I have always had a jones for the Dodge Magnum R/T. The wife is on board with it. I always liked the styling and for a 4000 lb car / wagon they can scoot. I know the millage is not so good but that does not bother me. I kind of look at it as an alternative to the P71 or the Caprice and being it is a wagon it may actually be a bit more functional.
Anyone have any inside information about these? Good? Bad? Ugly?
Are you claustrophobic?
I drove one back in 05 as a possibility before buying the Mustang. I was actually a lot more impressed thatn I expected to be. the ride is really good, you could feel the Mercedes lineage of some of the suspension coming through. It was pretty fast in a straight line but the handling was...well, it's a very heavy car. And the factory Continental tires were trash.
The leather on the interior was nice but the interior overall felt really cheap - significantly moreso than my mustang, and that's saying something.
I might have considered it more seriously if I was looking for a family mover instead of a sportscar. I was also very leery of the displacement on demand system and the trans since it was a Dodge product.
I had one for a couple of years as a company car. I also had a company gas card, so I have absolutely no idea what my gas mileage was.
Overall,I liked it. Nice and comfortable ,handled well, the rear storage isn't all that big with the sloping roof, but it was enough for a family of four to take on vacation. And last,but not least, it has the Hemi !
they are very claustrophobic especially for back seat passengers in the 6' tall range.
i much preferred my caprice wagon 
Well at the moment and for the future the back seat will be for the kids (6&10) so I don't think that will be an issue.
I am looking at it as my DD.
The prices I am seeing are not to bad. Any input on the AWD versus the RWD? AWD I think would be great especially in winter. The problem with most AWD cars is it tends to numb the road feel and you obviously loose that muscle car RWD feel.
Anyone have a comparison on RWD versus AWD and is the AWD reliable?
Pop has one. He gets mid-teens around town and low twenties on the highway.
My wife doesn't like it, for the way the roofline comes down, giving what others have said - claustrophobic feeling.
patgizz wrote: they are very claustrophobic especially for back seat passengers in the 6' tall range. i much preferred my caprice wagon
How much bigger is the caprice? Externally they look a lot bigger. This is partially why I like the Magnum. I would classify it as a midsize wagon. This should help with city driving and parking in the city.
I want one, but every time I sit in one I think to myself "this interior sucks" and I get right back out. Plus all the ones in my area are rolling on "dubs" or have been repo'd, or both. Plus I still think they are overpriced.
Didn't the Magnum's have a problem with tie-rods and other assorted suspension/steering parts wearing out prematurely?
My Dad had a Magnum (non-R/T) and it wasn't a bad car. I didn't ride in it enough to draw an opinion. But I like how they look on the outside.
Perfect family car!
The early LX cars had an issue with the front swaybar bushings popping out of their mounts when the front suspension hit something hard.
The AWD cars are SLOOOWWW. You can't tell they have a 350 hp V8 under the hood. The steering is numb and they look like they have a 2" lift.
IMO the best look was the 2008 model. The front end looks much better than the previous years.
Oh I also say yes to get one.
Do it!
I have a silver '05 R/T for two years now and don't regret one minute. Great highway cruiser with mid-20s mpg. Back seats are BIG. With fat Ziex on factory '18s I have no traction or handling issues.
SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: The AWD cars are SLOOOWWW. You can't tell they have a 350 hp V8 under the hood. The steering is numb and they look like they have a 2" lift.
I remember reading somewhere that the steering feels numb because of something to do with the awd system. Apparently the feel sort of comes and goes as you mosey down the road.
And yes, RWD = Faster.
Other than that, the few people I know who've bought the 300/charger/magnums like them.
My dad has had a 2005 Magnum RT (only in 05 was it just RT not R/T, little geeky trivia) since new and it really hasn't had to many issues. Our car has this strange phantom stumble that the dealership cant find. It comes and goes but other than that we haven't had too many problems. Great road trip car, and fun driving around town. It handles the way you would expect a musle wagon to, meaning it doesn't really. In short I love ours just a little thirsty and not the best handleing. Also it handles snow pretty well in rwd configuation after a skiing trip last weekend.
and a free picture!
Don't know much about the Magnum but a friend of mine has a metric butt ton of money in his 300C. Stroker motor and runs 11's on street tires. Fast as hell but he probably has 10X challenge money in it by now.
No breakage that I know of. I know he went through the trans and rear end while a bit while doing the motor work. He has been very hard on it since new and I think its around 50k now.
I drive my father in law's AWD Hemi 300c pretty regularly. It does have the cylinder deactivation.
It has 120k miles on it and has had no major issues. Brother in law is a mechanic and does all the required maintenance for it...Drives pretty good for its size, even with 120k it feels pretty tight.
Father in law regularly uses it like its a truck, folding down the rear seats and stuffing all sorts of things into it. I can only imagine a Magnum is even better for that, despite its low roofline.
sort of off topic...I recently saw a Dodge Charger that someone had swapped a Dodge Magnum nose onto. No idea why you would want to do that, but I want to see the Magnum with a Charger nose.
oh sweet hotlinks to the rescue.
I owned a 2005 Magnum RT (yes I know about the R/T thing) for a little over 3 months last year. I ended up trading it in on a new Ram (a little bit of a impulse buy hahaha). Like the others have said, it was a big heavy car and it drove like it. I had the RWD version and thought it was comfortable and (semi)refined but could be a fun car when the loud pedal was pushed. I always respected the LX platform but really wasn't a fan of Dodge/Chrysler. I put on exhaust, a cold air intake and ran a canned tune from a handheld tuner. I also bought a module ( a relay really) to disable the traction control. I admit, the car was more fun to hoon than the truck and it could haul 5 people in relative comfort.
What I liked:
Lots of room (coming from a 95 Mustang GT coupe)
Hemi and RWD
decent handling (for a 4200lb tank)
decent mileage (about 20 on the highway with MDS)
Some utility (still not a Caprice wagon)
MDS (gas mileage saver)
Looked pretty unique (Had some old lady ask me if it was the new Explorer hahahahaha)
What I disliked:
Over-complicated Mercedes electronic control systems
Funky MB transmission (W5A580, mine had 86k when I bought it, made me nervous not knowing service history)
Parts were expensive
MDS (sounded horrible in 4cyl mode - LOTS OF DRONE, disabled with tuner)
Now if I could of afforded an SRT8, I would be all over it. Gratuitous pic of mine next to said money pit, err Mustang: 
Don't mind the scratches on the hood. I took off the ugly stick-on hoodscoop and peel-and-stick fake chrome crap off that the previous owner put on.
Ohya I am liking the Magnum with the charger nose.
So far I have not come up wit a good reason NOT to get this. In fact it is hitting all box's on my list.
So I am looking for a 05+ RWD R/T (or RT). Disable the MDS and ?
only thing that bothers me after looking at a few more pictures of the charger nosed magnums.....both the magnum and 300c have similar body lines, and fenders. The charger body lines are completely different, the fenders dont match at all, really.
Before I noticed, it was pretty bad ass, it sucks thats all I see when I look at it now
dean1484 wrote: Ohya I am liking the Magnum with the charger nose. So far I have not come up wit a good reason NOT to get this. In fact it is hitting all box's on my list. So I am looking for a 05+ RWD R/T (or RT). Disable the MDS and ?
Be aware that if you find one that has the towing package (yes, sounds funny I know), it has rear self leveling shocks. There are NO aftermarket springs that fit those models. I bought H&R Super Sport springs about a month before I traded my Mag in to help the mushy handling. I never got around to installing those (new in box! hahaha).
Also, get a handheld tuner. I had a DiabloSport Predator. It makes the car much more fun. Plus allows datalogging (I used mine to monitor intake temps with the CAI).
I miss my Magnum sometimes. It was a fun, practical enough, unique vehicle that could roast the tires at will.
The 300C Estate was actually produced and only sold in Europe.
We are always getting shafted on the cool cars. 
It had an available turbodiesel that made almost 400 ftlbs as well. So yeah
I drove them as rentals so never the sporty V8 model. Not impressed at all. The steering is really light and overpowered. On center feel sucks as well. Handling was very mushy, floaty and not at all inspiring to drive - typical crappy old domestic car feel. Felt claustrophic as well. The rear seat room wasn't as comfy as you would expect from a car that size. Can't really fit 3 people in the back compared to other cars.
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