Spied on the set of the next (why, God?) Fast and Furious movie was the 2011 Dodge Charger, all dolled up in a police uniform. Although it's still too soon to critique the final product, these latest pics from Autoblog are revealing enough to hesitantly say that yes, the car's set to get a decent-looking exterior refresh.
The 2011's wide-taillight treatment is a blast from the past; definitely cool with rumored LEDs, but it should have been the taillight layout from the start. The front end is reportedly angrier and gets a new lower fascia (like the rear), and from at least one of the pics it appears that the side could be gaining a styling streak. Oh, and the hood is getting a little more character in the form of those two indentations.
The other big news is that interior. If...IF...that's the final decision on the dash, well...that's a lot of vinyl and silver plastic. As the former owner of a Chrysler with a similar sliced-from-the-inside airbag mechanism (should that be used), let me say this to owners of older cars as a warning: the vinyl may crack through and leave passengers with a nice cut to stare at.
Not too thrilled about that; just because the technology is there to eliminate supplementary restraint system panels doesn't necessarily mean it needs to be done. In this case, I'd rather have an SRS section that would offer some lines to design around instead of that sea of vinyl.
As always, final judgments will come after an official release. For now, we can at least be happy that Dodge is taking its Charger in the right direction.
By Phil Alex
For the rest of the photos, hop over to Autoblog.com
