2006 Dodge Charger

An exclusive first look at Dodge's hot revival. We are not making this up. Mostly.
BY TONY SWAN
October 2004

In medieval times, a charger was a horse trained and equipped to carry guys into battle. Although not particularly fleet, they were big and powerful—useful attributes for lugging guys wearing iron hats, steel suits, chain-mail shirts, and leather underwear.

Fast forward about 1000 years. It's the summer of 1965, and the descendants of the medieval chargers have become the Budweiser Clydesdales. Meanwhile, several guys are sitting around an office in Highland Park, Michigan, brainstorming names for a hotted-up version of the Dodge Coronet. The age of the pony car is already at full gallop, thanks to the mid-'64 arrival of the Ford Mustang, so something horsy seems apropos: Charger. Romantic war-horse imagery backed by serious brute force in the form of Mopar's storied Hemi V-8.

...
Chrysler sold a "Hemi-Charger" package in '64 and '65. The package was designed primarily for drag racing and did not come with a warranty for street use. Yeah, right. Before you could say Woodward Avenue, Hemi hot rods were hammering around on public roads, and it wasn't long before Chrysler's marketing people decided to capitalize on a good thing.

The '66 Charger superimposed onto the Coronet chassis a two-door fastback with hidden headlights and full-width taillamps. It bore a strange resemblance to the unlovely AMC Marlin. And yeah, you could get that thing with a Hemi. Chrysler finally made the 426-cubic-inch Hemi available as a regular production option, one of three Charger V-8 engine choices. It was rated for 425 horsepower and 490 pound-feet of torque. Rating methods were different (SAE gross versus today's SAE net), but the 426 Hemi was stout enough to hustle a 4035-pound 1968 Charger to 60 mph in 4.8 seconds, as we discovered in a November 1967 test.

Nevertheless, most of the 37,344 Chargers produced for 1966 had one of the lesser eights—the 230-hp, 318-cubic-inch standard engine or the 265-hp, 361-cubic-inch upgrade option. Less than two percent of those '66 Chargers—just 468—had Hemis under their hoods.

Fast forward to 2004. The Chrysler Corporation has become DaimlerChrysler, the Hemi V-8 has been resurrected in a new and modern form, and Dodge is set to revive the Charger name when it unveils a new full-size, rear-drive sedan at the Detroit auto show in January.

As we go to press, this much has been confirmed by the company. What follows is informed speculation based on insider hints, heavily camouflaged spy photos, and various tidbits we've extracted from key players in the development project.

...
Here's what we know, and what we think we know.

Unlike Chargers of yesteryear, the new one will have four doors, coupes being a weak commodity in today's generally soft passenger-car market. However, as our illustrations indicate, the Charger exterior design team—Ralph Gilles, Jeff Gale, and Mark Hall—seeks to preserve a coupe-ish look with a sloping rear roofline culminating in a steeply raked rear window and short decklid.

The decklid ends in a raised lip, which should reduce lift when you're cruising your neighborhood at 130 mph, and the trailing edges of the rear doors are cut well into the bulging rear fenders, reinforcing the coupe look and lending brawn to the package. There's also plenty of muscle in the front-end presentation, with flared fenders and Dodge's trademark gun-sight grille. And we anticipate the muscular presence to be backed up with plenty of grunt. More on that in a minute.

The Charger will ride on the same rear-drive platform that supports the Chrysler 300-series and the Magnum. No surprise there.

...
Like the original, the new Charger will offer the option of Hemi power—make that reborn-in-'03 Hemi power. The standard engine will be a 3.5-liter V-6 (250 horsepower, 250 pound-feet), with the 5.7 Hemi V-8 (340 horsepower, 390 pound-feet) as an option. The base Magnum's 2.7-liter V-6 (190 horsepower, 190 pound-feet) won't be offered in the Charger. The transmission with the Hemi will be a five-speed automatic (Mercedes-designed and Kokomo, Indiana-built) with manumatic capability, a.k.a. AutoStick. A four-speed AutoStick will come with the V-6.

Excerpt from CarAndDriver.com

One of those things I am gonna have to see it and make my decesion then. What is with the autostick crap. Put a damn 5 speed in it.

Kinda makes it sound like an Acura with all that Sport Shift (Lazy Man's Clutch). Drop a 5SP, Hemi, and make it a 2 door and we might be talking here.

Shit i didnt even realize it was a 4 door. This better be turned into a two door car. That is all the doors it needs.

Jeremy

Real men drive Sequential Sports Shift cars...lol...isn't that car a 300M?

I like the front styling because it looks like the Magnum Wagon, but the four doors aren't too cool to me. I'm not too concerned about the sport shift...maybe you can shift faster with it(who knows). It looks kinda big, so I think the V8 option is the ONLY option for me! haha

Found some more pretty sweet pics of the Charger and the Special Edition Charger Daytona. I will have to see if I can drum up some specs on the Daytona if no one else does. Anyways, check out the pics in the Members Gallery:


http://www.sweetrides2001.com/gallery-album_2006-Dodge-Charger-And-Charger-Daytona-RT.html

hey now easy on all the four door stuff just kidding im not a big fan of the car at all maybe there will be one at the motor trend show like steve ill make a call on it when i see it

No offense to the 4 door...I like your car if 4 door, it looks a lot more sporty than the 4 door charger. I just have the old school image of the charger in my head and this new one doesn't do anything for me in the looks dept.

maybe dodge is off track bringin back the names of their old muscle cars because people are expecting something different then what dodge gives them. Come out with some different names and let the classics remain classics. Its like coming out with a superbird and not putting a spoiler on it

kool

Case and Point Steves... The Pontiac GTO, need I say more?

yeah and they could have picked a better color for the picture too what is that burning shit green?

as far as the charger goes i like that charger that is in the general discussions forum a lot better than that