Rented a 2011 V-6 Charger...

[Tallboy]

Had a 2011 3.6 Charger in Maine for a week. Last year I had a 2010 model. The new car is vastly improved over the old one. It had under 1000 miles on it when I picked it up.

LIKES:

Styling. The new car is beautiful! The full-width taillamp is gorgeous and the freshened front end and sheetmetal rounds it out nicely.

Brakes: Better than my Camaro.

Engine: Silky smooth, but a tad down on power. Light-years ahead of the old 3.5, though. It doesn't disappoint or amaze, it's just adequate.

Suspension/Handling: Maybe the best chassis-tuning job I've seen on a domestic sedan yet. Silky-smooth ride, bumps are swallowed up without complaint, handling is spot-on. I cannot over-state what a great job the chassis department did.

Trunk/passenger space: Plenty of room for everyone and their stuff.

DISLIKES:

Interior. [Sigh] The old interior was horrendous, admitted by even their own engineers. The new interior is better. By a lot. But, it still sucks. The guages are hard to read, and there's two different shades of red, two different shades of white, and two different shades of blue. The speedo has MPH and KPH printed on it, how about a "metric" button? You have to reach away from the radio to adjust the volume. The radio is controlled by a touch-screen and dials below it. The HVAC controls are similarly bad. The seats were unsupportive, and the gated shifter is a piece of crap. Dodge has come a long way, but they have a long way yet to go.

Steering wheel: There's a third way to adjust radio volume/channels with buttons. With buttons on the backside of the steering wheel. Not very intuitive and hard to use. [I had to read the owner's manual to discover they were there.]

Cruise: The cruise control would vary by as much as two MPH on a flat straight road. It would not set to 70 MPH, and would revert to 69 or 71. Similar setting problems at other speeds.

Headlamps: Criminally bad. Seriously. The aim was perect but they are weak as hell. The high beams are no where near as bright as my non-RS low beams.

Transmission: Easily, and without equal, the worst transmision calibration I've ever experienced on any car anywhere at any time. You want to upshift, ever? Plan on using 40-50 percent of the pedal travel for two seconds of the lower gear, then it shifts right back. I know it's programmed to get into top gear for MPG, but this transmission sucks so bad, the light from suck would take eight years to reach it. Up shifts are less horrible, but not by much.

VERDICT: Better than the Impala, but not by much. The new Taurus would eat it's lunch at show it naked pictures of it's mother.

[formare]

I find it hard to believe the trans calibration is much worse than the already bad chevy calibration. I mean it's good for gm and helps keep things mushy for longevity and all. But still....

[Tallboy]

Originally Posted by formare

I find it hard to believe the trans calibration is much worse than the already bad chevy calibration. I mean it's good for gm and helps keep things mushy for longevity and all. But still....

Believe it. It's that bad. Plus, it's only a five-speed auto, and you notice the lack of a sixth gear. The auto in my Camaro is far, far superior in every way.