Would this be a good first car for a teenager?

Hmm? Let's see...A sporty, rear wheel drive car with with a 3.5 L V6 or 5.7 L V8 engine AND made by Dodge (not a very reliable brand, overall)? Even if you were an adult, I'd tell you to avoid this car, but being a teen makes matters worse (high insurance and poor reliability). Keep looking dude....

Very good article indeed, Tom. I was so focused on the Dodge being a bad choice that I didn't offer up any sensible choices. Excerpt from about article: Based on the IIHS guidelines and crash test results reported at www.iihs.org, late model cars that parents should consider include the Buick LeSabre, Chevrolet Lumina, Ford Taurus (or its twin, the Mercury Sable), Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, Subaru Legacy and Volkswagen Passat as well as others of similar size that come with modern safety equipment and have scored well in crash-test ratings. ====Mason...I'd VERY strongly suggest that you put a few more years of driving experience under your belt, focus on driving under various conditions and later you'll be much better equipped at handling something like a Dodge Charger (but again, I'd avoid that car...yes it's cheap to buy, but you'll regret all the time it spends at the mechanic making HIM money....Take it from someone who helped financed their mechanic's kids education with money I gave him to fix a '87 Pontiac Fiero!====

My daughter had one for several years and loved it, with no problems of any kind. Good mileage in 5.7 hemi, great performance, tight body, great seats, attractive car with good handling for a large car like that. We have a 2006 Chrysler 300C 5.7 hemi and it has been a great, awesome car. Very fast and rides/handles great. Just don't get the SRT8 if you want decent gas mileage. The car does okay in mpg, but YOU won't because your foot will be glued to the floor to either FEEL the power or HEAR the power of the "big hemi". The SRT's are even more awesome than the small hemi cars, but alas, gas mileage and perfromance driving are mutually exclusive concepts.

2 door, big engine, RWD, horrible reliability and huge insurance premiums considering the age of the driver and the type of car. Lousy gas mileage. Let's see.... Ummmm Not really.

There's an AWD version, too, and the reviews out there are stellar about the handling and control. It's also a hugely popular car with fleets such as law enforcement which, if it were unreliable, wouldn't be the case. This car is not a Fiero. Most of us have elbows, opinions and navels. Probably not a bad idea to be informed about other people's navels before assuming the information you have about yours qualifies you as an expert.

I just bought the 3.6 l penstar sxt version. I'm no expert but from what I understand if law enforcement takes pride in these cars then so can we. With 290 hp and awd package it is sure to fit your performance needs. I get 26 mpg on the highway and 19 through city. Driving this thing is unreal especially if you live around snow. Give it a shot.

I love Chargers. But, as a teenager's first car....no way dude. Wait till your 30s when you have a boatload of driving experiences and the effects of testosterone are more manageable.

I looked at the same car...INSURANCE IS TERRIBLE GET SOMETHING ELSE!!!!!! ps I'm 26 with no tickets or so much as a warning...

Just do your research. There are people who love dodge and will have nothing but good things to say, and people love chevy, Toyota, and so on and on and on....don't listen to people who tell you a particular brand or model is junk. The people that give you advice based off of what they "heard" or read in a article will suddenly have all the "experience and knowledge " in the wotld about that particular subject, when they can't even tell the difference between their own asshole and a hole in the ground. It cracks me up that there are ONLY Chevy Ford, Mopar, people and they wear those stupid T-shirts proudly lol...Just do yourself a favor and don't listen to all the Gossip and rumors and do your research through reliable sources and do some comparisons yourself. It takes longer to do but YOU WILL be full of reliable relevant information, NOT just crap from someone that goes off of what someone in a forum said(usually some kid that got the info from his burnout hick uncle)...lol....research, research, research and educate yourself.

People will have their opinions and they will all be different. Some will love it and wont do anything else and some who hate it. Some will say the most reliable thing ever some will say junk. It boils down to maintaining it. How well was it cared for. Any car will be reliable if cared for properly. And any car can fall apart if not serviced properly. Its a shot in the dark with buying used, you never know. Possibly a good vehicle since they are all maintained, and Possibly on its last leg because it was ran hard everyday in service. But the car itself is a great car or police would noy build fleets with this model. Really, cars today are built to be reliable. Nothings lasts forever so be prepared when its time to do some maintenance. Also how long do you plan to keep it, maybe a year, two or 6 years? It should do fine if maintained. The engineering that goes into cars today can realistically go for hundreds of thousands of miles IF MAINTAINED PROPERLY. RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH. dont go off of the guy that says "they are junk"....that is not good advice....maybe HIS experience was that way and its POSSIBLE that he made bad decisions.

Life's too short! Get a Charger!

A charger is a decent first car. But its a big 4 seat car for a teenager, you should not get a charger unless you have a family. The best cars for teenagers are: 2009-2020 Nissan 370z, 2016 Scion frs, or a 2015 Mustang ecoboost. But if your making a lot of money, i would consider getting a 2020 nissan 370z NISMO, or a 2020 ford mustang GT