I am baffled by some of the seething hatred for this car. I am curious what people would have wanted differently from it. I do not want to get into the 2 vs 4 door angle. The facts are a large family sized coupe will not hold ground in the marketplace. I do not lump the GTO into this category. It is not a full size family car. I guess I just want to know what everyone really wanted/expecting from a styling standpoint. Also, did people really expect them to throw a 1969 body on a LX chassis, and push it out the door. That seems to be what everyone that complains wanted.

 

I have no problems with it, it is a very nice car. I just had a discussion with a random owner in a store parking lot about his brand new hemi equipped black Charger and he had nothing but good things to say about it. It was a very sharp looking car.

 

The real problem is the "Dukes of Hazard" mentality that surround the so-called sacred name of CHARGER.

The hallowed Chargers of the muscle car era were just facelifted Dodge Coronets and the "Dukes of Hazard" TV-series was only suitable viewing for small children.

Of course, I really liked the "Dukes of Hazard" when I was a preschooler and I still have a hankering for a nice '68 or '69 Charger R/T - black with a black vinyl top just like the baddies' in Bullitt - not orange for cryin' out loud.

 

Things on the internet tend to get amplified almost to absurd levels. Someone who in normal conversation might simply say they don't like the GTO or Charger's styling, on the internet might equate the cars with Satan and want take those who came up with the cars and burn them at the stake.

Another thing, the new Dodge Charger has very bold styling. Like any other bold styling, people are going to tend to be polarized in their opinion of it. Add in a name where people get emotional if it doesn't look like some car from 35 years ago (often before they were born!), and then top it off by making it 4 door in a world where people haven't yet grasped the fact that big coupes equal financial suicide for a car company, & you're going to end up with quite a few people needing counseling and professional help.

 

-Mike

 

I don't hate the car, I just don't care for it's looks. Yes, I admit, I am not fond of the fact that it is a 4-door. I feel that it would have been better named Magnum Sedan. But hey, people like it, I hope it sells well for DCX, and that the people who bought it enjoy their investment. Also, if it's success spawns a Challenger, then we all win, another player in the pony car/GT wars will keep everyone on their toes!

 

Geez, this has only been covered about a million times...

I think the LX cars are good cars, overall. I like the RWD, and the availability of strong V8 performance, and the relatively reasonable pricing.

-But I don't like the styling of any of them.
-I think the visibility is bad (which relates to the styling and the structure - the slab sides and squashed greenhouse just look bad and allow for gunslit windows).
-The dashboards, while decently styled, are very upright and tall, which adds to the visibility issue above. Of course, this too is not unique to the LX cars; even the Hondas and Toyotas, once known for their low dashes and excellent forward visibility, are trending toward taller dashes as the cars get bigger and heavier.
-And they are a little chunky, though sadly not horribly obese in this day and age when all cars are fat.
-A manual option could be cool on the SRT8 variants.

I'm not a MOPAR fan at all, so while I understand the complaints of the "Charger must be a 2 door" purists, it doesn't bother me too deeply.

 

The problem lies in the badge it carries....charger..no way.....they should have called it a magnum sedan and they wouldnt have caught nearly as much flack..a four door charger

 

Agreed!

 

For me the problem is that it looks like it came out of a cartoon. It's almost too outlandish looking (at least the front is) when i see them i half expect them to transform or something and starting eating things through its grille.

That could just be me tho.

 

I like it. Might pick one up as my next almost new purchase.



I was also on the its ugly and 4 door bandwagon, but like the 300 the road presence sells it and it grew on me.

 

Given the choice between both, the charger str-8 and 300 srt-8, i definitely pull for the 300 looks phenominal..kinda off topic though

 

Most of the outcry is over the complete bastardization styling-wise. Use this picture as an illustration.

They then turned that into this.

They had the concept...a beautiful, fully-working concept car that everyone loved. And they let it fornicate with a Dodge Ram truck, then gave us its offspring.

 

I don't have a problem with the 4 doors. It's the styling of the front end, and the weight, over 4000 lbs. This thing is a pig. Anybody know it's fuel efficiency?

 

When I first saw the Charger in pictures and even in the flesh....I thought it was ghastly. I was convinced that the designers were obviously on acid when they designed it. The 4 door thing didn't really bother me so much. But I just couldn't embrace it, after seeing the '99 concept.

But then something happened. I started noticing an interesting line here a captivating curve there. Do I think the Charger is pretty? No. But every time one drives by, it gets my attention and I'm intrigued.

Maybe the designers were planning that all along.