Originally posted by kalifornia87
What about the visibility out the back. It looks like your vision is obstructed...
Amen brother. I won't take anyhting away from the car, but like bishir I couldn't justify a new one, since they're going for sticker, and in some cases MORE. I found a sweet deal on a used one. Cargo setup, with racks, heated seats, moonroof, and that DAMN fine soundsystem. It had 4800 miles, although the tires swore it was more like 20k. I got them down to $27.9k. Looking at Autotrader, that's a good price and I know this is a hot car. I pawed it over and took her out on the road. And here is my take.
Car feels like a Benz. It is SOLID, around corners it is balanced very well, very tight. The doors shut DRUM tight and despite the mighty motor and nice sounding exhaust, it is a really quiet ride inside. Allowing one to exploit that EXCELLENT stereo. The brakes are SICK, I was surprised on such a big vehicle wearing the Dodge name. And acceleration, forget about it. I'm not too worried that one with light mods will give the GN a problem, but hey, that bar is pretty high
I went thru the driver information stuff when I got in. It was reading 7.8 mpg average. Now I know people don't drive this thing kindly on test drives, but that was scary. And I'm not buying it to get 30+ mpg, that is for sure! But still, commuting on back roads, and after reading many reviews, I know I wouldn't come CLOSE to that 20mpg claimed in a city-highway cycle. I would be in all eight cylinders for the most part, and even light driving I could be looking at 17mpg.
The BACK is what got me. It has a large floor area, but the way the roof comes down, there is very little room back there for larger items I felt. I have two pitbulls, and for them to chill in the car the back seats would have to be down. They are just too tall to sit happily in the back, they'd clambor over the seats, obscuring what little vision is offered in that car. ONTO the leather, no less. For carrying my smoker, or much else that stood up high, forget it. The cargo area is LOW by way of sculpting the back to look slippery, this is no mid 90s Volvo.
And the visibility was horrible. the back seats come within a few inches of the roof, and the way it tapers down after that, with the big metal post between the C and D pillars, looking over into the right lane, out the back, was troublesome at best. But of course with that Hemi, not much is gonna be hanging out there in your blind spot if you're just coming off throttle. But envisioning carrying large items, this is no SUV. The Saturn Vue is 20" shorter and feels like it has more room. Pair that with the LARGE rearview mirror with all the controls that seemed to sit right in the middle of my field of view, I was honestly unnerved driving the car. Now that WOULD get better with time, I'm sure, but it was as bad as I've seen in a car, and I've driven 20' long mid 70s GM boats a lot of my life.
So despite the awesome performance, the car did not meet my carrying needs. Other than that it is a great vehicle and I feel proud knowing that an American make can build a car that feels like a vault, and can absolutely massacre any european wagon on the road, regardless of price. If they didn't do so much with the styling, and in turn KILL the rear cargo capability, it would be in my garage.
Thank you all very much for the information, and if anybody wants a Hemi Magnum and a trip to the best skiing on the East Coast, let me know. They wanna move the car and as best as I can tell, this thing is about $2k lower than what comparable rigs are going for on EBay and the like. Take care all!
