Magnum

1) Car runs like a scalded dog. 2) Early production models pulled to the right. Fixed by dealer. Adjusted cradle and installed new alignment adjustment bolt. 3) Center rear seat belt retractor jammed first time granddaughter sat in middle seat. Fixed by dealer. 4) Continental tires are prone to premature wear. Wear bars showing at 20,000 miles.

Car is fun to drive, handles great, and gets reasonable mileage for a

4,400 pound wagon. And it's FAST.

Extra storage area under false floor in back is really handy for stuff like a small emergency kit, jumper cables, etc., or small items you don't want rolling around.

Dan

Just curious what you consider reasonable mileage? I have a 300C, it has the performance of a rocket unfortunately it also has the fuel economy of a rocket. I'm getting less than 15MPG, 18 on the highway, my old Concorde got 22, and 29 on the highway.

Do you have the 5.7 with multiple displacement system (MDS)?

I've got the 5.7L HEMI MDS in the RT. I get about 18 around town and

22/23 on trips. A good bit of "around town" is local interstate. Trips have been 2 or three adults with enough luggage to fill a moving van, driving 75 to 85 most of the way.

My milege is way better than the guys I know with the 5.7L in Dodge trucks. I know a guy with a Magnum with the larger V-6 who says I'm getting better mileage than he is.

Dan

Yes I have the 5.7 HEMI with AWD. I've got a couple of long trips coming up in the next couple of weeks, I'll see what I get on thiose. But so far I've been getting between 14.7 and 16.

Before I bought my 300C I did a back of the envelope calculation to see if the lousy mileage would pass my threshold of pain. I only drive 12000 miles a year, a figure thats been constant for 30 years. The difference between the 300C and something more economical like an Acura TL (which gets 22) is 250 gallons a year. If you assume $2.5 a gallon that's around $650, if you assume $5 a gallon then a still only $1300 which isn't much considering that the car costs $40,000. However there is the inconvenience of having to fill up all the time, at 15MPG the range is pretty limited.

SNIP

My Magnum RT is just rear wheel drive. I would expect slightly lower gas mileage with 4WD, similar to the difference in gas mileage between

2WD and 4WD trucks. My kid the drag racer knows all the technical terms to explain the difference. Something about "rotating weight" of the drive train every time you accelerate from a stop. Anyway, 4WD usually uses more gas.

Dan

On a related note- are you Magnum owners happy with the capacity of the air-conditioning system? Especially anyone in Texas, New Mexico, or Arizona.

I've had two Magnums as rentals now, and neither one seemed to have as much A/C power as our 1993 LH car does, or as my '66 Polara. The Magnums both eventually got cool, but took a LONG time to get really cold and had to be kept on "max" for much longer than I'm used to. In fact, the second rental was in Iowa during the recent "heat wave" (although it was only 104, and it gets a lot hotter than that at home routinely) and it pretty much HAD to be kept on "max" all the time. If the R/T has an equally puny A/C system, I'm afraid its right off the list of possible replacements for the '93 when the time comes. :-(

The first rental was a 3.5L car, and I was surprised that it was reasonably peppy. The second was a 2.7L car, and I was ashamed to be driving it... they REALLY shouldn't offer that engine in such a heavy car.

Oh, AWD. Low mileage on that model is no surprise at all. I'd stick with straight RWD.

I have also rented the Magnum twice and both times found the a/c to about worthless down here in sunny Florida. Drove one of them with the 2.7L up in to the mountains in North Carolina. I never knew an engine could rev that high for that long.....

Steve B.

Never watched the Indy 500, eh?

Matt

Who rents Magnums?? I mean what company??

Dollar rent-a-car. They also rent 300's and other current Chrysler corp products.

Steve B.

There is no such company as "Chrysler Corp". Hasn't been since 1998.

And there is no such thing as R13. Blow it out your ass Daniel.

Steve B.

Steve it seems like you live in Texas, RWD is fine for the South. I live in New England, no way would I drive a RWD car here, we have this stuff called snow.

That's not encouraging. The LH cars had really potent AC systems because a) they had a ton of glass area and b) Chrysler was probably going over the top because those were the first R-134a systems and they wanted to be sure they got a reputation for good cooling (they cooled GREAT, but the evaporators rotted away). I'm afraid that SOME engineer or bean-counter somewhere decided they could cut way back on the LX platform AC because of the smaller windows. Big mistake, if they did...

The 2.7 is an embarrassment.

Dollar Rent-a-car is an all-Chrysler fleet. Thrifty and Enterprise both have a lot of Magnums as well.

Well, you really should do something about that. Wouldn't tolerate it, myself..... ;-)

But what's the hangup with RWD in snow? Everyone drove RWD in the snow until the 80s (and yes, I've driven both FWD and RWD cars in the snow on rare occasions too... I don't do ALL my driving in Texas after all) :-)

I'd take RWD with traction control over FWD without it in the snow ANY day.