At $6,200, Could You Get a Charge Out Of This 2007 Dodge Charger R/T?
The seller of today’s Nice Price or No Dice Charger has the original Monroney sticker even though they aren’t the car’s original owner. Let’s see if this Hemi-powered sedan is priced to soon pass that heirloom on to a new owner.
How valuable could baseball cards be for players of yore who were long considered benchwarmers? A similar question could be asked about the 1987 Audi Coupe GT we looked at yesterday. While not exactly a benchwarmer, it did lack the Quattro AWD and turbocharged engine of its beefier siblings so it couldn’t really be considered an MVP. Still, in the automotive world, a classic Audi Coupe remains an interesting, if less than ideal, option. At $10,000, yesterday’s didn’t quite prove interesting enough, though falling in a decisive 65 percent No Dice loss.
So, I used to have a dog that was part Jack Russell Terrier and part Chihuahua. We learned after adopting him that this is a fairly common combo, typically referred to as a “Jack-Cheese.” There’s lots of that kind of cross-breeding that goes on in the automobile industry. In fact, Ford is about to launch a new electric car for Europe that is based on Volkswagen’s MEB platform. Will Ford be touting that borrowed architecture in the ads for its new car? Probably not.
Today’s 2007 Dodge Charger R/T is a bit of a mutt as well. Designed during the honeymoon phase of the Daimler-Chrysler merger, it features classic Mopar styling cues and a muscular pushrod V8 under its long hood, along with a whole bunch of Mercedes-derived chassis and suspension bits underneath. In fact, the LX platform that underpins both the Charger and its kissing cousin, the Chrysler 300, used a ton of pre-existing German engineering to get to market. Is that a bad thing? Heck no! For buyers, however, it’s just kind of a psychological downer to think that the car you’re buying is based on borrowed last-generation kibbles and bits.
Of course, when you consider the end result, especially in its Hemi-V8 guise, a lot of those concerns are easily forgotten. In fact, Mopar’s LX cars can represent some of the best horsepower per dollar buys out there. Let’s see if that’s the case with today’s Dodge.
This Charger comes with 136,000 miles on the ticker, a clean title, and a recent gold star for its smog test. The paint is Brilliant Black Crystal Pearlcoat and it’s in pretty good shape save for the left-rear quarter where a side-swipe has left a dent and a scrape. Brightly-polished factory 18-inch wheels accent the ominous color scheme nicely and look to be free of any significant wear and tear.
The cabin offers leather seating surfaces and… well, a whole lot of plastic. This wasn’t the best era for Mopar interiors and it’s a shame that the Mercedes DNA failed to get sprinkled in the LX’s interiors. Is it a terrible third-world sweatshop here? No, but it’s not up to modern standards either. The driver’s seat shows some wear-through in its upholstery, but other than that, it all looks very livable. On the plus side, the seller claims that the car has always been smoker-free and has enjoyed recent detailing.
Prospective buyers may even overlook the minor interior issues entirely once they fire up the Charger’s 5.7-liter V8 and dip a toe into the 340 horsepower and 390 lb-ft of torque it has on tap. Backing up the big mill is a standard Merecedes-sourced 5G-Tronic five-speed automatic for set-it-and-forget-it shifting.
According to the ad, the car is “strong running” and recently had new brakes installed and its vital fluids changed. As noted, it also comes with its original window sticker.
This model offers Chrysler’s Multi-Displacement System (MDS) which cuts off four of the Hemi’s cylinders when not under load, improving fuel economy a bit. That, by the way, is another piece of Mercedes-derived tech on the car. As equipped, this Charger should be able to get mid-20s on the highway. That’s not half-bad mileage considering the car’s available space and power.
The asking price for this Charger is $6,200, and we’ll now need to decide if that too, is not half-bad. What do you think, is this Hemi-powered R/T sedan a good deal at that price? Or, does $6,200 make this a Charger that’s out of juice?
You decide!
San Francisco Bay Area, California, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Don R. for the hookup!
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