Buying a Magnum, What do I Look for?

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HTMLmopars

HTMLmopars

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Looking to buy a Magnum with a 5.7 Hemi as a daily driver, the 68 isn't gonna cut it now that I'm out of college. I've test driven a couple Magnums/Chargers with 5.7s they make great power and feel like solid cars. It's tough to find cars with less than 130k on the clock. I was wondering if any of y'all have any experience with the Magnums, or Chargers with respect to longevity. I want to buy a car now and not have to worry about it breaking, and know it'll last a good amount of time into the future. Is there a specific mileage point where things tend to break, or is the difference between like an 80k and 100k not super significant?
 
I had a 2005 Magnum R/T. The motor was strong, no doubt, always felt like it held the road really well, did have some issues with the front stabilizer bar bushings wearing out quickly, also a couple of sensors gave me fits. (Use Chrysler replacements if you have to replace them, I learned the hard way that the pcm doesn't like aftermarket sensors and will continue to throw codes). Brakes were ok, but I thought they could have been better, but my biggest ***** with that car was when the tranny puked at just about 100k miles. The trans shop told me that second gear had fragged, and quoted me $6k to rebuild it. I put a used one in and sold the car not long after. I did enjoy driving it, was a great road car overall, but rust was starting to claim it too.

Edit: Have to add that the fuel economy was reasonable, given the size and weight of it.
 
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Also theres a cheap plastic clip on the gearshift mechanism in the console. These tend to break fairly regularly. You can get an inexpensive aftermarket aluminum replacement that's a permanent fix. My brother had this happen on my sister in laws 300. He said it was really easy to replace.
 
I personally wouldn't buy anything with a Hemi in it for a reliable daily driver.

Let the disagrees begin.:D
 
We have a 2009 Challenger R/T 6 speed, Had a 2012 Charger R/T Automatic, 2018 Charger R/T 8 speed Auto. They get great highway mileage. Both chargers would get 30+ mpg and the Manual Challenger gets 28 mpg with all 8 cylinders firing all the time. And that is at 70-75 mph for all three. Never a problem with the 5.7, but I run 10w30 oil in them and change it every 3,000 miles. The 2012 has the most miles, had 80,000 miles when we gave it to our son in law. It still runs like new but had to do some minor stuff. As always, if someone runs it to death and/or does stupid stuff, all bets are off.
 
My 06 Magnum R/T took in in a rear by a Tahoe at 55 MPH and my passenger and i walked away. It drove to the body shop to boot. It was totaled. Brakes a vague, don't know why, never liked the brake feel. I swapped the SRT8 suspension on and it handled great. I liked that car, super roomy. I recall tension struts being a wear issues. If test drive on find a long steep hill and brake going down, if the front end shakes the tension struts are shot.

I'd take an 08 STR8 if the price was right.
 
My wife has a 06 Magnum that she uses as a daily driver.
She loves the car and there are damn few of them out there.
But.........
I've had to replace control arms, lateral links, ball joints and sway bar links.
The gearshift in the console had a plastic part that broke and wouldn't allow the car to come out of park, replaced that. It wasn't hard just a PIA. Also I had to replace the lock cylinder.
The right rear wheel opening is prone to rust. I've seen several with that issue in the same place.
I've also gone through several sets of brake pads and rotors (but to be fair, my wife is hard on brakes).
The car has a lot of room and is nice on road trips. She's got damn near 200K on it and it seems to be holding up well. It's a 3.5L and not 5.7L. The 5.7's are known to crap out cams.
 
I had a 2005 R/T with the hemi. Bought it new and kept it until 2016 with maybe 280K miles. It was one of the most reliable cars I've owned. Tons of room and it was a great highway cruiser. The only reason we got rid of it was we wanted even more room for camping gear so we got a minivan. The repairs we had to do on it over that time wasn't anything really unexpected:
  • radiator
  • front-end rebuild
  • A/C compressor, condensor, evaporator, etc
  • that same plastic shifter part the others mentioned
  • couple batteries, EGR valve, other smaller stuff
My only real complaint was that no matter how often I had the front end aligned, it chewed through tires on the front. I'd buy another one if they still made them.
 
if i were to buy a magnum, it would have to be one of these

ec8f69519ce04d6ef23b279ed3b943d4.jpg
 
Try to get an 08. They were upgrading the electronics and other items when they suddenly discontinued it and started production on the Challengers.
I currently have an 06 R/T. I had the common early 5.7 problem with dropped valve seats. Replaced the engine and had all of the 5.7 updates done to it. Was about $2800. plus $1200. to install it. Had to have a garage do it for the warranty. Upgraded to EBC Red Stuff pads and EBC dimpled and slotted rotors. A little dusty on the front brakes and you can feel the pads gripping on the fronts when making a hard stop. But they are holding up fine. 103.000 miles and other than normal wear and tear, the noted trans linkage repair ( $15.00) . has been a great car. No problems with rust or alignments but I live in So. California so no snow etc... I would like to find an 08 SRT, but because of the current rage with power, ( Hell cats etc..) the prices have gone up on all the SRT models. Bought it because They didn't make wagons anymore and I didn't want another full sized van or a mini van. Have 8 gran kids and I sell at car shows. So it works pretty good for me. Mileage is only about a real 15-18 mpg, but gas it relatively cheap. Especially with no car payment or high insurance premiums.

MAGNUM3.jpg


MAGNUM-19.jpg
 
I had an 05 r/t bought it new ,drove it 77k. Sold it to a friend so I could get an srt. He still has it (around 200k) with no issues other than the aforementioned broken shift lock. The srt is still in the driveway.
 
My wife has a 05 R/T and she really likes it and it has plenty of power.
We get 27 mpg on the highway believe it or not and I haven't had to mess with the shifter yet.
IMG_0753.JPG
 
I drove an '06 with the 3.5 v6 for 10 years. I put 270,000 miles on it with only regular maintenance, ties and brakes. I had to replace the tie rods a couple of times as well. It was a good car and never left me stranded.

The only thing that bothered me about the car was the extreme angle of the swept back roof / windshield pillar. It took me a while to get used to seeing out of the car at certain angles, and if i was pulled up too far at a stop light, i couldn't see the light at all.

Overall - a good car!
 
I looked far and wide for one of these, and all I can say is good luck. I was pretty picky I guess, wanted a clean one with a hemi at a fair price. I either found them completely ragged out and trashed, or...decent shape and people wanted 8k+ for them.
IF you find one that meets your criteria, check the spare tire area for rust and wetness. 2 of the ones I looked at had hatch leaks. Beyond that, I have 5 late model hemi vehicles, 2 of them with nearly 200k mikes. Great engines if taken care of.
 
Johnny Mac said:
I looked far and wide for one of these, and all I can say is good luck. I was pretty picky I guess, wanted a clean one with a hemi at a fair price. I either found them completely ragged out and trashed, or...decent shape and people wanted 8k+ for them.
IF you find one that meets your criteria, check the spare tire area for rust and wetness. 2 of the ones I looked at had hatch leaks. Beyond that, I have 5 late model hemi vehicles, 2 of them with nearly 200k mikes. Great engines if taken care of.
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I definitely see how hard it is, I'm being pretty picky about it, too and it's been rough enough that I might end up buying a Charger instead if I hit a time crunch, but we'll see. I've seen a couple one owner cars that are nice, but they go quick and none have come up when I've been able to actually buy one.
 
68Valiant225 said:
I definitely see how hard it is, I'm being pretty picky about it, too and it's been rough enough that I might end up buying a Charger instead if I hit a time crunch, but we'll see. I've seen a couple one owner cars that are nice, but they go quick and none have come up when I've been able to actually buy one.
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I have 2 hemi rams, a hemi jeep, and the wife's car is a 2015 A8 hemi charger. 30 mpg and 13.30 quarters.I Can't complain about any of them. Any of the LX cars you will be happy with.
 
I daily a 06 Charger RT around 120 miles 4-5 days a week. Got 243k on the clock right now. Suspensions are pretty rough though ; I completely rebuilt mine and nearly 3 years later it's all clunky and rough again. The 06s I would avoid; mine also dropped a valve seat and needed a replacement engine (previous owner). Not only that, but there's a batch of them that got bad PCMs that would literally turn off your car while driving.... Ask me how I know THAT one !

But overall I love it. Comfy car, lots of room, lots of features if you find one. Perfect power for highway cruising and passing people. I get around 20 mpg, could be better I guess. Parts are easy to replace and usual maintenence stuff is inexpensive. I agree with others : if a sensor goes bad, get the Mopar part. It won't be happy with anything else. Change the spark plugs with coppers every 30k. Get 5w-20 oil only for the MDS system. Go to LXForums for great knowledge on the LX (Magnum, Charger, 300) platform. Good luck!
 
Dodge72 said:
I daily a 06 Charger RT around 120 miles 4-5 days a week. Got 243k on the clock right now. Suspensions are pretty rough though ; I completely rebuilt mine and nearly 3 years later it's all clunky and rough again. The 06s I would avoid; mine also dropped a valve seat and needed a replacement engine (previous owner). Not only that, but there's a batch of them that got bad PCMs that would literally turn off your car while driving.... Ask me how I know THAT one !
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On the valve seat, do you (or anyone else) know if that's an early 5.7 problem? I was reading that they updated the engine in 09 with variable cam timing and modified the heads, and I've heard it's not uncommon for them to drop valve seats, which I would really like to avoid. So if I can't find a Magnum, I'm leaning towards an 09 or later Charger because of the updated engine.

After I test drove a Charger, I was in love. It's as easy to drive and keep lane center in as my mom's Jetta, but it feels much more solid and obviously it just makes great power. Definitely excited to get into the LX platform.
 
68Valiant225 said:
On the valve seat, do you (or anyone else) know if that's an early 5.7 problem? I was reading that they updated the engine in 09 with variable cam timing and modified the heads, and I've heard it's not uncommon for them to drop valve seats, which I would really like to avoid. So if I can't find a Magnum, I'm leaning towards an 09 or later Charger because of the updated engine.

After I test drove a Charger, I was in love. It's as easy to drive and keep lane center in as my mom's Jetta, but it feels much more solid and obviously it just makes great power. Definitely excited to get into the LX platform.
Click to expand...

The 09 and later HEMIs have what are called Eagle heads. I don't think I've really heard of the valve seat problem in those, but I would look more into it. But if you can, a 09 or later would be preferable for sure! In 2013, they also upped the HP lol. ;)
 
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