2018 Charger R/T review

[kevm14]

Bob came to visit in his 2018 Charger R/T rental and obviously we took it out for a ride. 1,900 miles on it. Seemed to be base model. My opinions may have changed with options, in certain areas. It did have heated seats and an "Alpine" branded stereo.

Looks
Well knowing that it is a rental car, and knowing how ubiquitous these are (not being an SRT or Scat Pack) I can't say I thought it was super awesome looking. It is a large car and looks like a large car. It's fine. Not special though. And frankly, not supposed to be.

Sound
Here's an area they executed about as well as they could have given noise regulations on a stock exhaust. It evokes a very quintessential muscle car exhaust noise. However, it's still not as good as an aftermarket exhaust (or as good as my CTS-V with Magnaflow) because you can tell that they specifically engineered it to have as much sound as possible up to whatever sound pressure limit they were using. So what happens is, it starts off snarly but as you feed it WOT and wind it out, doesn't get as loud and crisp as you'd expect. Again, I think they did about as well as they could for a stock exhaust. So I definitely award points here. Bob said after he got over the good exhaust note, he kind of got over the car itself.

Interior
The interior was....not that good. But I think it is fair for what the car costs. Which I assume is somewhere in the $33k range, given that you get a good amount of power. I should check. Seats weren't great (I actually thought they would be a lot better), materials weren't great. However, it was very spacious. This is definitely the B-body replacement in terms of interior space. I didn't sit in the rear and I know it is a lot better than a B-body. Front was at least equivalent. So that is good.

Engine
This is really the whole point of the car. It has a lot of torque and can get it done at pretty much whatever RPM you need. It reminded me very much of the 2007 300C I drove back in 2007. Just lots of torque and a relatively low redline. It felt old school in that way. Like a B-body, but with more. I did a burnout with it. It got into 2nd and at least 50 mph. Overall plenty of power though I need to look up trap speed to understand where this places. Bob and I are pretty sure my CTS-V is faster but by how much is the question. A bad launch or a missed shift and it might be over if the race is short. I don't call that the same but it's not that far apart, either. I actually did not like the engine blat noise on the upshifts. The car is overall not fast enough to justify it imo. This isn't a Hellcat. It's as fast as a V6 Camaro. Need to remember that.

Trans
I can't say much. It shifted. Nothing about it seemed exceptional and I don't think anything got in the way. There was a time when the transmission played a more integral role in defining the personality of the drivetrain. Not here.

Chassis
I'll start with the brakes. They are grabby and don't require much pressure to go to ABS. This seems good except the brakes themselves look quite small and I don't think this has any kind of performance braking capability so the feel is misleading. That bothers me.
The steering was fine I guess. It was precise enough but on center feel was not that great, and feel overall was nill. Ratio was fine. It got the job done but it wasn't satisfying in any conceivable way.
The chassis was like the steering I guess. The shocks damp enough, and it rides nicely enough. It handles alright. Overall this is clearly not a chassis car and it is very obvious on the drive.
Also the stability control had zero margin for anything fun, unlike basically all the GM stuff. So fail on that. But to be fair, GM has pretty much the industry best stability control algorithms.

Reasons to buy car:
If you want a large sedan that makes V8 noises, and you want it cheaper than any other options that aren't like an old Crown Vic, this is your car.

Reasons not to buy car:
If you value chassis dynamics. Really if I got one of these I'd never get the R/T. I'd get an SRT something or a Scat Pack. The R/T is kinda meh. This car has good enough handling that if you didn't know any better, you'd think it was fine. But I know better. GM makes cars with strong V8s and good chassis. You don't have to pick one. I would bet that even something that seems so pedestrian and old as a 2008 G8 GT gives an overall better and more rewarding driving experience. Those cars don't seem to be a good value in the current used market, though. Maybe surprisingly, this 2018 Charger R/T isn't any faster than that 08 G8 GT. This shouldn't be too surprising though as the G8 GT only has 10 fewer HP and 275 fewer pounds. The G8 GT might even be a touch faster. Too bad they didn't keep making them - they might actually be properly affordable now instead of over valued in the market.

This car would have to be a LOT cheaper than any other option available for me to be interested in it. And the thing is, at any price point that this car exists in (new or used) I would definitely buy something else. Yes, it may be older and higher mileage, but I still would. I mean for the $33k new this might cost, I could be driving an SS!! Or a Vsport for that matter. I can't imagine picking this over those but I guess that is me. Maybe that's why I never thought new car MSRPs mattered. It's irrelevant that it is $33k and an SS stickered at $47k. Because right now I could go out and buy an SS for under $30k all day. I don't care what it cost new. I only care what it costs when I buy it. Or, for that $33k, I'd look into a used Scat Pack or SRT. I know those exist, too. The R/T was...well, a rental car. With a really good exhaust note.

You could say...wait a minute, this sounds like a modern B-body! Shouldn't I love it? Well the thing is, this is 2017. The B-body is great for what it is, and I like it for that. But these cars cost real money and for that money I could buy better ones. So I would.

Do I think GM should build this anyway? Well...in theory, yes. But I totally understand why they are just as happy to leave this market to FCA where they seem to have made it a bit of a niche for themselves. I would not want them to clone this car but with a GM V8. If you want an all-engine old school experience, FCA already has that. GM is fine doing what they are doing. If they do a more affordable V8 sedan, I don't want them to compromise on the chassis to get it.

Maybe that's the entire point. They COULD build something better than this! Because they have.

[kevm14]

Now I am waiting for Bob's reviews of:
The Roadmaster
The STS
The CTS-V

[kevm14]

I did a burnout with it. It got into 2nd and at least 50 mph.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWKYR7q ... e=youtu.be

We drove to Mexico for this.

[kevm14]

Oh. Bob, please take a pic of the car for the record.

[kevm14]

One more thing. After my hammering, when we were almost back at my house, I heard a strange sound at light throttle around 1800 rpm. It almost sounded like an exhaust leak. No idea what that was, but none of my vehicles exhibited any signs like that after similar abuse. The Roadmaster had its exhaust leak before our hammering so that doesn't count.

[kevm14]

Yikes. $35k. Just for the R/T.

I'm not sure it's fair to say a Camaro 1SS is over priced in the market then, at $39,5xx or whatever it is. Especially considering a 2018 base V6, which has the same acceleration as this Charger R/T, MSRPs for $28,400. And a V6 1LE (which you can add to the 1LS) is still only $32,900.

This doesn't render the Charger irrelevant of course - they are totally different cars. But I don't think the Camaro's pricing is out of whack at all.

[kevm14]

C/D got a 13.6 sec @ 105 mph from their 2015 review unit. The good news is, that must mean my CTS-V traps more like 107 instead of 105. This is great news. Their review unit was also not a base model, testing at $44k and weighing 4381 lbs. Ugh.

I wish we could have lined them up. Don't need to get arrested though. I think we both agreed the CTS-V would walk the Charger.

While I'm on this topic, and in the interest of full disclosure, I think the Charger R/T would walk the V6 Camaro, too. Based on trap speeds. I think 0-60 is the same though.

[kevm14]

Bob's 0-60 vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsDtyZZ1cac

[kevm14]

Pics, courtesy of Bob.

Charger 1.jpg

Charger 2.jpg

Charger 3.jpg

Charger 4.jpg

Charger 5.jpg