When asked the age-old question “Is the glass half-empty or half-full?” I tend to lean towards the latter half of that question, trying to find the positives in live, especially in the direst of situations. If you need help feeling better about things, I am your man.

However, a certain vehicle has me a bit confused and contemplating a change to the other side of the spectrum. This car in question, the 2009 Dodge Caliber SRT4, promises to offer a quick and sporty drive for not much money. In general, it follows through on that promise, but the little hatchback has some flaws which make me think I need to add a bit more water to my glass.

What makes it even harder is the fact that Chrysler recently announced the SRT4 will be gone after this model year. Continue Reading…

There is just something special about old muscle. It was a simpler time, when Mopar ruled, cars had true personality, and when you raced it was in a straight line. For 2008, Dodge gave enthusiasts an early pick up on the new retro-designed Challenger, available only as the high-performance SRT8 model. This fire-breathing, 6.1-liter 425 horsepower V8-wielding beast wowed much of the automotive community. So now that Dodge has our attention, what’s in store for 2009?

First thing they did for 2009 was fix some issues on the SRT8, which only had a 5-speed automatic transmission. Blasphemy, I know. They took the 6-speed manual transmission from the Viper, tweaked it a bit, and stuck it in the SRT8. They also now offer two more trim levels - a 250 hp, 3.5-liter V6 SE model, and a 372 hp, 5.7-liter V8 R/T. We got to drive around the R/T model for a week to find out if the new Challenger is a true contender to the new Mustangs and Camaros… Continue Reading…

I don’t know much about trucks, and I’ll be the first to admit it; I’m a sports car guy. What I do know is that people put large objects in the back of them and take that stuff from one place to another. Some people use them to drive around in the woods, and some haul boats and other vehicles behind them. So with that being the extent of my knowledge of trucks, you could imagine what I was thinking when Dodge dropped a shiny new Ram pick-up off at my doorstep a couple weeks ago.

My first impression was “damn, that thing’s big.” Climbing inside, it felt like someone had moved my living room into the truck; it had more space than my loveseat. Driving it took some getting used to. With a seating position above the tops of smaller cars, you get a strange superiority complex, which I’m sure is why many people buy something this big. Continue Reading…

Dodge Viper fans can rejoice. Their badass Chevrolet Corvette and Porsche 911-fighter will live on into 2010.

In a press release issued earlier today, Chrysler Group LLC announced the Viper will not be phased out after at the end of this year. With a tumultous year so far with filing for bankruptcy, shutting down plants and laying off thousands of workers, this upbeat news may be the start of a positive turnaround for the company. Or so the company hopes.

“The Dodge Viper has successfully captured the hearts and imagination of performance enthusiasts around the globe,” said Mike Accavitti, President and Chief Executive Officer, Dodge Brand. “We’re extremely proud that the ultimate American-built sports car with its world-class performance will live on as the iconic image leader for the Dodge brand.”

And don’t worry about the performance. It will still be a road-going rocket with its 8.4 liter V10 and insane racetrack prowess.

Read below for the official release Continue Reading…

In a time when the American car companies are holding on for dear life, consumers’ savings have all but evaporated, and more stringent CAFE regulations looming in the future, the Big Three are giving us power-hungry, tire-thrashing car lovers a goodbye party with the cars listed below. I’m sure there will be fighting for supremacy from loyalists of each brand, but what we all have to remember is this may be the last time we see anything like this from Detroit.

I hope everyone gets a chance to enjoy one of these vehicles, because I certainly did… Continue Reading…

“Dodge Challenger SRT10″.

Got a helluva nice ring to it, dontcha think?

The current top-o-the-line Challenger, the SRT8, is a pretty beastly muscle car, one that delivered more than its rabid fans had expected. Quite frankly, its performance statistics are more than enough.

Dodge’s high octane SRT team apparently didn’t think so. I bet what happened is one day after work one of the SRT boys was a little more depressed than usual: the Viper is getting axed, performance now bows to mileage, the days of the muscle car is ending, etc. So he decided, screw it, if we’re going to go out, then we’re gonna go out with one hell of a bang.

Which left the question: how? Well I bet that was solved rather quickly, just get a bigger engine, and a bigger engine means only one thing: going to the Viper for its V-10.

Performance info and pics (including that of the Challenger SRT10 chillin’ with the Viper) after the jump.

Continue Reading…