Coralkong
Alien
My latest Georgia rental car.
Finally, the Budget Rental Car gods smiled on me and gave me something kind of cool.
2014 Dodge Challenger R/T with a Hemi (5.7 8 cylinder) with a 6 speed MANUAL transmission. All black. With black cloth interior. NONE more black version.
Initial impressions:
This car (you've all seen them) looks mean. Meaner than the new Camaro (which looks kind of stupid). The car looks mean. The plastic chrome badges saying "Hemi" on the hood scoops are kind of stupid, as is the R/T badge on the front grill, and the chrome gas door that says "Fuel" is a bit redundant, but overall, I have very little issue with the outside styling of the car. Looks cool, looks mean. Looks like a muscle car.
Inside initial impressions:
I wanted to not like it. Cloth interior = meh, (but it is a rental car). I wanted it to be uncomfortable, but it isn't. I wanted it to be "rough", "stupid" and Americanized.....well, it is.
And it is comfortable, rough, stupid and Americanized, and somehow, it works perfectly.
HORRIBLE blind spot, where you would look if you needed to change lanes. One of the worst I have ever seen.
(More details to come......)
OK, now on to the meat and potatoes of my review:
Engine:
Sweet Jesus. This thing has some HP behind it. The engine sounds rough, with an audible tapping type of noise going during all phases of acceleration and deceleration. Sounds like exhaust valves tapping to me. It isn't OVERTLY noisy, but it is noticeable.
Put your foot down, make sure you have room in front of you......,man, this thing kind of kicks ass. Power-band is smooth and steady all through the rpm range. 1500-6000 rpm. Odd to have that much torque at a low rpm, but it does.
You can hear the engine rumble sitting at idle at a red light, but pushing your foot down in the fast lane on the highway, the acceleration is immediate and leaves no point of concern to overtake much of anything in a straight line.
Steering:
Quite tight. Very responsive. Good, thick steering wheel. Makes you feel like you are driving a track-type of car.
Suspension:
Pretty good. Tight, responsive, not overly "smooth", but not terrible either. It fits in perfectly for what this car was designed to do. It isn't a "sports-car" rough, but isn't a "Jaguar-type" air ride either. Better than average
Interior:
Well laid out, if not a bit over-the-top. Fake carbon-fiber pattern on some of the interior tidbits is cheesy, imo. Guages are fancy, but well laid out. Fit and finish is better than I expected, but very plain. Very easy to make a "good" fit and finish. There is a lot of noise from the rear wheels being projected right behind your head. Not good in a "refined" sort of way.....not terrible, but would get annoying after awhile.
So...engine=good....suspension=good....outside styling=good......inside styling=adequate.......where's the weak point?
So glad you asked.
The transmission:
This one has an absurd 6 speed manual transmission with a pistol-grip short-throw shifter. The clutch feels like 80 lbs. The car has over 1200 miles on it, so I have to assume it is broken in at this point. The clutch, and rather "vague" feel of the manual transmission, coupled with the pistol-grip shift knob make this the weakest point of an otherwise pretty strong car.
Even after getting used to the trans shift points, this car is not made for the type of transmission that is installed on it. There are noticeable "growls, shunts, stutters, and gurgles" while throwing the stick into another gear.
The clutch is heavy. EXTREMELY heavy. I ended up in bumper to bumper stop and go traffic around Atlanta this morning, and it got old, quick. 6th gear is a bit like finding Atlantis on a map....you either know where it is, or you don't....the gear is keyed so low, that you would have to use it at about 90 mph to get any value out of it.
The short-throw gear lever is not good. At all. You have this big space to add a cool, long-throw gear box, and you neglect 75% of that space, eat it up with a leather-ette boot (read, cheap) to put a short throw shifter in there.....why?
Overall impressions:
I like this car. I could see this car having great potential as a pure highway cruiser. On a pure highway, where you can put this sucker into 5th gear and let her rip. In a straight line, this thing kicks all kinds of ass. Need to overtake? No problem in this car. This thing looks mean, sounds mean, and goes like stink in a straight line.
The blind spot will keep you in a straight line, though, as you will rely almost solely on the outside rear-view mirrors to change lane, and that is just straight-up fucking unacceptable, really.
The ride comfort is quite good. Big tires, not the usual "thin line" crap coming on most cars these days. Suspension is pretty good. Braking is excellent.
This car is meant to put into 4th or 5th or even 6th and go like a bat out of hell in a straight line.
At that, it succeeds. Commendably.
But because I live in the real world where I encounter different driving conditions, I'm not sure I would buy this car.
The manual transmission on this car sucks. It is easy to pinpoint where Dodge cut costs. The transmission is complete garbage. I don't often say this, but I would like to try this car with an automatic, just to see if it is easier to drive....
Lovely automobile, but very raw, very noisy, and very unrefined. Give it 5 or 6 current revisions to fix the bugs and this might be a real, GREAT automobile.
Time will tell, though.
Finally, the Budget Rental Car gods smiled on me and gave me something kind of cool.
2014 Dodge Challenger R/T with a Hemi (5.7 8 cylinder) with a 6 speed MANUAL transmission. All black. With black cloth interior. NONE more black version.
Initial impressions:
This car (you've all seen them) looks mean. Meaner than the new Camaro (which looks kind of stupid). The car looks mean. The plastic chrome badges saying "Hemi" on the hood scoops are kind of stupid, as is the R/T badge on the front grill, and the chrome gas door that says "Fuel" is a bit redundant, but overall, I have very little issue with the outside styling of the car. Looks cool, looks mean. Looks like a muscle car.
Inside initial impressions:
I wanted to not like it. Cloth interior = meh, (but it is a rental car). I wanted it to be uncomfortable, but it isn't. I wanted it to be "rough", "stupid" and Americanized.....well, it is.
And it is comfortable, rough, stupid and Americanized, and somehow, it works perfectly.
HORRIBLE blind spot, where you would look if you needed to change lanes. One of the worst I have ever seen.
(More details to come......)
OK, now on to the meat and potatoes of my review:
Engine:
Sweet Jesus. This thing has some HP behind it. The engine sounds rough, with an audible tapping type of noise going during all phases of acceleration and deceleration. Sounds like exhaust valves tapping to me. It isn't OVERTLY noisy, but it is noticeable.
Put your foot down, make sure you have room in front of you......,man, this thing kind of kicks ass. Power-band is smooth and steady all through the rpm range. 1500-6000 rpm. Odd to have that much torque at a low rpm, but it does.
You can hear the engine rumble sitting at idle at a red light, but pushing your foot down in the fast lane on the highway, the acceleration is immediate and leaves no point of concern to overtake much of anything in a straight line.
Steering:
Quite tight. Very responsive. Good, thick steering wheel. Makes you feel like you are driving a track-type of car.
Suspension:
Pretty good. Tight, responsive, not overly "smooth", but not terrible either. It fits in perfectly for what this car was designed to do. It isn't a "sports-car" rough, but isn't a "Jaguar-type" air ride either. Better than average
Interior:
Well laid out, if not a bit over-the-top. Fake carbon-fiber pattern on some of the interior tidbits is cheesy, imo. Guages are fancy, but well laid out. Fit and finish is better than I expected, but very plain. Very easy to make a "good" fit and finish. There is a lot of noise from the rear wheels being projected right behind your head. Not good in a "refined" sort of way.....not terrible, but would get annoying after awhile.
So...engine=good....suspension=good....outside styling=good......inside styling=adequate.......where's the weak point?
So glad you asked.
The transmission:
This one has an absurd 6 speed manual transmission with a pistol-grip short-throw shifter. The clutch feels like 80 lbs. The car has over 1200 miles on it, so I have to assume it is broken in at this point. The clutch, and rather "vague" feel of the manual transmission, coupled with the pistol-grip shift knob make this the weakest point of an otherwise pretty strong car.
Even after getting used to the trans shift points, this car is not made for the type of transmission that is installed on it. There are noticeable "growls, shunts, stutters, and gurgles" while throwing the stick into another gear.
The clutch is heavy. EXTREMELY heavy. I ended up in bumper to bumper stop and go traffic around Atlanta this morning, and it got old, quick. 6th gear is a bit like finding Atlantis on a map....you either know where it is, or you don't....the gear is keyed so low, that you would have to use it at about 90 mph to get any value out of it.
The short-throw gear lever is not good. At all. You have this big space to add a cool, long-throw gear box, and you neglect 75% of that space, eat it up with a leather-ette boot (read, cheap) to put a short throw shifter in there.....why?
Overall impressions:
I like this car. I could see this car having great potential as a pure highway cruiser. On a pure highway, where you can put this sucker into 5th gear and let her rip. In a straight line, this thing kicks all kinds of ass. Need to overtake? No problem in this car. This thing looks mean, sounds mean, and goes like stink in a straight line.
The blind spot will keep you in a straight line, though, as you will rely almost solely on the outside rear-view mirrors to change lane, and that is just straight-up fucking unacceptable, really.
The ride comfort is quite good. Big tires, not the usual "thin line" crap coming on most cars these days. Suspension is pretty good. Braking is excellent.
This car is meant to put into 4th or 5th or even 6th and go like a bat out of hell in a straight line.
At that, it succeeds. Commendably.
But because I live in the real world where I encounter different driving conditions, I'm not sure I would buy this car.
The manual transmission on this car sucks. It is easy to pinpoint where Dodge cut costs. The transmission is complete garbage. I don't often say this, but I would like to try this car with an automatic, just to see if it is easier to drive....
Lovely automobile, but very raw, very noisy, and very unrefined. Give it 5 or 6 current revisions to fix the bugs and this might be a real, GREAT automobile.
Time will tell, though.
