Test Drive the RT yet? Tell us about it.

**serafing** · 05-23-2004, 08:28 PM

After my dealer had told me that they would allow me to test drive one and swing by my place of work to SHOW some of my cohorts, Corporate sent out a memo telling all dealers that the cars that they had recieved for Dodge Premier Night were not to be test driven until the 16th of June. They told them to keep them in the showrooms. This the day I was to go for a test drive.

So, I was pretty bummed.

But, my wife told me to go ahead and go down there and at least take a look at it. She had been down there and said that it looked real sweet, so I headed down. I really didn't want to go down there and just sit in the car and not drive it, but I figured looking is better then nothing. I had already ordered mine months ago.

When I got down there, I asked if we could fire it up, since I hadn't even heard the engine on the thing yet. He said that he couldn't do it in the showroom because of air quality, but said lets take it outside. Then, he gave me the keys and let me give it a spin!

It sounds great and man does it pick up speed well! He told me to gun it at one of the on ramps in a cloverleaf and just let the EPS control the thing. I didn't really give it everything, but I have never taken a corner that fast and I was very impressed by how well it handled. The dealer said I should have given it more gas.

So, I am now very happy.

**Greeneyej** · 05-23-2004, 09:16 PM

Sweet!
Have you seen the avi file of the 300C Driffting ?
You can hear that sweet sound of the Hemi as the driver is steping on it!

Play that and close your eyes and remember your test drive..

**flowersc** · 05-25-2004, 11:07 AM

I test drove the RT last night. I have loved that car since the first pictures came out.
Was fortunate enough to have this kid in an upper end Acura blow by as I was on the highway. I floored it and made quick toast of that kid.
I am making arrangements to pick one of these up by the end of the month. Black one.

**srt4geezer** · 05-25-2004, 06:19 PM

I drove one last night. The thing that suprised me is how quiet it is. Not like the commercials at all. Yes it scoots, but quietly. It is a huge car, but the big engine neutralizes that feeling. Feels much more compact that it really is. I need a little more growl to feel the HEMI. Magnaflow here I come!

**APT** · 05-26-2004, 09:33 AM

I drove an RT at a DCX employee event a little while back. They had a psuedo autocross course set up, and I got one lap. Not very much time, but I was impressed for a vhicle that size. Would have been better if I controlled the gears, but I was taking in all kinds of things, besides going for the fastest lap.

Anyway, I thought it rode well, power was great, transmission shifted smoothly, especially considereing the hammering it surely got over the course of the event. Handling felt solid, with a light back end under braking once. A very short experience, but left impressed and convinvced that I must have one.

**liquid** · 05-27-2004, 03:31 PM

I went to Joe Ricci Dodge in Dearborn today and took one of their R/T's for a spin. Nice red one with nav, sunroof, etc. Like everyone else has said, the power is RIGHT THERE and silky smooth. The tight turning radius and the amount of seat travel were very impressive! (I'm 6'4") I thought parking (backing INTO a space) would be an issue with the small windows but it wasn't any harder than parking my Crown Vic. With it being a unibody I was expecting a lot of road noise, but it actually seemed quieter than the 2004 Lincoln LS8 I drove last year.

Naturally the first button I pushed inside was "ESP OFF", guess I should have left it on for a little bit just to see how well it worked. But it was just too much fun. :twisted: I'm still grinning. If money were no object I would have placed my ORDER today. Nice job on a way-cool family car, Chrysler Division!!! 8)

**wb5oxq** · 05-28-2004, 12:54 AM

My Magnum R/T is in code D1 now so I expect to get it before too many weeks go by. I have already driven a demo R/T and was so impressed by the quiet, room and smooth power (lots of it). I found it feeling much more powerful than my Ram 1500 Hemi though the Magnum is geared much taller than my Ram. I don't know when I have been more impressed by a new veichle. I have been a licensed driver since 1962 so I have driven lots of different cars in my life. I am ready to take some road trips in a comfortable car which gets decent fuel mileage!

**bigdaddyoc** · 05-28-2004, 12:22 PM

Well I finally drove an R/T last night. The dealer happened to have almost my ORDER except it was missing the navigation. Mine is here at the distribution center locally and should be delivered in the next few days. On to the test drive..
At first I was thinking I wasn't all that impressed with the power. I was hoping for more of the push you back in the seat kind of feeling. After getting on it a few times I realized this was more of a refined power delivery. Because of how quiet and smooth it is I think the speed sneaks up on you. On the freeway onramp I rolled INTO the throttle pretty heavily and by the end just tipped the 100mph marker. Then I got to quickly test the braking ability seeing how some idiot was in the first lane going 45 in traffic that was moving atleast 70. Probably scared the crap out of them coming INTO their rear mirror that fast! So yes...braking was very smooth, controlled and quick FROM 100+ down to 45 very quickly. Overall comfort was very nice. I'm 6'6" and the legroom was awesome, almost stretched out, although only leaving room for a small child behind me...bummer for them! I was only able to put about 3 miles on the car so I didn't really get to test out the suspension or ESP. I did play around with the manual shift trans and I think I'm going to like that. It seemed very responsive to inputs. I should have mine in a few more days then I'll be able to figure everything else out and really see how she works. I'm still stuck on that whole subject of " break In methods".

**OBT** · 05-28-2004, 01:27 PM

Originally Posted by bigdaddyoc

Mine is here at the distribution center locally and should be delivered in the next few days. ...... I should have mine in a few more days

bigdaddyyoc,

Just out of curiosity do you know when yours was built? Mine (also a black RT w/o roof racks) was built the day after blackmagnum's and his is sitting in Cleveland while mine's on hold in Ontario.

Is you dealer going to let you have it before the 6/17 Premier Night?

Thanks

Dennis

**bigdaddyoc** · 05-28-2004, 05:02 PM

Mine was built 5/12 and released the 13th. My dealer can't wait to get me off his back so yes I will get it the day it rolls in. He actualy has already sold 3 magnums, one of which he apparently got in alot of trouble for 2 days ago. He decided that since he is a 5star dealer he could go ahead and sell his premier night R/T....that did NOT go over well with corporate. He had 3 there last night for sale only one of which was the R/T. I can make no sense of the way these are beign built or released. Mine was ordered back in February and is just now getting to me. i've heard of others ORDER after that and they already have theirs. Who knows what the pattern is.

**OBT** · 05-28-2004, 05:29 PM

I hear you! Thanks for the info. I just posted in another string that I got new info on mine - it's in West Seneca NY on it's way east. The suspicious or ironic part is that the status changed on VinVision while I was on the Customer Service line. Mine was ordered 4/13 and rolled off the line at 1:30 5/20 but then it sat for a week. Who knows why!!

**chicano** · 05-31-2004, 12:19 AM

I don't get all this waiting around either.....my car was done being built on 5/18 and was in portland, oregon on 5/29 but won't be at the dealership which is in salem (only like 40 miles away) until 6/7. I only live like 30 minutes away FROM portland and it's be cool if i could just drive up there now and pick up my car.

Bo · 05-31-2004, 12:59 AM

I had the same scenario with my RT....... arrived in Houston on 5/26, scheduled to be at the dealer on 6/7. The manager of the dealership I was working with called the rail yard, and had my car flagged as "hot". It was delivered to the dealership the next day. Of course, it only lasted about 2 hours before I picked it up (it needed a wash and the front roll-up windows received tint).
Call your dealer..... and get them to make it happen!

--Bo

**bigdaddyoc** · 05-31-2004, 12:02 PM

He supposedly did the same thing..."hot tag" the car. That was on Wednesday....I still don't have the car. With the holiday weekend I'm sure it screwed things up. Oh well...worst case scenario...I pick it up tomorrow or wednesday. I've waited this long...I can wait a day or 2 more. Now that I've driven it and know I like it and fit well in it I guess it took a little of the pressure off.

**bigdaddyoc** · 05-31-2004, 06:35 PM

Ok so after posting this morning I CHECK one more time on the insight website. Apparently my car was delivered to the dealer saturday morning and I had not gotten one phone call. So I call down to the dealer and ask to speak to my salesman. He wasn't in yet so they say to call back. Call back and talk to sales manager( my guy wasn't coming in today.) The manager says he knows what car is mine and he'll look INTO it and call me back. Of course he doesn't so I hunt him down. He then tells me I can't pick up my car until tomorrow. It has not been PDI'd yet nor does he have my file and what pricing I was quoted and my control # blah blah. I tell him I seriously hope my car is not being used for test drives and that if it has more then a couple miles on it I will be refusing delivery. I get a feeling this was all a ploy to keep my car around on the lot over memorial weekend to hopefully lure in more buyers. He assured me that no one would be allowed to drive my car but I still think its a LOAD of crap. They had my car for 3 days and couldn't get the inspection done or get it checked INTO dealer inventory. I tell you...this very well might be the last car I buy FROM this dealer...and to think my wife wanted to get 1 more Intrepid as her daily driver....