Mustang Ecoboost VS Dodge Charger SXT

So for the past week I was driving a rental Dodge Charger SXT while on vacation. Since I had it for a few days and got to do some spirited driving out in the Denver area I figured I'd give my thoughts on it compared to my personal 6-speed Ecoboost.

Engine/Drivetrain: I really was not a fan of the automatic transmission in the charger. I may just be too used to picking my own gears but I found the charger transmission very unpredictable. When merging on the highway and needing that last little acceleration to get to the correct speed I found the charger would drop gears too slowly and not in a very predictable manner. After 2 days I actually ended up putting it in manual mode for when I was merging or in other sticky situations (going up/down mountains) so that I could hold it in a lower gear. Not only did the tranny feel slow to response but I had forgotten what it was like to drive a NA vehicle. I was so used to the EB torque coming on strong and so low I forgot at first that I needed to be in much higher RPM to really feel the torque. To me the charger didn't really seem to have any steam what-so-ever until I got past the 4k rpm mark. This made me really appreciate the usefulness of the EB's low end torque for DD purposes. Overall I did enjoy the power the charger had on hand but it seems just a bit lacking which wasn't helped by the transmission's laggy-ness.

Handling/Suspension: The car is pretty big and definitely feels big. I am not one to squeal tires around every curve but I had no problem making my passengers very uncomfortable with my driving. The car rides smooth I thought. Smoother than my mustang which I would expect out of sedan/sports car comparison. The power assist steering modes seem less noticeably differentiated than the mustang's. Though it seemed like the comfort mode felt less... sloppy(?)... than my mustang in comfort mode. I definitely still prefer the sport steering mode of the mustang overall. I would say the biggest difference I noticed in feeling of handling is how the charger feels like there is sooo much car behind you compared to the mustang feeling like there's a lot of car in front of you. This is self explanatory though.

Interior: The dodge felt overall equal in cosmetic build quality although I wasn't analyzing everything in detail. I will say that I like the mustang gauges better but the screen in between the gauges on the dodge feels "cooler", although it definitely felt laggy when navigating it. It also doesn't feel as organized as the mustangs but I am sure I would get to know it just fine after extended use. The infotainment screen on dodge also feels "cooler" backed up by my girlfriend's similar opinion (although she was mostly amazed by the apple car play). Though it too seems less functionally organized. Once thing I did like was that there were a total of 4 USB ports in the car, 2 in the arm rest and 2 for the back seat. Another stupid thing is that I really liked the way the trunk opened and closed. It just felt smoother and easier; overall nicer than my mustang. I will say also that the interior was roomy enough for my girlfriend's 7 foot tall brother to be willing to sit in the passenger seat for our 90min road trip to the mountains instead of us taking his truck, though he didn't look that comfortable from my perspective.

In closing I will say I like the charger a lot and considered it while I was car shopping, before settling on the mustang. It's probably one of, if not, the only american sedans I would buy as I really like the look. Would I trade my mustang for it? Not a chance, as I don't have a frequent need for 4 functional seats right now. If I had kids (or friends ) to tote around I would be reconsidering though. Would love to drive one of the more powerful versions like the scat pack someday to see how it compares to the puny V6 I had.

I tote my two kids in my gt all the time. No complaints from either 7 or 11 year old.

What automatic did the Charger have, they come with either a 6 speed or an 8 speed. The ZF 8 speed is considered the best automatic on the market period. I would venture a guest that your rental had the base 6 speed.

dgc333 said:

What automatic did the Charger have, they come with either a 6 speed or an 8 speed. The ZF 8 speed is considered the best automatic on the market period. I would venture a guest that your rental had the base 6 speed.

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All Chargers come with the 8 speed.

[MENTION=25508]5LITER[/MENTION] I should have clarified that I was more concerned with my own difficulties of having to strap a small child into the back of a mustang haha.
[MENTION=12702]dgc333[/MENTION] it was the 8 speed like [MENTION=15750]Zodiac[/MENTION] said. I am not sure what defines a "good" automatic transmission though. I did appreciate the manual mode in the car. It did seem to bang out the shift relatively quickly when I was telling it too. And when I was casually cruising it felt nice and smooth. I think it was more so the transmission programming I was disliking as whenever I punched it, the car seemed to wait for at least a solid 2-count before it would drop the gear and then it seemed quite rough of a shift. Also it seemed to be more ready to up and would do so as soon as I backed off the throttle a bit.

I think my examination of it is biased since I've gotten used to driving my manual. I usually hold the car in at most 4th gear while merging and keep it there until I am settled in a lane pretty much. So I am more use to feeling the acceleration as soon as I hit the pedal where as there was a noticeable wait when mashing the chargers pedal, with it trying to do some of the thinking I would normally do.

There is a sport mode for more spirited driving. At least my scat pack has it. I rather enjoy my 8 speed vs the 6speed auto of the mustang. Then again I prefer an automatic to a manual trans.

There was no sport mode in the Rental SXT from what I could tell. Only related functions I found were steering effort and traction control.

I am quite jealous you have a Scat Pack. I was looking into those when I was car shopping a couple months ago. It was at the top of my budget though and I decided I wanted to own a fun manual car as my only other manual experiences have been a 95 Honda Civic and a newish Renault Clio Diesel.

yomamma219 said:

There was no sport mode in the Rental SXT from what I could tell. Only related functions I found were steering effort and traction control.

I am quite jealous you have a Scat Pack. I was looking into those when I was car shopping a couple months ago. It was at the top of my budget though and I decided I wanted to own a fun manual car as my only other manual experiences have been a 95 Honda Civic and a newish Renault Clio Diesel.

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It's a great car. Apples to orange comparison to my mustangs. I needed more room for my growing son. Only logical choice for me. Unfortunately ford never sold the falcon here and I love having a v8 too much.

[MENTION=15750]Zodiac[/MENTION] Yea completely understand the need for more room haha. Just realized your in the Raleigh area too. Maybe ill see that bright ass green charger go by sometime on 440.

I haven't seen any other black S550 in the raleigh area with the crappy MMD rear louvers that I have so keep a look out for me haha.

yomamma219 said:

[MENTION=15750]Zodiac[/MENTION] Yea completely understand the need for more room haha. Just realized your in the Raleigh area too. Maybe ill see that bright ass green charger go by sometime on 440.

I haven't seen any other black S550 in the raleigh area with the crappy MMD rear louvers that I have so keep a look out for me haha.

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Don't do it! Don't go to the dark side! I think a solid tune would have you really reconsidering how much you think they were alike

Haha don't worry [MENTION=26348]Spykexx[/MENTION] I'm not going over to the dark side anytime soon. Was just commenting on how I noticed [MENTION=15750]Zodiac[/MENTION] is really close to me and maybe I'd get to check it out sometime

The transmission tuning on the base Charger is totally different from the likes of the RT Scat Pack, SRT 392, and Hellcat cars. They're also obviously...or maybe not, different iterations of the ZF8 too. The 5.7 and 6.4 share the same iteration ZF8.

[MENTION=28999]yomamma219[/MENTION] I'm usually at the Cary C&C. Rarely on 440.

[MENTION=15750]Zodiac[/MENTION] cool I missed July's but hopefully see you at the August one in a few weeks

I had an 2008 RT charger it was my first taste at V8 muscle. It was a decent car but being only an auto I would never get one again. I always wondered why a manual wasn't even an option. If they ever did bring a manual in I'd strongly consider it.