"Wilsonic" (wilsonic)
11/23/2015 at 18:17 • Filed to: None
26
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"Wilsonic" (wilsonic)
11/23/2015 at 18:17 • Filed to: None | 26
| 12 |
A collision with a deer in my daily driver put me in need of a rental car. By luck (or so I thought at the time), the rental agency had a low inventory and I got “stuck” with a Challenger. My time with the Challenger was brief but eventful and insightful.
At the time, I saw getting the Challenger as making something good out of a bad situation. I was pretty bummed about my truck being damaged and getting something cool like the Challenger as my rental felt like lady luck was making amends for my bad luck with avoiding deer. I loved the Challenger; it looks great, feels great to sit in, steering is light but not too light, and power is plenty even with the Pentastar V-6. Despite the high belt line, the Challenger’s seats sit you up high so you can actually see (much unlike a Camaro’s buckets which sit you on the floor). Anyone who is disappointed with a Challenger probably expects it to be a sports car. The Challenger is not a sports car, its a muscle car. Dodge has probably done the best in bringing that muscle car feel into the 21st century. The old-school numbered gauges and notchback greenhouse did at times make me feel like I was back in my !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!
However, the new refreshed Challengers have this one awful, terrible flaw: an eight speed automatic. It has a distinct “clunk” when you let off the gas at cruising speed as it tries to shift into the most economical gear possible. I alerted this to the rental agency and they assured me it was just how the car behaved. Well, one morning a few days later that clunk turned into a “ka-POW!” After the awful noise, the car sounded like it was going over rumble strips anytime it decelerated. However, it drove fine and no warning messages popped up on the dashboard. Still, I called the rental company and told them I am bringing the car back after work. As much as I did not want to part with the Challenger, it was obviously in need of service. Then lady luck decided to reveal her twisted sense of humor two days in the making. On the way back to the rental company, the Challenger was doing fine. The noise was still there but quieter, and the car was driving perfect. The second I thought “hey, I’m going to be okay”...
BOOOOOOOM!
The transmission violently ended itself. This time the dash lit up with something to the effect of “TRANSMISSION FAILURE, SEEK SHELTER.” The once powerful modern muscle car was now limping to wherever I can guide it. I coasted in the shoulder, approaching the right turn lane into a Walmart. My coasting stopped though when lady luck put left turning traffic in front of me. My turn to go comes up and I press the gas in futility. The engine makes power but none of it goes to the wheels. I play with the shifter trying to trigger some sort of response. It dawns on me that nothing will make this car move now except my own brute force. And as I looked behind me, I was truly on my own.
Humanity had escaped the people behind me, assuming it was there in the first place. Horns honked, hands waived. I swung open the Challenger’s long door and began to both push and steer a two ton, four wheeled brick. My shoulder bruised under the A-pillar of my now crippled friend. As I started pushing, I thought people would now understand my plight and no longer be mad at me. Maybe, some of them would even help me. But as they passed by me on the way into Walmart, I felt their glares making the car heavier. Their faces said how dare this man break down in front of us and block us from getting GREAT PRODUCTS AT LOW, LOW PRICES! UGH, HE IS JUST THE WORST PART OF MY DAY! Meanwhile, my heart is pounding outside of my chest as I crest the Challenger on top of the hump that clears a storm drain below. Dodge may have failed this car when they put a set of bicycle gears into an aluminum box and called it a “transmission.” But I wasn’t going to fail it too. It was a Challenger, it was special, and I wasn’t going to leave it stranded any old place. It was going in a parking lot where it would be safe.
Then I see ahead of me, almost from out of nowhere, a man running across the parking lot. Young, black, about college age and dressed like he just came from a track meet. “Hop in and steer, I’ll push” he said. “Thank you so much” I replied. I hopped in and steered while he gave the car the power to move again. We crawled our way through angry shoppers until the Challenger was in an actual parking spot. With the car now in a safe place, the young man began to walk away. “Hey” I yelled with my hand out. I shook his hand and said “thanks man, you are a life saver.” He casually replied “no problem” and walked away wearing an invisible cape. I called my rental company who promptly picked me up and got me into a much more reliable Nissan Altima.
Despite the catastrophic mechanical failure, I really liked the Challenger. As I write this now, I miss being in it. I miss looking at it. The Challenger was an honest car in the sense that it didn’t try to be anything it wasn’t. I feel like the modern Camaro and Mustang try to be a sports car but they fall short. The Challenger doesn’t try to be a sports car, it knows what it is and its better off for it. Dodge, you have a good product on your hands. If you could just fix the exploding transmission part, that would be great.
So, what did I learn about humanity? That people will abandon their fellow man in the pursuit of cheap consumer goods. But as long as one out of a hundred people is not an asshole, the world still has a chance of being a decent place to live in.
lone_liberal
> Wilsonic
11/23/2015 at 18:25 |
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A rental Challenger. I wonder how many attempted burn outs and how much general hoonage that thing suffers through.
jkm7680
> Wilsonic
11/23/2015 at 18:26 |
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Yay for nice people!
Btw, that was because I put it in reverse at 60 mph, several times. Sorry about that.
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Wilsonic
> lone_liberal
11/23/2015 at 18:31 |
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Knowing it probably had a rough life made me feel sorry for it. Still, Dodge’s new Indiana built 8 speed they put with the V-6’s is known for being flawed.
someassemblyrequired
> Wilsonic
11/23/2015 at 19:19 |
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Its annoying because they should be great cars (I have a Charger). But that balky downshift worries me - and I got that warning too (its definitely ominous) though luckily I was in the dealer’s parking lot, picking up our van. Trans was overfilled at the factory they say. Car has 19K, is on its third alternator, problems with HVAC and the Bluetooth just died. I wish Lehto would move to Seattle so I could replace it with something reliable.
shop-teacher
> Wilsonic
11/23/2015 at 19:31 |
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“But as long as one out of a hundred people is not an asshole, the world still has a chance of being a decent place to live in.”
Well said.
Mustang 'DontHitTheCrowd' GT
> Wilsonic
11/23/2015 at 19:57 |
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Yeah mine has that transmission “thunk” as well.
Supposedly that is “the way it is supposed to be”, and I’ve gotten used to it - mine is 2013 so it has the 5-speed transmission though. Apparently the 5 speed transmissions are bulletproof. Not sure what kindof burnouts yours’ previous customers were doing.
Nauraushaun
> Wilsonic
11/23/2015 at 21:39 |
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The Challenger was an honest car in the sense that it didn’t try to be anything it wasn’t
I disagree. With that 8-speed transmission, it’s trying to be some sort of luxurious/economical car, which is missing the whole point. If it had a regular ole’ 5 or 6 speed you may have never been in this situation.
Although, it seems the Germans who love this luxury stuff
can’t do it much better
. So maybe the Challenger is doing a fine job.
Spoon II
> Wilsonic
11/24/2015 at 01:54 |
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I was going to say, I imagine that 8 speed is the same one that’s in my truck, and it’s extremely quiet. I hope that it doesn’t meet the same catastrophic end
haveacarortwoorthree2
> jkm7680
11/24/2015 at 08:58 |
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Doing some Rockford Files j-turns?
Matt
> Wilsonic
11/24/2015 at 22:17 |
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Disagree....I had one I drove 300,000 miles without any issues...now own 2015 6 speed manual...
mcdids69
> Wilsonic
11/26/2015 at 21:07 |
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well that settles it. i’m getting a challenger rt plus with the 6 speed manual.
Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever
> Wilsonic
12/04/2015 at 13:04 |
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The 2015 facelift has put the Challenger right at the top of my “Dream Daily Driver” list. But my current commuter has no sign of going south anytime soon, so it will remain a weekday V8 pipe dream for now.