[The Knight Rider]

New to this forum, but visit once in a while. Have been driving Hondas for the last 20 years. They are not perfect but overall they have been great cars and have given us very few problems. I have a v6 accord right now that is problem free for the most part, but Hondas quality isnt as good as before. Looking at getting rid of this accord and getting into a cool car like the ss or scat pack; 2017 models.

I have been reading everything I can about these 2 cars. Lets put aside which one looks better, performs better, is faster and the such. If we focus just on the build quality and long term reliablity, which one is the better built car and would be more reliable if one wanted to keep it for as long as possible? I am looking at things like paint and metal quality, frequencies of break downs , part quality, etc.

These cars are very expensive and I am afraid of getting a lemon that will have to be in the mechanics more than on the road. I read about horrible dodge quality and cr has them as the dead last worst quality of all car makers. I am not sure about chevy, still researching. Only bought one new american car in my life, 95 ford taurus. Was nice for five years and then every single thing went on the car. Had to get rid of it and lost a lot of money.

So, what is better built between the ss vs. Challenger? Can we say they are the same in this regard? I would love to hear from someone who has experince with both. I know people say any car can have problems, while this is true if you look at a large sample of cars, a consistent trend can be made out. Thanks.

[FastCarFanBoy]

[Chadicus]

Just drive them both and get the one you like the most. You can find faults and flaws with any car. Also since this a camaro forum you are likely to read how horrible and awful every car but a Camaro is..

[Ecchi667]

I had a 2015 Dodge Charger R/T Road and Track previously, which I traded for my 2016 Chevrolet Camaro 2SS. I was actually intending to buy a 2016 Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pak, but I got a better deal with Chevy so went for the Camaro. I love both cars, and would love to have both.

The 2015 Charger R/T I had was a great car. The only thing I recall going wrong with it was that the Sat Nav would sometimes lose it's place and suddenly think I was driving through the middle of a field/lake/whatever was about 50 - 100 feet off the side of the road I was actually on. Very annoying issue, but probably easily resolved with a software upgrade or something. I only kept that car for about seven months, but my reasons were that I was on a bad finance deal and it was cheaper to switch to something else, and my number one gripe with that car - it had an open diff. No such issue on the Scat Pak as they have LSDs. The R/T Challenger also has an LSD, but the Charger doesn't get one until you hit Scat Pak level. Odd, but there you go. I think I put about 12000 miles on the car before trading it, but it may have been a little more.

Switching to the Camaro, I'd say the Camaro is actually a car much better suited to my tastes, but I feel I'd be about as happy in a Challenger Scat Pak. They both sound great, both have the same sort of pull, and both look great, too. The Camaro has the Challenger beat on cornering, but the Challenger is still plenty of fun going sideways. Both cars are great for that - although, if you're coming from a Honda that probably isn't you thing anyway.

As far as reliability with the Camaro so far - well, the brake rotors have warped twice (not a major issue, but I intend to swap the Brembos out before long anyway), the paint certainly appears to be easy to scuff/scratch, and the entertainment screen occasionally decides to quit on me (need to get it checked out, but it's very intermittent and only occurs if I've been driving for a few hours and then shut the car off (say at a gas station) and start it up again. Occasionally the screen stays black. Turn the car off for a few minutes again, then back on, and the screen works - pretty strange, some sort of heat issue I'd assume). I've experienced nothing that makes me want to get rid of the car, that's for sure.

I have almost 25000 miles on the Camaro and am coming up to one year of ownership (bought new off the dealer lot).

Really I think you just need to drive both and see which feels best to you. The Camaro *should* be more reliable in theory, but I can't imagine there is really much in it. My Camaro has a manual transmission which feels right for this car. The Scat Pak I was going to buy was an auto, and that felt right for that car. The Challenger/Charger is probably a better highway cruiser, but the Camaro will be more fun if you're more of a corner carver.

Either way, they're both great cars - I wouldn't hesitate to buy either if I was looking to go new again already, although I'd be looking to go faster this time around with either a ZL1 or Hellcat.

[68fbjjz109]

I have fair amount of technical insight to both of these vehicles. I actually have both of them at work right now.

FCA does have their issues but GM is far from a saint. With the Challenger you looking at a very very mature platform. With a well sorted powertrain. So you shouldn't have any major reliability surprises. Unless you are looking at early ones with some shifter issues.

The Camaro's alpha platform is newer, however it has gone through a series of designer reviews prior to production, in spite alot Camaro specific changes. The powertrain has proven to be pretty reliable, but there are not a ton of high mileage Camaros on the road, unlike the dinosaur Challenger.

On the interior side, FCA is known for over contenting, and generous use of soft touch, and skin and foam within interior panels. That interior has also been in production for some time. So time is on their side. FCA's U Connect infotainment is also considered to be on of the best in the industry.

The Camaro interior has not been in production nearly as long as the FCA "L" platform, and there is some examples of past "GM" interior short falls.

I don't know alot of interior people at GM, however I know alot of interior and lighting people at FCA. They took past comparisons of their interior panels to Coleman coolers to heart, and their content level is much higher at lower levels, and they have some pretty stringent internal specs. FCA in my opinion has some of the best DRL lighting in the industry, and their gaps to fender interfaces are pretty tight; and the shit they sweat suppliers over is pretty high in comparison to Ford and GM.

I shit you not their are interior trim pieces in a SCAT pack car that cost more than the comparable system on a 2SS. FCA is most certainly the company of bling.

Personally I don't think you can go wrong with either, however one has most certainly been in production longer. I am more performance oriented so I favor the Camaro. If you where looking at some other FCA products I would say stay away.

[bybcous]

I have a second child on the way and have been thinking of switching to a charger scat pack, but I'm afraid I will be losing to much performance as well as losing money on the camaro. The only upside I can see at this point is having a large back seat.

[WhyUMad1LE]

You shouldn't buy an American-made car if you want top notch build quality. For that, look at Lexus GS-F made in Japan or E63 AMG made in Germany.

If you want something comparable to your Accord, my dad had a 2016 V6 Touring and the Camaro is about the same in terms of panel gaps. Camaro touchscreen is way better.

He had some problems with a DRL not lighting up (fixed under warranty), passenger side window not working, auto dimming door mirrors stuck in dim mode, mpg display dissappearing and just showing a black box. By contrast my 02 Acura went to 140k with just a timing belt and motor mounts. The Accord had thicker paint though.

[Zodiac]

Originally Posted by bybcous

I have a second child on the way and have been thinking of switching to a charger scat pack, but I'm afraid I will be losing to much performance as well as losing money on the camaro. The only upside I can see at this point is having a large back seat.

Congrats on the new member of the family! It seems we kinda rotate around the same cars. I would recommend the scat pack to anyone. Unless you want a large aftermarket....

[bybcous]

Originally Posted by Zodiac

Congrats on the new member of the family! It seems we kinda rotate around the same cars. I would recommend the scat pack to anyone. Unless you want a large aftermarket....

Is the aftermarket not the large for them, can you direct me to a good forum to learn about them.

[Zodiac]

Originally Posted by bybcous

Is the aftermarket not the large for them, can you direct me to a good forum to learn about them.

You have chargerforums and lxforums. Neither are as big as either the Camaro or Mustang forums. Aftermarket is nowhere near Mustang/Camaro levels but there is some. Obviously headers/exhaust/CAI/cams/superchargers etc, just not tons of options across them.

To be honest I've never had a car stay stock as long as I've had my Charger, since usually I have an exhaust before I get the car lol.

[init4fun]

Not trying to knock the Camaro as I love driving my car when it's acting correctly which is has not been doing lately. Bought my car back at the end of March and I haven't had too much to complain about other than some "what the hell were they thinking" design elements.

Panels all seem to fit nicely, Paint is good, interior is perfect but with all that said I've starting finding things lately. I installed the BMR twin tube strut tower brace a couple of weeks back and noticed that the strut bolts were so loose you could almost back them out by hand. Took a socket and extension to other various bolts under the hood and found a bunch of bolts loose enough to turn by hand. Not a good feeling.

Took pictures and noted the ones I found and called my local dealer to have the car gone over. After two days they gave me the car back and said they couldn't find anything loose. Interestingly I went back to the bolts I reported and by some act of god they are tight.

then last week I started hearing what sounded like I was driving over a rumble strip in the car. I could feel it in the pedals and the tach was fluctuating a couple hundred RPM when it would happen. The transmission also seemed "confused" at times and didn't know which gear to be in. Steady throttle getting up to speed it would hunt up and down often going from what I felt was 3rd to 4th then back down again.

Good news on that issue is that the dealer said GM approved a torque converter replacement and a re-flash for the transmission. We'll see how that goes.

I will say that the quality of my 50th is miles ahead of my 45th which spent weeks at the dealer over the first 6 months I owned it. Truth be told I don't think the Scat pack is any better or worse than the Camaro. Seems that neither of them (or the Mustang) are very good cars quality wise but they are fun to drive. Personally I'd just make sure you always have a back up car. For the record my car has 1270 miles on it so yeah i'm kinda bitter.