Sittin Waitin Wishin: 2014 Dodge Challenger

"Jonathon Klein" (jonathon-klein)
07/17/2014 at 09:57 • Filed to: Sittin Waitin Wishin, Dodge Challenger

It seems that all of the news lately has been centered around Dodge's newest Challenger, the Hellcat. And you really can't blame those that have been covering the story there, myself included. The fact that Dodge was able to put 707hp, a 10s quarter mile, and package it all up for just a hair under $60k! That is just truly ridiculous. However Before the Hellcat, the Challenger was definitely looking a little long in the tooth. Then right before the announcement of the Hellcat and the subsequent media blitz, Dodge updated both the interior and exterior of the Challenger. Before all of this went down, I was at the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! where they had the last Challenger. I didn't know if I wanted to write about this, I had always thought that the Challenger was just too fat for its own good, and indeed it was, but what was the interior like, was it somehow better than its exterior? I needed to find out.

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It wasn't. Oh my god. I know the Challenger went largely unchanged for a few years, but my god was this atrocious. I had worked for a few auto dealers before in my life, one had a trio of Chargers ranging from a 2004-2008. Somehow, this brand new Challenger looked even more dated than those three.

I know Chrysler was still trying to rebound and they were really trying to put all their effort into the new design, but come on, I would not have had the guts to put that car on the stand at any auto show passed 2009. Let's start off with the front seats, because really that all the room in this car. The seats are so firm, and so uncomfortable that basically any type of driving for an extended period of time, in this case more than a half hour, would become unbearable. The seats felt like they have been made out of concrete with a small piece of padding covering them. In addition to being rock hard, the bolstering was in all the wrong places, and the top of the head rest came to just passed my shoulders. It was just plain ridiculous. Headroom on the car wasn't bad, but it shouldn't be with it being as tall as it is.

Maybe it could get better, it didn't. You look forward and you see a dash that has been taken straight out of a 04 Charger. The gauges look very dated, especially with the small piece of chrome encircling it. The steering wheel is entirely too chunky, again with the same small piece of chrome. And then the center console was lifted from the Ram I reviewed earlier in the series.

What looked good on a proper work truck, just looks so bad on a sports car. It all just doesn't make sense. What also dated it was the 80's green watch display for the trip computer. How can an automaker still build a car with this? It's time to move on.

And move on they did. I'm not going to make this a long SWW, just because the new one is about to hit the showroom floors very soon, and because of all the other Challenger news lately. But I am so thankful that they redesigned the interior, and progressed beyond what I saw here. This was absolutely one of the worst cars and worst interiors of the show, thank you Ralph Gilles for fixing that. This one however, it's the pits.

Follow me here on !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

DISCUSSION (9)

Vicente Esteve > Jonathon Klein
07/17/2014 at 10:07

I think of the Challenger as the most alike of the older muscle cars. Huge, thirsty big engine, not much equipment, and just going fast as hell in a straight line. Still though, I see it unnacceptable that they used the same gauges as a Calbier, or that the buttons bellow the HVAC (And the HVAC itself) is taken out of a Patriot. The cheapest SUV in America. In a 45K car...

area man > Jonathon Klein
07/17/2014 at 10:15

I'm with you on the center console and steering wheel, but I kind of liked the digital watch display. I trust it to last longer and an LCD/LED screen, which is stupid old fashioned of me but oh well. Also they had one in New York with a ball shifter and it looked a lot better.

Vince-The Roadside Mechanic > Vicente Esteve
07/17/2014 at 10:19

The reason they make it cheap like that is so they can be the cheapest V8 muscle car.

Vince-The Roadside Mechanic > Jonathon Klein
07/17/2014 at 10:20

I kind of liked it. The interior is ok at best but who cares when you are making a cloud from tires.

Jonathon Klein > area man
07/17/2014 at 10:20

I can imagine it would have looked better.

Vicente Esteve > Vince-The Roadside Mechanic
07/17/2014 at 10:30

Seems reasonable then.

Vince-The Roadside Mechanic > Vicente Esteve
07/17/2014 at 10:33

Yeah, Who cares about interior when you are doing burnouts.

Vicente Esteve > Vince-The Roadside Mechanic
07/17/2014 at 11:23

/Word!

monkeymouth > Jonathon Klein
07/17/2014 at 15:42

"The gauges look very dated, especially with the small piece of chrome encircling it."

I'm pretty sure that's the point.