Pleasantly surprised by my v6 Charger rental
Had a compact reserved with enterprise but they were all out. Got a Charger in SXT trim (white of course) for the same price.
I think this might be my favorite rental car. The v6 is very smooth (makes me miss port fuel injection),makes good power and I'd say it has one of the more natural feeling EPS steering setups with a good on center feel. Also drove exceptionally smoothly without ever feeling floaty. Seems to have one of the best implementations of the zF 8 speed (I wasn't annoyed by it as I am in bmws).
The overall experience is vaguely reminiscent of driving an 80s S class (w126?). Made me want to take a long road trip. Very firm but supportive seats and mono-stalk add to the old school benz feel. Loved the steering wheel too. Felt just as good as a BMW msport wheel but with more functions controllable via the buttons.
Build quality is indifferent with cheap plastics used below eye level, terrible glove box fit and a misaligned trunk lid. But no rattles even with 28k rental miles. And nothing that seemed lose or bendable. Some nice details though like the real aluminum dash trim and trunk carpeting that extends to underside of rear shelf (most German sedans leave exposed metal there).Overall I actually looked forward to driving it. Even without a backup camera the huge size didn't bother me or become troublesome.
In contrast, I also tried out ReachNow and drove a 328 xdrive. I'd take a Charger any day over one of those. Lifeless steering,rattles, and a hollow feel.
I think if I could score a cheap lease on an RT (v8 version) it would make a great commuter/family car. Not nice enough or expensive enough to worry about but a fun, good looking and capable cruiser. The image is definitely rental car/redneck/subprime loans and FCA is a bit of a train wreck but on a lease who cares. My wife was scared to drive it because it seemed "too big" though.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
|