Daily Driver - WRX or Charger R/T?

OK - so it's time to replace my current daily driver.  Some background - I'm self employed and do a lot of highway driving - about 30K miles a year.  Because of this, leasing is not an option for me and I typically buy low mileage used cars that still have their factory warranty.  In 2017 I traded my 6 speed Mazda 6 touring in on a 2016 Charger R/T with 6K miles.  The R/T now has 75K miles on it and it's time to replace it.

I've narrowed my choices down to two cars local to me - a 2018 Charger R/T with 3K miles and a 2019 WRX (base) also with 3K miles.  I test drove a WRX when I got rid of the Mazda 6 and I wasn't overly thrilled with it - but I know I'd get used to it just like I did with the R/T.

I feel like I should try something different, but the R/T has been such a great car.  I do live in Central PA so winters can be tough and RWD isn't ideal (I have a set of 18 inch wheels and dedicated snow tires for the R/T and made it everywhere I needed to go with no real problems).  Obviously the AWD WRX would be a better winter car.  The R/T has had zero problems and the only costs have been regular maintenance and tires.  It's getting around 26 mpg on the highway.  Not sure how reliable the current WRX's are?

Any input?

It's not AWD that makes a better winter car. It's the tires. I'll take proper winter tires over AWD every time. 

You weren't overly thrilled with the WRX, and you've already got a set of winter shoes for A Charger....

I'd pick the Charger R/T. It's a much better highway bomber by far, and will honestly get about the same MPG's, give or take a couple. With dedicated snows, it should get to where you need to go. The last current-gen WRX I drove was a step up from the older cars I owned, but still underwhelming in a lot of ways.

I'd go with the Charger out of those two.

Doesn't the Charger/Challenger/C300 offer an AWD model (if you feel so inclined that you want awd)?  

John Welsh said:

Doesn't the Charger/Challenger/C300 offer an AWD model (if you feel so inclined that you want awd)?  

They do - but the AWD is only available as a V6.  Which is odd because you can buy an AWD Durango with the 5.7.

FWIW, a few years ago, I sold my WRX wagon and replaced it with a Magnum RT (you know, the Charger wagon). Much more comfort in the highway. 

pontiacstogo said:

John Welsh said:

Doesn't the Charger/Challenger/C300 offer an AWD model (if you feel so inclined that you want awd)?  

They do - but the AWD is only available as a V6.  Which is odd because you can buy an AWD Durango with the 5.7.

They used to have an AWD v8 charger back when they first started selling them, it was slower than the RWD version because of something dumb to do with the merc awd setup

John Welsh said:

Doesn't the Charger/Challenger/C300 offer an AWD model (if you feel so inclined that you want awd)?  

V6 only, I think.

Check the insurance rates on the WRX before you really get down that path. Personally I could not do that many highway miles in a WRX and would chose a charger. 

For the same money a nice used Lexus with good tires would be the way I would go. 

30K miles a year is a pretty good pile of time behind the wheel.  I'd get the more comfortable car with the more relaxed engine.

Also see the Lexus comment above.

Wanted to thank everyone for their input.  While I've thoroughly enjoyed the Charger, I placed an order for a white 2020 WRX Premium today.  In the end I just couldn't bring myself to buy the same car again - life is too short.  It's a couple of weeks before the WRX comes in but I'll post some thoughts once it arrives and again after have a few miles on it.

So long Charger - you gave me 70K problem free and fun miles and you will be missed!

That Charger looks like one of those black plain cop cars or ones with black lettering that you don't see until you get pulled over. 

I'm on a 5 year reimbursement plan for my work car.  In my mind I go to the end and max out the vehicle to 150,000 miles.  My 2016 truck also has 75,000 but I never thought to change.  
 

What are your thoughts on why you only go 3 years or so?  Depreciation?  Maintenance?  Reliability? Boredom? Cost per mile?

Yeah, why 'replace' a car after 70,000 miles? Isn't that kind of wasteful?

Datsun310Guy said:

I'm on a 5 year reimbursement plan for my work car.  In my mind I go to the end and max out the vehicle to 150,000 miles.  My 2016 truck also has 75,000 but I never thought to change.  
 

What are your thoughts on why you only go 3 years or so?  Depreciation?  Maintenance?  Reliability? Boredom? Cost per mile?

Combination of things really.  Most powertrain warranties run out at the 60K mile mark but I'm OK with pushing past that a little if the car's not showing any sign of problems (the Charger feels the same to me now as when I first bought it).  It's been my experience that around 70 to 80K is when some maintenance items start to come into play - brakes etc. I also feel that's when the depreciation really starts to drop off steeply.  At 80 or 90K it probably starts to become more economical to just keep the car and deal with any repairs or problems.

My last four or five cars have been 1 to 2 years old with low mileage but I was finding that WRX's in that category were not that much cheaper than simply buying a new one.  The WRX is the first new car I've ever purchased.  I should be driving an appliance (Camry etc.) but I spend so much time in the car that I like it to be enjoyable as well.

Welp - it's different....

pontiacstogo said:

Welp - it's different....

They do look sharp in white, how do you like it?

Charger. 
 

this coming from someone who bought wrx limited brand new in 2016, and it had to be lemon. 

engiekev said:

They do look sharp in white, how do you like it?

I'm only a couple of hundred miles in so far - but it's starting to grow on me.  I test drove one back in 2017 before I went with the Charger and I didn't really like it - at the time it felt cheap and underwhelming (I was coming from a six speed Mazda 6).  This time around, it felt much better on the test drive - I can't really explain why as I don't believe they've changed much over the years.

It's not an easy car to drive smoothly.  I've even stalled it a couple of times.  Clutch engagement seems odd to me, and initial throttle tip-in is touchy.  I'm getting better at it as I put more miles on.  It's definitely fun to be driving a nimble manual over a heavy automatic.  Glad I went with the premium over the base - the heated seats, fog lights and 18 inch wheels are nice to have (though the engineer that picked the location for the heated seat switches needs a stern talking to).

The ride is firmer than the Charger, and road noise is more pronounced in the WRX.  The audio system in the Charger had a much better sound to it, and there isn't a lot of storage space in the interior compared with the Charger. These are just differences so far though and not annoyances.  I've not encountered anything yet that's made me second guess my decision to go with the WRX over the Charger.

mr2s2000elise said:

this coming from someone who bought wrx limited brand new in 2016, and it had to be lemon. 

Oh sure - tell me this now! 

pontiacstogo said:

It's not an easy car to drive smoothly.  I've even stalled it a couple of times.  Clutch engagement seems odd to me, and initial throttle tip-in is touchy.  I'm getting better at it as I put more miles on.

Had my 2018 WRX for over a year, and still having to work to shift from 1-2 smoothly.  I think its a combo of the wide gap between the two gears, and the horrendous rev hang the engine has.  If I keep it past the warranty, I'm getting a tune just to get rid of the rev hang.

I struggle at times to drive my 2015 WRX smoothly. I have to be unusually patient shifting to let the revs drop sufficiently to avoid any jerking. I hear an accessport can help make driving smoother.

When I drove a friend's then-new 2018 WRX Premium, I found it to be hard to drive smoothly as well. The old ones were the same way, but these felt even worse! It was damn near impossible to make a clean 1-2 shift. Rev hang was definitely an issue; the new ones still hang as much as my old 2009 WRX did. A tune should take care of that, but still, it's annoying.

Speaking of annoying... the radio was awful. Subaru has a rich history of putting crappy radios in their cars, and this one may have been the worst of all. It would change stations on its own, and erase the radio memory when you shut the car off, but only sometimes. Hopefully that's just a software fix that they have since released, but again, it was annoying.

Part of me that's still nostalgic for my old 2002 wagon liked it anyway despite the issues, but after driving this one, I've crossed them off my list for future daily driver consideration. It was just annoying to drive compared to other cars like it. Hope you have better luck with it than my friend did: he ditched it within a year!