2007 Dodge Charger SRT8: What's It Like to Live With?
Read the latest updates in our long-term road test of the 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 as our editors live with this car for a year.
What do you want to know about?
- Introduction
- An Approachable Sports Car
- Huge Trunk, Folding Rear Seats Make It Surprisingly Practical
- Swagger, Heft and the Roots of the Hellcat
- Highs and Lows of the JBA Exhaust
- No Parking
- Tight
- Needs New Head Unit
- Swapping Summer Tires for a Summer Showdown
- Fuel Economy Update for June - Thirsty Muscle Pulls Very Close to EPA Rating
- Caught Up in the Takata Airbag Recall
- Not Digging this Exhaust (Video)
- Almost Perfect on Clear Roads and a Rainy Evening
- Great Seats Then, Great Seats Now
- Terrible Headlights Need Replacement
- Spotty Satellite Radio
- Still Thirsty - Good Thing Gas Is Cheap
- Its Dampers Are Tired - Good Thing Gas Is Cheap
- Macho Man Car at the Valet Line
- Anonymous Muscle
- Hellcat Shreds It
- Feels Like a Bus Around Tight Turns
- A Celebration of Hard Plastic
- Updated With New Connected Tech
- Old Car, Modern Tire Tech
- Exploring Apple CarPlay (With Videos)
- Fuel Economy Update for August — Squeaks Ahead of EPA Rating for First Time
- New Backup Cam and Sat Radio Upgrades
- Appeals Across Generations
- New Shoes and an Oil Change
- Our Pioneer Head Unit Is a Worthy Addition to Any Used Car
- New Shoes Set Us Back a Few Bills
- Fuel Economy Update for September - Trending Down
- Replacing Tired Trunk Struts
- Calibrating the Rearview Cam
- Updating Stereo Firmware
- Cleaning the Dirty Mopar Air Filter
- New Radio Install Increases Hazard, Instability
- Twenty-Three Grand Well Spent
- Help! My Millennial Parents Bought a Charger
- Fuel Economy Update for October — Record Month
- Handy for Holding the Wallet
- Still No Love for Android Users
- Aftermarket Display Can Match Ambient Cabin Light
- Gimme a Trunk-Lid Grab Handle
- That's Not Lumbar
- Still Buttoned Down After 75K
- DIY Front Brake Job
- Fuel Economy Update for November - Back to Regular Routine
- DIY Front Brake Job Walkaround
- Android Auto Works, Finally
- Long-Distance Comfort
- Exploring Android Auto (With Video)
- Automatic Headlights Work Sometimes, Maybe
- Fuel Economy Update for December - More of the Same
- One-Touch Burnout Access
- Kickin' It
- The Workaround
- Hard Start
- Dead Key Battery
- Attempting to Fix the Drone with Dynamat
- Finding Drugs, A Lazy Stereo Installation, and Strange Sound Deadening Solutions
- Bad Stereo Install Gets Worse
- Finding a Dimmer Workaround in the Aftermarket Stereo
- Fuel Econ Update for February — A New Record!
- An Uncooperative Transmission and a Brief Moment of Panic
- March Fuel Economy - Steady, As She Goes
- 78,000-Mile Service
- Smokey and the Bandit Too
- Stuck in Park
- April Fuel Update - Still Helping Gas Execs Sleep Well at Night
- DIY Transmission Stuck In Park Repair
- Clears 80,000 Miles Under Our Watch
- Automotive Tinder
- Carmax Offers the Minimum
- Easily Passes Smog
- Off To Greener Pastures
- Wrap-Up
Introduction
Many of us seek to one day own the car of our dreams. Not something unrealistic, like a McLaren P1, but something, that if things were slightly different, would be just within our reach. This reach can be a real stretch, however, for the generation of car buyers between the ages of 18 and 34 — the millennials.
In the spirit of the Debt-Free Car Project, our next long-term car puts us in the shoes of a millennial buyer who is on a budget but still wants a cool used car. We came up with what we think is an interesting choice: a 2007 Dodge Charger SRT-8 with 66,000 miles on the odometer. Here's how we got there.
The Millennial Used Car Project:
Chapter 1: Busting Millennial Myths and Shopping for a Used Car
Driving our "new" 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 over the weekend, I got four "how you doin'" nods from strange men at stop lights.
For me, this is a new record.
Audis, Acuras, Benzes and Bimmers, I've driven nearly every car ever produced for the past two decades. Yet, I haven't seen this kind of action since I rolled down a midwestern Main Street in a 1997 Plymouth Prowler.
Guess my advanced age, coupled with the affordable 425-horsepower Charger SRT8, just makes us more approachable.
Does driving a 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 keep you from helping out a friend with some painting? Not really. In fact, with its sizable trunk and fold-down rear seats, you can fit plenty of awkward cargo.
In this case, I was able to slide in a 6-foot step ladder without much trouble, along with a Shop-Vac, a tool bucket, several gallons of paint and a few drop cloths. I could have fit more if I packed everything more tightly.
In fact, I only folded down one of the rear seats, so there was quite a bit of extra cargo room available. I was surprised they folded at all since most high-performance sedans exclude this feature in favor of more structural bracing.
The only issue I found was the weak trunk struts. They're clearly worn out as the trunk lid slams down with a rapid thunk when you shut it. I'm sure we'll get a price on this soon enough and it should be an easy fix.
A lot can change in a decade. See our new long-term 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8. If you had said, back when it was new, that the platform underneath it would one day support cars with 707 horsepower and top speeds of 200 mph top speeds, you would've been called crazy.
But it has. And though the Hellcat is a very different car than our SRT8, you can sense its roots from the driver's seat. The tallish seat position, the view out the glass, the sense of heft; the Hellcat's drivability is vastly improved, but its character remains in our SRT8.
Much has changed, of course.
Our car has an instrument panel that could serve in a minivan. Its suspension and power steering pump are showing their age. It may have 425 horsepower, but its five-speed auto shifts lazily, neutering acceleration at low speeds. The difference in power between our SRT8 and the Hellcat roughly equals the output of the 3.6-liter V6 in the current Charger (a "one Pentastar delta," as Jay Kavanaugh called it). This is what a decade of car development looks like.
I really like our Charger. It has that large, muscular swagger I've come to associate with the fast versions of the LX platform cars. Also, it's red and loud, and it has a hood scoop and a wing. It's rad.
I was talking about the aftermarket exhaust system on our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 with new-guy Jonathan Elfalan, when E-I-C Oldham did a "drive-by" and stopped at my desk to critique the crappy photo I had taken.
Trying to move things away from my untrained photo eye, I dug myself a deeper hole when I said I had never heard of JBA before.
"What's the matter with you?" he asked. "They've been doing exhaust systems for years. And they're local too, based here in Southern California."
Then he docked me a day's wages for my aftermarket ineptitude.
I may not have heard of JBA Performance Exhaust before, but I do know the system on our Charger sounds great. Most of the time.
It gives a manly bark on startup, then adds the kind of low-rpm V8 rumble that the stock system doesn't deliver. It sounds burly even when driving slowly in the Edmunds parking garage, but it especially comes into its own at full throttle. Then you're getting not just the rumbly exhaust, but a thrilling concoction with the 6.1-liter, 425-horsepower V8.
But after driving the Charger for awhile, I started to notice a strange tone or reverberation filling the cabin at certain revs. Most specifically when dipping slightly into the throttle from 2,000-2,500 rpm. Do it enough and it can tire the ears. Steady-throttle highway running is fine, but ask for just a bit more power in that rev range and the exhaust gets boomy. Two different passengers over the weekend noticed.
Want to know how to make it worse? Lower the rear seats, say for hauling a bicycle, something I've been known to do.
I know what you're thinking right about now: "You just can't win with these Edmunds nutballs. First they complain the 2015 Ford Mustang is too quiet, now they say the Charger is too loud?"
No. I'm just saying this exhaust produces an occasionally annoying tone at certain rpm that just happens to unfortunately correspond with often-typical highway speed. The rest of the time it sounds terrific. And because of that, I don't mind putting up with it.
For the most part, our flashback 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 is in great shape. There are only a few issues I noticed over the weekend. One of them is the parking brake.
It doesn't work.
I was a little suspicious when there was very little resistance in the parking brake pedal. Once I released the regular brakes on a slight incline, my suspicions were confirmed as the car rolled back onto the parking pawl.
I dropped it into neutral, applied the parking brake again and then let go of the main brakes. The car rolled back without any hesitation. So there it is: we either need an adjustment or new pads. My bet is on the pads.
Remember that story a while back about Chrysler assembly-line workers smoking a doob on their lunch break? That's one reason why I was expecting our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 to be in pretty rough shape. At the very least, I figured it would creak and rattle over bumps like, well, an eight-year-old Dodge.
Man, was I wrong.
This car is tight, son! I'm not even kidding. The only sound produced by broken pavement is the clompety-clomp of the massive low-profile tires. Everything seems to have been screwed together fastidiously at the factory. I was prepared for the SRT8's broad-shouldered performance, but build quality? That's a pleasant surprise.
The stereo interface in our long-term 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 is seriously out of date. Sure, it's got navigation and satellite radio, but the graphics are pretty bad and the tipping point for me is that there's no way to hook up my iPhone.
It's easy enough to charge devices using an adapter for the cigarette lighter, but there's no USB, Bluetooth or auxiliary connection for the stereo. For now, I'll have to bust out the trusty old CD case if I want to have dominion over my tunes, but sooner rather than later this old setup needs to go.
What would you choose to replace it?
Our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 had brand-new, all-season, ultra-high performance Nitto Motivo tires when we bought it. It was one of the main factors that helped swing it in our favor.
And so we took them off.
Let me explain. Our Charger SRT8's limits will be put to the test in an upcoming comparison test. I can't give you more details on the other car, but we felt that putting summer tires on the Charger would make the test more evenly matched. All-season tires are great to have year round, but they don't exceed the performance of good summer tires.
We decided on a set of Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar tires. These max performance summer tires cost us $192 a piece in the front (245/45 ZR20) and $337 each in the rear (255/45 ZR20). Our total cost with tax and installation was $1,165.29.
Was this an unnecessary expense?
Yes, of course. But part of the fun of the Millennial Used Car Project is that it lets us explore "What if?" scenarios of the SRT8 ownership experience. We didn't need new tires, but what if people following this blog were inspired to buy their own Chargers and weren't lucky enough to find one with new tires? This is what they could expect to pay for a good set of summer tires.
Don't worry, the old Motivos won't go to waste. We've bagged them to keep in storage. We'll likely give them to the next owner.
In the meantime, feel free to comment on our tire choice or guess which car the Charger will meet in its comparison test.
Our long-term 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8, which is powered by a 425-horsepower, 6.1-liter V8, traveled about 1,640 miles in June. Those miles were a mix of highway and city driving, with the longest trip being a drive to the California high desert for a photo shoot.
The Charger had eight fill-ups in June. It calls for premium fuel and it sure was thirsty, but we knew that going in. I plugged the numbers into Fuelly.com - just like we did for the departed Lexus ES300 - and in the process, became the first, and only, person on Fuelly to track fuel costs on an SRT8.
The average for June was 14.2 mpg, which is just shy of the EPA's combined estimate of 15 mpg. The best fill to date was 20 mpg, set in late May by yours truly, covering my drive back from the dealership in San Diego and some light driving that weekend.
The worst fill was 11.7 mpg, set by Mike "Pedal Masher" Monticello. I'm not sure if I should high-five him for driving the car as Dodge intended or give him a disapproving glare for wasting fuel.
The average price per fuel-up in the Charger is about $52.37, with premium costing us about $3.95 a gallon. Total spend for June was $420. It's almost like having a second car payment. Definitely something to keep in mind if you're looking to buy one of these cars.
Worst Fill MPG: 11.7
Best Fill MPG: 20.0
Average Lifetime MPG: 14.8
EPA MPG Rating: 15 Combined (13 City/18 Highway)
Best Range: 251.9
Current Odometer: 68,205
The Takata airbag recall has affected about 40 million vehicles worldwide, according to the New York Times. (Honda added 4.5 million vehicles outside North America on July 9.) Takata has been working around the clock to get the replacement parts shipped, but demand is exceeding supply. Early reports were estimating that it would take two years to produce the parts needed.
If you're unfamiliar with this recall, the inflators on a number of Takata-supplied airbags proved to be defective and can rupture during an accident, resulting in metal debris that flies through the cabin and in some cases has killed drivers. The problem seems to be exacerbated if the vehicle has lived in humid climates.
The 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 was among the vehicles recalled, but we knew that before we bought ours. This was a chance for us to document the recall process and how long it would take to fix.
Our Charger spent its entire life in San Diego, so in theory, the humidity wouldn't have degraded the inflator as much. We considered parking the car until the fix was ready. But at the time, we had no idea how long that would be. The average buyer would not have had the luxury of parking the car until there was a fix, either. Plus as we understand it, the faulty inflator doesn't spontaneously explode. The malfunction occurs when the car is in a crash that's serious enough to trigger the airbag.
So we felt assured that if we applied our usual standards of driving care, we would be reasonably safe in the car. So we decided to keep driving, checking in with Dodge from time to time to see if the fix was available.
Much to our surprise, things went smoother than expected.
Before we get into the repairs, here's a bit of the backstory. We first spotted the recall notice when we ran a Carfax vehicle history report on a few of the Chargers we were interested in buying. The report showed that there was an open recall for the driver airbag inflator and provided an 800-number to Dodge customer service.
While negotiating with one dealership, we mentioned the recall and asked if the airbag had been fixed.
"We won't sell you the car unless the recall is taken care of," said the salesman. This was good to hear, but since this wasn't a Dodge dealership, it would require more effort than they cared to put into the Charger. We called to check on the status of things a few days later and it turned out the dealership had taken the car to be sold at an auction.
The salesman didn't say why the car had gone to auction when there was an interested buyer. The decision may not have been his to make. But we have a strong suspicion it was related to the recall. At the time, no parts were available to fix the airbag. When we typed the Charger's VIN into the NHTSA database, "Remedy not yet available" appeared in the status field. Perhaps the used-car manager felt that this timeframe was too uncertain and figured he'd cut his losses by sending the car to auction.
When we finally located our Charger in San Diego, we decided not to mention the recall for fear of this car being taken to auction as well. But the dealer sold us the car and didn't break any laws in doing so. There are reports of some consumer advocacy groups calling for a requirement that dealers disclose any open recalls, but as of now, the onus is on the buyer to search this stuff out.
Once the car was ours, we set about getting the airbag fixed. We called a local Dodge dealer, playing a little bit dumb, to ask if there were any open recalls on the car. "Nope, I don't see any current recalls on it," the service advisor said after running our VIN. In character as a regular Joe, I mentioned that I had heard about "some type of airbag recall."
"Oh yeah, that recall," said the advisor. "There's no fix for that, so you'll have to check in at a later time."
It's distressing to think that most folks would have taken him at his word when he said there were no recalls and gone about their business. Then again, most people probably don't check on any recall status when they buy a used car. As our experience shows, they should.
Fast-forward a couple of weeks later. We called another Dodge dealer and mentioned the recall. After verifying our VIN, the service advisor made an appointment for the following week. The repair took the morning and by midday the Charger was back in action.
Now we can drive the car without fear of a frag grenade going off in the steering wheel.
Total Cost: $0
Days out of Service: 0
I'm over aftermarket exhausts, especially the one on our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8. I had an aftermarket unit on the last car I owned. Yes, it sounds cool when you first get it and when you show it off to friends, but after that you're left with a car that brings way too much attention to itself. I'm not really that type of guy.
Worse yet, as Mike Monticello noted, our JBA exhaust makes an annoying droning noise at sustained speeds. More on that in a bit.
We didn't have much choice in the matter when we were shopping for Chargers. Just about every SRT8 we saw in the wild had a modified exhaust. I guess it's just a thing that SRT8 owners do, but I wonder: Was the stock exhaust really that bad?
If you drive our Charger a short distance, you don't really notice anything out of the ordinary. This is why we couldn't hear the exhaust during the test-drive. Spend a day or two in it though, and you'll start to hear the noise. It's a low-pitched booming noise and rather than sounding cool, it just beats on your eardrums.
I've tried to capture this effect in the video below. I had the windows down for better sound, but I think I ended up recording more wind noise than exhaust noise. Still, you can make out the sound approaching the 40-second mark on the video. Put on headphones to get the most out of it.
I want to make this car stock again. I want to break the cycle of modified SRT8s and possibly add some resale value to the car.
What do you think? Keep the exhaust or go back to stock?
Two things generally happen when it rains in Los Angeles: it's either gridlock of unimaginable proportion, or the city's driving populace scatters into its garages like cockroaches seeing that first glint from a light bulb. Typically, it depends on when said rain begins to fall. On a recent Sunday evening, it was quite happily the latter and I had the keys to our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8.
Set course for Sunset Boulevard!
With traffic at pleasantly post-apocalyptic levels, the setting sun providing enough amber light through the overcast, and only a mist of rain falling, I realistically couldn't have asked for better conditions. I didn't even get many traffic lights. One or two, tops, from San Vicente in West Hollywood all the way to Pacific Coast Highway.
Sunset really is the perfect cruising road (when you can actually move on it), with long sweepers and countless elevation changes cutting through areas of dense trees that camouflage the ritzy homes beyond. You can go a lot faster through it, especially with an especially sporting car, but the law, rain and sporadic gnarled pavement dissuade such behavior.
Besides, the Charger SRT8 is the perfect cruising sort of car. It's big and powerful. Its ride is firm enough, its handling composed enough and its steering well-weighted enough for a big and powerful, old-school sort of car. It's the sort of car I'd happily drive every day and revel at the chance to drive on such moments of miraculous road conditions.
Having said all that, our Charger SRT8 does have its issues. First, as has previously been described, the aftermarket exhaust has to go. It sounds sweet when you're at higher rpm, but as I'd rather not cruise along in third gear driving at full, sweet whack all the time, it just isn't practical. As it is, the exhaust's deep drone gets old.
"It's giving me a headache," noted my wife and passenger.
So until the exhaust gets swapped out, I don't see us taking any CL65-like lengthy adventures, which is a pity since the SRT8 would be pretty good at those too. Some way to connect an iPhone would be nice and the headlights are woeful. Stay tuned for more on those and solutions to them in future posts.
The front seats in the 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 were great back when it was new, and they're still terrific now. And the last point is, in fact, two-fold.
Huh?
On the one hand, the seats in our Charger SRT8 have held up quite well over the last eight years and nearly 70,000 miles of use. The huge bolsters still hold you tight through corners, but the seats themselves are still plenty comfortable without any noticeable foam sag. They're stout.
The second part of this "two-fold-ness," if that's a thing, is that the seats have stood the ergonomic test of time. If you get into a brand-new Charger SRT8 today, the seats will strike you as quite similar to these old ones.
A great design back then remains so today.
My oh my, behold that dim yellow glow. As you might imagine from the photo above, the 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 has some pretty lousy headlights. When I got back into the car after taking the photo, I actually wondered if they had somehow been turned off leaving only the fogs on. They had not. They just stink.
This immediately reminded me of driving through the Arizona desert in our dearly departed long-term Dodge Challenger. Although the rest of the car was wonderful, its headlights were also low on lumens.
As such, I'll be adding "new headlights" to the list of things we need to do to bring our Millenial Used Car Project up to snuff in this decade. As a millennial, if this was my Charger, replacing the existing lights would be high on my list.
So anyone have a good recommendation on Dodge Charger replacement lights? Better halogens? LEDs? What say you?
I'm not sure how long this has been going on, but during the last couple drives in our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8, the satellite radio was cutting in and out more than usual.
I'm not talking about the usual sat radio problems, like anytime you drive under an overpass and suddenly your music is gone. What's happening in our new/used Charger is a random loss of service when there's seemingly nothing around to cause it to happen. Not sure if it's because it's an old system or if there's something else going on.
It happens more often than in any other car with satellite radio that I can remember. And no one likes their song being interrupted, even if it's just for short bursts. Another item (along with headlights and exhaust) to add to our fix/upgrade list.
Our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 is going to test our creativity for writing the monthly fuel economy updates. Pretty much every month is going to be some version of: "It guzzled gas like Moses finding an Orange Julius after emerging from the desert."
As consolation though (to our gas budget, if not necessarily the planet), gas is cheap right now.
We added about 1,200 miles to our Charger in July and averaged a lofty 15.2 mpg. Yet that 15.2 mpg backs up what we observed last month, which is that we're essentially matching the EPA's combined fuel economy estimate. In fact, our fuel economy report for July even included some track time at Willow Springs Raceway. Few of our long-term cars ever match EPA combined, I've observed.
Under-promise and over-deliver? Works for me.
Worst Fill MPG: 11.7
Best Fill MPG: 20.0
Average Lifetime MPG: 14.8
EPA MPG Rating: 15 Combined (13 City/18 Highway Combined)
Best Range: 251.9 miles
Current Odometer: 69,348 miles
I took my first whirl in our long-term 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 over the weekend. Yeah, the exhaust gets old in about 10 minutes of driving.
My fellow editor Josh Sadlier is correct that the big sedan is nicely devoid of squeaks and rattles, but "tight" isn't how I'd describe the current state of its dampers.
With about 70,000 miles on the clock, it isn't terribly surprising that its dampers could stand to be replaced. There's a general sense of looseness in how it traverses roads with bumps. It's not a floaty mess, but it's definitely lost some control.
It's now noticeably underdamped during rebound, when the body and wheels move in opposite directions. Most of all, though, is that the rear gets into its bump stops more than it should. And there's more going on here than just tired dampers.
The rear end of the Charger is equipped with Nivomat dampers. These clever bits supply a passive ride height-leveling function in addition to damper force. Neat! However, they also supply some ~25-percent of the total spring rate, too. So when the Nivomats get tired, the associated reduction in spring rate means you lose even more of the suspension's ability to resist getting into the bump stops.
I suppose that with the loss of some of the effective spring rate that the rear ride height would drop a bit too, but if it's happened here, the droop hasn't been enough to really notice. Yet.
The dampers aren't totally shot, but if it were my car, I'd definitely look into swapping in some new Nivomats for the spring rate advantage described above, rather than some standard aftermarket shock.
Here's the scene:
I've checked out of a semi-swanky Los Angeles hotel after an event and I'm standing out front after I gave the valet guy my ticket. There were a few people ahead of me though, so I'm waiting as cars belonging to other hotel guests start pulling up.
A scuffed-up Toyota Prius comes first, then a white Chevrolet Impala, no doubt a rental given that the couple piling into is speaking German. Next is a Volvo S60 in fine, anonymous silver. It's a snooze parade.
Then I hear it: Rugga! Lub-lub-lub-lub-lub-lub. Yep, it's our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 pulling up out of the hotel's lower level parking garage. Go America!
In all honesty, I was pretty happy to see the Charger. I wouldn't have expected that from an eight-year-old car. The hype still orbits the new Charger Hellcat, and the new commercials are great, but our car is still very cool.
Our Charger's aftermarket exhaust probably gives the car a bit more of a macho vibe than it otherwise deserves. That said, I could really get into owning one of these. It's a car that is a lot more than just "getting from point A to point B."
A few days ago I was eavesdropping on coworker Josh Sadlier and head honcho Scott Oldham in the office. Josh was saying how our 1989 Yugo GVL, despite the Balkan Bullet's rarity, was nondescript to other motorists while driving. Scott said the same thing was true of our 1966 Chevrolet Corvette.
"Nobody cares," he remarked.
This is no doubt related to our offices being based in Los Angeles, where BMWs and Mercedes-Benzes are mundane and Ferrari sightings are regular.
So where does that leave our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8? Pretty much invisible.
It's not always like this. In isolation, in fact, our Charger is all bravado. Red paint, big hood scoop, big wheels, big brakes, decibel-popping exhaust. It pokes its fingers in your eyeballs and then shouts in your ear. But take it out around town or on the highway and it turns into Joe Sixpack.
Heritage has something to do with it. The "new" Charger has been out since 2006, and Dodge has sold hundreds of thousands of them since. The hype for the Hellcat might be fresh, but general interest for a 2007 SRT8 has long since waned. Few Chargers are SRT8s, true, but aftermarket modifications are popular, so you'll see a lot with similar extras. Chargers are a common choice for California police departments, too.
To the masses, our Charger is just an old red Charger.
There is good news, though. Nobody cares! You can enjoy the Charger's 425-horses worth of bravado in almost complete anonymity.
If you had our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 for just one afternoon, what would you do? Besides replace the exhaust, I mean.
You'd probably drive to pick up some In-N-Out and navigate to your favorite on/off-ramps and sweeper interchanges. You'd probably find some traffic signals away from the watchful eye of the law, test your reaction time, see if you still got it. Maybe you'd drive four adult friends — they'd all fit — to Vegas for burger. You'd plant some stripes somewhere.
Now, what if you had a Hellcat for an afternoon?
Yes. That is exactly what you would do.
Need moar Hellcat? Continue on as Road Test Editor Carlos Lago shares his impressions after thoroughly flogging both cars at the track.
This won't likely be a surprising observation, but our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 is not at home on narrow, curvy roads like the one pictured here. This is a big-boned sedan weighing more than two tons, and you notice all of it when you're seated behind the wheel.
There's a lot more car behind you than ahead of you. The steering wheel rim's diameter is big, and the feel is overly light and numb when you enter a turn. Take a few consecutive tight turns on less than smooth pavement and the lack of steering feel and choppy ride (likely related to the past-prime suspension dampers) can make it seem like you're driving a bus.
But it's a party bus, at least. A big red party bus.
Much of that is due to what connects turns: straightaways! Exit a corner and gun it and the big V8 roars and hustles the Charger up to speed with surprising quickness. Or better yet, stop on the straightaway, do a burnout, and then salute all that is great about America. There's so much torque that you don't need to shift much, which is just as well since driver-selected downshifts from the five-speed automatic aren't rev-matched.
To the SRT8's credit, it's happier on medium-speed turns where its liabilities for size and heft aren't nearly as noticeable. Thanks to the SRT8-specific suspension tune, the Charger is stable when it's going around turns. Its steady-state handling seems to be pretty balanced too, and it's easy to make slight adjustments using the throttle.
But if I've got the key to our Charger SRT8, I'm keeping it on roads that stretch out towards the horizon like a ruler.
The 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8's cabin was junk when it was new and it's definitely still junk today. It is a remarkable celebration of hard, cheap plastic everywhere you look. There are actually a few squishy bits on the dash, but they too are glossy and look chintzy. Dodge supposedly "improved" the cabin the year after our long-termer was produced, but that's an extremely relative term, as it still trailed just about everything remotely in its price range.
Personally, I think actually it looks worse.
This was really the deepest, darkest era for Chrysler interior quality (well, at least in relative terms within the past 20-plus years or so), corresponding with such abysmal muck-dwellers as the Dodge Caliber, Chrysler Sebring and the first years of the current Dodge Grand Caravan, easily one of the worst-made long-termers in the history of our fleet.
Having said that, our Charger seems to be screwed together extremely well. The bits and pieces may be hard, cheap plastic junk, but there aren't any notable squeaks and rattles after eight years. It's almost shocking, really. Kudos then to the folks at the Brampton, Ontario, plant who prove once again that if you want something done right, call a Canadian.
Updated With New Connected Tech
Infotainment technology doesn't age well on used cars. What passed for the latest in-car technology a few years ago can feel like a relic today. And for millennials, a generation that grew up with the Internet and rapid tech development, the 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8's old tech wasn't going to cut it, especially for a car we've billed as the "Millennial Used Car Project"
Social Media Editor and in-house millennial Travis Langness first pointed this out back in July when he noted that the Charger's head unit "graphics were pretty bad" and that there was no place to hook up his iPhone.
Well Travis, ask and you shall receive. We gave the Charger a dose of updated tech in the form of a new Pioneer head unit.
A number of aftermarket head units have offered Android Auto and Apple CarPlay integration since mid-2014. At present, an aftermarket unit is the best and least expensive way to experience these technologies, since automakers have been slow to add the features to their new cars.
We wanted the latest in smartphone technology, but in keeping with the spirit of the Millennial Used Car Project, we also felt that it was important to keep the costs reasonablel. Our theoretical tech budget was about $1,000, all in. I say theoretical, since Pioneer was gracious enough to provide us the head unit for review purposes. Pioneer also covered the installation fees.
We settled on the Pioneer AVH-4100NEX. It is a double-DIN unit with a 7-inch touchscreen that earns solid reviews on Amazon and Best Buy. It is the entry-level model of the Networked Entertainment eXperience (NEX) line and retails for about $563 on Amazon.
We had to make a few trade-offs to keep costs down. First off, we decided this project would only focus on the head unit. New speakers would've blown the budget. Next, we sacrificed the factory navigation system that came with the car and avoided the higher-priced head units that came with a built-in navigation. The old factory system was slow, had outdated maps and a terrible interface. Opting for a non-navigation unit helped us stay within budget.
The ability to use smartphone maps is a big selling point for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and that's how we intend to use it. We also lost our satellite radio receiver in the transition. The head unit we bought is capable of playing satellite radio, but it needs an extra part to do so. We plan to add it later.
So we lost a few features, but we gained a cleaner interface, Bluetooth audio, Pandora streaming, iPod connectivity and the ability to integrate our smartphones.
Pioneer also sent us an adaptor, which lets us keep the steering wheel controls. We can change the volume, skip tracks and change radio stations. This part sells for about $48 on Amazon.
For installation, we took the car to PCH Custom Audio in Wilmington, roughly 30 miles from our office. PCH Custom installed everything in about four hours. The dash adaptor for the center console came in black, which meant we lost the factory unit's silver trim. The silver did a nice job of breaking up the colors in the cabin, and now the center console looks like a mass of black plastic. We didn't pay for installation, but the estimated cost was $180.25.
All in, the project cost about $846. This figure assumed we purchased the parts from Amazon and added about 9 percent for Los Angeles County sales tax.
The Pioneer unit, Android Auto, and Apple CarPlay are all separate experiences, which we'll discuss in follow-up posts. For now, my early impressions are that I miss the volume knob on the old head unit. The Pioneer unit has tiny buttons for volume, so I find myself mostly using the steering wheel controls. Apple CarPlay works well, but it forces you to use Apple Maps, of which I'm not the biggest fan. You can still use Google Maps or Waze, but you'll only hear the audio prompts.
Here's the old head unit for reference:
Here's the new head unit. I prefer to keep my phone close, so that's why the wire is hanging out. Otherwise, you could keep it in the glove box and have a cleaner look to the cabin.
Here's a close up of the head unit with the Apple CarPlay homescreen.
Let us know what you want to hear more about in the comments.
Maybe it's the change of season and lower temperatures, but our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 was showing low air pressure in all four tires. The front left was so low at 27 psi that the number was blinking to get our attention. It's interesting to note that this eight-year-old car has a nice tire pressure indicator on the gauge cluster.
While we recommend checking the tires once a month, it's easy to let it slide and then fall below the limit. The digital tire indicator is a welcome call to action.
Filling the tires was the usual hassle and another reason that tire pressure isn't always up to snuff. I stopped in one gas station but the pump was in use by a truck driver who looked like he was being paid by the hour. Luckily, I wasn't far from home where I have a battery-operated pump with a built-in gauge. I let the tires cool for an hour, then inflated them to 2 psi over the recommended 32 psi. It gives the Charger an even firmer ride, but also improved fuel economy.
Exploring Apple CarPlay (With Videos)
The new Pioneer head unit lands like an alien monolith into the interior of our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8. What was once a tired-looking relic of last decade's tech is now a beacon of modernity amidst the wasteland that is this late-2000s Dodge interior.
Seriously, before this stereo, the interior would've looked at home in a Dodge Caravan.
The large, comparatively high-res Pioneer unit comes with a host of features, but crucially it supports both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. I still soldier on with an iPhone — as tempting as Android devices look — so we'll be exploring CarPlay in this post.
See the video below for an overview and the text beneath for some more thoughts.
The Pioneer unit has an environment all its own, and it's somewhat confusing if you're expecting an iOS or Android style experience. When you plug in your iPhone, CarPlay boots quickly and presents you with a very familiar looking screen.
The benefit to this familiarity is a lower learning curve. You don't have to fiddle around with a slow, alien interface. The home screen and gestures are close enough to what you have on the device in your pocket. The screen even reacts to inputs about as quickly as it does with my phone, which is something that can't be said about the systems in many new cars.
The screen hosts CarPlay-enabled apps on your phone and I found no issues during testing with Apple's Podcast app and various music apps. The only pain is that satellite and FM radio must be accessed through Pioneer's environment, so you have switch between that and CarPlay to control audio. The Pioneer environment works, but isn't as familiar or intuitive as the iOS-style layout.
The other disappointment is that Google Maps doesn't support CarPlay (or vice versa). The navigation app is Apple's own, which I've had bad experiences with. What's worse is that the Apple Maps on CarPlay doesn't support the pinch and drag gestures you're accustomed to. Instead, it has buttons for panning and zooming.
While these are minor problems, a bigger one looms: Data usage.
Driving around with your phone pumping navigation and music or podcasts is a quick way to eat through your monthly data allocation. Until more major wireless carriers offer unlimited data plans, this could end up being a costly way to drive.
Fun fact: AT&T offered exactly this in 2007, the same year our Charger was new.
Also, dead zones still exist. When you hit one, your entertainment and navigation options are reduced back to 2007 levels.
The future isn't perfect yet, but it is funny. CarPlay's text-to-voice can read your text messages out loud. You can also dictate messages to the system. Most of them look like this:
The system also reads Emojis, which can lead to this:
Our 2007 Dodge Charger apparently wants to be considered the Most Interesting Car in the World because its motto is, "Stay thirsty, my friends." The SRT8 is indeed a thirsty beast, but in August it finally surpassed the EPA's combined estimate of 15 mpg by a whisker, climbing to 15.3 mpg. Prior to August, the Charger had been sitting at 14.8 mpg.
What I find interesting is that one of our August tanks yielded 19.9 mpg, exceeding the EPA's highway prediction of 18 mpg. So the Charger can deliver reasonable gas mileage if the driver can just stay off the go pedal.
We didn't have a large data sample for August however, driving just 767 miles (but pretty fun miles at that).
Worst Fill MPG: 11.7
Best Fill MPG: 20.0
Average Lifetime MPG: 15.3
EPA MPG Rating: 15 Combined (13 City/18 Highway Combined)
Best Range: 289.9 miles
Current Odometer: 71,091
New Backup Cam and Sat Radio Upgrades
Two items were missing from the head unit install we did a few weeks ago on our long-term 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8: a backup camera and an adapter to restore the satellite radio functionality lost when we replaced the factory head unit.
Many of today's cars come standard with a rearview cam and it's not a stretch to think that a tech-savvy millennial (the demographic that inspired this long-term project in the first place) might want the same on their car. Our Pioneer AVH-4100NEX head unit has the capability to display a backup camera signal and Pioneer was nice enough to send us one.
The Pioneer ND-BC8 goes for about $87 on Amazon. This camera is on the pricier end, but since it's the same brand as the head unit, we could expect perfect compatibility. The Esky EX180-19 camera, which costs about $40, is a less expensive alternative.
The sat-radio upgrade we did for ourselves. Some studies indicate that satellite radio usage is quite low among millennials, but many of us on staff are avid SiriusXM listeners, so it was important to restore that functionality. The SiriusXM SXV300 is a tuner and antenna that work on any "SiriusXM ready" stereo. List price is about $70, but Amazon was selling it for about $40. We needed the part quickly so we went to Best Buy and had them price-match the item for the Amazon price.
We took the Charger to PCH Audio in Wilmington, the same shop that installed the Pioneer head unit. It took them about three hours to install the parts. The installation would cost about $100. The total estimated cost of this project was about $238.
We'll have more detailed impressions about the camera in future posts.
Forget those sniveling, oversharing, irony-as-lifestyle Millenials for whom we've devised this project car — I'm demographically-certified GenX, friend. My generation built this great country! And we did it without Facebook or Instagram, but with mixtapes, Xerox-ed fliers, and a shared CompuServe account. Our hope, optimism and shared love of The Scorpions toppled the Berlin Wall. We made Tom Cruise!
Therefore, I want the 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 for myself and my generation.
OK, so it's intended to be some kind of achievable Millenial car. Not a bad car to aspire to. But as we've seen, it requires some aftermarket help to bridge the technology gap that Millenials and cranky GenXers have come to rely on. We added Bluetooth, smartphone connectivity, Android and Apple CarPlay, even sat-radio and a backup cam with a single center console upgrade. Not bad for a car that came out just before the first iPhone.
But even without the contemporary tech, this car appeals across the spectrum. A 6.1-liter V8 with 425 horsepower will do that. The sound and sensation of rapid acceleration is timeless, as is loads of cabin room.
I could do without the exhaust, and will probably continue to do so until we decide to swap it out. The drone at highway cruise is tough to take for any length.
In any older car, you take the good with the bad. In this car, the bad is an interior that reeks of poor Mercedes stewardship. Before our Pioneer head unit swap, that radio/center console reminded me of our old CL65 AMG, with the other controls, stalks and instrument panel recalling that bleak period in Dodge history. You'll have to pay to upgrade to newer models that bring some of that Ram and Grand Cherokee panache to the cabin.
Millenial, Boomer or Generation-Pick-Your-Letter, our Charger appeals to all.
Soon after we purchased the 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8, we started to notice that the parking brake wasn't quite holding the car in place as well as it should. After a while, you'd press the pedal to the floor and it did nothing.
"We should have this looked at," said Dan Edmunds, director of vehicle testing "You don't want the transmission bearing the weight of this car."
So we took it in to our local Dodge dealer and, no surprise, the mechanic confirmed that the parking brake needed new shoes.
The $138 shoe kit wasn't in stock, so we ordered it and paid in full, a fairly common practice for dealers who prefer not to be on the hook for an expensive part should you bail and buy it elsewhere. We plan to bring the car back for installation when the kit arrives. It should require about an hour of labor.
The dealer also noted that the front brake pads and rotors needed to be replaced. The SRT8 has slotted rotors, which along with pads and labor will cost $695 to replace. We told the dealer we'd take care of it later; we may be able to find a less expensive solution.
With the Charger at the dealer, we noticed that it was almost time for an oil change. The owner's manual calls for an oil change every 6,000 miles under a normal service schedule. It had been about 5,500 miles since our last oil change and given that we'd driven it hard for standard testing and a comparison test, we figured it doing it early wasn't a bad idea.
An oil change on the Charger calls for seven quarts of synthetic oil, which the dealer priced at $9.70 per quart. The oil filter cost about $12. The oil change totaled about $111.40 after the 0.3 hours of labor.
I dropped the car off in the morning and it was ready just after lunch. I chuckled when I saw the sticker the dealer had put on the window, reminding me to return after 3,000 miles, based on the severe maintenance schedule. Guess old habits are hard to break.
Total Cost: $270.10
Days Out of Service: None
Our Pioneer Head Unit Is a Worthy Addition to Any Used Car
Besides age-old factors like mileage, maintenance and the grossness of strangers, there are two key areas where buying a used car, especially those that have been on the road for almost a decade like our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8, is worse than buying new.
First is fuel economy. Take a random sample of 10-year-old cars on fueleconomy.gov and marvel at comparatively crappy fuel economy standards from just a short time ago.
The second area is in-car tech. But as the new Pioneer head unit in our Charger proves, that can be fixed far easier than fuel economy (which in no way can be fixed).
Essentially, our Charger leaped from the car with the most antiquated infotainment in our fleet to the most advanced. And should you deem Apple CarPlay the pinnacle of in-car tech, you can make the argument that the Charger is the most advanced car in our garage.
I echo everything Carlos Lago said about it and would add that I found our Pioneer unit slightly easier to use than the CarPlay functionality found in the 2016 Honda Accord. In particular, switching between the Apple interface and the car's infotainment controls (radio, for instance) is easier and quicker.
As our head-unit is a double-DIN, it's not going to work in every used car. I'll go out on a limb and say you're out of luck if you have your eye on a mid-2000s, early iDrive BMW or other car with a quaint old interface. Really, the less tech in an older used car, the better. Not only do you avoid frustrating tech in an otherwise pleasant car, but it can be easier to upgrade. Heck, even a tape deck isn't a bad thing.
For more information on ways to update your used car, read Best New Tech Upgrades for Used Cars
New Shoes Set Us Back a Few Bills
In our last maintenance post, a few readers said they didn't know that a car could have rear brake pads and brake shoes that controlled the parking brake. But our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 does. And as Edmunds commenter Blackecoram noted, these shoes wear out over time and eventually need replacement.
This forum thread offers plenty of photos and even a step-by-step guide on how to change the shoes yourself. It's for a Dodge Magnum, but our Charger is pretty much the same car, so the steps should apply. I took one look at it the install process and knew it was more than I was capable of doing.
So once the parts arrived, I took the car back to the dealership to let the pros install the parking brake shoes.
Our Dodge dealer billed us for two hours of labor to replace the shoes, at a cost of $230. The shoes cost us $138, bringing the total for the repair to $368 plus tax. Parts and labor rates vary around the country, so our total may be lower compared to where you live.
Next we'll look into replacing the front brakes and rotors. After the scary $700 quote we got from the dealer, we're exploring other ways to fix them and save money. Dan Edmunds, our director of vehicle testing, has expressed interest in making this a DIY project. Stay tuned for more on that in the coming weeks.
Fuel Economy Update for September - Trending Down
Our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 was busy in September, travelling just more than 1,500 miles. Those were mostly city miles, as the Charger's droning exhaust has discouraged folks from taking it out on the highway or for a weekend cruise. We're working on an exhaust fix, but in the meantime, we did make some substantial tech upgrades to the car. It now has a much improved and more loved infotainment system.
We filled up the Charger's tank seven times in September. We averaged about 13.7 mpg for the month, which in turn brought down our lifetime mpg from 15.3 to 14.9 mpg.
What does that translate to in dollars? We've been using Fuelly to keep track of the fuel costs and have some interesting stats.
An average fill-up in the Charger comes after about 193 miles and costs about $49.63 in premium fuel. This translates to about 26 cents a mile (or if you think mpg is stupid, 6.67 gallons per 100 miles).
The weather is starting to cool down, so we'll be using the air-conditioning less. Time will tell if this has a significant effect on our fuel economy numbers.
Worst Fill MPG: 11.7
Best Fill MPG: 20
Average Lifetime MPG: 14.9
EPA MPG Rating: 15 combined (13 City/18 Highway)
Best Range: 289.9
Current Odometer: 71,925 (at time of writing)
Replacing Tired Trunk Struts
No used car will ever be perfect. Even a clean, one-owner car like our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 will have a list of things that need attention. As the new owner, your job is to triage these issues and get to them as time and budget allows.
Back in June, Executive Editor Ed Hellwig noted that the trunk struts were clearly worn out and caused the trunk lid to slam down rapidly. I had some experience with this type of repair: We replaced the hood struts on our 1996 Lexus ES 300, also known as the "Debt-Free Car."
It seemed like an easy enough job to tackle again. Here's how we did it.
We ordered the struts from our local Dodge dealership for about $25 each. We removed the old struts by wedging a flathead screwdriver under the metal clamp (indicated by the green arrow) that holds the strut in place. The clamp popped right out with minimal pressure. Next we pulled on the strut and it popped out of its socket on the top and bottom.
The new struts popped right into the socket. There was no need to move the clamp. We repeated the process for the other side and were done with the job within 10 minutes. I wish all DIY repairs were this easy.
The new struts work great and slow down the trunk lid as it's about to close, reducing its risk of munching someone's fingers.
Total cost $54.75 (includes sales tax)
Time needed: 10 minutes
Take a look at this video for more information on hood and trunk strut DIY.
Although the rearview camera made its first appearance in the United States on the 2002 Infiniti Q45, the technology hadn't yet trickled down to more mainstream cars like our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 when it was manufactured. But cameras have become ubiquitous over the last decade, and now even a new Scion iA that costs $16,500 comes with a backup camera. So when it came time to bring the Charger up to current standards, a backup camera topped the list.
We installed a camera made by Pioneer and the results are impressive.
It's difficult to tell in the photo, but the picture quality is good, closer in clarity to the fantastic camera in the 2014 BMW i3 than the low-fi muddiness of the 2015 Acura TLX. But even a great rearview camera doesn't offer much in the way of depth perception, and that's why displays have path markers that show where the vehicle is going.
Unfortunately for us, our camera's markers were, by default, pointed to the sky. Because Ron has no interest in springing for hover conversion, we thought it best to calibrate the lines for ground usage. We went downstairs into the bowels of the parking garage to lay some tape.
The head unit's owner's manual details how to calibrate the guide lines. We took two 4-foot 11-inch pieces of tape and positioned them 25 centimeters away from either side of the car and 50 cm from the rear bumper. We made the tape as straight as possible and climbed into the car.
In calibration mode, each corner of the two horizontal lines can be moved by simple dragging-and-dropping the boxes as well as with arrows that allow you to fine-tune the adjustment. It took roughly two minutes to get the calibration boxes lined up with the ends of the tape. When we were done, the yellow guide lines matched up perfectly with the tape we laid down.
Welcome to the 2010s, Charger.
Firmware updates are inevitable with any modern high-tech device. In a perfect world, everything would be connected to the Internet and things would update themselves while you sleep. While some things, like my iPhone, can do that already, the Pioneer stereo on our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 cannot.
I stumbled on this firmware update while researching the Pioneer website for an article. There was a tab labeled "Firmware and Software," so I clicked on it. There lay a file for updating the firmware of our unit to version 1.03.
Here's what it covered:
Expanded compatibility with Google Android Auto
Fixed a pop noise problem while playing a music file in SD
Minor bug fixes
The first bullet point caught my attention, because Caroline Pardilla, one of the few Edmunds editors with an Android phone, said the head unit would not recognize her phone. My hope was that this would alleviate the issue.
I downloaded the file to a FAT32-formatted USB drive. Pioneer requires the drive to have at least 2GB of storage space.
After verifying that we were running version 1.0, I pressed the "firmware update" button in the Settings menu. It prompts you to plug the thumb drive into the USB1 port of the receiver. Luckily, we have a cord with a female plug, so there was no need to locate it on the back of the head unit.
The next screen (top photo) is the point of no return. Once you hit "Start" the firmware update begins and you get this DOS-looking screen. It took roughly eight minutes to complete the update. Once you see the screen below, it's safe to remove the USB drive. You hit the home button to reboot the stereo and finalize the update.
The whole process was very easy and took about 10 minutes. I recommend printing out the instructions to follow the proper order of things. Stay tuned for a follow-up report after we test the update for its advanced Android capability.
Cleaning the Dirty Mopar Air Filter
I recently opened the hood on our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 to check the engine oil level (it's fine) when I noticed the blue Mopar aftermarket cold air intake. Specifically, I noticed how dirty the air filter was. The blue fibers looked dingy and there was a lot of dust and detritus between the pleats.
Figuring I'd show our Charger a little love, I took it upon myself to clean the air filter. Now I just needed to figure out how.
Since we bought our Charger used from a dealer, I didn't have any instructions or install knowledge to rely on. To the Internetmobile, Robin!
I started researching which air intake our car has. On Mopar.com, I determined we likely had the Cold Air Intake for the 6.1-liter SRT V8 used in the Charger/300/Magnum/Challenger (part 77060006AB). I knew these types of filters are typically reusable, unlike the one-and-done factory OE air filters. Unfortunately, I couldn't find official instructions for installation or air filter cleaning.
On to Plan B. I searched owner forums and found a few posts on the subject. The posts varied on advice, but the consensus opinion came down to a fairly simple matter of taking off the filter and gently washing it with water and soap.
When I went back to our Charger, I was initially unsure how hard it would be to get the filter off. It's snug up against a black plastic box and I wasn't sure if I could just pull it off or if I'd have to loosen or take off more of the intake pipe or bracketry. Thankfully, removal was just a matter of loosening the screw-based hose clamp and flexing the air filter some (its supporting structure is rubber) to pull it off.
It was then that I discovered the Charger's previous owner had applied oil to the filter. The bottom of the filter that was previously hidden from view was oily, which you can see by the darker coloring of the filter element in the photo below.
There was also oil in the air intake tube.
Hmm. Would I need to oil our filter, too? Some reusable aftermarket air filters require oiling. Back to the Internet. From what I could determine, the filter for our intake was not supposed to be oiled. There's even a warning on the top of the filter.
Seems the previous owner goofed. I took our filter and washed it in a bucket of water with mild detergent. At first I tried using a toothbrush to remove the little bits of leaves and stems lodged between the pleats or stuck in the fiberous foam, but quickly learned that was too abrasive. After that, I just used my fingers and manually rubbed the filter to get it clean.
The water quickly got dirty so I filled up a fresh bucket and repeated the process.
After that, I shook out the filter and let it dry in the sunlight. It was about 90 degrees outside, but it took all day to get dry. I let it dry overnight, too. After that, I cleaned out the oil in the intake and reinstalled the filter.
I don't have any measurable way of knowing if my cleaning boosted our Charger's horsepower, but I'd like to think it's running a bit stronger now.
New Radio Install Increases Hazard, Instability
We recently had our new aftermarket Pioneer touchscreen head unit installed on our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8, but it seems that when the shop guys put everything back together they forgot to re-connect the button array at the top of the center stack that activates the hazard lights and traction/stability control.
How do I know this? Well, obviously, any self-respecting Charger SRT8 driver is a frequent user of the hazard lights, right?
I first noticed it as I was driving around doing some errands with my wife.
"Huh, the traction control button isn't working," I said, stabbing it with my finger and not seeing the associated warning light illuminate.
"Why are you pressing it?" she asked.
"Umm, no reason. Just testing," I said.
"Well, do your 'testing' when I'm not in the car with you, OK?"
Sheesh. Girls are just no fun.
When we got home, I fiddled with the new center stack fascia and found it was loose enough to pull back and inspect the area behind the buttons. Sure enough, the wiring harness plug wasn't connected. I was able to sneak my hand back there and push it back in to the button array.
Zip boom bonjour, back in business.
Here are some guilty pleasures I've been enjoying recently: Listening to the SiriusXM NFL Blitz program with Bruce Murray and Rich Gannon. Sneaking Snickers Halloween candy, pre-Halloween. Fallout Shelter.
Also, our 2007 Charger SRT8. Unexpectedly, it's one of my favorite cars in our long-term fleet right now.
Given that one of the parameters for our Millennial Used Car Project was to acquire "a cool used car," I'd say mission accomplished. (And hopefully not a premature "mission accomplished.")
True, our Charger is not for everybody. While I still maintain that it can stay surprisingly under the radar because of its age, it is, in the grand scheme of things, a fairly loud and brash car. I know one of my coworkers hasn't touched the car yet for that very reason. My wife, meanwhile, finds it "too loud" and "drives like a boat."
Dan Frio and I seem to be closer in opinion. He recently wrote how even though he's of the Gen X timeframe, like me, the car appeals to him. I would agree: you'll never go wrong with the attitude that comes with a hood-scooped 425-horsepower V8. But I might even be fonder of our Charger than Dan. He doesn't like its aftermarket exhaust or its chintzy interior materials/design.
Me? Yes, it's boomy at times. I've thought about investigating whether we can affordably source a quieter exhaust. But I can't bring myself to go any further than that. I just love its cranked-up sound too much. As for the interior, so what? It's functional. Do you want to fondle fancy-pants trim pieces or go fast, Frio?
Also (knock on wood), our Charger has been very reliable so far. Almost five months in, the only money we've put into it has come from upgrades (touchscreen stereo) or repairing or replacing minor parts (parking brake, tires). Unlike many other used cars we've bought over the years, it hasn't died, leaked to the point of failure or required frequent repairs.
This car is cool.
Help! My Millennial Parents Bought a Charger
A few weeks ago, Time magazine ran a cover story titled "Help! My Parents Are Millennials" that detailed changing parenting styles as the millennial generation starts having children. Oddly, Time overlooked reporting on our super awesome 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 Millennial Used Car project. But nonetheless I've got a few observations on how well our Charger fares for kid duty.
For testing purposes, I broke out my Britax Marathon reversible child safety seat. I don't use this anymore for my kids, but it works well as a stand-in. The first aspect about our Charger SRT8 that I discovered is that the thickly contoured cushioning for the outboard rear seats isn't ideal for big safety seats. Specifically, it doesn't give you a nice, flat base to secure the seat.
I used a folded-up towel to help level things out, but there was still some undesirable squishing of the cushion bolsters going on once I strapped down the seat. As for the lower LATCH anchors, I could get them connected, but the inboard anchor was buried pretty deep and it took some doing to connect the buckle.
Problem number two: Our Charger's rear head restraints are fixed. Since you can't remove them, you can't get a tight fit against the seatback if you're using a forward-facing seat. It also makes it harder to secure the top LATCH anchor.
I should note, though, that installing just one safety seat in the center seat position is easier because of the flat (albeit elevated) cushion. The lack of head restraint in the center position is also advantageous. If you only have one seat to install, this could be the way to go.
In better news, our Charger SRT8's ample rear legroom is an advantage, providing a suitable amount of clearance for safety seats in a rear-facing position. The driver or front passenger shouldn't need to adjust their seat positions much, if at all, to accommodate their newest family addition in back.
Overall, I'd wager that the typical midsize family sedan would be more accommodating for child safety seats than our Charger. But as we noted on the outset, we wanted to get something fun to drive. Can you have a car that will do wicked burnouts with your kids strapped in back? Yes you can, Millennial Parents.
Fuel Economy Update for October — Record Month
It was a month of highs and lows for our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8. We drove it the most miles in a month (2,051) since we've had it. In those miles, we achieved its worst fill, followed by some of the best.
We filled the Charger's tank nine times in October. The worst fill to date — 10.7 mpg — occurred early in the month. It was a small fill-up where we covered just 54 miles before topping off. This low point was set by Reese Counts, our new vehicle testing assistant, but he quickly redeemed himself.
Reese took a trip to Arizona for a few days and not only did he achieve three fills better than 20 mpg (20.1, 20.8, 20.3), but he also set the record for longest range at 317.4 miles. He said he wasn't really trying to hyper-mile it, just kept it between 70-75 mph on the highway.
Later that month, Brent Romans said our Charger was one of his favorite cars in our fleet. His high praise must've inspired the Charger to return its best-ever fill of 22.2 mpg on a tank that covered about 164 miles. We averaged about 17.4 mpg for the month, which helped raise our lifetime mpg from 14.9 to 15.6 mpg.
It was a banner month for our Charger. Now let's see if we can keep the average up.
Worst Fill MPG: 10.7
Best Fill MPG: 22.2 Average Lifetime
MPG: 15.6 EPA MPG Rating: 15 combined (13 City/18 Highway)
Best Range: 317.4
Current Odometer: 74,240
I'm not sure what the original intention was for this slot on the center console of our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 but it works perfectly as a wallet holder; wide enough for everything this side of a George Costanza-esque overstuffed wallet, and deep enough so it won't fly out while negotiating a sharp curve.
It's so perfect, in fact, I'm trying to figure out why more cars these days don't have a handy, away-from-the-door slot to stash your wallet.
Now I know not everyone carries a wallet (hello, ladies), but a good portion of the population does.
At the end of October, Senior Consumer Advice Editor Ron Montoya updated the firmware for the new Pioneer head unit in our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 test car. This update was reputed to offer "Expanded compatibility with Google Android Auto." Prior to that, we'd had no luck getting the stereo to recognize an Android phone.
So here's the update: "No Device."
That's what the display screen told me after I plugged in my Samsung Galaxy S5.
My phone received power, so I could charge off the cable, but there was still no sign of Android life on the head unit's display screen.
After I gave up, my daughter reached over and plugged in her iPhone 6, immediately taking full control of the stereo.
Sigh.
Aftermarket Display Can Match Ambient Cabin Light
I completely understood the desire to replace the dated-when-new head unit in our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8, but I didn't hold out much hope for the new piece. I have this hate/hate relationship with aftermarket stereos, partly from having one in a personal car and partly from experiencing them in other people's cars.
I could go into the general tackiness of their design, the cheapness of their controls or any other irks that have soured me on these things, but my main reason has always been that the colors don't match the rest of the interior lighting.
With our Pioneer, I needn't have worried about that last bit.
What can I say, I'm a photographer and color matters to me.
As you can tell by that lead photo, the Pioneer gives two sliders for adjusting the color output for the physical buttons. The top one is nice — you can certainly get the color in the ballpark — but the bottom one lets you adjust the brightness/intensity, and that was the key to dialing it in.
The sliders are a bit finicky, but as you can see by the next photo, the colors are about as close as they're going to get. They're certainly close enough to satiate my pickiness.
I rarely go anywhere these days without a group of kids and a load of backpacks, so ease of loading both people and their stuff is a high priority. Only took one quick trip in our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 test car to remind me how far vehicles have come in regards to ergonomic design.
Case in point: the Charger's trunk lid.
While it's not difficult to open the trunk — hold down the key fob button and the lid pops open a couple of inches — it's no picnic to close.
It's not that it's heavy. There's just no good place to grab other than the bottom edge of the lid's exterior, or perhaps the spoiler if you're tall enough. I find myself using a two-step method: 1) pull down on the bottom edge of the lid until it starts to fall forward, and 2) finish it off by pushing or pulling down on the spoiler. Not ideal, I know.
And unless the Charger is freshly washed, I get my hands dirty every time.
We hop in and out of a lot of cars, so it can always take a few miles to really settle in and get comfortable. And what I thought was a good driving position in our Dodge Charger SRT8, when I was parked, turned out to need a little adjustment once I was on the road. More specifically, the lumbar support.
Now, the Charger's got power seats, so as I hurtled down the 405, I slid my hand along the side of the seat and found the lumbar rocker switch. And then I found myself speeding up.
Oh sure, I can see the foot-on-the-pedal icon now, but I would never have expected a control switch on a seat to adjust the pedals. But instead of relaxing the lumbar support in the seat (incidentally, that's not possible with our Charger's SRT8 seats) I was pushing the gas pedal against my foot.
I'll admit to some mild panic because our Charger isn't exactly shy about accelerating, but once I lifted off the throttle and gave myself a few seconds to play with that switch again, it dawned on me exactly what I was doing. Granted, if you owned this car you might only make this mistake once or twice, but the location of the switch leaves a little something to be desired.
For an eight-year-old car with more than 75,000 miles, our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 doesn't feel very tired. And it's not simply because of its 425-horsepower V8.
This car still feels tight from top to bottom. The steering is solid, there are no squeaks in the suspension and the brakes grab hard. It feels nothing like your typical used car.
You could attribute some of this to the fact that this car was far from cheap when new. There's some truth to that, but I've driven some luxury cars in the SRT8's price range that had a completely different character after 25,000 miles, let alone 75,000 miles.
Even with its obnoxious exhaust note, the performance level of this car can still sneak up on you. It always feels strong down low — that's a given. But then you open it up on the highway and it reminds you that there's plenty of power near the redline, too. Almost feels odd in a car this big, which is probably why I like driving this car so much.
Pt 1 | Pt 2
Our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 needed front brakes. The pad wear indicators were not yet squealing, but the front pads were getting mighty thin and the pedal was getting long. Last time we had it in for service the dealer said they could replace the pads and rotors for an out-the door price of $695. That sounded steep, so we figured we might save some money and do it ourselves.
The Charger SRT8 features Brembo high-performance front calipers, which are more expensive to buy initially, but not that hard to service. These are four-piston fixed calipers, which means there are no sliding pins to inspect and lubricate. And we're not experiencing any complications. Our Charger isn't pulling to one side, there's no shudder that might indicate warped rotors, and the rotors themselves look quite smooth as viewed through the five-spoke wheels.
It was possible that we could get away with just a pad change.
So I went to my local Dodge dealer and asked for a set at the parts counter. The guy started to tell me something about the need to order them as he eyed the computer screen, but then stopped suddenly as if he'd just remembered something. Abruptly turning around where he stood, he reached into a box on the floor no more than two feet away and came up with a set of 2007 Charger SRT8 Brembo brake pads, just like that.
Apparently someone else ordered a set a few days before, but that customer wasn't due in until the weekend. He sold me that guy's pads and ordered in another set to replace them. I can only assume he knew he'd get the backfill set in time.
The high-po Brembo pads cost $121 or $130.68 with tax.
I finally got time to do the deed a week later. I drove the Charger home, parked it in front of my detached backyard garage, set the parking brake, jacked it up and set the front end on safety stands.
The SRT8's wheels use a rather open design, but I got a much better view of the rotors once the wheels were out of the picture. They were indeed smooth, and they certainly didn't look glazed, but the rotors showed sure signs of significant overall wear.
That's right: rotors wear down along with brake pads, especially when those pads employ a high-performance formulation with a high metallic content. Pads wear down more quickly, of course, but it's not all down to the relative softness of the two parts. Pads wear in a single concentrated spot the approximate size of a business card, whereas the wear area of a rotor is a donut-shaped ring with 10 times the surface area.
Brake pads typically aren't broad enough to span the entire machined surface of a rotor, so as the rotor wears, a telltale lip can be left behind at the inner and outer extremes. That was certainly the case here.
Now it was a matter of determining: (1) the minimum allowable rotor thickness and; (2) the actual working thickness of our rotors.
The minimum allowable rotor thickness is sometimes stamped onto the rotors somewhere, but not always. Third-party aftermarket rotors may not bother with that detail. There are two places to look: along the outer rim, or on the outer diameter of the hub or "hat" section. Our minimum thickness is 30.0 millimeters.
Even by eyeball, the height of the inner and outer lips suggested I would not like the measurement I made next. I don't have a pair of dial calipers, but with the simple tools I have on hand it was easy to determine that the rotor was at or slightly below 30 mm thick where the pads make contact.
Too thin. Time to put the brakes on this brake job.
I would have aborted the mission just the same even if I'd come up with a 30.5 mm measurement. These new pads will last tens of thousands of miles, after all. No use installing them on questionable rotors, even if they look smooth and aren't warped. And "turning the rotors" won't help in cases like this because that only makes them thinner.
Time to buy new ones. That was fine by me. I prefer new rotors to turned ones anyway. They cost a little more than machine-turning, but the extra thickness gives them superior thermal capacity, which means they'll have better fade resistance and will be less likely to warp. It's also far less time consuming to simply swap old for new.
Turning is far more compelling if you have an older car where the rotor, hub, wheel bearing and lug studs are a single part. Turning rotors was invented and encouraged because removing and replacing that type of old-school rotor was labor-intensive and messy. But modern cars are set up with hat-style rotors that are separate from the hub and slip over the lug studs with ridiculous ease.
I put the wheels back on, re-torqued the lugs and headed for the office. I detoured into a different Dodge dealer on my route and inquired about ordering some rotors. It was my lucky day. They had the special slotted Brembo/SRT8 ones I needed in stock for $129 each.
Soon I was out the door with a pair of the world's worst Frisbees (the 12,020-gram edition) after handing over $281.22. Total spend for pads and rotors was now up to $411.90, but compared to the dealer's $695 estimate, this DIY brake job would still save $283.10.
But the delay means I'll have to put off the actual work for another day.
Fuel Economy Update for November - Back to Regular Routine
It was hard to top our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8's record highs and lows from October, and in November we went back to our typical usage patterns. As you can see in the photo above, the Charger calls for 91 octane gas. This is the only place you'll see this, however. It's not noted on the fuel door or fuel cap.
We drove the Charger 1,359 miles and filled it up eight times. It didn't go on any road trips, but it did get a new set of brakes and rotors.
We averaged 15.2 mpg in November, just shy of our lifetime average of 15.5 mpg, and right on the nose of the EPA estimate for combined driving.
Worst Fill MPG: 10.7
Best Fill MPG: 22.2
Average Lifetime MPG: 15.5
EPA MPG Rating: 15 combined (13 City/18 Highway)
Best Range: 317.4
Current Odometer: 75,383
DIY Front Brake Job Walkaround
Pt 1 | Pt 2
In our last episode, I had to cancel the brake job on our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 because it turned out the old rotors were too thin and I had to get my hands on some new ones. The reality of my schedule led to a two week delay, but the situation was not yet dire. The pad wear indicators were not yet making noise.
Or were they?
Coming back from dinner with the family, I dabbed on the brakes as I wheeled the Dodge into our driveway. My wife and daughter grabbed for their ears and said, "Can you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
The alleged noise hadn't made itself known any of the multiple dozen other times I'd used the brakes that evening, so the pad wear indicators must have just barely started making contact with the rotors. Not yet a full-fledged squeal, they were warming up by emitting the dreaded high-frequency "teenager noise" that can make a dad feel like an old man.
So I wheeled the Charger down the driveway and parked it behind the house where it needed to be for the next morning's brake job.
This is a job done that must be done one side at a time, a case of sock-shoe, sock-shoe, not sock-sock, shoe-shoe. So you might as well make it easy on yourself and crank the wheel all the way to the side you're working on.
But a steering wheel never likes to stay put way out there at full lock. They always sneak back a half-turn or more when you let go. There is such a thing as spring-loaded clamp that goes between the seat and wheel, found mostly at alignment shops and used when they need to hold the wheel centered while they adjust the toe-in. But I'm not an alignment shop. Enter one long fruit-picking pole.
Don't laugh, it works. And it's not tearing up the wheel or the door seal. I checked. Barely any resistance is needed to keep it from unwinding, anyway.
These are four-piston fixed calipers, in which two pistons push on each pad. And these pads are indeed thin. You know it's bad when the remaining pad friction material is slimmer than the pad's own backing plate.
But these are not the pad retaining pins I expected. The big pins sometimes have tiny retaining pins of their own, but not here.
Careful inspection reveals the pin holes on the inner face of the caliper are larger than the outer ones. A few exploratory taps with a nail-set punch gets them moving.
It turns out that expanding barrel clamps were holding them in place.
These parts are to be saved and reused when we put it all back together.
Steady but firm pressure applied to the pad backing plate with the butt-end of a hammer will compress the pistons on that side enough to open up a gap so I can pull the pad out.
But I have to keep going. The pistons need to be pushed far enough to make room for the full thickness of the new brake pads.
I don't own a piston retracting tool made for the purpose because I don't do this regularly enough to justify the cost. Instead I'm leaving the second pad in place while I use the first pad as a lever against the first pair of pistons, taking great care not to nick and damage any piston seals. There isn't much leverage, so it takes 10 or 15 seconds of steady pressure to ease them in. It's crucial to push on both pistons together, otherwise one would simply pop out while I pushed on its partner. That would be what we in the industry call Bad News.
Any time you retract pistons you must keep an eye on the brake fluid reservoir and be prepared to extract some fluid. The level will rise as the pistons are pushed in to make room for the thicker new pads, and you don't want it to overflow. Brake fluid is quite corrosive and damaging to paint, and the brake booster and master cylinder areas are hard to get at if you need to clean it up.
This is why I never top-up the brake fluid reservoir in between pad changes. It's normal for the level to go down as the pads wear. In fact, this trait is a useful indicator of how much the pads have worn. And it's why reservoirs have widely separated Max and Min lines. Your goal is to merely prevent it from ever dropping below Min, not keep it at Max.
In all likelihood you'll never have to add a drop unless you're actively doing something like bleeding the brakes. Actual fluid leaks are extremely rare, so the fluid level will almost certainly come back up to Max line once full thickness pads (and rotors) are installed.
But in this case it's clear someone has topped-up the fluid in this car. I'm going to have to suck some out at some point during this pad change. This question is "when?" Which is why I've got to keep an eye on it.
Here's the real pad wear indicator, you can see how it's just barely starting to make contact and emit the dreaded teenager noise. We caught it at the right time.
Once you've got one pair of pistons retracted, you need something to hold those pistons back and prevent them from popping out while you lever in the opposite pair. Enter one scrap of wood. Don't laugh, it works. I could have slid in one of the new pads temporarily, too.
With the pads out all four pistons retracted, it's time to take the caliper off. But we're not going to open or remove any brake lines. And it's important to support the caliper and make sure the hose doesn't get kinked or pulled tight.
A daisy-chain of zip ties makes it easy to hang the caliper nearby so there is no stress on the brake hoses. I've looped them around the upper control arm
What you can't see here is how stuck the rotor is. I tried a dead-blow hammer, but I just made a bunch of noise. It's rusted in place, which isn't all that rare.
There's no need for swearing or an hour-long wait for oil penetrant to *maybe* loosen things. Why not trot our three dollars-worth of nuts and bolts instead? The threads don't screw into anything on the car, they'll just pass through the caliper mounting holes. All that matters is that the diameter is fairly big. All-thread bolts are a good idea, too.
Use the ratchet to keep the bolt from turning. This way, the bolt will grow in the direction of the rotor as you tighten the inside nut with your wrench. The second nut at the end is optional; it's there to spread the load on the rotor, which is more of an issue if it this contraption happens to contact the machined surface of the rotor, something that's not going on here.
Alternating between the upper and lower bolts a quarter-turn at a time, it doesn't take long before a "pop" signals the rust bond has been broken. I continue for a couple of extra cranks to make sure the bond is broken all the way around.
Yuck. Look at that rust. But I've seen worse. A Texas toothbrush is good for knocking the worst of the loose stuff away, but you don't need to be obsessive about it.
It is a good idea to spread a thin coating of anti-seize compound on the hub-to-rotor interface to prevent this from happening again. Those who live in seaside areas or where winter road salt is used may want to consider this a necessary step.
New versus old. Incidentally, these new rotors don't have the minimum thickness stamped on them like the originals did. Write it down or save a photograph in your files in case this ever comes up again.
I like to use a couple of lug nuts and washers to seat the rotor and hold it tightly in place before I install the caliper and pads.
Now I can cut the zip ties and tighten and torque the calipers.
The arrows indicate which way the rotors should rotate under the pads. That makes this the right-front corner.
Anti-squeal compound came in a tube with the pads, so I smeared it wherever the pad backing plate would make contact with the pistons or the caliper sliding surfaces.
The anti-rattle preload spring goes back in under the pins. It's best to first get the top threaded through and feed the upper pin into place before you put any tension on it.
Now you can push down on the bottom and preload the spring before feeding the lower pin through.
Don't forget to re-seat the pin barrel clamps with your hammer and punch.
It's good to dab a little anti-squeal grease where the spring might contact the caliper.
That was all just the first side. Now it's time to reset everything to do the other side. This is a good time to check the brake fluid level.
In this case I didn't have to remove any when I switched from left to right, but it had come up past the Max mark. Our Charger's reservoir had enough excess capacity that I didn't have to extract any until I'd completed both sides.
Done. The pedal will be very soft for the first brake application because I pushed the pistons in farther than necessary to get the new pads in. But even after that the brakes will lack initial effectiveness and bite until it all beds in. Green Fade, they call it. In this case it lasted a couple of miles before they started to feel strong.
How long did this take? About 90 minutes, not including the time it took to rush over to the hardware store for the bolts. Call it an hour if I back out the time I spent taking pictures. It could easily be less the next time. This is a pretty straightforward brake job.
I switched to Android recently after purchasing a Nexus 6P. After testing out how Apple CarPlay worked with the aftermarket Pioneer head unit in our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8, I was eager to see how the equivalent Android Auto worked. Imagine my disappointment when it didn't.
When I plugged my fancy new phone in, the head unit displayed "Incompatible USB." After doing some research, I learned that our Pioneer AVH-4100NEX has two USB outputs on the back and that only one of them supports Android. Fortunately, our installer plugged a USB cable into each, and both sit easily accessible in the glovebox.
I plugged in my USB 3.0 adapter into the correct cable. It still didn't work.
More research revealed that you need to dive into the settings to choose between iPhone support and "Others" (that's Android). Four touchscreen presses later, and you're good to switch.
Interestingly, on Android's first handshake with a new car, it requires the car be in park with the emergency brake on. After doing this, and accepting a bunch of legalese, Android Auto was ready to go.
While this switching sounds frustrating, it's important to remember that 20 or so people swap through this car regularly. You should only expect similar problems if your household is divided by phone operating systems.
We'll look deeper into how Android Auto works soon. In the meantime, I'm just happy I can access Google Maps while driving.
Take one look at the seats in our 2007 Dodge Charger and it's obvious that they are some serious thrones. But that's not always a good thing as some performance seats are so aggressive that you quickly grow tired of their constant grip. Remember the Focus ST?
As I learned on a recent two-and-a-half hour slog home in traffic the other night, these chairs don't wear on you. They are indeed aggressive, but not in a way that makes you start thinking of backing them off once you get settled. You can feel the side bolsters, yet they don't constantly dig into your side as if to remind you that you can take the next off-ramp at ludicrous speed if you want.
Even better is the fact that the cushions themselves aren't stuffed so tightly that you can't sink into them a little. Having a little give helps when you're parked in the same position for hours on end. None of this is obvious the minute you sit down in our Charger's seats, but after driving it several days in a row I grew to like the combination of comfort and support.
With Android Auto finally working in our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8, I was eager to pair it with my Nexus 6P and use it as my primary infotainment system for a few days. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it works just as fluidly as its Apple CarPlay counterpoint, but also has the advantage of Google's suite of products like Maps and Search.
So it's better.
Below is a video of how it works, similar to how we explored CarPlay.
Using either Auto or CarPlay feels immediately more intuitive than any infotainment system (especially that of our Pioneer head unit), because we spend more time using our phones. You don't have to learn a new interface with these systems.
Once Auto boots up, it presents you with a home screen that displays Google Now cards. The cards prompt you with navigation directions you might be interested in, upcoming reminders, or notifications of missed phone calls or text messages, for example. Weirdly, you can't swipe left to dismiss cards like you can on the phone. I'm looking forward to test Auto on other cars to see if this trait is specific to our Pioneer head unit.
Of course, the big draw over CarPlay is Google Maps. Use the voice search to find a restaurant and it gives you the directions, as well as the restaurant's phone number and hours of operation. My only disappointment is the off-blue color palette, which can be hard to read at a glance. I wish it retained the same color as Google Maps on the computer or on my phone. Alas, I couldn't find a way to change it.
Voice recognition works well too. You have full access to Google Search, so you can ask it to perform math or find out the release date of an upcoming movie. The system also reads out text messages and you can dictate replies, though the obnoxiously loud aftermarket exhaust on our car drowns out the interior at freeway speeds, making voice commands near impossible.
Also, we're still unsure of how well it pronounces "Smiling pile of poo." Further testing is required.
A weird thing happened when I hopped in our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 one night last week: The headlights didn't turn on.
Our car has automatic headlights, and the dial was in the "A" position. I was in a dimly-lit parking garage, but one I'd parked in many times without this issue. Switching the headlights on manually worked, but turning the dial back to "A" turned them off. Clearly, our Charger was satisfied with the amount of light in the garage.
I went out into the night, drove for a bit so the car might acclimate to the darkness, and then pulled over. When I turned the dial back to A, the headlights turned off again.
I figured the sensor was broken.
A few days later, I parked the car in an open lot. It was night when I returned, and before turning the car on, I switched the dial back over to A and turned the car on. The lights came on with it.
Maybe the sensor has some light sensitivity. For the time being, I'm filing this one along with the Yugo under Older Car Has Weird Quirks.
Fuel Economy Update for December - More of the Same
Our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 didn't see much action in December. Editors used it mostly for short commutes and when I had it during the New Year's week, I stuck close to home. All the city driving contributed to the Charger's December average of 14.7 mpg over just 1,155 miles. Overall economy barely budged, falling slightly from 15.5 to 15.4 mpg.
It rarely happens in long-term cars with gobs of power on tap, but our overall fuel economy continues to beat the EPA's combined estimate of 15 mpg.
We've quoted 10.7 mpg as the lowest fill since the October update, but this was based on a fill-up after just 54 miles. The tank was filled prematurely, so I've excluded it from the "Worst Fill MPG" section below.
Worst Fill MPG: 11.7 mpg
Best Fill MPG: 22.2 mpg
Average Lifetime MPG: 15.4 mpg
EPA MPG Rating: 15 Combined (13 City/18 Highway)
Best Range: 317.4 miles
Current Odometer: 76,708 miles
In many ways, our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 is a simple car. Deactivating stability control is no exception. See that button? Simply tap it for burnouts.
Most modern cars require a multi-step process to completely turn off stability control, if they allow you to do it at all (ahem, Volkswagen). Often it means tapping the off button once to enter a sport mode, and then pressing and holding the button for as long as 15 seconds to deactivate the system. You often have to do this at a complete stop with your foot on the brake.
Hold the button too long and the system will fault, thinking that some freak accident inside the car has culminated with something pressing against this oh-so-dangerous button. When this happens, the ESC light stays illuminated, the system stays on, and the only way to reset it is to turn the car off and on again.
This is an overly complicated process to access something as simple and fun as a burnout. So thank you, Charger, for being of a simpler time.
Oh, I knew that sound. That too-slow crank, then that click. Damn.
So the battery in our Dodge Charger SRT8 is dead. But before I go and call for roadside assistance, I figured I'd have a look around. But when I couldn't find an obvious culprit inside the car, I popped the hood to have a look at the battery.
Err, make that the trunk. Every idiot knows the Charger SRT8's battery is in the trunk, right? Guys?
But once I saw the battery and found no signs of corrosion or a loose connection, I knew I had to call for backup. I hate calling for backup.
A man with a truck full of batteries was parked alongside our dead Dodge within 25 minutes. Fifteen minutes after that, I was back on the road. But in the in-between, he did a few things more than just replace the battery.
After he gave the battery a once-over and found no obvious faults, he hooked up that little green thing (sorry, I'm a technical guy) and ran a few diagnostics tests. The first one showed the battery was well down on cold cranking amps (CCA) and was the likely culprit in the no-start issue.
With a very lazy jumpstart, he was able to test the starter and the charging system. Thankfully, both came back A-OK. I'd never seen this test before nor am I touting its effectiveness, but it was nice to see the little printouts. Hey, I like visuals.
After some wrangling, the pristine but dead Exide battery was replaced. The bill, just as hefty as the battery, came to $211.30. Paying the 50 bucks for labor stings, but I was paying for convenience and time. The price of driving a car, I guess.
I think it was either Niebuhr or Schmidt who when asked what car they were taking that evening replied "the Charger-er-er-er-er." The vocal imitation of our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8's exhaust drone has become a bit of a pet nickname for the big V8 sedan, and I was thinking of it off and on after I decided to sign out the Charger for a couple of nights.
I was reconsidering my decision when Niebuhr came by and I mentioned to him my trepidation. The last time I drove the Charger, I swore it would be my last. The boomy exhaust hum was just too much for my commute. It made music almost unlistenable, and nearly silenced the voices in my head.
Kurt had been in the Charger recently (and dealt with its dead battery issue) and had a simple, terrific workaround.
"Just keep it in fourth."
It was a brilliant piece of advice. Of course I was skeptical. The Charger has tall gears, but fourth gear at around 75 mph for nearly 60 miles? He assured me that keeping it in fourth pushed engine speed just north of the drone zone's not-so-sweet-spot. And he was right.
Keep the Charger locked in fourth at highway-plus speeds and the tach floats around 2,750. It feels a little revvy at first, but after a few minutes it starts to sound and feel normal. The drone zone is in fifth at around 2,500. Any faster and you're pushing the limits of tolerant highway patrol officers. "Fourth and 27" sounds like the end of your football team's season, but it's right where this Charger belongs.
Unless we had a different exhaust. Or cared about fuel economy. Maybe I'll subject myself to the Charger for the duration of a full tank, avoiding fifth gear, and see just how thirsty it gets. For the time being, I can make peace with the car using the Niebuhr Workaround.
For the record, there are some concrete ideas circulating around the office about how to best suppress the drone. Look for other editors to update on those efforts.
"Even children get older," Stevie Nicks once observed, "and I'm getting older, too." I think that's roughly what our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 is trying to tell us in the video below.
This was a warm start, incidentally, after a number of miles on the highway, and the symptoms persisted during subsequent starts. I'm guessing it's not the battery, since a man with a truck full of batteries gave us a new one back in November. If it is, maybe our aftermarket stereo's sucking some juice when it shouldn't be.
Battery Man also checked the starter and the charging system, and he gave both of them passing grades. Given all of that, I'm thinking alternator, which kind of comes with the territory when you're dealing with older cars, even nicely preserved specimens like our Charger.
Any other guesses? Stay tuned for an official diagnosis.
This past weekend, the battery in the key for our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 conked out, forcing us to go old-school and actually put the metal key in the door to unlock the car.
Not a big deal.
The car, however, somehow equates this move with the car being stolen, so it blares its alarm until I can get behind the wheel, put the key in the ignition and start the engine. My neighbors do not appreciate this at 6:00 a.m. Or the other five times.
So we dug out the car's spare key. It works. So it's now the main key.
A new battery is just a few bucks and its replacement is a DIY job that should take just a minute or two (watch video). A whole new key is about $40.
The drone can last no longer.
It's so bad in our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 that you can't have a conversation. It can be hard to think. It occurs at around 2,500 rpm indicated, which happens to be what the engine turns at normal freeway speeds. The volume is as high as 82 dB, per our decibel meter. That's a little louder than your typical vacuum.
Some in the office have adopted the Niebuhr Workaround, but we wanted a permanent solution.
A stock exhaust would solve it, but finding a used set proved more difficult than we hoped, and a new original equipment exhaust would cost thousands. Keeping with the theme from our Millennial Used Car Project, we wanted to do it on a budget.
Dynamat is a sheet of sound deadening material and adhesive often used for insulating interiors from creaks, rattles, and other unwanted noises. The product is marketed specifically towards improving subwoofer performance, but its low price and frequent online recommendation make it appealing to your typical owner. We had to test it, but we would approach it as an owner would.
We ordered a Trunk Kit from Amazon.com for $89.89, which includes 20 square feet of material. We also bought the recommended roller install tool for $20.12. You'll also want a box cutter, scrap cardboard, a vacuum, rubbing alcohol, and some rags. From the Make Life Easier Department, a set of plastic panel removal tools help with removing interior fasteners, while a heat gun or a blow dryer makes the material more pliable during install.
In the pantheon of automotive modification and repair, this install falls on the inexpensive side, but it does take some elbow grease. Prepare to spend around a day.
We figured the trunk was the source of the drone, so we started there and removed the carpeting, panels, subwoofer, and battery. We couldn't completely remove the battery box because the wiring harness spiders through the trunk, but we could loosen it up and move it out of the way.
Next comes cleaning. You want to make sure the surface is unsoiled before applying the material, and that means vacuuming out every last bit of dirt and wiping everything down with alcohol.
Then it's time to start applying the Dynamat. It was at this point that Jason Kavanagh said it felt weird installing sound deadening; he's used to removing it as part of the racecar transformation process.
Mocking up where the material goes is vital. You want to cover the most surface area possible, so avoid cutting shapes where possible because that means waste. We targeted the space where the spare tire would go, the shelf in front, and the rear wheel wells. After that, we applied the remaining material wherever possible, using cardboard to cut templates that would fit around more complex shapes.
Dynamat is somewhat forgiving during application. Once the backing comes off, you simply press the adhesive onto the surface. Once it's settled, use the roller tool to smash it over bumps and into dips. A heat gun or blow dryer stretches the material so you can form it better to the surface.
Once you're out of material, take some time to admire your handiwork. You won't see it again after the interior's re-assembled.
The results? I drove for a little bit first and thought the car seemed a little quieter overall. Then the decibel meter came out. It disagreed. From idle to street driving to freeway speeds, the Charger was no quieter than before. The drone remained.
The problem may be beyond the scope of our Dynamat solution, but we're already cooking up other ways to fix it.
Finding Drugs, A Lazy Stereo Installation, and Strange Sound Deadening Solutions
You find things when you tear apart the interior of a car that's already lived a lifetime. The trunk of our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8, which we dug into during a recent Dynamat install, was no exception. Here are three peculiar things we found:
Drugs
After removing the battery box from the trunk, a small pink pill popped out. Before flushing it, we ran its code through Google and discovered it was 75 mg worth of Bupropion, an antidepressant.
A lazy and bad stereo and backup camera installation
PCH Custom Audio in Wilmington installed our Pioneer head unit and backup camera, and their efforts wouldn't even qualify as half-ass. We already know the installer used the wrong adapter kit, but after taking the trunk apart, we found another point of failure. Those red and black wires? The black goes to the backup camera. The red? It goes nowhere. The installer made no effort to secure them in place.
The laziness gets worse. The installer unplugged the rubber seal pictured above to run the backup camera wire to the bumper. Plugging the seal back in? Too much work. The wire continues to hang loose through the rear bumper, held precariously near the exhaust with a zip-tie.
Note: Work on your car yourself, or find someone trustworthy and reputable. You'll pay more, but you get what you pay for.
A curious sound deadening solution
After pulling the carpet out, I saw a black bag wedged between the rear wheel well and the wall behind the rear seats. Having already found a pill, I figured more exotic drugs. Opening them was disappointing.
That's sound deadening material. The bag didn't look like anything an owner would install, so I started searching online. Sure enough, a few people on LX platform forums who underwent similar sound deadening-install jobs reported the exact same bags. They're factory.
As the saying goes: If it's silly and it works, it ain't silly.
I wasn't looking for more reasons to be frustrated by PCH Custom Audio's install job on our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8. Still, I found one. The large bezel surrounding most of the center console is going to crack. And being the owner of an older Nissan 240SX, I'm sensitive to cracks in the dash.
Installing aftermarket stereos often requires using what's called an adapter kit. These plastic pieces replace certain parts in the dash so your fancy new aftermarket headunit fits better.
The problem is our bezel doesn't fit.
Brent Romans noticed the gap and the associated problems first. But now both top and bottom partitions are bulging out, and some of the tabs have broken from attempted forced fitment. These bulging ends are putting stress on the center, which will invariably crack due to stress and constant vibration.
Solutions? We'll have to pull it apart first, but I'm betting on having to buy a new adapter kit and redoing the stereo install.
Judging by the overwhelmingly positive response to a previous post, maybe we'll add some more Dynamat, too.
Finding a Dimmer Workaround in the Aftermarket Stereo
The first time I got Android Auto working in our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8, I reported that Google Maps' off-blue color palette made it difficult to see during the day. Well, of course it did. It was in its night mode.
The Pioneer headunit has a day and a night mode, but I've never seen it automatically switch between the two. I take partial blame, because I never took the time to dig in and figure out how it works. As it turns out, there's something wrong with the auto setting, but the other options provide a workaround.
In total, there are three options for triggering the day/night setting. The first is automatic, and whether the result of a non-functioning sensor or another piece of fine craftsmanship by our stereo installer, this setting doesn't work. The second is a manual trigger, but this requires digging into the settings every time you want to switch the mode.
We're using the third setting: Time. After all, what is time beyond an assessment of whether it's light or dark out? When the stereo's clock gets late, it switches to night mode.
Boom. Solved. At least for the time being.
Our long-term 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 traveled just over 1,000 miles this month and consumed 66.4 gallons of fuel, giving a result of 14.5 mpg. Though that's on the lower side, Josh Sadlier's gingerly foot managed to extract the best tank of gas we've seen yet: 25.9 mpg.
Even though the month's fuel economy result was low, the lifetime average only dipped one-tenth, to 15.3 mpg. That means our Charger is still hitting its EPA rating of 15 mpg combined with ease — and the occasional burnout.
While it didn't put on a lot of miles, it was a busy month for the Charger. It sometimes hesitated to start, and the battery in the key fob died. On the interminable exhaust drone front, we discovered a temporary workaround. Then we tried to fix the drone the way an owner might (it didn't work). On the upside, we discovered some interesting stuff in the trunk. On the downside, the quality of our aftermarket stereo install remains poor.
An Uncooperative Transmission and a Brief Moment of Panic
I was running some errands in our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 over the weekend. This big, red and loud sedan was a nice reprieve from the monotony of cruising from one nondescript big retail store to another. Right until it wasn't.
It wouldn't downshift.
I was on a busy road, going maybe 50 mph. I added some gas pedal to move into a hole in traffic that'd just opened. Normally this induces that awful drone we've been complaining about, but this time nothing happened. The downshift, the drone, none of it came.
Puzzled, I came off the gas pedal and reapplied it. Nothing. Then the realization started setting in: This was big. A transmission that won't shift is as useful as a boat anchor.
I started looking for places to put the now slowing car. Where could I park it? I kept stomping the gas, hoping to provoke a shift. I stood on it.
After a few seconds, the shift happened. The transmission was changing gears like normal. The drone returned, and, for once, I was grateful for it.
The Charger continued to act normal for the rest of the weekend. I haven't been able to replicate this transmission hesitation yet, but we'll be keeping an eye on it.
Our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 test car made just four trips to the gas station during the month of March, during which time we added another 727 miles to the odometer. The result was a new "worst fill" average record of 11.6 mpg (down from 11.7), and a subsequent drop in average lifetime mpg from 15.3 to 15.2 mpg.
That still leaves our Charger SRT8 tracking slightly above its combined EPA rating of 15 mpg, so no problem here.
Worst Fill MPG: 11.6
Best Fill MPG: 25.9
Average Lifetime MPG: 15.2
EPA MPG Rating: 15 Combined (13 City/18 Highway)
Best Range: 317.4 miles
Current Odometer: 79,310 miles
Our long-term 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 crossed the 78,000 mile mark a few weeks back which meant it was time for another service. The manufacturer-recommended service was simple: an oil and filter change, a tire rotation and an inspection. After Carlos experienced a problem with the transmission, we decided that a tranny flush was in order. The car was set to leave for a road trip and we wanted it serviced before it left.
I scheduled a service at Alhambra Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram for 7:00 a.m. I previously used the dealer to service our long-term Jeep Renegade and was pleased with the experience, especially in light of my situation at another FCA dealer. The Alhambra dealer is near my apartment, so I planned to use the overnight drop box and have my wife shuttle me back and forth.
When I arrived at the dealer at 7 p.m. the service manager was still at his desk. He checked me in and told me they would get started on it in the morning.
Around 11 a.m. I received a call from a service advisor letting me know the transmission flush and tire rotation had been taken care of and that they were about to get started on the oil change. He gave me an estimate pick-up time of 2 p.m. That immediately dropped to 1 p.m. when I asked why it would take three hours. Annoying, but at least it was getting done.
At 12:30, just as I was about to head to the dealer, the service advisor called again and let me know the Charger was ready. I paid for the service and drove directly to the office to make sure the car was back in time to leave for its road trip.
In my haste to return the car to the office, I failed to comb the invoice in any great detail. While I only asked for what the 78,000-mile service called for in the manual, I was charged for the dealer's "5K Complete Service." While it covered everything in the 78,000-mile service, it also included an oil treatment and fuel system cleaner. They charged me $34.29 for an oil deposit control kit and fuel system cleaner on top of everything else I requested.
I returned to the dealer the next day to dispute the charge. The service manager apologized and refunded me the $34.29. He explained that it's part of their standard 5K service, annoying since I didn't request a package, just a la carte services. The deposit control kit was listed separately on the invoice, so I know the price isn't bundled in.
Next time I won't bother with the early-bird drop off so I can make it clear face-to-face what I'm there for. I also won't be in such a hurry to leave.
Seven quarts of synthetic 0W-40: $74.69
Deposit control kit and fuel system cleaner: $34.29
Engine oil filter: $11.66
Transmission flush, inspection and road test: $249
Inspection and fluid top off: $42
Total original cost: $411.64
Total after refund: $377.35
Total Days Out of Service: Zero
Next month, it will be 39 years since my father scarred me for life. I wrote about that special day here, and I still regard it as one of the absolute greatest days of my life.
I want to thank Quentin Tarantino for making it possible for me to pass on the favor to my 10-year-old daughter, Jane.
Thinking I would never see the original film in a real theater ever again, last June I wrote that of all the cars in our long-term fleet, our 5.0-liter Mustang GT would have been the most appropriate to drive to the theatrer to see a remake of my all-time favorite movie Smokey and the Bandit. (My dog's name is Bo Darville. I'm not kidding.)
I wrote, "Our orange long-term 2015 Ford Mustang GT would be the perfect ride for such a father-daughter outing. Maybe someday. I hear there's a "Smokey and the Bandit" remake in the works. Maybe The Bandit will go Mustang this time around."
Then, last month, two things happened. First, we sold the Mustang. Then I got word that the New Beverly Cinema, a small theater in Los Angeles, was showing an original 35mm print of the original Smokey and the Bandit.
So I did two things. First, I bought two tickets for Jane and I. Then I grabbed the keys to our long-term 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8.
The theater, which was bought by filmmaker Quentin Tarantino in 2007 to avoid its destruction, shows a wide variety of old movies and the occasional modern Tarantino film, including his latest, The Hateful Eight. This month, the bill includes Raiders of the Lost Ark, Dragstrip Girl and White Line Fever, as well as Follow the Fleet with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. It's basically a place for Tarantino to hang out with his buddies and watch his favorite movies (and he was there in the next row watching Smokey and the Bandit with us), and it may just be my new favorite place.
Anyway, our Charger may not wear a Screaming Chicken across its scooped hood, but it's a true muscle car and it was the perfect ride with just the right amount of V8 soundtrack to get Jane and me in the proper mindset and to the show. And afterward, as we rumbled through the deserted late night streets of West Hollywood with the windows down, the rpm up, keeping an eye out for Sheriff Buford and, of course, spinning the tires from stop to stop, Jane and I shared an experience we'll never forget. An experience I can only hope has scarred her for life.
Thanks Dad. Thanks Quentin. Thanks Jane.
I got into our long-term 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 today, started it up and it would not shift out of park. A quick search online reassured me that I wasn't the only one with this problem. But fortunately for me, the combination of having Internet access on my phone and some screwdrivers I keep in my computer bag bailed me out.
YouTube videographers walked me through the emergency fix, which was really easy.
Step 1: Pop off the bezel surrounding the shifter with a screwdriver or similar prying tool as pictured above.
Step 2: Locate the metal cable near the top left (driver-side) corner. I highlighted it with arrows but note that my camera focused on the top shifter plate, not the cable below.
Step 3: Use a long screwdriver or similar poking tool to stuff into the gap. Catch the right side of the cable and pull it left with one hand while shifting the lever out of park with the other hand. All fixed, sort of.
Keep in mind that the park lockout mechanism will still snap right into place if you shift back into park. So every time we fire up our Charger we either need keep the screwdriver handy to do this procedure or just leave the tranny in neutral after turning the ignition off and set the parking brake.
As for the root of the problem, it might be this hot pink guy, there between the layers of gross (that's nine years worth of in-car Dorito snacks, dry skin flakes and who knows what else). But that's just based on a small amount of research I've done so far. That's the shifter interlock lever. It's plastic, which obviously isn't durable enough for this application.
We'll do a little more research and get this thing fixed.
April Fuel Update - Still Helping Gas Execs Sleep Well at Night
Prius! Mirai! Model X! These are three of our long-term fleet's newest vehicles, and two of them don't even use gas! But rest assured, oil executives of the world, our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 is still around to help do its part in keeping your company's balance sheets firmly in the black.
We're still holding quite steady with a 15.3 mpg lifetime average. Truth be told, though, we didn't drive our Charger a whole lot last month. This was partially due to its recent gear shifter problem, which made most people on our staff leery of driving it. A fix for that is in the works, though.
Worst Fill MPG: 11.6
Best Fill MPG: 25.9
Average Lifetime MPG: 15.3
EPA MPG Rating: 15 Combined (13 City/18 Highway)
Best Range: 317.4 miles
Current Odometer: 79,591 miles
"What do you want to do?" my coworker Mike Schmidt asked me. We were at his desk in the Edmunds offices deciding on a course of action for our long-term 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 and its uncooperative transmission shift lever.
As Mike wrote previously, it became stuck in Park under his watch. Mike figured out a temporary workaround, but clearly not everybody was going to be willing to use a screwdriver to essentially hotwire the thing every time he or she wanted to drive the Charger. Now it was my turn to deal with it. The dilemma was: a) just take it to the dealer and likely pay hundreds of dollars, or b) try to fix it ourselves?
"Well, it is our Millennial Used Car Project," I said. "Millennials aren't supposed to have much money, otherwise they would have bought a new Charger Hellcat. Plus, there are YouTube videos out there on how to fix it. How hard can it be?"
In the back of my mind, though, was the question of whether those would be famous last words.
The problem, as I saw it, was not necessarily the Charger but me: I was just mechanically inclined enough to take on the project but then get myself in irreversible repair trouble and end up having the Charger towed to the dealer anyway. But on a Wednesday afternoon, I forged ahead. I took the Charger home, parked it my garage and started in.
As noted, our Charger's problem is what you might call a "known issue." Search "Dodge Charger stuck in Park" and you'll get Dodge Charger/Magnum/Chrysler 300 forum posts about it, plus a handful of YouTube videos with guys showing how to fix it.
Interestingly, Mike and I discovered during our research that there also seemed to be a recall out about it: the Chrysler Customer Satisfaction Notice K39 for the transmission shifter interlock lever. It specifically calls out 2005-'07 vehicles with a problem seemingly identical to ours. Couldn't we just get this fixed under warranty? Oddly, though, when I entered our vehicle's VIN into Chrysler's recall search tool, this particular recall wouldn't come up for our Charger. So I called the number listed on the recall letter and talked to a representative. It turns out our car isn't eligible "because it's an SRT8." Lame. But that made me wonder: was the SRT8's shifter different somehow? Would these online fixes we'd discovered still apply?
There was only one way to find out. I watched this video first, which seemed to give a solid overview. It seemed doable.
I won't bother documenting all the steps since you can watch the video if you're really into it. But I started by removing/unbolting some plastic console trim pieces to gain access to four bolts that hold the shifter assembly to the floor. Other than a temporary hold up when I thought I needed a deep 10mm socket to get the bolts off — which I don't have — it all went pretty smoothly.
Then I encountered the transmission shift cable. The guy in the video just disconnected it with a pry tool, easy-peasy. But I couldn't get ours off, at least initially. This was where I thought our Charger's shifter might be different. Our cable attachment point was buried up inside the housing. There was no way I could pry it off. Eventually, I figured out the problem was of my own doing: I had left the tranny in Neutral. Once I moved the lever up and into Park, I had access to it.
I ran into more problems, however. First was unhooking some plastic electrical connections. The guy in the first video just breezed over them as if they were no big deal. But if you've worked with these, you also probably know that no connecter is the same, and I didn't want to risk breaking little bits of plastic. The cigarette lighter plug (which needed to be removed to get enough clearance) was particularly curse-inducing. Thankfully, I regrouped and watched another video, and in this one the guy making the repair gave more detail about how to get them undone.
Both videos at this point said I could just pull the shifter unit out. But ours seemed hung up on a rear bracket of the center console. It just didn't have enough clearance. Eventually, I went back to the internet to learn how to remove more of the center console. Thankfully, I only had to remove four bolts to slide the console rearward, and that gave me the clearance I needed.
Success!
Now it was just a matter of repairing it. Contrary to what we first believed, it was not the pink plastic piece visible in the first photos. It's the other pink plastic piece that's in the unit itself.
I had ordered this metal replacement part off of Amazon.com. $17.67 plus free two-day shipping thanks to Prime.
I wasn't fond of either video's approach to what to do next, so I watched another video on that. This entailed using a screwdriver to pry apart the case.
Finally, I got the broken pink piece out. See the indicated spot? That's where a spring normally attaches. If the hook breaks and snaps off, which ours did, then there's no spring tension and you can't shift out of park anymore.
I installed the new Bowman part and put some white lithium grease on the pivot point, as instructed. I then put the case back together. The shift lever seemed to move properly, so I reinstalled everything. Per usual, this always goes a lot quicker since you know what you're doing. The moment of starting up our Charger and having the shifter easily slide into Drive was pretty gratifying.
So, we're back to normal with our Charger. From start to finish, it took me about 5 hours. But that included calling the Chrysler recall hotline and multiple breaks to do more internet video research. Overall, it was nice to save some money and build up some extra affinity for our Charger.
"You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely look after it for the next generation." That's the ad tagline for the Swiss luxury watchmaker. But it's also how I feel about our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8. We bought it with 66,350 miles and we've been looking after it through 80,000 miles. And in the next month or two, we'll be passing it off for somebody else to enjoy.
True, our Charger SRT8 has not been a perfect timepiece recently. Click on our Maintenance section and you'll see the reports about the transmission/transmission shifter and the dead car battery and key battery. But with a used vehicle with 80,000 miles, you have to expect that some things are going to start to go wrong. From an ownership standpoint, none of this would have bothered me too much if it were my car.
I'm hopeful our Charger will continue to provide classic, big V8 sedan enjoyment for another 80,000 miles.
Alright, so here's an amusing story to tell about our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8. I recently took my four-year-old son to his preschool for morning drop-off. While I was getting out in the parking lot, one of the other moms whom I'm friendly with approached me.
"I love your car!" she said, while rustling her own kids out of her Honda Odyssey.
"Oh, thanks!" I replied. This wasn't long after I had fixed the shifter and washed it, so I was feeling pretty positive about the Charger as well.
"Normally, I don't like Chargers," she continued. "But there's something about the red paint, and the way it sounds. It's exciting."
We both took our kids into the school at that point, but I saw her again outside once we were done.
Now I was curious. "So if we were both single, would you date me just because of my car?" I asked.
"Definitely!" she replied.
Now where was this Charger when I was in high school?
The next day, I was back at the preschool, and so was the mom, Aviv. She was still checking out the Charger. Heady off of the interest, I asked: "Do you want to go for a quick ride?"
"Sure!" she said.
As soon as we were done with kid duties, we buckled up. But I immediately got the feeling that our Charger's exterior was promising stuff the inside couldn't keep up with. The low-rent interior plastics and drab design quickly became obvious to my eye, and the USB adapter cables dangling out of the glovebox (from our touchscreen upgrade) might as well been like some half-baked stereo mod I did back in high school. Oh, and I had two child safety seats in back. Maybe this was a bad idea.
Still, I was hopeful that the Charger's boffo V8 would make up for it. I did a loop around the school using some city streets. It wasn't much of an opportunity, but it was sufficient to at least demonstrate some low-speed bravado. It might have worked. As we got back to school, Aviv said: "My kids were little terrors this morning. This made my day. Thank you!"
I didn't see her again until a parent meeting a few days later. We were sitting next to each other at a table. She asked if I was still driving the Charger. "No. Kia Optima," I said.
"You know, I have to admit to you, the mystique wore off after you gave me the ride," Aviv said. "That first day, I was getting chills and my heart was pumping when I saw the Charger. Now ... nothing." She leaned in a little closer, lowering her voice. "It's like the Charger was a guy, and I slept with him, and now, meh."
Ouch. Sorry, Charger. Maybe you are just a showoff meathead. But I like you anyway.
With our test of the 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 drawing to a close, we took a look at the used car market to determine an asking price.
Here's what we found.
The first step was to plug the Charger into the Edmunds TMV Calculator. A private party value of $16,187 seemed promising for our 80,000-mile SRT8. And a scan of comparable cars for sale supported this figure. Asking prices ranged from $15.5k to $20k.
But before we sell anything on the open market, we like to visit Carmax for a quote. The process is simple. In 30 minutes, we have an offer in hand and it's good for a week. Sometimes the offer is strong enough that we end up taking it.
In this case, we had three things working against us. First, high mileage, at least by Carmax standards. This was the most obvious handicap. Second, the long-ago model year. The earliest year in the Carmax online inventory is currently 2005, so our Charger wasn't far from being disqualified. The third obstacle, however, was something of a surprise: Problem history.
A conversation with our Carmax agent shed some light. Models with a history of mechanical issues are red-flagged. If there are enough known concerns, Carmax figures that even its standard used-car warranty risks losing money, let alone the available MaxCare extended coverage. Instead, these cars get auctioned off, which of course lowers the price Carmax is willing to pay. Our agent cited older Range Rovers as a catalyst for this policy. (Thanks, Doug DeMuro. -Ed.)
The Charger qualified for the less desirable auction route, though the agent could not tell us the specific problem areas that sealed its fate. Not surprisingly, the offer came in well below TMV at just $11,000. We're thinking it's worth our time to test the market. Stay tuned.
Before we could sell our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 to a private party, it needed a smog check. Per California DMV guidelines, this is the seller's responsibility if the car is more than four years old. We didn't anticipate any issues, despite the aftermarket Mopar exhaust and intake installed by the previous owner. But there was only one way to know for sure.
I booked an appointment at a local smog station for 11:00 a.m. After 20 to 30 minutes of freeway driving, I pulled up five minutes early. The catalytic converters were hot, so hopefully the jaunt had burned off as many impurities as possible. Within minutes the Charger was nosed into the garage and testing was underway.
"It sounds really good," the inspector offered. "Is it fast?" We talked shop for a bit while he ran the test. I'd already informed him that we were smogging the car to prepare for a change of ownership, so I took this opportunity to remind him the Charger was for sale. He didn't bite.
"I'm a Chevy guy," he said, pointing to the collection of pro-bowtie memorabilia on the wall behind him. "That's my Suburban outside. My friends might think I was going soft if I drove home in this thing." He repeated, "But it sounds really good."
By now the test was complete. The SRT8 passed without a hiccup. I paid the mechanic $50 for his service and was on my way.
We're late with our official notice, but here you go: the 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 is no longer in our long-term test fleet. With a smoky burnout salute, we drove it over to CarMax and sold it. You can read all the details in our final Wrap-Up article.
Wrap-Up
What We Got
You might think you know the story of what we bought and why we bought it. But for transparency's sake (and to ward off any future WikiLeaks scandals of lost/stolen/released Edmunds emails), we're going to share with you the previously untold backstory of buying our used 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8. Any similarity to the beginning of The Blues Brothers movie is purely coincidental.
[Cue shot of editor Brent Romans walking out of the Edmunds.com offices. The office building is backlit by a setting sun. Parked in the foreground is a red 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8. Editor Ronald Montoya stands next to it. Both are wearing sunglasses, jeans, and Edmunds.com polo shirts and hats. They shake hands and get in. Ron drives.]
[In-car scene] Brent Romans: What's this?
Ron Montoya: What?
BR: This car ... this stupid car. Where's the Lexus? The Lexus, where's the Lexus ES 300?
RM: The what?
BR: The Lexus we used to have ... the Edmunds Debt-Free Car Project!
RM: I traded it.
BR: You traded the Lexus for this?
RM: No. For a Yugo.
BR: A Yugo? [Nods.] OK, I can see that. [Pauses.] What the hell is this?
RM: This was a bargain. I picked it up at in San Diego dealership last year. It's an old 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8! I want to see if it makes sense for a millennial-age buyer interested in a used car. [Pauses.] You don't like it?
BR: No, I don't like it.
[The Charger comes to a stop at a drawbridge that's raising for a cargo freighter. Rather than wait, Ron hits the gas, accelerates the Charger rapidly up the lifting side of the bridge and jumps across the gap. The car lands safely on the other side of the bridge.]
BR: This car's got a lot of pickup.
RM: It's got a SRT motor: 6.1 liters and 425 horsepower. SRT tires, SRT brakes, SRT shocks. It's got catalytic converters, and it passes smog. What do you say, is it the new Edmunds Mobile or what?
BR: Fix the exhaust.
Performance
"The Charger SRT8 is the perfect cruising sort of car. It's big and powerful. Its ride is firm enough, its handling composed enough and its steering well-weighted enough for a big and powerful, old-school sort of car. It's the sort of car I'd happily drive every day." James Riswick
"[After taking his daughter to a screening of Smokey and the Bandit] our Charger may not wear a Screaming Chicken across its scooped hood, but it's a true muscle car and it was the perfect ride with just the right amount of V8 soundtrack. As we rumbled through the deserted late-night streets of West Hollywood with the windows down, the rpm up, keeping an eye out for Sheriff Buford and, of course, spinning the tires from stop to stop, Jane and I shared an experience we'll never forget." Scott Oldham
"With about 70,000 miles on the clock, it isn't terribly surprising that its dampers could stand to be replaced. There's a general sense of looseness in how it traverses roads with bumps. It's not a floaty mess, but it's definitely lost some control. ... The dampers aren't totally shot, but if it were my car, I'd definitely look into swapping in some new factory Nivomats, rather than some standard aftermarket shock." Jason Kavanagh
"This won't likely be a surprising observation, but our Charger SRT8 is not at home on narrow, curvy roads. This is a big-boned sedan weighing more than two tons, and you notice all of it when you're seated behind the wheel. But to the SRT8's credit, it's happier on medium-speed turns where its liabilities for size and heft aren't nearly as noticeable. Thanks to the SRT8-specific suspension tune, the Charger is stable when it's going around turns. Its steady-state handling seems to be pretty balanced, too." Brent Romans
MPG
"The Charger had eight fill-ups in June. It calls for premium fuel and it sure was thirsty, but we knew that going in. I plugged the numbers into Fuelly.com — just like we did for the departedLexus ES 300 — and in the process, became the first, and only, person on Fuelly to track fuel costs on an SRT8. Our worst fill was 11.7 mpg, set by Mike 'Pedal Masher' Monticello. I'm not sure if I should high-five him for driving the car as Dodge intended or give him a disapproving glare for wasting fuel." Ronald Montoya
"Prius! Mirai! Model X! These are three of our long-term fleet's newest vehicles, and two of them don't even use gas! But rest assured, oil executives of the world, our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 is still around to help do its part in keeping your company's balance sheets firmly in the black." Brent Romans
Comfort
"The front seats in the Charger SRT8 were great back when it was new, and they're still terrific now. They have held up quite well over the last eight years and nearly 70,000 miles of use. The huge bolsters still hold you tight through corners, but the seats themselves are still plenty comfortable without any noticeable foam sag. They're stout." Mike Monticello
"The exhaust system on our Charger sounds great. Most of the time. It gives a manly bark on startup, then adds the kind of low-rpm V8 rumble that the stock system doesn't deliver. But there's a strange tone or reverberation filling the cabin at certain revs. Most specifically when dipping slightly into the throttle from 2,000-2,500 rpm. Do it enough and it can tire the ears. Steady-throttle highway running is fine, but ask for just a bit more power in that rev range and the exhaust gets boomy." Mike Monticello
Cargo Space
"Does driving a 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 keep you from helping out a friend with some painting? Not really. In fact, with its sizable trunk and fold-down rear seats, you can fit plenty of awkward cargo. In this case, I was able to slide in a 6-foot stepladder without much trouble, along with a Shop-Vac, a tool bucket, several gallons of paint and a few drop cloths. I could have fit more if I packed everything more tightly." Ed Hellwig
"I'm not sure what the original intention was for this slot on the center console of our Dodge Charger SRT8, but it works perfectly as a wallet holder: wide enough for everything this side of a George Costanza-esque overstuffed wallet, and deep enough so it won't fly out while negotiating a sharp curve. It's so perfect, in fact, I'm trying to figure out why more cars these days don't have a handy, away-from-the-door slot to stash your wallet. Now, I know not everyone carries a wallet (hello, ladies), but a good portion of the population does." Mike Monticello
Interior
"The 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8's cabin was junk when it was new and it's definitely still junk today. It is a remarkable celebration of hard, cheap plastic everywhere you look. There are actually a few squishy bits on the dash, but they too are glossy and look chintzy. Dodge supposedly 'improved' the cabin the year after our long-termer was produced, but that's an extremely relative term, as it still trailed just about everything remotely in its price range." James Riswick
"Our Charger SRT8's ample rear legroom is an advantage, providing a suitable amount of clearance for safety seats in a rear-facing position. The driver or front passenger shouldn't need to adjust their seat positions much, if at all, to accommodate their newest family addition in back. Can you have a car that will do wicked burnouts with your kids strapped in back? Yes, you can, Millennial Parents." Brent Romans
Audio and Technology
"The stereo interface in our long-term Charger is seriously out of date. Sure, it's got navigation and satellite radio, but the graphics are pretty bad and the tipping point for me is that there's no way to hook up my iPhone. It's easy enough to charge devices using an adapter for the cigarette lighter, but there's no USB, Bluetooth or auxiliary connection for the stereo. For now, I'll have to bust out the trusty old CD case if I want to have dominion over my tunes, but sooner rather than later this old setup needs to go." Travis Langness
"We wanted the latest in smartphone technology, but in keeping with the spirit of the Millennial Used Car Project, we also felt that it was important to keep the costs reasonable. Our theoretical tech budget was about $1,000, all in. I say theoretical, since Pioneer was gracious enough to provide us the head unit for review purposes. Pioneer also covered the installation fees. We settled on the Pioneer AVH-4100NEX. It is a double-DIN unit with a 7-inch touchscreen that earns solid reviews on Amazon and Best Buy." Ron Montoya
"The new Pioneer head unit lands like an alien monolith into the interior of our Charger. What was once a tired-looking relic of last decade's tech is now a beacon of modernity amidst the wasteland that is this late 2000s Dodge interior. Seriously, before this stereo, the interior would've looked at home in a Dodge Caravan. The large, comparatively high-res Pioneer unit comes with a host of features, but crucially it supports both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay." Carlos Lago
Maintenance
"The drone can last no longer. It's so bad in our Charger SRT8 that you can't have a conversation. It can be hard to think. We wanted a permanent solution. So we ordered a Trunk Kit from Amazon.com for $89.89, which includes 20 square feet of material. ... The results? I drove for a little bit first and thought the car seemed a little quieter overall. Then the decibel meter came out. It disagreed. From idle to street driving to freeway speeds, the Charger was no quieter than before. The drone remained." Carlos Lago
"I got into our long-term Charger SRT8 today, started it up and it would not shift out of park. A quick search online reassured me that I wasn't the only one with this problem. But fortunately for me, the combination of having Internet access on my phone and some screwdrivers I keep in my computer bag bailed me out. YouTube videographers walked me through the emergency fix, which was really easy." Mike Schmidt
"I wheeled the Charger down the driveway and parked it behind the house where it needed to be for the next morning's front brake job. How long did this take? About 90 minutes, not including the time it took to rush over to the hardware store for the bolts. Call it an hour if I back out the time I spent taking pictures. It could easily be less the next time. This is a pretty straightforward brake job." Dan Edmunds
Miscellaneous
"Forget those sniveling, oversharing, irony-as-lifestyle millennials for whom we've devised this project car — I'm demographically certified Gen X, friend. My generation built this great country! And we did it without Facebook or Instagram, but with mixtapes, Xeroxed fliers and a shared CompuServe account. Our hope, optimism and shared love of The Scorpions toppled the Berlin Wall. We made Tom Cruise! Therefore, I want the Charger SRT8 for myself and my generation." Dan Frio
"I was expecting our Dodge Charger SRT8 to be in pretty rough shape. At the very least, I figured it would creak and rattle over bumps like, well, an 8-year-old Dodge.
Man, was I wrong. The only sound produced by broken pavement is the clompety-clomp of the massive low-profile tires. Everything seems to have been screwed together fastidiously at the factory." Josh Sadlier
"Driving our 'new' 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 over the weekend, I got four how you doin' nods from strange men at stoplights. For me, this is a new record. Audis, Acuras, Benzes and Bimmers, I've driven nearly every car ever produced for the past two decades. Yet, I haven't seen this kind of action since I rolled down a Midwestern Main Street in a 1997 Plymouth Prowler. Guess my advanced age, coupled with the affordable 425-horsepower Charger SRT8, just makes us more approachable." Kelly Hellwig
Maintenance & Repairs
Regular Maintenance:
Pleasingly, our Charger SRT8 didn't have any major issues that put it out of commission. But it did need a fair amount of general maintenance. We changed our Charger's oil three times during its time with us. On one of those occasions, we also had the broken parking brake fixed. Other highlights: We also installed a new set of tires, replaced the trunk struts, replaced the front brakes, installed a new car battery, got a new key fob battery and fixed the broken gear shifter.
Service Campaigns:
Our Charger SRT8 was part of the Takata airbag recall. We had it fixed at no cost within a couple weeks of ownership.
Fuel Economy and Resale Value
Observed Fuel Economy:
The EPA estimates a 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 will get 15 mpg in combined driving (13 mpg city/18 mpg highway). Our Charger matched this estimate, earning 15.3 mpg overall. We also had a best fill-up of 25.9 mpg, comparatively going way beyond EPA, and a worst mpg fill-up of 11.6 mpg — we never dropped into single digits! You could say our Charger was an overachiever, albeit one with mpg standards of a semi truck.
Resale and Depreciation:
We purchased our 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 at a dealership in San Diego for $22,950. It had 66,350 miles. About a year later and 80,325 miles on the odometer, we sold the Charger to CarMax for $11,000. Obviously, this is a massive hit of depreciation. Originally, we had hoped to sell to a private party. At the time of sale, private-party pricing for a car similar to ours ranged from $15,000 to $20,000. Edmunds True Market Value was $16,187. But time constraints forced us to go with the quick and easy sale route, which was CarMax.
Summing Up
Pros:
Authentic V8 muscle-car performance that gives the car plenty of personality; everyday utility helped out by roomy backseat and big trunk; reasonably affordable considering the car's performance; very supportive front seats; surprising lack of squeaks and rattles.
Cons:
Guzzles gasoline with exceptional proficiency; interior design rivals Soviet-era block housing for aesthetic appeal and refinement; boomy aftermarket exhaust noise at highway speeds got on our nerves (but we should have bought a different exhaust); feels big and bulky around tight turns.
Bottom Line:
If you're a millennial (or really, anybody) and looking for a reasonably affordable performance sedan, a used first-generation Dodge Charger SRT8 is a solid choice. Our experience showed it's a fun-to-drive car with loads of personality. A regular Charger R/T would be cheaper but not nearly as special.
| Total Body Repair Costs: | $0 |
| Total Routine Maintenance Costs: | $598.75 (over 12 months) |
| Additional Maintenance Costs: | $2,283.91 |
| Warranty Repairs: | Takata airbag recall |
| Non-Warranty Repairs: | see Maintenance & Repairs for detailed list |
| Scheduled Dealer Visits: | 3 |
| Unscheduled Dealer Visits: | 0 |
| Days Out of Service: | 0 |
| Breakdowns Stranding Driver: | 1 |
| Best Fuel Economy: | 25.9 mpg |
| Worst Fuel Economy: | 11.6 mpg |
| Average Fuel Economy: | 15.3 mpg |
| True Market Value at service end: | $16,187 (private party sale) |
| What it Sold for: | $11,000 |
| Depreciation: | $11,950 (or 52% of paid price or original MSRP) |
| Final Odometer Reading: | 80,325 miles |
Edmunds purchased this vehicle for the purposes of evaluation.