Dodge Charger: Newly Recharged for the Anniversary

Hard question for an electrohead: If you need space and only combustion engine rental cars are offered, which one do you choose? At the rental car parking lot among the "full-sizers" there were still four cars – all different makes: Chevrolet Malibu, Dodge Charger, Nissan Altima, Toyota Camry. When you ask petrolheads and journalist colleagues about their choice, the answer was unanimous: "Charger".

Of all things, the most imperfect and scruffy car in the parking lot! But with rear-wheel drive and a loudly roaring V6, it's still the closest to the former US full-size limo and therefore has more character than all the other soft front-wheel drive cars...

So get into the well-worn cabin, where a kind of "cleanliness" is attempted to be created with the worst kind of air freshener. Press the start button, move the shift lever to "D" and go! The Charger jumps forward – the base 3.6-liter V6 produces 218 kW, which is a lavish 296 hp – enough for 0-100 km/h in 6.9 seconds and a top speed of 220 km/h – more than enough to keep up on US highways. And since electric cars aren't doing so well right now, Dodge is developing another V6 Charger...which could at least be a bit more economical...

Sometimes it's enough to be beautiful...

The space conditions are good for four large passengers despite the slim and flat silhouette, and the deep trunk easily swallows the family’s travel luggage – five large carry-on cases plus various bags, totes, basketballs, etc. And already you're in a traffic jam and the Dodge starts to drink itself to death out of boredom: It starts at 18 l/100 km, then goes down to 16, 15.5... that's it. It won't settle for less... the traffic jam remains, the frustration of the Charger and its occupants increases.

And you notice that the Stellantis group V6 has been running for a long time. The interplay with the seven-speed torque converter automatic transmission is also rather jerky, and if you push it, the Charger becomes sluggish.

At least: The bony steering wheel simulates sportiness, which the otherwise successful chassis prefers to deliver straight ahead, while the air conditioning sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t: It pumps waves of cold air into the interior, only to pause again. And so we glide southward – always powerful enough to jump into a gap, but somehow also archaic...

Dodge Brothers: Designed in Detroit - at least

At the destination, we push the shift lever to "P" and step on the creaking foot brake assisted by a spring – a leftover from the 1994 Mercedes-Benz W210, on which the basic construction of the Charger is based!!! Next to the shift lever, we discover the key tray, which proudly proclaims: "Dodge Brothers – designed in Detroit". But it was built until the end of 2023 in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

A few days later we head back to the airport – this time we have free and happy driving, which benefits the Charger, its crew, and ultimately the fuel consumption as well. In the end, it drops to 11.94 l/100 km – which, well, somehow no longer works at all. Which is why we think it really makes sense to finally replace this old veteran. And after Ram was spun off from Dodge, there’s not much left of the Dodge Brothers – which is why the Charger comes anew – as an electric power limo – and because electric cars are currently viewed critically, also with a thirsty six-cylinder, called "Hurricane"... but this time with three liters displacement and since 2021 "made in Mexico". It was derived from the Stellantis "Global Engine Platform" with cylinder bore and stroke and starts with 310 kW (420 hp)...