So, wow yeah - I think I'm beginning to hate the new challengers. not the style not the fact that they sound great. . . . .but from my experience with them so far it has been rather negative!


So my dad buys not one but TWO new challengers one to daily drive and a spring special edition to keep as a collector both cars have maybe a total of 3000 miles on them.

now my father is a HUGE mopar supporter it's mopar or no car. - but he has had these cars a total of 2-3 months. his spring special is fine just way over hyped imo for what it is a 5.7 lt classic looking challenger.

but his other daily car so far has done nothing but not impress me the braking in the car so far has been far from impressive my 10 year old fireturd stops better than it does and when i bought the car it had a warped caliper *don't ask i have no idea how someone can possibly do this to an fbody*

but basically the challengers been starting up idling rough then dieing, then he starts it up again and bam it's fine! well the other day he gets in it to move it over to do some yard work. the car doesn't try to start just turns over. . . .so at this point he gets out checks the battery and it shows good. gets back in *mind you he's doing this to a car with 3000 miles on it and maybe a total of a half a year old.* he manages to start it the car idles rough the gagues are throwing codes the lights are flickering everywhere the doors wont push the glass up and seal like their designed to do just like a BMW. the cars just pretty much gone rogue. . . .he turns the ESP button off and bam car idles fine but the gagues are still freaking out.

at this point he kills it and lets it sit for a momment then tries to turn it back over. at this point it acts like it's dead. i check challenger forums "Ok no problem dead battery" takes it to the dealership "battery checks out good we might think it's your PCM but we're going to run some tests.


at this point my dad owns a 30,000 dollar paper weight of a car that doesn't perform well has no tuning capability outside of "programmers" has seem to continue to give him issues. Aside from their good looks and retro design I'm rather not impressed i could have so much more car for the money!

I'm just upset for my dad mostly because he's such a mopar crazed guy and he has had nothing but trouble with these new cars. he buys a cold air intake for the spring special with no power gains headers don't do anything for them heads cam gives them like an additional 30-40 hp and a blower gives the same gain by itself my car does with a cam cheap heads and a good tune!

*end rant* i just hope they fix it for him.

 

Its a Dodge...

 

What's that have to do with anything?


Sports cars aren't the same anymore, they are just taking big *** cars and putting a big motor in them then writing Challenger or Camaro on the side.

Bring back the real Camaro. Challengers were big *** cars from the start so they haven't changed much.

 

they r slow

 

slow, overgrown, and the other day i saw one on wire wheels and vogues.

 

Sorry, but cars made these days will never be collector cars.

 

I would get one if I could get it the way I want. 6.1, 6 speed, no power options, no cruise or a/c. Then I'd rip out the useless stuff, upgrade the brakes as you said, and everything else.......... Wait a minute. I might as well get a different car.

 

Come on face it, mopar doesn't exactly have a great reputation for reliability. Just off the top of my head I can remember alot of transmission problems with thier trucks a few years back. Not to say every car maker doesn't have problems here and there but Chrysler more so than others. Chrysler has always been like the third wheel of the U.S. auto makers anyway.

As far as sports cars these days, they are significantly better than the old days. Hell the new camaro is hitting the high 12s with a driver as heavy as it is. Stock camaros from the 60's and 70's weren't doing this. I remeber a special about 1st gen camaros and they had a stripper 1st gen SS with the 396 and 4speed that a collecter had at the track run low 14s with some hard launches while side stepping the clutch. He may have cracked into the high 13s but thats it. Lets not even mention the new vettes, vipers (mopar), and variants of the mustang like the GT500.

To the OP sorry to hear your dad is having a hard time with his challenger, hopefully they step up to the plate and make it right for him.

 

Honestly I dont see the point here. Every company has cars like that. At least they seem to be taking care of it.

The new Challenger is big...what about that new Camaro monstrosity? Yesterday cars will NEVER come back. As things are these days I seriously consider not buying any new cars and concentrate on keeping mine running well and look in the old muscle car market for my future rides. I also love vintage and antique cars. The only good thing in the new car market are the engines coming out. It makes perfect sense to transplant those into the REAL cars of the past.

 

every automaker has its bad cars, just turns out ur dad got one

 

I fix crap like that in all makes. Welcome to the Controller Area Network BUS age. Pinch one wrong wire in the door jamb and the whole vehicle is DOA.

I'm with WhiteHooptie, bring back window cranks and slide lever A/C's for the win. I'll read my own map and look back when backing up thank you very much. At least I'll always have a car that runs.

Vernon

 

So, update on this my dads car is back apparently it was one of the first production ran 6 speeds for 09 and it had an older flash on the PCM that the tech there stated was causing this. - they had to upgrade the current flash on it. it was also that networking bus issue they had to reconfigure that aswell. . . .i'll stick to my car.

 

This coming from a guy with a car that is from the dark age of horsepower in his sig.


Face it, a cam and bolt on swap with a tune on a new camaro making over 500 RWHP in 2009, you couldnt get that from ANY small block in 1967,8,9 from a f body if you tried.

 

You seem to have challenger and charger confused, challengers were pony cars like mustangs, camaros, and firebirds...they were not big *** cars.

 

They weren't exactly light though.

Specifications
Wheelbase, inches: 110.0
Weight, lbs: 3,600

 

But is there a reason the new cars are swollen?

It defeats the purpose of designing and building a high-hp engine and dropping it into an overstuffed "pony" car like the new Camaro or Challenger.

I havent seen anything yet, but what are their skidpad numbers like? I can't imagine the when someone tries to auto-x one of them stock.

 

They are one of the most hideous cars ever. Huge boats with no style. They look like a damn lunch box and what's up with the frickin lift kit on these things? Disgusting.

 

I don't know man, I think they are sexy as hell, definately the best looking of the retro styled cars. Now I'd sooner vote for Obama in a 2nd term than buy a Dodge, but I still think they look good.

 

I dont think they look bad, they are just too big. The challenger styling is nice, just scale it down to a normal size/weight car.

 

In this case, yes there is. Challenger is built on Charger/300, and the reason for that is they sold a lot of that chassis. It was either share with a successful chassis or don't do it at all. It makes great business sense for it to be a fat little pig. Personally, I think it's historically accurate to make it big and heavy, as was already mentioned.