I saw the new "Charger" yesterday....

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FASTBACK340

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Bayside Chrysler/Dodge has a new Charger sitting on the showroom floor. Silver.... Black interior.... I can sum it up in one word: UG-LY!

The paint looked very thin & without depth or luster, poor panel fit, and just basically looked overweight. While the automotive press is raving over the R/T version, as a successor to the Charger name I think it falls waaaaay short. It might be a better sum of it's parts than what it's being marketed as, but it left me cold.

<sigh....> There's even a "Daytona" edition coming.....:sleepy2:
 
I haven't seen a Charger in person yet, and it may not live up to it's namesake, but you've got to give Chrysler some credit for putting out some nice new rides lately.

I bought a Magnum R/T in December, and it's pretty intense. The motor screams up to 5500 RPM between shifts, and has enough power to toss you back into the seat, even at over 4,500 lbs. Not bad for a station wagon.

Overall, the car handles well, seems to be put together well, and rides great. The Charger shares alot of the same pieces, so it should be similar. Compared to the crap that GM and Ford are putting out, these are pretty awesome cars- though I still like the new Mustang (please don't kill me for that one, guys....lol).

Now, if we can all petition them for a need for a 2-door with a Hemi, maybe they'll bring the Barracuda back?????? well, one can dream, right?

I'm currently in the market for a nice 67-69 Barracuda to drop one of the new Hemi's into- I just need to convince my wife that it's a better use for the money than saving for college for my girls.....lol.

Bob
 
BobK said:
I haven't seen a Charger in person yet, and it may not live up to it's namesake, but you've got to give Chrysler some credit for putting out some nice new rides lately......
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I agree that Chrysler is putting out some unique product, but putting an iconic name on a sedan is just wrong....


BobK said:
Now, if we can all petition them for a need for a 2-door with a Hemi, maybe they'll bring the Barracuda back?????? well, one can dream, right?
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I read somewhere that the Barracuda nameplate IS alive & well in south America. On a pick-up truck.....

BobK said:
I'm currently in the market for a nice 67-69 Barracuda to drop one of the new Hemi's into- I just need to convince my wife that it's a better use for the money than saving for college for my girls.....lol.

Bob
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I happen to have a `68 Fastback thats been misbehaving quite badly..... Catch me in the right mood:|
 
FASTBACK340 [font=Comic Sans MS said:
I happen to have a `68 Fastback thats been misbehaving quite badly..... Catch me in the right mood:| [/font]
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Don't tempt me John- Queens is close enough to central NJ that I may take you up on that offer. But then I'll have to send my daughters to see you regarding their college funds when they're ready to go (but they're only 2 and 4, so you've got plenty of time to think up a story for them.....lol).

Bob
 
FWIW, I met a silver Charger coming the other way last week and I think the car looks pretty good. Didn't see any R/T emblems but they may have been there.
 
i did a image search not long ago for barracuda and it seems there is a hyundai tiburon cuda version. it didnt look too pretty though
 
BadAssDodge said:
i did a image search not long ago for barracuda and it seems there is a hyundai tiburon cuda version. it didnt look too pretty though
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Maybe that's what I was thinking of. All I remember is another bastardization of a good name....:mad:
 
The R/T charger has the 5.7 HEMI the SRT8 Version, the only one i like looks wise, is a 6.1 and there not out yet. I have Driven the 06 Coronet..er Charger about 3 weeks ago it handles, looks (interior) like the Magnium.
 
It looks OK but I dont see my self running out and getting one. Maybe if it had two doors and ran like my dads 67 Hemi Chager 4 speed. Nice ride though.
 
On it's own merit I'm sure it's a nice car. But hanging that nameplate on it just doesn't sit well with me.

As a side note:

I'm far from being a racist, but the saleman started to get under my skin while I was looking at the car. He kept trying to sell me on how GREAT the new "Charger" is and I kept telling him it's the wrong image for this car. The Charger wasn't a family sedan and so on.... I finally confronted him with this thought. I asked him if it would be the right thing to do a re-make of the old movie Shaft using a skinny red-headed white kid as the lead character. The salesman was African-American.

Luckily he got it and had a good laugh. My wife was ready to run for cover.....
 
Don't even get me started on that thing, To quote a sig from someone else "The only thing they got right about the Charger is the spelling"

It lacks character, Luster, and body lines. The car is an insult to everything the Charger stood for.


Yes. It may be a nice car, it may even grow to be "Best in class" but the nameplate is sales purpose only. I'm not saying that the only "Real" charger is the car that sits in my garage. My second generation charger shares little body style of the 66 - 67, the 71 - 74 ect even have some different lines, but they all shared a few things in common. The had style.

I could go on and on, but I won't. I share many of the same views that I’m sure everyone has read about this car. I'm not just hung up on the whole 4 door thing, but that was of course. The first thing that set me off.

To coin another comment from another Dodge Charger owner...

"That thing got groceries?"
"Swwwweeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!"

I just hope the first one that pulls up along me doesn’t even give me a thumbs up, because he’ll get a finger up as well, and it won’t be a thumb :D
 
I have a real hard time understanding why anyone would be so upset about the name a manufacturer uses for their cars. Especially the Charger name considering Chrysler is second only to Oldsmobile with it's use of Cutlass on on all classes of vehicles.

Charger name has been used on B-bodies, the personal luxury road arks of the late 70's, Darts in Brazil & Argentina, rear drive compact cars in Australia and lets not forget the front wheel drive tin cans of the 80's which likely represent more total production than all the other variants combined.

The only thing common across all the Charger variants is the use of two doors but the thing I find interesting is the 300 name has a history from the early 50's to the early/mid 70's of being a 2dr (& a 2dr vert) and no one has said a word about it's reintroduction as the 300M and now the 300 Hemi C only being available as a 4dr.
 
Being an ex-Charger owner (ugly car fire...ugly story), my stomach dropped when I saw the pictures. Especially due to the fact my imagination went crazy every year thinking about what the next Charger may look like...before this was released.

When Ford went back to the Mustang's roots, I thought there was hope for the Charger. I imagined deep hood and trunk lines, and a Charger grill and tail lights.

The Charger is a muscle car. It's not a sedan with muscle.
Just as the Viper did, it should be all muscle and less toys. And let the toys be dealer add-ons. It will be one heck of a police cruiser - but that's it.


Bob
 
I think I'm in the minority of the Mopar message boards but I love the new Charger, Magnum, and 300. They are all sweet rides. Sure it doesn't look like a 68 Charger, but it is unique. I believe if they would have went retro like they did with the Mustang there wouldn't be many non-Mopar fanatics buying the car. And supposedly in about 2009 they will be ressurecting the Challenger name on a 2 DOOR LX derived car. And it is supposed to have a manual transmission option.
 
71blueduster said:
I think I'm in the minority of the Mopar message boards but I love the new Charger, Magnum, and 300. They are all sweet rides. Sure it doesn't look like a 68 Charger, but it is unique. I believe if they would have went retro like they did with the Mustang there wouldn't be many non-Mopar fanatics buying the car. And supposedly in about 2009 they will be ressurecting the Challenger name on a 2 DOOR LX derived car. And it is supposed to have a manual transmission option.
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Don't get me wrong. It's not that it doesn't look like a 68, hell, the 66 - 67 didn't look anything like the 68-70, nor did the 71 - 74 look like any of the afor mentioned bodys. The problem is it shares NOTHING with any of them.

hell, as a car in and of itself. I'm sure it's a great car. Most people are mad about the 4 doors, im not even too upset about that. the 99 consept had 4 doors and I had no problems with it. It's the lack of any of the heritage. it's the lack of anything that the Charger stood for. Basicly. it was nothing but a marketing thing. Hell, the word "Charger" doesn't even have the correct font. The inside looks like a 300 (I like those also) and the magnum... well.... looks just like it...

I know I'm on an A bodie board. so I say this. What would be the reaction on "The new hemi Powered Baracuda Mini van!" ??? Because thats basicly what they did to us B bodie guys. and dollars to donuts says that the Chally will be just as big of an Insult.
 
I am in the middle. I like the 300 and I think the Magnum is good looking only in red and black. I havent seen enough of the charger yet to really come to a conclusion, but im leaning towards boring and to sedan-ish. A Charger is built for one thing; to look MEAN! And this car doesnt. It isnt really ugly, it just doesnt look emough like how a Charger should, ya know...
 
the magnum, 300, and charger are all built on the same body platform. same motor options afaik, its all the same car with slightly different lines. IMO, charger is nice from the front, and ugly from the side. my only complaint is the use of a sedan platform instead of a coupe. albeit, they DID try to style it to look more coupe-like if you look. the car is just.. blah to me. im sure it performs, but the cosmetic appeal is like.. nothing. if they came out with a coupe, id be on it, but you cant take a sedan to the track and expect the same intimidation value.
**remembers the supercharged marauder he saw last weekend** well... not generally anyway..
 
Khyron said:
Don't get me wrong. It's not that it doesn't look like a 68, hell, the 66 - 67 didn't look anything like the 68-70, nor did the 71 - 74 look like any of the afor mentioned bodys. The problem is it shares NOTHING with any of them.
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Or the 75-78 road arks or the A-body Charger sold in South America or the little compact Charger sold in Austrailia OR the largest sales volume of all the Chargers, the 82 - 89 front wheel drive car.

To me the only thing any of those cars had in common was 2 drs. If they were to take any cues from a previous version of the car you would think it would be the one they sold the most of the FWD 82-89. Dodge has had a long running history of using the Charger name on what ever suits them so I fail to see why there is such an uproar over the usage on the current car.

No one seemed to get up set over the 300 being introduced as a 4dr. The 300 name carried the Chrysler performance banner from 53 through the early 70's. It was always a 2dr and was always their performance car unlike the Charger that had a \6 as it's base engine.
 
There are people that are just as bad with their comments on the Omni\Charger and the cordoba/Charger... Even some 69's had a /6

I would say... at least from my point of view... it's more of a disapointment then anything. They tease us allong with that 99 concept... and yes, it had 2 doors as well, but it was excepted because it had stype, it had lines, it had some eye candy. That Magnum Sedan they tacked a Charger name plate has nothing. ... hell. the Omni \ Charger, with it's little turbo 2.2 option ,was a snotty little car. The Cordoba with "Corinthian Leather" ;) was a tank, and it is also not genually excepted as well.

I can't speak for the mass's. I speak for myself when I say. I'm extreamly Disapointed. Not only with the car, but with the comments made by it's designer as well. Mr Trevor Creed. Ford Mustangs are selling like hotcakes. hell, the new Zeta <SP> Body for the GTO for 2007, They announce the comback of the Camaro and will also re introduce the Chevelle <all rumor of course>

And what did Ma Mopar give us? Something grand ma would be proud of.





one more thing, Those Ausie A-Body Chargers are sweet!
 
Armchair Quarterbacking is easy....

Those "crummy Chargers" of the 80s saved Dodges @$$...My dad had an '86 Shelby and that thing was sweet....Remember, the only things faster in '86 were the Corvette and the GLHS Omni (which was quicker than the 'vette).

Also, the 197x "coke bottle" chargers were the best selling of ALL the RWD Chargers...not the 68-70 as everyone likes to believe.

As for the new ones....It's a nice car... I like it..If I was looking for a 4 door, I would buy it, or a Magnum....The SRT version just has a menacing look to it...and is supposedly going to be the QUICKEST charger ever built......2 doors or 4, it is going to perform VERY well....Face it, if they named it a Coronet, or Belvedere, it just wouldn't have the marketing draw. They don't care about us die-hard old schoolers, they want to sell to the public........
 
As for the car itself I like the car. It has potential, with a few mods, maybe in a year or two, it may be VERY nice.

As for using the Charger name, it doesn't bother me one bit. I had a Shelby Charger and got laughed at alot. I didn't care, I toasted 1/2 of the people that got a kick out of the name. Telling me THATS NOT A CHARGER. I couldn't care less if it was called geek-mobile, I'd still drive it if I liked it.

They've already "disgraced" the name of the honorable Charger in the 80's, what's the big deal this time? When they make a huge boat with 2 doors, that needs a huge friggin motor to make it fast, then maybe they should break out the "Charger" name plate?
 
i dont mind the new charger, although im very disappointed after seeing the '99 Concept. When that one came out, I couldnt wait for it to hit the showrooms because Chrysler is known to sell cars that are a lot like the concepts they take to the auto shows (more like prototypes). The images of the 300 were leaked long before it came out in showrooms, and it looked worse on the drawings, the actual production car looks awsome and its selling a lot. The Charger though was kept under wraps until the cars were already being made, and when I saw it for the first time, I was pissed like a lot of other people. But its still better in every way than the Intrepid it replaces, and besides the 2 extra doors that the concept also had, it is a Charger in every way. those late 70s/80s chargers didnt look anything like a coke bottle either. Im sure someone at DCX knows what the public wants, and we'll get a 2 door hemi car sooner than later. After all, the Mustang needs some competition, and the way GM is doing, I dont think the Camaro is going to be around for a long time. And the Zeta platform was basically axed for now, their still working on it but at a snails pace
 
Khyron, FWIW the 99 Concept Charger was a 4dr. It also had a v8 that ran on LNG.

Superdart, I purchased a turbo Daytona new in 85 and have owned at least one FWD turbo Dodge ever since. The 85 was given to my son after accumulating 240,000 miles (he totaled it and replaced it with an 86 CS Daytona turbo Z) and was replaced with an 89 Shelby Daytona with a turbo 2. That car had most of the simple turbo tweaks that are so popular and was a high 14 sec daily driver until I replaced it in 03 with a new turbo PT Cruiser which my wife now uses as her daily driver. As far as I am concerned the turbo FWD mopars whether Omni, Charger, Daytona or Shadow are the best bang for the buck performance cars that mopar ever produced. What other vehicle can you invest less than $1000 to make it into a 12 sec car, be perfectly streetable and still get 30mpg on your daily commute?
 
Wow, great conversation..... I'm enjoying this.

I know that the 68-70's didn't sell well at all. I never pretended that they did. Going back to my "Disappointed” stance on the Charger. It's just hard for me to swallow the whole "They know what the public wants" .... It's a lot more obvious that FORD knew what the public wants. Those Mustangs are flying out the show rooms, There is a base model, GT, Shelby <Coming out> and already a TON of aftermarket performance parts for them including a Turbo setup that put's the thing over 410hp <if I read correctly. But going back to the Charger.

There is no disputing the 80's Chargers. I wouldn't insult myself to defend them. As I started. I liked the Omni \ Charger. It was fast. ... But it did get the same reaction. As did the Cordoba \ Charger..... Both are both accepted now.... It may take time with this.... but it was the Bait and Switch that I think left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth <everyone being the old Charger enthusiast>

Show us the 99 Concept = Bait
Sell the Magnum Sedan = Switch

Am I saying it's a Bad car.... no. But I will still pick on the Name them choose. If anything. It's exceeded my expectations on one thing....... great Mopar Conversation.

Side note: On all the boards I’m on with Mopar. You guys have had the most Civil and well thought out conversation about this. God I love this board :thumbup:
 
dgc333 said:
Khyron, FWIW the 99 Concept Charger was a 4dr. It also had a v8 that ran on LNG.
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Yes. I stated <a few comments back> I have no problem with the Door count. Unlike a lot of th eother Charger and B body guys. I loved the smooth no door handle rear doors on the 99 Concept.
 
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