'06 Charger: My Review

Don't forget the clamp-on steering knob with the naked girl in it.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

I didn't say I hate them, I said I don't like them.

What part of "V6" did you not understand?

 

<<I would, and I do, because it means you actually have to reach for
the
horn; no button falls naturaly to the thumb of your
properly-positioned hands on the wheel.>>

How many people steer perfectly like that, with their darn thumbs in a
certain place all day long just waiting to honk the horn? I sure as
hell don't. Old ladies do I suppose. And I don't want to have to
worry about it 100% of the time. I want to know when I have a split
second to honk the horn, I just throw my hand up and jam the middle of
the wheel! Hasn't anybody else in here ever needed to honk the horn in
an emergency and hit the wheel, and by the time you figure out where
the damn button is it's already too late? Or the really lame 80's cars
with it at the end of a stalk? I lost count of how many times I tried
to honk the horn but couldn't because I was used to driving cars with
the horn in the middle and was driving a newer car, or one of my other
cars, with a dumb button somewhere that I can't access in 1/4 of a
second without taking my eye off what's coming at me and my brain is in
instantaneous panic mode.

<<And it also means your hand is
more likely to be blown forcefully into your face when the airbag
deploys. The consequences of that happening can be fatally severe. >>

How often has that happened? I'll take my chances and be able to honk
the horn and maybe avoid the bag going off in the first place.

 

This is why people should honk their horns more often. Obviously
practice makes perfect, so honk at people for not signalling, looking
at you funny, or daring to use a crosswalk! You'll learn where it is
fast!

Dave

 

On my 71 Dart Swinger it was around the wheel. To honk you just squeezed
the steering wheel. It was great while it lasted. Unfortunately, it did
not last and was very difficult to replace.

 

I-6's are much better than V6's. Unfortunately, most car designers don't
like them because they take up too much space, and damn the engineering
superiority.

I've had an H4 in a bike, that was a pretty sweet engine... lotsa torque on
the low end, lotsa power on the high end, super tractability, no flat spots,
and good engine sound on both ends.

 

Most car designers don't like them because the buffoons at Car & Driver
bitch about how they sound "industrial" rather than "silky-smooth" (or
"Honda-smooth"), which are the terms they apply to V6s.

Unless the I-6 is in a BMW -- those get special exemption.

 

I don't see how one get's "industrial" sound from an I6. I'm not big on
sound but they sound better than I4s and V6s....

My guess is that too many people think of the basic cars of the 60s and
70s when they think I6. Which was nothing more than a marketing decision
to choke those engines with 1bbl carbs and other things that artifically
limited their power output.

When that generation finally retires or dies out, then the inline 6 can be
reborn. Meanwhile I'll have to hope for Ford to come to it's senses and
bring over that turbo I6 from down under and for good aftermarket head for
my 250.

 

(Brent P) wrote in

Don't Trailblazers have I6s? IIRC they weren't too shabby either.

 

yes, and it is a new, supposedly quite nice design.

Don't forget the wonderful old "big six" (3.0, 3.3, 3.5) from BMW,
either. If that sounds "industrial" you have tin ears. I am guessing
the new, smaller sixes are probably just as nice, but I've never owned
one of those.

By comparison, the V6 in my Impala sounds quite agricultural. I don't
understand how anyone could call a V6 "silky smooth" if they've ever
driven a car with a good inline six.

nate

 

My first response is "Anyone who bothers to keep even one hand on the
wheel instead of driving with their knees and talking on a cell phone.


My second response iss "It doesn't take anything odd if the steering
wheel has horn buttons (or in the old days the vastly superior horn
ring) a thumb's length away no matter where your hands are."

But a button in the center is a good, standardizable second choice.

 

Gah. "Rim-blow" steering wheels.

Mega-kewl on paper and when you try it in the dealer lot with the "new
car" smell all around you and a brand new 340 throbbing under the hood
begging you to go roast a set of Firestone Wide Ovals for 300 yards....
Absolutely idiotic in practice (how do you FIND the damn thing if you
haven't been told where it is?, and the longevity problems as well).

 

By reading Condemner Retards. THEY think that I6s sound "industrial."
Not the rest of us.

 

Right, I'd forgotten about the BMWs. Beautiful example. V6s are
inherently "wrong" - they're naturally unbalanced, and they sound like
crap.

 

Chrysler was always famous for its I6s, going back to the first one in
1924. I have a 1940 Royal, with a 241.5 c.i. straight six and it is
extremely smooth. When Chrysler dropped their Six, it accounted for
over 51% of sales. But then, Chrysler couldn't be seen as an old
fogey car, it had to have a V8.

 

Oh, I don't know. There are some glassy-smooth v6 engines out there that
would compare well to any inline 6 ever made. The Chrysler 3.5 is one.
The N*ssan v6 is another. But the Chevy 2.8/3.1/3.4/etc. is definitely
NOT one...

 

False. 90-degree v6s may be, but 60-degree v6s are not "naturally
unbalanced."

With an open or loud exhaust, I agree. But I also think inline 6s sound
crappy with an open or loud exhaust. The only thing that doesn't is a v8
or v12. But that's my ear.

 

I would, and I do, because it means you actually have to reach for the

A horn is required often when turning hand-over-hand, and without the
button in the center, one would have to look down at the wheel to find
the horn button just to press it.

I give a thumbs up for a horn in the center, but having it in both
places would probably be best.

 

Steve, what V6s out now are 60-degree?

Don't know about V12s. Have you heard a Viper lately? V8s are
inherently the best of course.

 

Gosh, a whole lot. All of Chrysler's except the 3.7. All the FWD GM v6s
except the 3800. Some of the Fords, most (if not all) Japanese v6s.

Yep, the V10 is another one that just sounds awful when heard through
loud pipes.