http://www.dodge.com/magnum/

Plusses:

Price ( 32K ) not bad for equipment offered.

340 HP Hemi has good low-end torque.

Hemi cylinder deactivation at cruise helps fuel MPG.

Well-designed, legible gauges and primary controls.

Plenty of driver's seat room even for tall and broad people.....like me.

Solid, substantial, Mercedes-derived chassis and transmission.

Versatility ( though somewhat limited ) of wagon body-style.

Civilized ride thanks to 60-series tires.



Minuses:

El Cheapo hardware, trim, and switchgear of poor quality.

Tin - can doors and body.

Hemi AWD models hard to find and not readily in stock.

Peek - A - Boo rear and rear side windows impede visibility.

Cheap-looking and feeling leather.

Poor choice, IMO, of of paint colors.

Second-rate paint jobs.

Serious decline in warranty coverage from 2005 to 2006.


Model reviewed: Bright Silver Metallic / two-tone white/gray interior 2006 RWD Magnum Hemi R/T. 5-speed automatic with Autostick feature. List price $32,400


Well.....I had a day off work today ( use-or-lose annual leave ) and I didn't want to waste the day without getting some things done both at home and errand-wise, and considering the amount of hype both the Hemi and the Magnum / Charger / 300C are getting in the auto press, and considering that my own boss ( not to mention other people too) is interested in the Magnum R/T and wanted my opinion of it, now was the time for me to review this vehicle and test-drive it.
As always with a brand-new car, I kept the tach under 4000 and didn't brake full-force, so if you want a review of what the car does at its limits, look in the auto-mag tests....not here.

First of all, I want to say that this car in many ways makes more sense than the 4-door Charger or 300C as a daily driver, especially for a family man. If you going to be stuck with four doors anyway with the Charger.....( and it is no secret that I agree with those who say that the 4-door Charger was a mistake....it should have been 2-doors instead ).......heck, you might as well just get the Magnum anyway, with its extra room behind the rear seats for carrying more bulky things. However, even though this is one of the car's selling points, it is also one of its weaknesses as well.....the low, chopped early 50's-design of the rear and rear-side windows may LOOK cool, but that chopped-top look significantly deceases visibility out the rear end. I was constantly adjusting the inside rear-view mirror and never could get it to where I could really see well out the rear....so you have to be especially careful changing lanes and backing up. An ultrasonic back-up system, however, is available as a dealer-installed accessory. And the somewhat downward-sloping rear roof does cut into some of the rear cargo space....this is not the wagon for carrying home that brand-new refirigerator.

However, up front, the room is fine.....I am 6' 2" and 275 lb. and this is one of the few sunroof-equipped cars I can fit in and drive without having either my skull or ubiquitous baseball cap hit the roofline. However, the seats themselves, even with power assist, were obviously victims of the D-C bean-counters. The leather looked and felt cheap.....I've seen better on $5 dime-store wallets.

Ditto for the interior hardware and switchgear, glove box, handles, cupholders, trim pieces,etc....
Chrysler products in general have some significant problems in this area, and this car is no exception. Although the radio-tuning and climate-control knobs felt and operated OK, the rest of the interior switchgear was somewhere between second and third-rate...especially the glove box door, which felt cheesier than an Friday-night pizza. While there were no significant squeaks or rattles on this brand-new car, this kind of materials quality does not bode well for rattle-free long-term ownership.
The outside rear-view mirrors were even worse. The hard, brittle plastic felt so thin that I was concerned that the first small pebble or piece of road debris to hit them will mean a trip to the body shop.
But the interior had good points, too. The pleasant, white-faced gauges with black and red markings were not only handsome but a marvel of simplicity, clearness, and legibility...and as I have already stated, room in the front and rear seats is quite good even for large people.

Now....on the road. The Hemi is smooth, powerful, and linear in its power delivery. It has good low-end torque so you don't have to wind the engine out Honda-style. I would say quiet, too, except that the engineers have obviously tuned the exhaust for a boy-racer sound...and it is noticeable under medium-to strong acceleration, although probably not as much as on the even more boy-racer SRT8. And it has the cylinder-deactivation feature that injects fuel to only four cylinders during low-power settings to help the gas mileage. Let's hope that this system turns out to be more reliable than the awful one Cadillac came out with in 1981 that was so troublesome. But when all 8 cylinders are working, there is certainly no lack of power....it certainly would get out of its own way, although the automatic transmission does delay the throttle response a little, and the AWD model with its extra weight and drag would affect it even more....if you can find one ( They are difficult to get, according to the Dodge people at the dealership ).

While you do notice broken pavement and bumps, the ride is quite civilized for two reasons.....first, the standard, rather tall-profile ( by today's standards) 60-series tires, and second, the fact that even though the Magnum R/T is a muscle car, it was not designed....or intended.....to be a corner-carving sports car. I liked both the ride and handling that the standard tires gave...by my standards, it was an excellent compromise between comfort and control.

While the standard R/T does not have the big Brembo brake package of the higher-powered and more expensive Magnum SRT8 model and Daytona R/T Chargers, there was nothing wrong with the ones on this car.....as I mentioned earlier, I did not accelerate or brake full-force due to the newness of the car and respect for the dealership. The pedal was a good compromise between too-squishy-soft and too-firm with road vibrations in the pedal.

Dodge is playing Scrooge with the warranty this year. Last year....2005....the car had a 3 / 36 general warranty and a 7 / 70 Drivetrain warranty...a good selling point, IMO, especially if you are going to keep the car more than a few years. Well, guess what? This year the whole-car warranty is 3 / 36 bumper-to-bumper. When I asked why, the Dodge people there said it was because surveys last year from customers, when asked what made them choose the car, almost never mentioned the long drivetrain warranty, so Dodge decided to get rid of it.

What bean counters won't do if given a chance.

Last....the paint colors. Come on, guys.....THREE different shades of silver / gray metallic ? Then.....black, dark midnight blue, and white? I've seen better-looking and more uplifting colors at the morgue. And the ONE color they offer that DOES open your eyes a little...a gorgeous Candy-Apple Red pearl / metallic called Inferno Red......they charge extra for. Not only that, but except for the Inferno Red, the other colors not only looked dour but were second-rate paint jobs as well....with orange peel, a lack of gloss, and unevenness of color.

The car's best point?.............apart from the Hemi engine, it has to be the Mercedes-derived chassis and transmission, which not only felt solid and worked well, but fortunately had some of the best features from Mercedes but without the classic Mercedes electrical problems, of which so much has been discussed here at CL. Unfortunately, that Mercedes solidness did not extend to the doors and sheet metal, both of which felt and sounded like something Charlie the Tuna would be right at home in.

So...all in all.............the verdict: :(

This is a car for those who want room, muscle-car power, a reasonable price, and a civilized ride, but are willing to put up with second-rate hardware, second-rate workmanship, and the possibility of having a rattle-and-squeak-box as the miles build up and that new-car solidness fades.