2006 Dodge Charger Review, Prices, Photos

2006 Dodge Charger Review, Prices, Photos

2006 Dodge Charger Review, Prices, Photos

2006 Dodge Charger (continued)

Walkaround

In many ways, the newest Charger isn't much sleeker, or more aerodynamic than the original. Knocked off from the 1966 Dodge Coronet, and despite its fastback, two-door hardtop styling, that Charger was somewhat blocky, with squared-off front end, superficially sculpted slab sides and equally vertical backside. There was the barest hint of a so-called Coke bottle look, with the body sides slightly pinched in about where there would have been a B-pillar. Not until the 1968 model year was any attention paid to moving the car rapidly through the air with minimal disturbance. The 2006 Charger starts at much the same place on the automotive styling evolutionary curve.

And for good reason. The same design team that parented the Chrysler 300 and Dodge Magnum birthed this new Charger. The Charger is built on the same platform as those two, but is three inches longer overall. The Charger reportedly was planned all along to be a sedan version of the Magnum.

With this legacy, it's no surprise that there's an uprightness to the Charger's silhouette, regardless of viewing angle. The front end, in fact, tilts forward, as if it's leaning into the wind, specifically to recall the brutish, pre-aero-age styling of its muscle car era namesake. The trademark Dodge crosshairs, chromed on the SXT and R/T, body-color in the SE and SRT8 and flat black on the Daytona, dominate the front end. Compound halogen headlights peer out under hooded, almost scowling brows. A thin, trifurcated air intake slices across the lower portion of the front bumper, beneath which the Daytona and SRT8 wear a trim, flat-black chip spoiler. Fog lamps on the SXT and higher models fill small, sculpted insets at the lower corners.

From the side, the demi-fastback roofline and glasshouse look more grafted onto the somewhat fulsome body than a natural extension of the overall styling theme, very much as if the designer were trying to make a sedan look like a coupe. Hmmm. Oh, well. The beltline arcs softly back from a slight droop over the headlights to about midway in the rear side window, then kicks up over the rear quarter panel, visually bulking up the car's already hefty haunches. Flip-up, top-hinged door handles are flush mounted but operate sufficiently friendly to pose no major threats to fingernails.

The rear perspective shows a tall, almost vertical backside, with large taillights draped over the upper corners. A modest, Kamm-like lip stretches across the trailing edge of an expansive trunk lid, atop which sits a lift-suppressing spoiler on the Daytona and SRT8. A recess in the bumper holds the license plate. On the SE and SXT a single exhaust tip exits beneath the right-hand side, while the V8-powered models sport chrome-tipped, muscle car-idiom, dual exhausts.

The Charger's styling is loosely reflected on NASCAR's Nextel Cup cars, primarily seen in the crosshair grille and the painted-on taillights.

Interior Features

Much of what holds about the Charger's exterior carries over to its interior, only more so. Where the outside only suggests other Chrysler and Dodge cars, the inside looks as if it's been lifted, locks, steering column and bucket seats from the Magnum, with a fixture and feature here and there brought over from a Dakota or a Durango.

The dash and instrument cluster is identical to the Magnum's, with the minor exception of surface trims on the center stack and center console, and when ordered on the R/T, the navigation display. This isn't to complain, but to compliment, as the arrangement is pleasantly informative. From the driver's seat, easily scanned, large, round speedometer and tachometer share the top half of the steering wheel opening, with fuel and coolant temperature gauges down in the left and right corners, respectively. The steering wheel, too, comes directly from the Magnum. Air conditioning registers fill the top of the center stack, above the stereo/navigation display, with the climate control panel properly positioned beneath that, all intuitively arrayed and outfitted and within easy reach of the driver and front seat passenger. Ex-navigation display center stacks have a small, horizontal cubby below the air conditioning knobs and buttons.

Steering column stalks are imported from the Mercedes-Benz parts bin, including their awkward positioning. The more frequently used, heavily end-weighted turn-signal stalk/washer lever droops down somewhere around the 8 o'clock position, while the set-it-and-forget-it cruise control sits up around 10 o'clock. Headlight switch and dash light rheostat are located in the dash next to the driver's door, with the remote trunk release below. Outside mirrors are adjusted with a joystick in the door armrest. Thankfully, Dodge has not adopted the Mercedes-Benz practice of parking the power seat adjustments high up in the door panel but has placed them, much more intuitively, on the outboard side of the seat bottom. Large, six-way adjustable, rectangular ventilation registers fill in each end of the dash.

The standard, fabric-covered seats are comfortable, with adequate thigh support and side bolstering. Stepping up to the performance seats in the option packages gets more pronounced bolsters, which is good for those rare times when a twisty two-lane beckons, but not as good for climbing in and out of the car every day. And, of course, the top grade, suede-trimmed and embroidered seats in the Daytona nicely complement the boy-racer graphics of the exterior. Thanks to the sedan-spec wheelbase, there's plenty of rear seat room, too, even with front seats at their rearmost positions. No head restraint for the rear center seat is provided, however, making this car better for four adults than five.

Visibility from the driver's seat is good, but suffers a bit from safety measures and styling dictates. A-pillars designed to meet roll-over standards are thick, which makes checking for pedestrians and crossing traffic becomes more difficult. The view through the inside rearview mirror quickly puts to rest any lingering illusions about the Charger being a coupe; the rear window is a long ways back. And the C-pillars are also fat, and require careful checking during lane changes; coincidentally, they also provide great hiding places for pacing patrol cars. (The A-pillars are the posts between the windshield and front side windows: the C-pillars are the posts between the rear windscreen and rear side windows.)

The entertainment system installation takes a novel, but extremely well-integrated approach. The screen hides beneath a cover on the front center console when not in use, then pivots up between the front seats for viewing. The interface, for DVD and input and output jacks, is incorporated into the rear of the console beneath the screen and above the rear seat ventilation registers. Without the entertainment system, the center console functions as a traditional storage bin.

All four doors have good-sized map pockets, although front seatbacks are bare of any pouches for reading materials and headsets. Inside door pulls are full rounds, making for confident shutting. Latch handles are large levers in large, concave circles, leaving plenty of room for even gloved hands. The glove box is roomier than many in this and larger class cars. A small, horizontal storage bin occupies the lower portion of the center stack, and there's a similar, longitudinal slot in the console to the right of the shift gate. A bin in the forward-most part of the front center console is large enough for coins and the like. Above it is a small, fold-down drawer where the Smokers Group ash tray would be, and next to that is a power point that would hold the lighter. Two cup holders occupy the rear of the console, aft of the gated shift lever, and another pair can be found in the forward end of the rear seat center armrest. At 30 inches, the trunk lift-over is comfortably low, but although the trunk is relatively large, half a cubic foot larger than the Chrysler 300's, the opening is shaped such that it swallows longer objects more readily than large parcels. SXT and above models get 60/40 split, folding rear seat backs.

2006 Dodge Charger Review, Prices, Photos