The Dodge Magnum is one of the most underrated cars of our time. A car sharing quite a few components with the Mercedes E-Class, it was a rear-wheel drive, V8 wagon that was legitimately reliable, legitimately practical, and legitimately beautiful. And yet, history has completely forgotten about it, and I think part of that has to do with three nasty letters that spoiled the entire DaimlerChrysler merger: MCM.
When I did my internship at Chrysler back in 2012, those three letters still echoed through the halls of the Chrysler Technical Center in Auburn Hills, often sending engineering veterans into bouts of heavy sobbing and weeping, many having to either go home early or recover via hugs from fellow enginerds.
It stands for Material Cost Management, and it was a philosophy that squeezed suppliers and forced the company to pinch pennies in the worst way possible: Saving on Class A surfaces.
Class A surfaces are parts of a car that a customer sees and touches. Generally, Class A surfaces are considered sacred, and not the place to try to save money, as trying to do so will affect how the general public perceives the vehicle. DaimlerChrysler didn’t care, and in the early 2000s pushed its team to reduce cost pretty much everywhere, leading some Chrysler employees to refer to MCM as “Make Customers Mad.”
Twenty years later, MCM is still doing that, as I reviewed a 2005 Dodge Magnum — a rear-wheel drive, 5.7-liter Hemi powered wagon with a great powertrain, tons of space, and even more style — and find myself pretty happy but also pretty mad. The Magnum is a vehicle that, in the annals of auto history, should shine bright, and yet it doesn’t. Thanks a lot, “Merger Of Equals.”
I was excited to get behind the wheel of this machine recently traded into Galpin Honda. I had always loved the Magnum; it even had a poster of the SRT-8 version on my wall when I was a kid. So when I saw that the trade-in was an RT trim, equipped with the 5.7-liter V8, I was pumped. I was marginally less pumped when I saw what shape this one was in, with faded paint, yellowed headlights, cracked exterior rubber trim, and an interior that was already trash when it was new and is a lot worse 20 years later.
And when I say “trash,” I’m not trying to be mean; I’m being literal. When Car & Driver reviewed a Dodge Magnum back in 2006, one of its writers said:
I think garbage cans are made out of the same plastic as the Magnum’s interior.
Like I said: trash. And what happens when you leave trash out in the SoCal heat for decades? Nothing good. Check out the dashboard vents just popping out:
When I turned the key, the motor fired up quickly; I hit the road, and right away remarked how nice I found the ride quality. That long wheelbase and those soft springs give the Magnum a cushy ride. Mating that ride with a powerful, grunty motor, a competent and reliable Mercedes-sourced A580 transmission, and those sleek wagon looks just gives the Magnum a chill, cruiser vibe that I love.
Never mind that my Magnum’s AC didn’t work, and that the entire front suspension was making horrible clunking noises and clearly needed new bushings/struts. What mattered, to me at least, was that powertrain, and it felt divine. Even after all these years, that HEMI and that A580 five-speed auto are a true match made in heaven. The shifts were perfect, the engine was powerful and growly — I loved it.
But it’s not just that Hemi that makes the Dodge Magnum such an epic machine, it’s the ridiculous amount of room inside:
There were other quality issues like the gas filler hose disconnecting from the body, and just a generally terrible overall exterior condition. But if I’m being honest, I still love the Dodge Magnum. I love the way it looks (awesome), the way it rides (smooth as silk), the way it sounds (burbly), and the amount of stuff it fits (it’ll fit a whole general store).
It came from an era in which many automotive interiors were horrible, but unfortunately, DaimlerChrysler was among the worst offenders. And thus, one of the coolest cars Chrysler ever built will never get the credit it deserves. The V8, rear-wheel drive wagon with a stout transmission and sharp good looks can be purchased these for only a five grand. The car deserved so much better.
The Magnum’s siblings, the 300, Charger, and Challenger, went on to live long, prosperous lives, with nice interiors and more powerful motors. But the Dodge Magnum’s life ended too soon in 2008, a final model-year that brought a rare, single model year-only design:
Sadly, that 2008, even with its HEMI heart of gold, had a Fisher Price interior.
I don’t know if you have ever driven Chrysler 300C Touring that was built in Graz, Austria for the European market. The build and material quality was far better than Dodge Magnum that I drove in Denver.
MCM – Makin’ cars mediocre”
This also makes me think of Macrodata Refinement. Both seem like places where dreams die.
Also, I’m not trying to flex up in here but I find my rubbermaid garage can to be quite robust and well wearing. If anythign, I want more things made from its plastic.
Sat in one once at a car show when it was new. The roof pillars were hilariously oversized on the interior, making visibility terrible. Presumably another cost-saving measure, using cheap steel on the structure so they had to make everything bulkier to be strong enough.
A neighbour of mine has a UK market Chrysler badged version of this car, and maintains it in seemingly excellent condition. I’ve never talked to the owner about it, or even seen the car move, but it appears to still be in regular use (as it’s constantly changing orientation within their front yard, and is sometimes not there at all). It has excellent presence; very eyecatching in the light.
I had one of these as a company car in the GE Fleet spec (2.7L/4A). Even discounting the drivetrain, the car was miserable. We concurrently owned a Jetta wagon that had far more cargo capacity and was far more enjoyable to drive. The perk with the Magnum is that my wife or I could drive it and the company would pay for fuel and insurance, even for personal use. The Jetta racked up over 25,000 miles in the first year that I had possession of that Magnum. The Dodge accumulated less than 4,000 miles in the same time frame.
Ironically, I loved the basic chassis and would choose a Dodge Charger at the rental fleet quite often, but this was a decade later when my primary car was a rental and they made innumerable improvements over those years.
It could have so much better with a lower belt line and a taller greenhouse. These back quarterlight windows are ridiculous.
I proudly own an 06 Magnum RT as my wife’s daily driver and it’s awesome. It’s a fantastic GT car that is just the right rear gearing away from tapping into it’s German cousin’s Autobahn capability.
That being said, everything that ailed the car David drove also ails mine. I keep thinking that these will become collector cars sometime so I refuse to get rid of it.
The wagon capability is basically unmatched, sometimes I’ll take it instead of the truck to pickup furniture just because the enclosed area is taller (tonneau on the truck)
Aaaaghh!! I was an engineer at Chrysler in the mid-2000s, working on PM/MK/PT/JS/JC and the interiors were more trash than the entire run of Jersey Shore put together. It was beyond me how anybody in management could have thought that was acceptable.
That entire L platform ate through control arms. I had an ’05 300 and my brother had an ’06 Charger. It was almost an annual service to replace the front control arms (not the a arms but the single rear position control arm in the front suspension set up).
Otherwise I agree with everything else said about this. Interiors are plastic (even on my 300), but huge space. Good powertrain. Unfortunately abused by most owners. I’m always in the market for an L platform vehicle, but most are beat to hell and/or modified
I see a Magnum every now and then; I had wondered why they seemed to be so rare. :\
I really liked these cars and almost bought one, but the cheap interior, low seating position, and low roofline kept me away.
The Magnum dash board was the epitome of cheap – just a sea of the ugliest plastic imaginable. Rarely seeing them around the roads these days suggests the cheapo interior wasn’t the only problem with these cars. They looked cool though.
Our friendly contractor had an SRT Magnum that was sweet…until you saw the interior.
Still these can look the business with a Charger front end (Chargum!) which requires custom front fenders.
https://www.motorious.com/articles/all/learn-about-dodge-chargums/
I prefer the Challenger front-end swaps, the lines seem to flow better.
If I had one (extremely unlikely) and a boatload of spare money (also extremely unlikely), I’d turn it over to a buddy who does custom body work, and have him swap in the Durango “racetrack” taillights along with the Challenger front-end swap.
As for the interior, I’d see about what things 3D printing and fabric work could come up with for a “skeletal” or “structural” look, so that the garbage plastic is gone, but there’s still a layer of sound deadening and body-color painted surfaces inside instead.
The front end on these is… unfortunate. Until 2008 anyway, then it suddenly looks properly good, just in time to get the axe.
I read the C/D review David linked and… Wow. The stupid modifications those guys had done to that thing!
Personally, I thought the Magnum looked pretty weird when they came out but now, I smile a little bit inside when I see one still rolling around here.
Wowee. I happened to have a coworker with one of these babies and she drove me once to a meeting – this was like 15 years ago easily. It was a shitty interior then, and I can’t imagine how bad it’s gotten now.
Thought these were very cool when they came out but I was like 20 at the time so not even close to being the financial cards for me.
Finally drove got a chance to drive a purple! Charger Daytona (2nd gen though) on Turo last year when I went with a few buddies to spectate Petit LeMans at Road Atlanta. In every way a modern muscle car, the motor dominated the car, though it handled surprisingly well on windy county back roads, but man did the rest of it feel cheap and crappy-think early ’00s Hyundai. Maybe it had lived a hard life but man did that car feel tired with 150K on the clock. All that being said a couple of us still checked prices on used ones because if you can ignore the faults they’re big dumb fun in a way that mostly doesn’t exist anymore (especially in a 4 door package.)
So in this case, if you put it on Pimp My Ride, it might end up with a better interior? Wild.
I remember going to a Dodge dealership to check out the Magnum back in the day, and it was the lack of load space that made me walk away pretty much immediately. I love wagons, but it was a half-hearted package.
But I always thought it would be cool to make a Chagnum, a Magnum with a Charger nose. I assume it would just bolt on.
I’ve seen it done. They’re called a “Chargum” Sadly, it’s not just a bolt-on. You have to cut the front half from the charger fender and weld it onto the back half of the Magnum fender. But, I’ve heard that someone might be making fiberglass fenders for the conversion.
The 300 front end IS a bolt on. Chryser sold them in Europe as the “300 Estate”.
I remember the 300 estates. That’s part of what encouraged my thinking. Shame it’s not as easy as I hoped. Not that I was ever going to do it anyway, I’d rather have a wagon with a little more space, like a Subaru or Volvo of the same era.
But, a Subaru or Volvo won’t have a HEMI! 🙂
No, but a Volvo wagon with an LS is not an unknown thing. I’ll accept it!
The charger front does just bolt on, but it doesn’t match the doors. That’s why modified fenders are used.
Sadly, that 2008, even with its HEMI heart of gold, had a Fisher Price interior.
Careful – Fisher-Price might have grounds for a libel suit. Having raised kids and been witness to toddlers’ capacity for destruction, I’m pretty sure that an interior designed and built by Fisher-Price would weather a lot better than whatever Chrysler was slapping together in the 2000s.
I remember as a teenager trying to remove the head from a fisher price person- did not succeed
I always liked these too, because wagon. But until today, my reservations about Magnums (other than the interior quality/design and of course, Chrysler) were mainly about the low roofline in back, which would seem to limit both cargo space and access. However, in one of the photos above, I see that the rear hatch goes up into the roof itself, which makes for a bigger opening, solving at least one of those potential problems.
I was shocked that I didn’t see a Magnum (AFAICR) at the Wagonfest that Autopian participated in at the Petersen Museum the other month.
I bought an ’06 Charger RT in 2016 (almost exactly the same as a Magnum inside). It had 127K miles and the engine had been replaced, so I figured I had found a really good deal. And it was. For less than $10k I had leather, heated seats, and more creature comforts than I had ever had in a car. It’s still the most “modern” car I’ve ever daily driven. Yeah, the interior was full of cheap plastic that liked to warp. The bigger problem was (like every Chrysler I’ve owned), it was possessed by electrical demons. The “lightning bolt of doom” would flash on the dashboard without warning, sending the car into limp mode and then going back to normal without offering up any reason why it happened. I replaced the computer and sold it before any more dash lights went off. I didn’t hate the car – the Hemi was outstanding and that transmission was quite good. Also – and I know this sounds weird – I kind of enjoyed the cylinder deactivation. When the rest of the engine kicked in it felt like a sudden turbo boost. Plus I dug having heated seats, but I also missed shifting gears and a clutch and I always felt like the thing was on borrowed time. And it made a lot of weird noises when you flexed the front suspension even though it kept passing state inspection.
I snagged me a 2006 Magnum SRT8 in 2013 with 98K miles on it. The interior was a bit low rent, but I got used to it pretty quickly. The car I bought was pretty well taken care of by the previous owners. It had the suspension issues that are common to the LX platform, so the entire front suspension was replaced. But it was such a great and fun car. Threw a Borla exhaust on it and the engine just sang when you mashed the loud pedal. Did a 300C SRT8 front end swap on it (video linked below) for a few years. The swap was a direct bolt on, since the Magnum and 300 shared the doors/body lines.
When I sold it after getting my 2023 300C, it had 232K miles on it and you wouln’t be able to tell based on how it looked.
Front End Swap video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEjNnp-jayc
Rad swap, bruddah