My mom is giving serious though to trading her minivan this winter for a dodge magnum RT-AWD. We will get it with climate control, AWD, Hemi, TPMS, Navi, and on board computer. Just wondering what you guys all thought about it.

 

how old is the broad ?

 

i recently did some work on the new chrystler pacifica and did not think it was too bad of a suv/car/truck/passenger sedan, etc. seemed rather comfortable, daily driverish, posh, all of that. maybe another consideration??? if not, just ignore me.

 

magnum is a nice wagon, but a HEMI?! no! it will eat too much gas!

 

My mom is in her MID 40s. I looked into the fuel consumption. Car and Driver averaged 13mpg but they "drove it like valets on crystal meth." As long as she isnt too hard on the accelerator the MDS allows for 22-27 on the highway(shuts down four cylinders).

I thought briefly about the pacifica but its too small for an SUV and my mom thought it was really ugly. I was pushing for a durango but she said its too hard to manuver, so it is between this and the outback 3.0R, but I don't like subarus too much.

You think the Hemi is bad, check out the new SRT-8, but it doesnt offer AWD

 

 

What do you guys think when it comes between a loaded outback 3.0R and a loaded magnum(car)?

 

Get an Outback. The Magnum is a Dodge and it won't last as long as the Outback and with gas prices right now, the Outback is more economical.

Is a Hemi REALLY necessary?? I don't think so.

 

Push gas aside... Then what?

Keep in mind we would get a great deal on the dodge caravan trade in. The prices pretty much break even before trade in between the magnum and outback.

 

How long does she keep her cars? If she drives them until the wheels fall off the Subie will last longer. If she trades in every 4 or 5 years who cares if the Dodge won't last as long as the Outback.

 

I like the way the Magnums look. But I would probably go with the Outback or the BMW 3 series wagon if she has the cash.

 

I think the 3 and outback may be too small, she doesnt have the dough for the 3 loaded.

Anyway

We are probably going to be getting a dodge magnum as our next vehicle, and dodge does not offer HID lighting. I am looking for a reliable company to order an upgrade kit from for 400-500 dollars. Technically speaking i guess it would not be HID as it would not have the projection system, just a replacement xenon bulb(4300k) and ballast.I am currently looking at xenonpros.com, anyone have experience with them? I am not sure when we are getting the car(assuming jan or feb) and am not sure after that how much convincing from my father this will take, though I am sure I can convince him it is a "safety issue."

http://www.xenonpros.com/philips4300k.html
Which of those kits will give me what I want, (I believe Bi-xenon, but could be incorrect)

I would have posted on the magnum forum but its kind of a ghost town there.

 

No you won't . Dodge Caravans have the WORST trade in values. They are a dime a dozen. The closer to 60k you are the less you'll get.

 

The Magnum is a great wagon. But so is the outback.

The Outback is NOT too small unless you are talking about the Outback Sport...which still isnt that small.

Kid....go look at these cars and learn something from real life expierence for once.

 

our dealer offered as KBB value, 7k

 

And what year is it, you consider 7k to be a sweet deal...

 

for an 01 with 65k miles that we get for maybe thrice that. I never said sweet deal, I said great deal, and for this car, I consider that a pretty good deal. the guy was like, well, we will take off 500 for the bumper being replaced. My dad says to him, cmon, that costs you 50 bucks, and the guy caved. That was last year when they offered as 9.5, the warranty is almost out and we have had 5k in warranty work done with problems constantly popping up.

 

we traded in our Grand Caravan for about 4k. It was a '97 with 93k miles.

 

thats decent, considering it was four years older with nearly 50% more mileage. When did you trade and for what?

We had a 97 green grand caravan, my mother totaled it.

 

These kits are ILLEGAL in every state for onroad use, they're only for offroad use. Many have been taken off the market for this reason. It really pisses me off when people use these "kits." The headlight housings for non-HID cars are not designed for the extra light output of HID's. That's part of the reason all these POS civics and such blind the F*ck out of you on the streets. If you want HID's, then buy a car that comes with the from the factory.

 

nice rant, but I think I will still try to convince my father to pay for the kit. I don't plan on going to kansas anytime soon so you're safe.

About POS civics, a Benz dealer was talking to me the other day and he basically made a great point. he said when people crash and are killed in them he isn't really surprised, they arent designed for those high speeds and when you fill them with more money in parts than you payed for the car and make it do twice or more what it'sintended to do, thats the result you get...But these AMGs....

backing away from regression now

 

sweet I saw the Srt8 magnum at the car show and it look so damn sweet. But the regular one with hemi is awesome to.

 

the hemi runs only on 4 cylinders when commuting

 

Jayhawk is right. The HID kits are illegal. BTW, I never knew that headlights make Civics faster or cause the people driving them to crash and kill themselves. I test drove an '05 Grand Cherokee with a HEMI...wasn't too impressed. Now the SRT-8... I'd like to get my hands on one of those.

 

Dude, you didnt know that headlights, stickers, and loud speakers added boat loads of HP?

If it didnt have the MDS it would get really, really, bad mileage, instead it just gets bad BUT suitable milage. If the SRT8 offered AWD I would push for it, but that thing doesnt have MDS so the milage must be below 10 city(not gonna bother to look it up).

We rented a durango with a hemi and that thing had some get up and go, 0-60 in under 8, and you could definatly feel the passing power(not quite like the TL, but a BIG step up from the minivan). I saw a grand cheroke SRT8 at the auto show, looked neat , but I still hate jeep for keeping live axles in all there vehicles.

I am considering taking an HID mod chance if I get the OK from my dads wallet.