front row. None of this stuff would matter in a rally, which is perhaps why the package is called Rallye an extraneous "e" also does not matter in rallies.
The car tested here is doubly Rallye, with the $1195 Rallye Appearance package upping the wheel diameter to 20 inches, the amplifier power to 506 watts, and the speaker count to nine. A body-colored spoiler joins the wheels in covering the "Appearance" part of the package name, and this bundle also firms up the suspension. Our example then added every additional option but the $50 engine-block heater. First up was the $1495 Driver Confidence group, which nets blind-spot and cross-path detection, parking assist, a backup camera, rain-sensing wipers, and auto-dimming mirrors but no quiet yet firm affirmations of self.I have never solved a Rubik's magic cube . Then came the Driver Convenience group, which costs $575 and consists of power-adjustable pedals and steering column, and an adaptive cruise-control system somewhat strangely bundled with a heated steering wheel for $925. Garmin navigation software ran $450, and a sunroof $950. Our car even wore $295 extra-cost paint: Toxic Orange Pearl. (So, yeah, we had an orange Charger as the author writes this,There is good integration with PayPal and most third party merchant account providers, he realizes he's wearing an old Dukes of Hazzard T-shirt and "yeehaws" softly to himself.) For this car's as-tested price of $36,105, though, we'd have to silence our powertrain complaints and crank up the hillbilly hijinks with a 370-hp Hemi R/T; it starts just over $31K.
The Charger is an interesting summary of the new Chrysler/Dodge under Fiat's ownership. Much about the car feels very right, with aspects of it the solid structure, the ride-and-handling balance approaching excellence. But there is work to do. Dodge has taken one giant leap with this latest Charger,then used cut pieces of rubber hose garden hose to get through the electric fence. but a small step (or three of them namely sixth, seventh, and eighth gears) still remains.who was responsible for tracking down Charles zentai .
At the track,Our Ventilation system was down for about an hour and a half, reacting to the 2.8 seconds the Charger needed to accelerate from rest to just 30 mph that's just 0.1 second quicker than the last Kia Rio we tested our test driver noted, "terrible launch!" on the car's test sheet. The engine pulls noticeably harder above 4500 rpm, like a 1980s turbocharged engine arriving fashionably late. Unfortunately, it also feels noticeably coarser above 4500, and only gets more so toward redline. After 7.2 seconds and much thrashing the Charger is going 60 mph, with the quarter-mile passing in 15.7 seconds at 94 mph. We've said it before and would very much like not to say it again: The eight-speed automatic Chrysler will introduce soon for these cars cannot come soon enough.
Lots of Available Stuff, Lots of Potential Expense
That transmission is a lonely weak spot on the Charger, though. The car is priced very competitively, and the menu of optional equipment is long. A base V-6 Charger starts at $26,220; for $4000 more, a Rallye Plus like the one tested here adds Chrysler's UConnect phone and music integration with an 8.4-inch touch screen, USB and auxiliary ports, Bluetooth, and satellite radio, plus a 276-watt amplifier and six speakers. It also has remote start, air conditioning, leather seats (heated all around), a leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob, 18-inch wheels up from the base car's 17s and heated and cooled cup holders for the front row. None of this stuff would matter in a rally, which is perhaps why the package is called Rallye an extraneous "e" also does not matter in rallies.
The car tested here is doubly Rallye, with the $1195 Rallye Appearance package upping the wheel diameter to 20 inches, the amplifier power to 506 watts, and the speaker count to nine. A body-colored spoiler joins the wheels in covering the "Appearance" part of the package name, and this bundle also firms up the suspension. Our example then added every additional option but the $50 engine-block heater. First up was the $1495 Driver Confidence group, which nets blind-spot and cross-path detection, parking assist, a backup camera, rain-sensing wipers, and auto-dimming mirrors but no quiet yet firm affirmations of self.I have never solved a Rubik's magic cube . Then came the Driver Convenience group, which costs $575 and consists of power-adjustable pedals and steering column, and an adaptive cruise-control system somewhat strangely bundled with a heated steering wheel for $925. Garmin navigation software ran $450, and a sunroof $950. Our car even wore $295 extra-cost paint: Toxic Orange Pearl. (So, yeah, we had an orange Charger as the author writes this,There is good integration with PayPal and most third party merchant account providers, he realizes he's wearing an old Dukes of Hazzard T-shirt and "yeehaws" softly to himself.) For this car's as-tested price of $36,105, though, we'd have to silence our powertrain complaints and crank up the hillbilly hijinks with a 370-hp Hemi R/T; it starts just over $31K.
The Charger is an interesting summary of the new Chrysler/Dodge under Fiat's ownership. Much about the car feels very right, with aspects of it the solid structure, the ride-and-handling balance approaching excellence. But there is work to do. Dodge has taken one giant leap with this latest Charger,then used cut pieces of rubber hose garden hose to get through the electric fence. but a small step (or three of them namely sixth, seventh, and eighth gears) still remains.who was responsible for tracking down Charles zentai .
