Farewell to my Charger SRT

Everyone with one of these things in Atlanta is a **** nuisance. It's like, over COVID, there was a group buy on the loudest exhaust system possible and everyone installed it and decided, "Hey, let's drive around Atlanta slamming on the gas, then letting off, then slamming on the gas, then letting off... and then let's do some donuts in this intersection... and then let's accelerate as fast as we can for a few seconds here... and let's ensure that everyone knows that my ***** is has far less inches to it than I wish it did there." It's a freaking plague. Be glad you've moved on...
392 drivers can be pretty annoying and like to write checks they can’t cash. one did a burnout in front of me at a light and filled my cabin full of tire smoke.

i was in my E55 so I caught up to him, gave him the three honks and he got a nice view of my taillights.

hellcat drivers tend to be calm and cool good citizens around town, at least here.
 
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If I had this car when I was about 20 years younger, I could easily see myself getting into some serious trouble. The temptation is always there, but when you're young and trying to show off, you don't have the discipline to resist it.
 
Good review, Quattro Pete. I own the same car and largely agree with your assessment. Living in GA, I get to drive mine more often, though!
I have not had issues with throttle hesitation or transmission or paint, but the interior definitely not up to par for a $60k vehicle. Too much plastic. My 19 year old M5 has a much higher quality interior. Also, it is definitely large and heavy. Not bad for cruising on highway, but noticeable around town. As you noted, gas mileage not a strong point, either.
 
Make sure your time zone is set correctly under your Account Settings.
This was my issue, why this site would default to "American Samoa" will always be a mystery!!

Unfortunately, it didn't change the time on the existing posts, so I must assume the posters all have the same issue.
 
The absolute worst is when V6 owners put "performance" exhaust on their cars and they sound like an even louder fartcan.
There's an idiot around the Wylie area that has put a fart can on a Nissan / Infinity V6, and has tuned it to make it pop. It sounds like :poop:. That 3.5 sounded best as the factory designed it....as good as a V6 exhaust can sound, IMO.
 
I thought a few parting words were in order…

Bought it new / custom ordered 3 years ago. At the time, we were getting ready to move further south where snow driving capability wouldn’t be a requirement so I could drive it year round. Alas, those those plans never materialized, so the car spent a lot of time just sitting in the garage during our long Michigan winters and I was still using my old BMW as a winter beater. And then due to pandemic I started driving even less. All in all, I only put on 4,500 miles on it in 3 years. Finally decided that it made no sense for it to just sit in the garage 99.5% of the time and continue taking up space and depreciating while I had to clean snow and ice off my winter beater sitting outside every time I actually did need to drive somewhere.

Why did I buy it in the first place? I had an itch to scratch fueled by some midlife crisis and a secret desire to once own a big honking NA V8 in its pure unrefined unpolished rough-around-the-edges American muscle car glory. This car was an “out of character” purchase for me, but I intentionally wanted to try something very different.

The Good:
- Engine / Exhaust – loved the sound and power – primary reason why I bought it

- Brakes – those Brembos stop the car extremely well, despite the car’s heavy weight

- Suspension – adjustable suspension on the SRT is pretty nice – you can set it to comfort if you just want to go get groceries or drive with family or set it to a more sporty mode for a more spirited run. The track mode makes it even stiffer, but our roads aren’t smooth enough for this.

- Room – good amount of passenger space and cargo space to make it a practical daily driver in warm weather, alas fuel economy is obviously awful, so not ideal for long distances

- Seats – great seats, comfy, good amount of bolstering, pretty good leather quality


The Bad:
- Transmission - I found FCA's implementation of this ZF8 architecture somewhat sloppy, even in sport mode. I’m always comparing it to the programming in wife’s Q5 which has another version of this ZF8 trans and it’s night and day how nicely buttoned up, crisp and precise it is in the Q5. Maybe it’s the use of torque converter that makes it feel that way? The Q5 programming doesn’t seem to use the torque converter at all. And shifting from D to R and vice versa seems to take ages in the Charger.

- Throttle hesitation – not really sure what this was, but when rolling, when I hit the gas hard, there was always just a tiny bit of hesitation before it would take off. Like it would get choked up/startled a bit at first, even in manual mode. Weird. I’m sure 9 out of 10 service advisors would just roll their eyes and dismiss it as normal/not-there/nit picking, so I didn’t even bother mentioning it to them.

- Weight/size – it’s much bigger and heavier than any other car I’ve owned in the past. Again, one of those things that may be a personal preference. I guess I learned that I prefer something smaller, lighter, and more nimble next time.

- Interior – it’s in dire need of a refresh. I’ll leave it at that.

- Paint – I posted about this after taking delivery – the paint had a ton of dirt/blemishes embedded in it. A local detailer was able to get most of it out with some wet sanding and buffing, but some larger chunks that sit way under the paint were not able to be removed. I wasn’t expecting stellar paint quality from FCA, but this was rather pathetic.

Overall, did I like it? Yes. Did I love it? No. If I did, I’d probably keep it longer. But I’m glad I got a chance to experience it and have some fun with it. I think my son is more sad than me to see it go because he found it cool and he picked out the color. :)

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Dodge Charger is very popular among Law Enforcement agencies. I saw lots of car chase videos on Youtube. This car is the Cops answer to speeders across America. Move over Crown Victoria, Ford Taurus, Ford Explorer & Chevrolet Tahoe let the Dodge Charger handle the chase.
 
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Dodge Charger is very popular among Law Enforcement agencies. I saw lots of car chase videos on Youtube. This car is the Cops answer to speeders across America. Move over Crown Victoria, Ford Taurus, Ford Explorer & Chevrolet Tahoe let the Dodge Charger handle the chase.
Nah you’re trippin. There’s only a handful of Crown Vics left in patrol duty, and there are many highway patrol departments that use Camaros for high speed pursuits.
 
If I had this car when I was about 20 years younger, I could easily see myself getting into some serious trouble. The temptation is always there, but when you're young and trying to show off, you don't have the discipline to resist it.
I'm so immature that I drive a 4cyl Camry. I know I'd cause trouble.
 
I think 4 doors, RWD or AWD, a useable back seat along with the power to chase down speeders is the prerequisite for cop cars along with fleet pricing. Hence many Chargers and SUV's patrolling the roads nowadays. Many videos on Youtube of Hellcats outrunning the police and actually getting away. There is one that actually outruns a police chopper and gets away. I don't condone this behavior as it puts the general public at risk but I bet these dudes that succeed in getting away are still laughing.
 
Dodge Charger is very popular among Law Enforcement agencies. I saw lots of car chase videos on Youtube. This car is the Cops answer to speeders across America. Move over Crown Victoria, Ford Taurus, Ford Explorer & Chevrolet Tahoe let the Dodge Charger handle the chase.
I used to see a lot of police Chargers a few years ago but don't see nearly as many today.
 
I used to see a lot of police Chargers a few years ago but don't see nearly as many today.

Because they're junk? (For police use, put your knives away!) I was talking with one of the people in charge of fleet maint for the state training academy a few years back and they hate the Charger. They just don't hold up to use like the Panther did. Granted, I don't think anything does. I think everyone is looking for the next Crown Vic and it has yet to be found. We're in the process of swapping over to the Ford Explorer Police Interceptor from Chargers. We'll see how that goes, I'm not sure how that is going to work out, but not my problem. I don't even get a ragged out old Crown Vic.

IMO a fully loaded V8 AWD Charger loaded down with gear isn't that fast either. Top end might be ok, but getting up to speed isn't anything to write home about.
 
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Nice evaluation. I’d like my next car to be significantly faster than my 2er; I really like the Challenger Scat Pack or SRT, but the size and weight are a bit much for me. They are a lot of fun regardless.
 
For police work, a body on frame vehicle is desirable, they can take abuse better. Any type of front end collision on a Charger, Explorer, Camaro, etc. basically disables the vehicle.
 
Nice car. I like those Chargers and the Challenger as well. I almost bought a Challenger back in 2013 but got a new Mustang instead.

I've thought about selling the Mustang because I don't drive it much. I've put 33,000 miles on it in almost eight years. It's a fun car but the loud roaring noise it has takes a lot of the fun out of it.
 
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