Originally Posted by
Turbo_Turtle
The Challenger isn't particularly agile and is a car that never really gets 'smaller' around you. I like driving them on the highway but I wouldn't want to take one up to the mountain areas that I often have to go to. It's very composed in a straight line, though. The ride is extremely poised in that regard. The V6 is enthusiastic despite having to push such a huge hunk of metal. (Also if you see the little #4 on the rear lip spoiler its a V6 AWD.) The V8 is the way to go if you don't mind opening your wallet at the pump.
The reason I don't really rent them as much is the woefully bad basic equipment. Most of the ones I've seen are cloth/manual seating with nothing for additional upgrades. The convenience package where you get blind spot and rear cross traffic monitoring is an option on all of these so it's kind of rare afaik.
The two Charger Daytonas I've rented both had the upgraded wheel package. (Something silly like 20" rims.) In normal driving they are fine but be prepared, over uneven surfaces I have never experienced a less composed vehicle than those. It was comically bad how unsettled it was.
Edit : I forgot to add that the Challenger is listed as 'sporty'.
Originally Posted by
AppleBoy97
Will second this... I own a newer Charger R/T with all the bells and whistles, minus adaptive cruise because I hate it. Unless it's a well-loaded model like mine, I do not like the Challenger either. They are indeed a boat on wheels and the ones National / Enterprise have are literally the most dismal models available. I was in a situation this winter where all the SUVs were picked over, but there was a Challenger GT AWD available on the aisle so I took it. It got me where I needed to go in the Pittsburgh snow so I was happy and impressed considering it had the Goodyear Eagle RS tires. Visibility out of them is horrendous and as noted above most of the National models don't have blind spot monitoring (which helps so much in these), so if you're in a new city like PIT, Philly, or Miami where drivers are aggressive and you're not used to them or the roads, I recommend finding something else.
The UConnect system is one of the best on the market, even Consumer Reports agrees with that. I agree I've had the least amount of issues with UConnect in my personal Mopar vehicles and all of the rentals I've had. Nissan on the other hand...well, that's another story. I agree BMW's iDrive is good as well, but only after you get the hang of it.
My one complaint is that the National Challengers have the super small 5" UConnect screen that is a pain to fiddle with because it's so small. It's better software than Nissan, VW, or Toyota by far, but the screen size leaves a lot to be desired.
Thanks! I never imagined the Challenger to be like that as I always thought it was a pretty sporty car. Just out of curiosity what class is a Challenger officially as I cant figure out what it could fall under or is it just only on the aisle and for upgrades and not really part of a class? Same with the Mustang - I see Youtube videos on it but I have never seen it shown up as a class I can reserve.
I always find it disappointing that American cars in general seem behind with all the advanced safety techs as all the other brands put those stuff as standard. The other shocking thing I discovered with the Dodge (at least the Charger) is that they dont come with heated seats at standard, and National/Enterprise doesn't option them with heated seats. I am pretty sure heated seats are like standard on all cars now, especially on a car costing as much as the Charger
Only 5 inches... that's like ancient... I did notice on my last rental that the Chrysler 300 seems to have higher resolutions than the Dodge Chargers and Jeep Compass.
I would choose the Chrylser 300, Chargers more often except for the fact that they burn way too much gas. On these two I get like 12-13L per 100KM while on the BMW 330i in similar driving conditions I get around 8.5L per 100KM. The lowest I got on a Chryser 300 was 9.5L per 100km on a flat part of the trans Canada highway outside Vancouver while on a BMW I can get like 7L per 100km on the same stretch. I just find it hard to justify spending that additional amount on fuel, especially when the BMW offers a better car overall too. In BC, the BMW 330i is usually cheaper than the Chrysler 300 too so it just makes it even harder to justify the Chrysler 300. The Charger is almost the same price as the BMW but I save money at the pump with the BMW.