- Every once in a blue moon we get to talk about cars
that are eagle loving,
beard having, PBR drinking friends.
(clapping)
Truly enjoy here on Fitment Industries,
and trust me, we'd talk about them more
if people didn't keep asking for an E46 video.
(silly sounds)
It's coming, trust me.
We just gotta ween that one out for a little bit.
Anyway, our muscle car having friends like the
13 of them (grunting)
that we have unfortunately don't always get
the long end of the stick, and that's just not fair.
Domestics deserve some love too.
So today, we're gonna talk about one of them.
I'm Alex, ALEX.FI on Instagram, and today we're gonna be
talking about the car that has become one of the
go-to cars for the holy (beep) that's fast
in terms of overall performance.
The car that has somehow just been
one of the only vehicles to stay true
to it's original build design of what it is.
I mean, heavy and powerful as hell,
you know, that whole thing.
Today we're gonna be talking about the one,
the only, the Dodge Charger.
(engine revving)
(hip hop music)
(tiger growling)
(cars zooming)
And if you're just jumping into this, welcome.
I'm Alex from Fitment Industries.
And if you haven't yet because of commitment issues
and didn't subscribe yet, I mean, it's cool.
(sniffs)
I mean it's not, but I would politely ask
that you subscribe so we can make bang videos like this.
(sad music)
And if you're looking for after market wheels tires
or suspension, be sure to check out fitmentindustries.com
where we have everything from your work wheels,
to Rotiforms, to BC, to (mumbles), to Air Lift,
to everything in between
because that's just what we do.
Anyway, let's get into it.
Because the good old Charger has existed
for half a century, we're gonna be focusing
on the LX and LD platforms of the Charger
which are inherently the sixth generation
and the seventh generation.
Those would be the new boys.
The Dodge Charger is a current full size sudan,
but was introduced back all the way in 1964
that was based off the Dodge Coronet.
Coro-neigh (french music)
if you want to be French.
Now, we know it now as the big, hefty, 707 horse power car
but the Charger name had been used as a luxury coupe car.
It had been used as a front wheel drive hatch back
at one point, and it's changed its interest
kind of like most kids in college.
After the fifth generation Charger which was made
from 1982 to 1987, Dodge decided to part ways
with the Charger name for nearly two decades.
Commitment issues I suppose.
Rising EPA's and decreasing interests,
and overall focus on the company had pushed
the Dodge Charger away.
They didn't want it, they didn't want any variants of it,
they didn't want a hatch or a coupe or anything.
But jumping ahead to 2006, the first generation
of the revamped Charger lineup was reintroduced.
Dubbed the LX, the Charger was produced
from 2006 to 2010.
It had a brand new design, style, and purpose in life.
It was to replace the intrepid and pretty much
just destroy everything.
These cars would come with the Frankenstein
of fiat parts and technology.
It ran on an all wheel drive system
that was based off of Mercedes Benz's (mumbles).
It had Torque-On-Demand from BorgWarner
to help with fuel efficiency.
And it had some good old traction bits.
It came with a 2.7 liter, a 3.5 liter, a 5.7 liter, a 6.1.
Engines, always bigger in America.
The partnership that the Chrysler had Daimler
allowed them access to so much that allowed
to actually make this Charger to happen.
And overall it was extremely successful.
The Charger had a proper interior.
At the time, a good engine, and a decent trans.
Just in 2005 45,000 units would be sold
which would nearly double to 114,000 in 2006.
The only other thing that many people
were a little bit bummed about were the fact
that these motors weren't overly peppy in the V6 option.
Get a V8.
And there wasn't a single manual option available.
That one's true.
Well that, and it had also too little extra doors,
and for the most part it had a little bit
of some mixed reviews.
That has continued to push the muscle car mentality though
by introducing various packages, such as the Super Bee,
to help reinforce the brands image as a muscle car
from the past which is what the whole overall
aesthetic of this car tried to do.
The platform did well enough to warrant a seventh generation
taking everything that they had learned
from the previous one and turning it further
into what the domestic automotive
enthusiast actually wanted.
But still with four doors.
The seventh generation came out in 2011
with new makeup, new tech, and a very rich daddy
behind the scenes that pretty much gave it
everything it could possibly want.
The seventh generation was an absolutely insane lineup
with everything from your typical V6
to a Hellcat variant with 707 horse power.
707...
Horse power, stock.
I don't care how heavy that car is.
That is nuts.
It came with a massive infotainment screen,
it had Uconnect, it had heated and cooled seats,
it had Wifi, SD card slots, adaptive cruise control,
lane keeping assist, it had leather interior,
it had rain sensing wipers, what is this?
A BMW?
Collision warnings and even a few other bits.
You could say that Town and Country was doing
hella well for Dodge to be pumping that kind of money
into a car that use to cap out
with options at 37,000 in the sixth gen.
Most people will know that 2015 facelift as a new generation
but it really actually wasn't.
The facelift was just so significant
that people legitimately thought it was a new version
or a new generation of the car.
And I'd say it probably was, the car began to take
everything that made it good and just fine tuned it
with a new front end, new head lights, new tail lights,
more aggressive arrow, shaved off the early 2000's look
and really made it look proper with some bigger wheels.
More scarier than a sixth gen cop car that's behind ya
on a Friday night, those sixth gens were terrifying.
(scream)
Here's the thing though, the Dodge Charger began to feature
the same love and attention that the new gen Mustang
did in terms of an automotive enthusiast.
Some of these cars were predominately for Life Alert folks.
- [Older Woman] When I became deathly ill,
I was able to summon an ambulance.
- Not many people felt that they'd be able to
jump into one because they weren't that modifiable
or that they were not very tuner-ish.
The last few years have proved that fact wrong, son.
- Daddy?
- Okay?
Trick question, we're done talking about the light history
of the Charger because frankly all you need to know
is that Dodge continued to make it as often as possible
and kept it as close to their good old heart strings
as they could for half a century.
The most recent thing is the fact that
they added some doors, that's the thing.
We're actually here to talk about you wanting to own
one of these beautiful pieces of American history.
So you want a Dodge Charger?
Well set down your Busch Light
and grab your favorite lawn chair because we're about to
strap into this bad boy and talk a little about
what it's like to own one.
The newest generation Dodge Chargers
are probably the best bang for your buck power
when you're looking at a large sedan domestic
here in the United States.
Don't compare it to anything else,
it's pretty dang good.
Sure, you have other Camaros, Mustangs,
and even the Corvette, but those are missing two doors.
The main competition for this car died in 2010,
it's called the Pontiac.
(tires spinning)
(squeaky violin music)
Playing my smallest violin.
RIP to the G8 though, still one of my favorites.
The Charger sits in a unique home, where power,
consistency, and just straight wheat bread
expectations are pretty much met.
Now, the sixth generation has dated
a little harder than most,
but they still offer plenty of spunk
if you're looking to stay in a lower budget invested car,
if you get it with a Hemmi, scoot scoot baby.
(engine revving)
You have to have the Hemmi for either gen
or if you got some extra dollars get the Hellcat.
Most Dodge Chargers running around owned by
younger enthusiasts are on Air,
because that's what you're suppose to do with big cars, Air.
Verada wheels or Velagan rule the world for wheels
and tires seem to be focused around the (mumbles)
MT555, Pirelli P-Zero, or the Toyo Proxes ST
due to size offerings.
Stock bodies can get pretty wide, but they're getting
nearly 11 inches wide on the newest gen I think?
And about 10 1/2 inches wide on the six gen.
You can fit some big boys on there.
And if you're looking to pick one up,
it's important to know really what you're buying
because they still are domestic sedan muscle cars.
Even in the newest generation the quality of parts
aren't really meant to stay alive for too long.
Most of the money, I would argue probably all of the money,
especially as you go all the way up the trim levels,
it's pretty much solely about the motor
and the transmission.
That's where the moola was actually really spent,
so you gotta be okay with that.
Inside of the car, it's still just a Dodge.
My Jeep has the same infotainment system
as an $85,000 Hellcat, so you can take that how you want.
However, these cars are an absolute blast to drive,
and the driving experience is insane.
Big, heavy cars often get a negative connotation
because they're heavy.
But that's why they're actually pretty insane.
That's why they have the insane horse power numbers
and torque because if you throw an intake exhaust
in a TuNan with your wheels, tires, and suspension,
fitmentindustries.com, got 'em,
you can pretty much be ready to fly away
at any red light you could possibly want to.
Hemmi engines
(engine roaring)
sound fantastic, they look pretty good,
and they're fairly reliable, but because the cars
are common parts aren't that bad to snag or find either.
You just have to be remembering that you're gonna be
picking up a Dodge Charger and it's gonna be big,
it's gonna be heavy so you gotta do roasty burnouts.
Getting a Dodge Charger as a car to modify
is a bit different because it's outside the tuner mold.
The cars are wide and big versus narrow and small.
The car has four doors compared to the normal two,
and it's a domestic versus a tuner,
but if you're looking for a car that tries to do it all
and does it all fairly well without breaking a bank,
the Charger might actually be right up your alley.
Plus, we need more cars aired to the damn ground.
The only thing that I would recommend is that
if you're looking to get a Dodge Charger
and you're thinking about actually owning one,
you're gonna want to drive all of the different trims
because you may find that there's a trim specifically
that meets your needs the best, Hellcat has some
awesome options but there are some negatives
to actually owning one of those things
compared to a standard Hemmi, or maybe getting an SRT model.
There's a lot of fantastic trims models out there
for Dodge and I honestly think that no matter
where you are in life Dodge probably made a trim for it.
You just gotta be okay with people saying
oh, they're heavy, they're heavy.
Yes, they're heavy, it's just how it is.
Mercedes E63 is heavy, still fun.
E55 AMG, still heavy, still fun.
M5, heavy, still fun.
You can be a little bit thick
and still have fun with the car.
Don't judge them, they do roasty burnouts
and they're a ton of fun to drive.
Anyway, let us know what you guys think
of the Dodge Charger in the comment section below,
and if you would actually own one.
And if you're looking for wheels, tires, or suspension
be sure to check out fitmentindustries.com,
we really literally have everything.
And in the mean time if you guys have a car
that you would like us to cover next in the future,
be sure to drop it as a comment below.
(makes rocket noise)
I'm Alex from Fitment Industries.
We will see you later, peace.