Hello all. This is my first post here. I am from Minneapolis, MN. I currently drive a 2006 Nissan Altima 2.5S. Recently somebody ran into my car and it has been in the body shop for about 1 week now. I recieved a 2008 Dodge Magnum SE as a rental/loaner car. I have always loved the way that they look, but have never driven one. After spending the last week with one, I am seriously considering trading my Altima for a Magnum. I have driven Sebrings, Avengers, and PT Cruisers and have never been impressed with Dodge/Chrysler. But with the LX platformed-cars, the collaboration with Mercedes-Benz is very apparent.

I have learned from past car buying experiences that internet forums are the best source of information when shopping for a car. With that out of the way, I have a couple questions I am hoping this board can help me out with:

1) Sometimes when I start the car, the electronics don't work such as the radio, HVAC, power windows, etc... I just turn the car off and back on and all is well. Is this just isolated to this particular car? Or is it a problem that plaques Magnums as a whole?

2) The rental/loaner that I am currently driving has the 2.7L V6; that engine is far too small for a car is in the neighborhood of 4,000 lbs. I figure the 3.5L V6 would be best for me. I am wondering if the 3.5 is the same engine from the Dodge Intrepids that had oiling problems. If so, has this been corrected? (I believe the problem was that the oil pick-up straw was too short and mounted in the front of the oil pan; so when the car accelerated, the oil shifted to the rear of the oil pan, thus starving the engine of oil. And nearly all Intrepids I see on the road spit-out smoke with a blue hue when accelerating.)

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

 

If you can afford it - get a R/T Magnum. The milage, if your concerned with that, is not that much different from the V6. I have to agree that the 2.7 is too small for the LX platform.

I have a R/T Charger and when I put a Superchip Flashpack on it the gas milage actually incresed about 3 to 4 mpg.

I havent heard that paticular thing on the LXs but these are computer controlled to the max and things can go wrong.

 

Sometimes when I start the car, the electronics don't work such as the radio, HVAC, power windows, etc... I just turn the car off and back on and all is well. Is this just isolated to this particular car? Or is it a problem that plaques Magnums as a whole?

I have the same problems with mine sometimes
plus sometimes mine doesnt want to shift out of Park once i was stuck for about 45 minutes and the Dealer wont fix it unless they can reproduce it

 

Get yourself a MAGNUM; you won't be dissapointed, although don't get the 2.7 only because too little power that heavy of a car! I have an 06 SRT8 and both me and the wife love it, so just this past week we bought her a 06 SXT with the 3.5L. (I am extremely impressed with the 3.5, especially after owning the SRT. I thought I wouldn't be happy with anything less than the RT. I WAS WRONG!) Come on over to "CUSTOMMAGNUMS.COM" and check all the info about magnums. Tell 'em that "NOTPAID4MSRT" sent ya! Your all welcome!! And you'll love it there... It's all about MAGNUMS! Jim