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Here are a few of our automotive guilty pleasures

It goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway. The world is full of cars, and just about as many of them are bad as are good. It's pretty easy to pick which fall into each category after giving them a thorough walkaround and, more important, driving them. But every once in a while, an automobile straddles the line somehow between good and bad — it may be hideously overpriced and therefore a marketplace failure, it may be stupid quick in a straight line but handles like a drunken noodle, or it may have an interior that looks like it was made of a mess of injection-molded Legos. Heck, maybe all three. Yet there's something special about some bad cars that actually makes them likable. The idea for this list came to me while I was browsing classified ads for cars within a few hundred miles of my house. I ran across a few oddballs and shared them with the rest of the team in our online chat room. It turns out several of us have a few automotive guilty pleasures that we're willing to admit to. We'll call a few of 'em out here. Feel free to share some of your own in the comments below. Dodge Neon SRT4 and Caliber SRT4: The Neon was a passably good and plucky little city car when it debuted for the 1995 model year. The Caliber, which replaced the aging Neon and sought to replace its friendly marketing campaign with something more sinister, was panned from the very outset for its cheap interior furnishings, but at least offered some decent utility with its hatchback shape. What the two little front-wheel-drive Dodge models have in common are their rip-roarin' SRT variants, each powered by turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder engines. Known for their propensity to light up their front tires under hard acceleration, the duo were legitimately quick and fun to drive with a fantastic turbo whoosh that called to mind the early days of turbo technology. — Consumer Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski  Chevrolet HHR SS: Chevy's HHR SS came out early in my automotive journalism career, and I have fond memories of the press launch (and having dinner with Bob Lutz) that included plenty of tire-smoking hard launches and demonstrations of the manual transmission's no-lift shift feature. The 260-horsepower turbocharged four-cylinder was and still is a spunky little engine that makes the retro-inspired HHR a fun little hot rod that works quite well as a fun little daily driver.

Buyer says Dodge dealer gave him wrong Charger, failed to notice for 2 months

Mistakes happen, and they happen all the time. But when that mistake means a customer doesn't get what he or she paid for, something's gotta give. That's what one Dodge Charger buyer claims he is trying to sort out with his local dealership. Two months after taking delivery, the owner (going by the user name Dakrbouncer4689 on Reddit) says he got a call from his local Dodge dealership reporting a little problem. He had ordered and paid for the Charger SXT (pictured above on the dealer lot), but was given a Charger SE instead. The SE being the lower trim level, this presented one set of problems – namely a $2,000 discrepancy in equipment, like a five-speed automatic versus an eight-speed, a 4.3-inch infotainment display instead of 8.4, heated seats, leather steering wheel, premium audio, remote starter and so on. The second set of issues is that the VIN number on the paperwork (including the registration and insurance papers) of course doesn't match that of the car itself. The dealer, having obviously made a rather large mistake, apparently called the owner in to sort out the mess, but according to the customer's account, things didn't go as smoothly. Instead of immediately working to address the problem, the salesman kept the owner waiting, acted like it was no big deal, and offered only to swap the cars with no compensation for the trouble. Fortunately, the manager proved more sympathetic and apologetic, and offered the customer three options: he could swap the cars (re-doing the tinted windows on the SXT that the customer had done on the SE and throwing in leather seats for free), he could keep the SE (with the dealership handling the paperwork, throwing in the leather seats, adjusting the price and refunding an extra $400), or they could cancel everything, return the car and part company. As we go to press, the Charger owner had yet to make (or at least share) his decision. But while the principle of caveat emptor makes us wonder how he managed to take home a different car from the one he paid for, clearly the salesman and the dealership made a pretty large mistake by presenting him with the wrong set of keys and letting him off the lot without double checking it all. News Source: Darkbouncer4689 via Reddit, World Car Fans Dodge Car Buying Car Dealers Economy Cars Sedan

Chrysler Recalling 870,000 SUVs For Brake Defect

Chrysler is recalling nearly 870,000 SUVs because corrosion may make the vehicles' brakes harder to use. Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango SUVs from the 2011 through 2014 model years are involved. Chrysler says crimp joints in the brake boosters can corrode if they're exposed to water. If the water freezes, the boosters won't aid braking as they usually do. Chrysler began investigating after some customers said their brakes felt too firm when pressed down. The company knows of one accident, but no injuries, due to the defect. Dealers will install a shield to protect the boosters for free and replace boosters that aren't working properly. Chrysler has since changed the design to make the boosters more corrosion resistant. Chrysler will notify owners of the recall, which involves 867,795 vehicles. Related Gallery Safest Crossovers For The Budget-Conscious Family View 10 Photos Recalls Chrysler Dodge