2008 Dodge Charger

When I first drove the new Charger last year, I was impressed with how big it is. Big on the outside, big on the inside. So it must be that I’ve gotten used to it, because this year’s car didn’t seem nearly so unusual. Maybe that’s because I had the full-size 300C a few months ago, and that really is a big car.

For 2008, Dodge is putting auto writers into the Hemi R/T AWD version of the mid-size four door. Placed between the basic 3.5-liter V6 version and the hot rod SRT8 version of the Charger, the 5.7-liter Hemi R/T offers V8 performance in a package tailor-made for the 60% of the United States that lies north of the sun belt.

All Wheel Drive is an important feature in most places, both for safety and convenience. Sliding into a ditch in rain, snow, or ice is both unsafe and inconvenient, and AWD really does help keep a car on the road in bad conditions.

The Charger Hemi R/T AWD is fast, but not as fast as the 2WD version. You give up a little bit of low-end torque to drive all four wheels. But, just between you and me, I took the Charger to the local drag strip over the weekend and they were kind enough to let me take a few passes - the big Mopar turned in a best quarter-mile time of 14.8 seconds - almost a full second faster than a stock Subaru WRX! While the Charger was slower off the line, it really ate up the competition at the far end of the strip.

Inside the cabin, the Charger is basic and nice. There’s no silly woodgrain or other bling in here - it’s all business. And that’s nice. This Dodge has good comfort, ergonomics, and option package selections.

The Charger is a mild hot rod family sedan. So you can get it with a rear-seat DVD system (complete with headphones, so you don’t have to listen to whatever the kids are watching!), hands-free cell phone interface, a great 7-speaker stereo with satellite radio and an integrated hard disk for your tunes, and GPS Navigation. And of course, power everything, air, cruise, seat heat, and so on. It’s fully-featured.

Fuel economy is about average for a V8 sedan, at 15/22, and my real-world average mileage in combination driving was right around 16. I reset it after the drag racing trip, to be sure I got a fair reading. Obviously, fuel economy is on everyone’s mind this summer, and that could be a problem for Charger sales - at least in the V8 configuration.

If you’re shopping fuel economy this year and you like the Charger, consider the smaller 4-cylinder Dodge Avenger. You get the same aggressive body styling and design sensibility as the Charger, good performance, and 10 more MPG for a little more than half the money of a Hemi Charger.

As tested, our Charger came in at $39,850 on a base MSRP of $32,855. The difference is made up of a general “Customer Preferred Package” including the nifty stereo, a bunch of luxury features like integrated garage door opener, remote start, and trip computer, and a security alarm. That bit costs $1,475. Then there’s the “Protection Group” at $1,185. This includes air bags, hand-free cell phone, and run-flat tires. I’ll chide Dodge a bit for charging extra for air bags that everyone will want in a family car. Just put them in the base model and charge us for them, OK? It doesn’t fool anyone to depress the base price and then add this to every car! The test car also had a sunroof ($950), the fancy GPS nagivation and satellite radio ($890), the rear-seat DVD system ($1,595), and $225 for Turbo Red paint.

So, if there’s any of that stuff you don’t want, you can shave quite a bit off the test price and still get a nicely-equipped Charger with V8 and AWD for about $35,000.

Written by Jeff Zurcshmeide

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