70monte

The Challenger was kind of my first choice but when I missed out two times on cars that were the color and had the options I wanted, I went with my second choice, the Mustang GT. One thing that I didn't like about the Challenger R/T's that I drove, was that I could feel when the MDS system was going on and off and to me it made it seem like the car was missing. There also seemed to be a hesitation in acceleration. It didn't feel as smooth as the Mustang or Camaro for that matter. I do like how the Challenger looks and the inside and trunk are bigger so that wins it points.

Ironically, one of the Challenger R/T's that I was trying to get that was supposedly sold, ended up at the Dodge dealership about a mile from my house. This was the car that another dealership I was dealing with was trying to get me and they were told it was sold. I guess the deal fell through because now it's for sale here and I get to look at it twice a day as I go to work and back. I bought the Mustang a day too early or I probably would own that Challenger.

Wayne

70monte

Backing out of the deal is not an option now. Today I got the answer I figured I would get and that is that their body shop can do it for about $150 cheaper than mine can and that I have to take it there or pay the difference to take it to mine. I told them to fax my body shop a copy of their shop's quote so we can see if we are comparing apples to apples.

Just for the hell of it, I took the car to a Ford dealership that has their own body shop and had them do a quote for a complete bumper removal/installation plus strip, repaint, and clear and their quote was $17 higher than my shops.

I also found out that my body shop does a lot of the body work/paint stuff for the local Ford dealership here in my town since they also don't have their own shop so I may try to go the warranty route using my local Ford dealership depending on if anyone can determine why the paint is doing what it is doing. So far, no one has been able to give in a conclusive answer to that.

Wayne

Jas5

Sounds like you sort of regret your mustang purchase...

Those R/T's and SRT8's look mean but they're just physically too darn big for me to want. Even the mustang is big for me, but with it comes the RWD and v8 so you have to live with it. I came from a 3000GT (similar weight to mustang but a lot lower) and was looking at cars like RX8, S2000, 350z... then test drove mustang GT and pontiac GTO. Fell in love with raw torque.


But who knows, I bet i'd drive the new SRT8 with 470hp and fall in love. It's like a land yacht, but that can add to the fun (like the GTO was)

dtul

I'm thinking I need to go drive the Challenger again. I didn't really notice the weight, but I may go to a dealership further out in the country that has some turns and stuff so I can feel it. I'm like you with regards to the interior and trunk space, although I am torn on the looks. I see some in person and it is just hit or miss. Every once in awhile I see one that just looks great, but then I see another one and I just can't picture myself driving one. Your Mustang looks great though, better than most Challengers that I've seen.

70monte

I don't regret buying the Mustang as there are a lot of things about it that I like better than on the Challenger. If you go to the Challenger forums, there seem to be a lot of little things that are going wrong with these cars, even on the current models.

The challenger does ride better but I don't mind the slightly rougher ride of the Mustang plus the Mustang feels more powerful which I really like.

If I could just get this paint issue resolved, I would then feel much better about my purchase but having to hassle with this takes some of the fun out of it.

I do have another serious question about painting procedures and your guy's opinions. I was just talking to someone who made me think about something I had already been thinking about. He said if I have the entire bumper repainted, it still might not exactly match the rest of the car where the bumper meets the quarter panels because even though the car is fairly new, it has sat outside in the sun and may have faded just a bit and variences in the paint itself may cause them not to exactly match, especially down the road. So, my question is, how great of a possibility is this scenario and would it just be better to try and fix the small area and blend it in and even if it ends up being slightly different, it would not be such a large difference vs the bumper up against the quarter panel. The paint on the rest of the bumper is pretty flawless.

The Ford dealer I took it to for the quote told me that they would have probably tried to blend in paint in that area instead of taking off factory paint that is in excellent shape. I originally wanted to leave as much of the factory paint intact as possible but my body shop basically talked me out of that approach. I know nothing about paint or methods so I'm clueless on this subject.

I would like to hear from people who have had repairs done like this doing it both ways and what were your long term experience with the repair. Thanks.

Wayne

JWButler14

i lemon lawed my 2012 Challenger R/T about three months ago.

bterry29

IMHO - you paid a lot of money for a new car (not a used car) and it should not have ANY defects. I would not settle for anything less than a complete bumper repaint or replacement. I really don't think the paint would fade enough on a new car in that short of time to tell a difference if the bumper were repainted or replaced. Good luck. Don't settle for something less than what you paid for.

SlvrS197

Gotta agree with you 100%!! Don't settle for anything other than perfect with a new car.

70monte

What problems did you have with it?

I plan on getting this paint situation fixed correctly. I just need to figure out what route to go.

Wayne

JWButler14

The engine was making a loud tapping noise and they couldnt figure out what it was. They tried to tell me it was normal and that all HEMIs do it but I've had 4 other hemis and none of them had the noise. They offered me a replacement car but I did not take because of the way they handled the whole situation.