ALL AUTOCARS

The new Charger is a big, brawny looking car, with the longest wheelbase in its class. Its attractive interior has small sound system controls, but otherwise is very user-friendly. The rear seat is especially roomy.
The trunk opening is high, but there's an enormous amount of cargo space. Folding rear seatbacks on most trim levels enlarge that area.
The aerodynamic Charger's nose leans into the wind and it has a bold "crosshair" grille and a beltline below the side windows that drops as it moves rearward—then kicks up in the rear door to draw attention to its muscular rear fenders and large back tires.
The beltline also emphasizes the car's rear-wheel-drive layout, which was used by the old Charger and other classic 1960s muscle cars.


Road and TrackDriving the Charger hard with its available HEMI V8 at a challenging new Chicago area road racing track showed that the car can do fast laps because it has direct steering and good handling and braking, with a linear pedal feel. The power steering is a little light and it's no 5-Series BMW sports sedan, but most American sedans wouldn't have done as well.
Later, I drove the Charger with the HEMI on Chicago area roads and found it had a good ride over bumpy roads, although the steering also was a bit overassisted during normal street driving.


The majority of Charger buyers (65 percent) are expected to be males aged 40-59 with a $75,000 median annual income. About 75 percent are expected to have older children, some of whom might be driving Mustangs.