anyone own a 300c/magnum R/T /charger R/T

[T2urtle]

I've been floating around a couple of forums, but having found a good one. Mainly guys who are interested in rims and paintjobs on their 3.5L " high output"

Just interested in seeing how long term reliability of these cars are and if actual MPG. I've been thinking about trading the G35x in for something of a wagon type that i can daily drive and USE for random stuff and possible road trips. As much as i want to go for subie wagons i dont want a manual, and the autos well they dont seem to do well when you try to go for 300whp/300tq. So the dodge magnum fits the bill, my neighbor has one. He loves it, doesn't calculate MPG but says its not so hot. Had a couple sensors replaced and the whole exhaust replaced due to rusting in chicago, he has about 50k miles on it.

My g35x is a decent car. With the tan carpet a LOT of things get dirty quickly and their are stains. Rear seats dont fold down, so lack of cargo room. The trunk if overall small, didn't fit my snowboard across and ski hole was too small. MPG to date with the AWD is about 19's 50/50 driving on premium. One thing i like about this car is i know its dead on reliable and if things were to go wrong it would something i can easily fix.

Beening a import guy, i feel 10 times easier dealing with 4 banger and v6 engine bays. I know nothing on HEMI's or big v8's should be the same but most cars with V8's have the cowl blocking the rear 2 cylinders making things a little bit harder to reach and get to. So i'm not exactly easy going jumping to the 5.7 hemi. I've look around and not many DIY guys.

I do think the Magnum hemi is something that can fit me and my needs nicely. Nice BIG trunk and decent/ more powerful then my G35. seems like a diablo tune and small bolt-ons like a CAI and headers will get you in the 13.5's all day. I'm sure handling is not that great with that big rear. I've heard these things with the v8 management should be able to get 23mpg 50/50. Lot of people say that the 5.7/ 6.1 is a great engine. The SRT trim doesn't fit my budget and is not practical for me.

What do you guys think.... would i be making a mistake going G35~> magnum.

 

[Bignate603]

Have you gone to look at one yet? Find a dealership with one and spend some time with the car. Not just driving either, look under the hood and see if you can reach everything, fold down the rear seat and see if you have enough room. Hell, even bring your snowboard and make sure it fits well.

There may be something that you notice immediately that will be a deal killer. It's much better to take a quick look at the car you're interested in before you spend hours researching it.

Personally, for wagons I prefer Subaru but that's just because my family back in the north-east swears by them. The styling on most of them is kind of meh but they're useful, reliable, and do great in nasty conditions. For the longest time during winter whenever it snowed my grandparents had to park their cars a few miles away from their house and then hop in their junky subaru to make it up their house on the mountain. Most other vehicles ended up in the ditch.

 

[smitbret]

Overall fuel economy for the 3.5L will be around 19-23 (in-town and highway). They are big, heavy vehicles and use gas like it. The Hemi V8 and the 2.7L V6 will both get a little less than the 3.5L.

They are more reliable than most of your CJD products. Working around them for the last 7 years or so, I wouldn't be afraid to own one. The Magnum seems to have a few more problems than the 300 or Charger. Most of the problems tend to be accessory related, especially when messing with the wheels and suspension. They just get moody when the car is out of OEM in those areas. Put a 20" on the Chrysler and you are essentially done driving in bad weather. Add the same 20" to a Magnum and say hello to vibration and shaking. Not all people have the same problems. These just seem to be consistent with what I've seen. Mechanically they seem pretty sound. Most of your problems will be little cosmetic things or interior parts wearing too quickly.

That being said, you can get a lot of car for the money, especially the Magnums. I wouldn't be afraid of them.

 

[T2urtle]

i love subaru's as well. but the speed/power hungry me will opt to get a turbo version of the 05-06 legacy/outback or forester XT. I would love for it to be manual but no the car will be a auto. I really do fear that i'll get bored and start pouring money into the subaru. The car guy in me will see needing new tires as wheels/tires. blown strut = coilovers. Cobb accessport is great because i do run a fuel econmy map on their. In short i will find ways to mod it. And quickly will i be knocking on the 300tq level where subie auto's tend to start slipping and blowing up.

i've tested and saw that the magnum's trunk is very nice and works for me, my neighbor let me try to load his up. I drove his and one at the dealership but not exactly hard to see how the suspension would react. but my daily driving experience is nice, The car does feel heavy but so does my G35. I think on paper they are both 280hp/260tq motors but the hemi just feels like it has so much more to give me. Maybe its the RWD platform. I got past the plastic like interior really quickly. I hate the radio display/gauge fonts tho. The one at the dealership had some weird rattles but my neighbor's didn't.

I just pop the hood and looked. engine cover blocks most of my view of everything to really see how far back those valve covers go. the engine bay is tighter then most 4 bangers and my VQ35 as well, but that was expected. These motors are chain driven i assume...

Most people dislike these cars because of the "ugly" interior and the size of the car. Aleast thats what i read. The 2 dont bother me.

Overall fuel economy for the 3.5L will be around 19-23 (in-town and highway). They are big, heavy vehicles and use gas like it. The Hemi V8 and the 2.7L V6 will both get a little less than the 3.5L.

They are more reliable than most of your CJD products. Working around them for the last 7 years or so, I wouldn't be afraid to own one. The Magnum seems to have a few more problems than the 300 or Charger. Most of the problems tend to be accessory related, especially when messing with the wheels and suspension. They just get moody when the car is out of OEM in those areas. Put a 20" on the Chrysler and you are essentially done driving in bad weather. Add the same 20" to a Magnum and say hello to vibration and shaking. Not all people have the same problems. These just seem to be consistent with what I've seen. Mechanically they seem pretty sound. Most of your problems will be little cosmetic things or interior parts wearing too quickly.

That being said, you can get a lot of car for the money, especially the Magnums. I wouldn't be afraid of them.

I will not get a mag unless its a hemi.

I'm actually into slightly lowering the car and running 18/19's on them with some meaty tires and bringing them close to flush with the fender. 20-26's are not my thing. I'm used to driving slightly lowered cars, normally 1.5-3.0 inches. I lowered my G35 about 2.5 inches on coils and running flush 18's

 

[fbrdphreak]

I want a Magnum too. I think it would be a great cruiser and hauler, with plenty of power in the RT.

Fun fact about the Hemi engines: they use 2 spark plugs per cylinder, so have fun with changing those suckers!! :awe:

FWIW, the Subaru 5EAT will handle 300HP/300TQ fine. I think most of them do a valve body mod, but 300/300 should be do-able. And yes, you will want to mod the hell out of it. The cars are decent, but are lacking in many areas stock. Wheels/tires and suspension are hard to avoid

Thought if I got a Hemi, it would get at a minimum sway bars, an exhaust and engine tune...

Yay for gear heads!!

 

[StageLeft]

I sat in one years back. was surprised how little trunk room it had, this thanks to the sloping roof. Do you know you can get a roof rack on that G35? That'll hold all the skis you need.

 

[FallenHero]

I want a Magnum too. I think it would be a great cruiser and hauler, with plenty of power in the RT.

Fun fact about the Hemi engines: they use 2 spark plugs per cylinder, so have fun with changing those suckers!! :awe:

FWIW, the Subaru 5EAT will handle 300HP/300TQ fine. I think most of them do a valve body mod, but 300/300 should be do-able. And yes, you will want to mod the hell out of it. The cars are decent, but are lacking in many areas stock. Wheels/tires and suspension are hard to avoid

Thought if I got a Hemi, it would get at a minimum sway bars, an exhaust and engine tune...

Yay for gear heads!!

I own a charger r/t and changed the spark plugs. Took about 45 minutes, it's really not that difficult.

 

[T2urtle]

I sat in one years back. was surprised how little trunk room it had, this thanks to the sloping roof. Do you know you can get a roof rack on that G35? That'll hold all the skis you need.

that might solve the snowboard problem but I've run into other issues. bring in 4 tires i've dirtied up the back seat leather, least if the seats fold down i can put in the back of the seats (part facing the trunk when upright). The LCD couldn't fit but fit in the magnum as i had to ask him to bring home my new LCD. I'm helping my brother move down to college and well go figure all his stuff didn't fit in my car.

There are a lot of small daily situations where having a wagon would of made life a LOT easier for me. Instead i either opted to put it in my back seat and have things dirty up the interior. Or it not even fit in my car and i had to ask someone or rent a little pickup or something. The G35 works for me 75-80% of the days. The other 20% a magnum would of killed it, and the last 5% i guess i would of opted for the renting pick up or SUV.

I considered picking up a 2nd car like a old beater 4 banger pick up. But really it doesn't work all too well, the beater would be for mainly planned local stuff. Not a roadtrip to college/snowboard. It would be prefect to buy the home stuff or bring home that roast pig so my backseat wouldn't be full of grease and carpet stained.

as for the subaru 5EAT handling 300/300, its a little bit of a crapshoot from what i read on legacyGT.com some flawless and some didn't break 275, barely did up/down and tune and killed it. I know/understand when you mod a car STUFF happens and they happen more when you push it to the limit. a 04-06 forester XT 5EAT is a lot cheaper then a magnum, the hatch thingy is smaller but still workable from the pictures i've seen. very drivable if i let other people drive it. just i fear i will kill the trans with the STI upgrades. plus working on the subaru is the same as the magnum, both kinda foreign to me. I know subaru are decent and will last pending turbo replacements and maybe headgaskets.

I own a charger r/t and changed the spark plugs. Took about 45 minutes, it's really not that difficult.

plugs might be easy but whats back there? more EGR stuff.. electronics, sensors, plugs i can careless about.

 

[zerocool84]

I dated a girl for a while that had a Magnum. She has two 80lb labs and got it cus it had a ton of room. We could fit a lot of shit in the back.

 

[JulesMaximus]

I rented a 300C a few years ago in Maui. It handled like a pig and had huge blind spots. Otherwise it was a comfortable ride, they make good rental cars.

 

[pwnagesarus]

Have you been to places like 300cforums, custommagnums, lxforums, magnumforumz, chargerforumz, etc.

The communities there would probably give you a better idea on how the DIY experience is.

Assuming it's the same as the 300s, the 5.7L will come stock with 18s. Also, I've heard that Magnums are a tad bit lower than 300/Charger due to the extra weight. Not exactly sure if a predator tune + headers and CAI will get you 13.5s on the 5.7...however, I have a pred tune on my 3.5L and it made it a lot more fun to drive.

 

[PhoKingGuy]

I rented a 300C a few years ago in Maui. It handled like a pig and had huge blind spots. Otherwise it was a comfortable ride, they make good rental cars.

This, Its a pretty good rental car but I don't know if I would be able to live with it. The one I had in NY was a great highway cruiser but thats about it.

 

[StageLeft]

Wagons are nice. What is the tow capacity of your G35? I'd be surprised if it's less than 1000 lbs. Have you thought about getting a simple hitch on it ($250 or less installed at Uhaul)? You could then stack bikes on a bike rack or even get one of those cargo carriers on the back (sometimes you see rednecks put coolers on these or a van with a wheel chair on the back). One of those carriers can take a couple hundred lbs pretty easily. You could even get a small utility trailer to haul crap from home depot. I'm just saying you don't see it around that often--most people opt instead to drive around with extra capacity (that 99% of the time is not used)--but you can do a lot with a hitch and a sedan.

 

[Malak]

I've driven 3 different vehicles with hemis, didn't much like any of them. The windows were my biggest gripe on the 300 and Jeep Commander, blind spots and whatnot. Drive a Magnum and see if you like it or not. For a wagon it is cooler than a subie, but see if you like it first.

 

[IcePickFreak]

plugs might be easy but whats back there? more EGR stuff.. electronics, sensors, plugs i can careless about.

It's rwd, the only other thing back there is the transmission lol. Any of the other stuff is either on the front of the engine, or along the sides of the engine bay. A pushrod V8 rwd setup is going to be one of the easiest things to work on, unless it's shoe-horned in something sporty like a vette or even the 4th gen firebirds/camaros.

Hemi's have the advantage with spark plug placement too since you don't have to deal with getting around the exhaust manifolds. I had a 97 TA that was a chore to change plugs on since those had the engines half way under the cowl as you described in the OP. I also had a 99 after the slight redesign and move to LS1's and even that was much simpler. When I pulled the engine on the 97, I actually just dropped the whole front cradle, lifted up the front of the car, and rolled the front end out with engine still mounted - much easier than seeing if it would fit out through the hood.

 

[T2urtle]

i really dont want to do a hitch type of thing. Yea it might wait but really doesn't work for me plus i would have to buy/store a trailer. Rental for a trailer is like $20-30. I could rent a pickup for $45-50 for 2 hours and 60 miles which normally covers it. if i buy from homedepot its truck rental is great flat fee of $40 for 2 hours.

like i said i dont know too much on the motor, yea it RWD and it make sense to have nothing back there hidden and etc but the trans. But how many times have we all worked on cars that weren't exactly very well thought out. chassis guys and engine guys dont talk to each other. Lexus V8's require you to take the intake manifold off to get to the starter... sucks butt if it goes out on you in the middle of no where. I've seen some ECT sensors hidden behind everything and anything you can think of. Oil filters shoved in the engine bay behind/under/surrounded by 15 trim panels. these new cars coming w/o dipsticks... There is a LOT of stupid/goofy things and really i want to avoid those at all cost for as long as i can. If my G35 came in wagon form then i would of easily opted for that and be done. But it didn't so i'm looking for something in wagon trim and that can 1-up my g35 in areas that i dislike about it. MPG being one area, before you guys attack me saying i gotta give one up and etc. Yea i know MPG and HP/TQ should be opposite of each other. But i'm looking for a reasonable 22-25MPG with 50/50 drive and to see maybe 28-30 on summer highway crusies.

i'll set something up with my local dodge dealership for next sat.

 

[Doggiedog]

The G35 does come in a wagon form. They just call it an EX35

Have you looked into those? I saw some really good leases on them in the past so they may be available for a good price. Not sure about the mileage though. It's probably similar to the G.

 

[boomhower]

i really dont want to do a hitch type of thing. Yea it might wait but really doesn't work for me plus i would have to buy/store a trailer. Rental for a trailer is like $20-30. I could rent a pickup for $45-50 for 2 hours and 60 miles which normally covers it. if i buy from homedepot its truck rental is great flat fee of $40 for 2 hours.

like i said i dont know too much on the motor, yea it RWD and it make sense to have nothing back there hidden and etc but the trans. But how many times have we all worked on cars that weren't exactly very well thought out. chassis guys and engine guys dont talk to each other. Lexus V8's require you to take the intake manifold off to get to the starter... sucks butt if it goes out on you in the middle of no where. I've seen some ECT sensors hidden behind everything and anything you can think of. Oil filters shoved in the engine bay behind/under/surrounded by 15 trim panels. these new cars coming w/o dipsticks... There is a LOT of stupid/goofy things and really i want to avoid those at all cost for as long as i can. If my G35 came in wagon form then i would of easily opted for that and be done. But it didn't so i'm looking for something in wagon trim and that can 1-up my g35 in areas that i dislike about it. MPG being one area, before you guys attack me saying i gotta give one up and etc. Yea i know MPG and HP/TQ should be opposite of each other. But i'm looking for a reasonable 22-25MPG with 50/50 drive and to see maybe 28-30 on summer highway crusies.

i'll set something up with my local dodge dealership for next sat.

You gas mileage is going to be lower than that. 50/50 you are going to be looking at 20 if you go really lite on the gas pedal. 25 on the highway if your lucky. They are heavy cars with big motors and crappy aero, not a combination for good mileage. They are likely tunes out there that will improve it a bit but I wouldn't get my hopes up to high. You don't want to know what we get out of our chargers at work but obviously our use isn't "normal".

 

[fbrdphreak]

As to maintenance, most things are easy to get to in a Subaru engine bay. The biggest bitch is the spark plugs, which are on the side of the motor. The starter is easily accessible, as are the belts and alternator. On turbo motors you might have to remove the intercooler which is easy as there are only a few bolts, but you have to be careful reconnecting everything to avoid boost leaks.

 

[IcePickFreak]

i really dont want to do a hitch type of thing. Yea it might wait but really doesn't work for me plus i would have to buy/store a trailer. Rental for a trailer is like $20-30. I could rent a pickup for $45-50 for 2 hours and 60 miles which normally covers it. if i buy from homedepot its truck rental is great flat fee of $40 for 2 hours.

like i said i dont know too much on the motor, yea it RWD and it make sense to have nothing back there hidden and etc but the trans. But how many times have we all worked on cars that weren't exactly very well thought out. chassis guys and engine guys dont talk to each other. Lexus V8's require you to take the intake manifold off to get to the starter... sucks butt if it goes out on you in the middle of no where. I've seen some ECT sensors hidden behind everything and anything you can think of. Oil filters shoved in the engine bay behind/under/surrounded by 15 trim panels. these new cars coming w/o dipsticks... There is a LOT of stupid/goofy things and really i want to avoid those at all cost for as long as i can. If my G35 came in wagon form then i would of easily opted for that and be done. But it didn't so i'm looking for something in wagon trim and that can 1-up my g35 in areas that i dislike about it. MPG being one area, before you guys attack me saying i gotta give one up and etc. Yea i know MPG and HP/TQ should be opposite of each other. But i'm looking for a reasonable 22-25MPG with 50/50 drive and to see maybe 28-30 on summer highway crusies.

i'll set something up with my local dodge dealership for next sat.

That's part of why the american pushrod style V8's are still popular, because of their simplicity and reliability. For instance put a 4.0L Audi V8 next to the hemi 5.7L and the smaller displacement engine is quite a bit bigger than larger displacement engine. That's not to say the Audi engine is junk, it's just that simplicity is part of the charm of pushrod engines and why they're still being used relatively unchanged 50+ years later.

That said, the drawback to that is having to have a larger displacement engine to compete with the smaller displacement (but newer, more efficient design) power wise. That means that MPG is going to suffer a bit. I don't have a Magnum, or any Chrysler for that matter, but gas mileage on a RT Magnum is going to be a bit less than what you're looking for - it's still a 5.7L engine in a heavy, aerodynamic brick.

 

[zerocool84]

That said, the drawback to that is having to have a larger displacement engine to compete with the smaller displacement (but newer, more efficient design) power wise. That means that MPG is going to suffer a bit. I don't have a Magnum, or any Chrysler for that matter, but gas mileage on a RT Magnum is going to be a bit less than what you're looking for - it's still a 5.7L engine in a heavy, aerodynamic brick.

Chevy has proven that you can get good mpg in a pushrod engine with the LS series of engines. The reason why the Magnum/Charger/300 get poor mpg is cus they are heavy and not very aerodynamic like you said.

 

[IcePickFreak]

Chevy has proven that you can get good mpg in a pushrod engine with the LS series of engines. The reason why the Magnum/Charger/300 get poor mpg is cus they are heavy and not very aerodynamic like you said.

Oh I agree, I've had a 97 TA (ok, that's an LT1), a 99 WS6 that I could hit just over 30mpg avg on the highway, and now a G8 GT that I can hit 28mpg avg on the highway without AFM/DOD, not bad for a 4000 car. The Magnum is heavier and my guess is less aerodynamic so that's why I said I don't think he'll see the mileage he was looking for in a few posts up. And in the world of 35mpg being "OK" gas mileage, they're all heathens anyway.

 

[Furkmyster]

I have a '05 300c with 122k km's on the clock. Has been very reliable. As a highway cruiser, this car owns the road. Highway passing is an absolute breeze with the 5.7L. I have a CAI, headers, high-flo cats, cat back exhaust and a Predator tune. I am fairly sure I would be able to put in a 13 sec 1/4, but I haven't taken into the track so I don't for sure. Lxforums is great place to go, lots to learn there.

Depending on what you are hauling, even though the 300 is gigantic car, good luck getting things into the trunk. It has a very small trunk mouth, and you would be surprised at what won't fit.

For fuel mileage, I get mid 20's mpg, but I have a high majority of highway miles, 80-20, so the cylinder shut-down happens frequently to boost economy.

 

[T2urtle]

drove 2 today... both rattled like crap. One had a sunroof rattle, noise ONLY happened when sunroof was open and the 2nd one had squeeks from the trims when turning/going over bumps.

I actually got on this car and =D, that torque is VERY nice, much better then my 260ft/lb in my G. Engine looks workable for the most part. On the highway is good in terms of handling but in the city (where i drive the most) is iffy. I couldn't go too far with it because it was empty (fuel) and traffic since i drove after work hours.

not sold on it but not all for it either.

 

[Lakedaimon]

ive got a Challenger R/T, same platform but I think the engine is rated a bit higher