Discerning Reviews: Charger RT rental car

"Discerning" (discerning2003c5z)
03/25/2019 at 09:11 • Filed to: None

Yesterday we rented a “premium” rental car from Advantage rental. The only car they had was a 2017 Charger RT. I wasn’t too keen on the idea of a rental Chrysler product, but I didn’t have any choice other than to “upgrade” to a minivan or a Traverse. Yikes.

My initial thoughts were that it was OK. The sound was nice, though not as gnarly sounding as the scat pack I drove a while ago. But as we drove the car around Las Vegas, I found myself growing more and more disappointed with the car.

Despite having low miles, the intense heat of the Nevada sun, coupled with the thousands of butts that have occupied the car, have not been kind to this fragile interior. The door panel has pulled away from the top of the door and curved at an upward angle that’s quickly apparent to the passenger. The plastics inside on the center console and dash appear to have changed colors somewhat. There are squeaks and rattles everywhere.

My finance was surprised at how low rent the car felt and looked inside. She compared it unfavorably to the loaner Honda civic she received when her pilot was in for the airbag recall about 6 months ago.

Mechanically, the car seems mostly fine other than a strange rattle from the engine at low rpm at medium load as the car chugs along through traffic. The shifts are also clumsy and delayed in normal driving around the strip. At least it sounds good.

Outward visibility is good. The dials are easy to read and everything is in reach. The large infotainment screen responds quickly to inputs and the stereo sounds OK. Wow, the mirrors are tiny little things. Why are these mirrors so tiny?

I’ll add pictures today when I return it to Advantage. I’m hoping they have anything else I can exchange it for because I’d rather not have this for the rest of the week. Ultimately we’d rather have something that’s a little nicer inside as there isn’t anywhere in this city where the power could be appreciated anyway.

Hre are some pics:

DISCUSSION (25)

KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time > Discerning
03/25/2019 at 09:49

2018 and after get the Active exhaust standard I believe even on base rental trim and sounds great when you choose sport mode. This is how it sounds like

Interior plastics is the biggest problem of the charger. how many miles on this thing?

Discerning > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
03/25/2019 at 09:54

It’s up there. 48,944. Lol.

The rental employee said they think it’s a 2017. Could be a 2018.

U pdated with pictures

Discerning > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
03/25/2019 at 10:01

I just looked up the vin. It's a 2017 and it has likely seen better days based on the miles it's accumulated

KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time > Discerning
03/25/2019 at 10:09

It’s been beaten to shit , given it’s a rental and those miles are easily equivalent to 100K on a regular car. Plus Nevada sun and heat like you said. Still that peeling trim reflects poorly on FCA quality . It’s not a 20 year old used car.

I ’m willing to bet if it were tinted and garaged would hold up better, well any car would, but more so this one with those cheap plastics. Guess you just stick to leasing them.

Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness > Discerning
03/25/2019 at 10:16

So what you’re saying is: Beat rental car seems beat?

Discerning > Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness
03/25/2019 at 10:19

That’s probably a major contributing factor. I’ve been in some cars that seem to be able to handle the abuse but this one didn’t manage to.

The door peeling up doesn't seem to be abuse though. Ditto for the different colored plastics and possibly not all the squeaks and rattles. I imagine that has more to do with the constant and intense sun in this region.

Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness > Discerning
03/25/2019 at 10:20

Honestly I’ve been appalled by a lot of new cars when it comes to squeaks/rattles. Seems like anything I’ve been in with 50-70k is already making noise everywhere. That’s been across the board for brands/models.

Discerning > Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness
03/25/2019 at 10:27

My Infiniti made a bunch of annoying noises from every little thing. The windows rattled (common problem with Nissans), the center console creaked, and the gas peddle made a really weird clicking sound constantly.

Discerning > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
03/25/2019 at 10:29

Well the rental lot at Vegas is a huge deck and this one was in the same line as their premium cars - right past the rental counter. But maybe the renters left it in the sun a lot.

JustAnotherG6 > Discerning
03/25/2019 at 10:34

Funny, I had rented a ‘19 Charger R/T in Nor Cal for a week. It only had 1000 miles or so on it and the tires were already showing sign s of wear/abuse. Other than that it was a decent car. My only complaint is that I didn’t have much headroom b/c sunroof. Even with the drivers seat at its lowest setting I only had a fingers worth of space between my head and the headliner. Passenger seat is even worse (wife wanted to drive for a bit), no hei gh t adjustment at all I had to tilt my head towards t he sunroof, which for extended periods is not preferable.

BigBlock440 > Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness
03/25/2019 at 10:36

Funnily enough, the only low-mileage car I bought (at 30k) started developing squeaks and rattles (dash mostly, but some bushings ) between the 40-60k mark, but they disappeared on their own somewhere before it hit 100k. They were intermittent, so I don’t know exactly when they disappeared , but they’ve been gone for the last 50-60k without having to do anything for them.

Discerning > JustAnotherG6
03/25/2019 at 10:37

This one has 48k miles apparently. So I imagine it has seen some abuse.

It’s also devoid of a sunroof and most all options, so it doesn’t feel very premium inside.

This one has some off brand of tires, so I didn't comment on the handling or ride. Which is actually pretty bad. The sidewalls are short but weak, yet the ride crashes over bumps and cracks in the road. But I am 99% sure that is due to the heap tires, because I didn't notice those qualities in the scat pack I drove on the shoddy streets of Atlanta

Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness > BigBlock440
03/25/2019 at 11:59

That’s crazy!

Did they actually go away or is your mind blocking them out?

Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness > Discerning
03/25/2019 at 12:03

2012 BMW M5 creaked from the center console and somewhere in the back seat area, 28k miles.

2015 F150 Platinum creaked/squeaked all over the interior.

2017 Forester creaked from the center console and somewhere inside the dash, 12k miles.

2012 Corolla S creaked/rattled everywhere starting at 10k miles, besides being an epic pile in general.

Discerning > Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness
03/25/2019 at 12:19

My 2018 f150 has started to make some little noises. Thankfully it’s not as bad as the I nfiniti... yet...

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > Discerning
03/25/2019 at 12:22

I had a completely different experience than you.

It was a 17' Hemi. No rattles, the interior was decent. The transmission was pretty good imo, fast shift in sport mode and smooth when in normal mode. Maybe yours was beaten up?

I drove a V6 Challenger this weekend and the tuning in that was worse than the V8 hemi. It did jerk around a bit coming off the line, I had to be very careful with the throttle to smooth it out.

Yours was a V8 right?

BigBlock440 > Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness
03/25/2019 at 12:31

They actually went away. Maybe enough dust worked its way between the joints to lubricate the plastic-on-plastic noises. Or the parts rubbing wore away enough that they don’t anymore. Or a couple highway runs with out of balance tires shook something loose. The ones coming from the bushings could have been fixed when I changed ball joints or struts ( they only squeaked in the cold and I changed stuff when it was warm, so there was no before or after noise) but I have no explanation for the dash squeaks/rattles.

Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness > Discerning
03/25/2019 at 12:32

WHY!

Why is a 2018 already starting to make noises!?!?!?!

Discerning > ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability
03/25/2019 at 13:23

Yeah. It’s an RT and it has the 5.7. You can even make out the “hemi” badges in the first picture.

I think it may have been beaten a little. It has 48k miles

Discerning > Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness
03/25/2019 at 13:24

I think it’s actually all of the junk I have in the center console and the back storage area moving around. Lol. I really need to clean it out

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > Discerning
03/25/2019 at 15:58

Yeah, seems that way. I mean I was sliding the thing everywhere :)

Jordan > Discerning
03/25/2019 at 17:03

48K miles? That’s a lot for a rental car. Most get sold off at 30k miles or so, which is when they have 150k miles worth of wear and tear. That Charger must have had 250k miles worth of wear on it. If anything, t he fact that its still driving mostly fine is impressive.

Discerning > Jordan
03/25/2019 at 18:11

Well we just swapped it for a Camry with 45k miles and saved a couple hundred bucks. The Camry seems to actually be in better shape overall so we’re happy.

There is literally nowhere on the strip to enjoy a quickish car and the valets would just rev the crap out of the charger for fun anyway.

More money to spend on all you can eat sushi

Jordan > Discerning
03/25/2019 at 19:18

Makes sense that the Camry would be in better shape. Some of the previous renters would have driven it normally. But a rental car with a Hemi and RWD? I imagine most of the previous renters would have neutral dropped it at least 5 times.

Discerning > Jordan
03/26/2019 at 00:12

Oh definitely. Even the service guy immediately started revving it to 5k+

Advantage has cheap cars, but they also apparently do little in terms of maintenance or detailing.