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From the I think it might be a minivan department comes the Dodge Journey. After seeing a surprising number of Chrysler minivans on the roads here in Frankfurt, we can see the appeal a space wagon equipped with a 2.0L turbodiesel from the Dodge might have for the European market. David and Danya changed outfits magically while metallic confetti distracted everybody temporarily, from noticing the Journey had appeared! Steve Perry was not on hand to belt out Don't Stop Believing, and thankfully there was no vocal laxative effect. More »
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A recent stop in lovely Gorman, California for some overpriced gasoline and a bag of peanuts revealed this Chrysler TC. A ghostly sheet covered what was assuredly a fine interior, and also hinted at possible hard or soft top trouble. Out of state plates and location next to one of America's numerous yet fine numbered hotel chain and Sizzler oasis told us this TC was traveling. Not just any TC - Chrysler's TC. Go Chryslerati go. – Mike Bumbeck More »
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Nine long years ago when Daimler seemingly out of nowhere snatched up Chrysler, minds began reeling. My father, who was still freaked out about German reunification, thought that the Germans owning Jeep was the third sign of the apocalypse. Word on the street was that Daimler was hungry for the soft and bountiful teat of SUV-crazed America. And everyone cried a little bit when they killed Plymouth. Then, suddenly, came word of the 300C and Magnum. Suddenly, Daimler was here to save America from itself by giving us what we really want: V8, rear-wheel drivers with room for four or more. Thank you, thank you, thank you mein ubermenchen! And the Charger was, in a way, even better. But then came the Caliber, and the Compass and worst of all – especially when considering the success of and love for the LX platform cars – the new Sebring. That's a car which I have described as a "horseshit abortion." And that's because I'm nice. Anyhow, obviously, Chrysler's been phoning it in for the last few years. Like Albert Brooks. And now that Dailmer is out of the picture, we're asking you to play the part of the prognosticator and tell us where Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep will be in nine-years. – Jonny Lieberman More »
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We almost broke our neck doing a double-take while passing this Dodge Challenger on the way to the Spring Fling. A quick u-turn and closer look revealed that yes - this Challenger was riding on Mitsubishi Starion [aka Chrysler Conquest] wheels. SCCA decal and rear-mounted external kill switch told us this particular Dodge was a road racer. What little was left of the front Kumhos bore out the fact that the car had recently seen some action. Behold this true conquest of the usual overpriced e-body auction fare. – Mike Bumbeck More »
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Spoken and written history has it that Mopar came into the lexicon as a contraction of MOtor and PARts. First and still used to define a parts division, Mopar has moved beyond its practical beginnings and into worldwide use as the universal term for Plymouth Superbirds, Dodge Darts, Chrysler New Yorkers, and even as the given name for bruiser-size yet super friendly dogs. Mopar can also stand for mostly old parts and rust, or millions of parts assembled at random. Every Spring and Fall Mopar fans and owners alike descend into the San Fernando Valley for Spring Fling. Billed as the largest Mopar show and parts exchange west of the Mississippi, the Spring Fling has now happened for twenty one springs and gets a little bigger every year. Onward, Moparnauts! – Mike Bumbeck More »
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Everyone saw it coming. Even Bob Lutz. The reasons are myriad. An implosion in the housing market, consumers laden with more debt than ever, gasoline prices that are not going down and no super interesting models for dealers to sell have all conspired to tank April sales amongst the nouvelle Big Three. Even Toyota "We Will Crush You" Motor Company's sales fell by 4.4%. And this is after rising 11.7% to pass the General in March. Ford's down 12.9% vs. a year ago. Which is bad. Even the perennial all-star best-seller F-150 is down 12.4%. GM missed a double digit decline but is still off to the tune of 9.5% for April. One bright spot: DaimlerChrysler is up. Specifically Chrysler, as sales of the awesome new Wrangler and ugly new Compass boosted Jeep's sales by 29% last month, perking up the 'merican side's overall sales by 1.6%. Which, even though Mercedes sales were down, lifted DCX as a whole for the month by 1.2%. Which just cheeses Magna, Kerkorian and the Fatherland off. – Jonny Lieberman More »
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From the car show that happened last Saturday department comes this gallery of the LX Festival down in Irvine, California. The term LX is the code for the platform that holds the 300C, Magnum, Charger and soon-to-be Challenger. The LX platform has been around long enough to develop a following of faithful rollers and customizers, who traveled in all-points US and Canada - complete with bugs and diamonds all over the grille. We wanted to bring some post-show burnout shots, but the Irvine Police showed up and put a stop to any hoonage before it started. – Mike Bumbeck More »
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Reports of fires breaking out have Chrysler ready to send out letters to 2006 and 2007 Dodge Durango and Jeep Liberty owners. A faulty blower motor is the cause of the conflagrations, which evidently occur when the air conditioning is used during hot weather. Notices will go out to Durango owners in April and Liberty Owners in May. A third and much less flammable recall for Dodge Avenger door latch mechanisms will be issued as soon as Chrysler gathers enough of the replacement parts to make the repair. Over 489,000 vehicles are affected. So far the Durango is ahead in the burnout contest, with 66 reported fires versus only 16 for the Liberty. – Mike Bumbeck More »
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Yikes. Aside from being knocked off the number two plinth by automotive juggernaut ToMoCo and losing $12.7 billion, FoMoCo must endure the additional dishonor of being pushed back to the number four sales spot by Dr. Z's Moustache Daimler-Chrysler for the month of January. There may be a silver-lining to these gray clouds, though. Ford said that their sales to rental car companies is down 65% as compared to January 2006. Which, if you are to believe what Adrian Imonti over at TTAC is saying about rentals (we do), is good long-term news. In the short-term? How many different ways can we look at Ford and say, "Ouch — that's got to hurt?" Also, it is definitely time to bring back the Pinto Shooting Brake. At this point in time, why not? – Jonny Lieberman More »
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And then it it all comes full circle... There's little we enjoy more than reading Watt's (increasingly) unique Pedro-speak concerning all things that exist in the form of Watt. But, given the "energy diversity" that all the big carmakers are struggling to achieve, well, this is time and place appropriate to us car-blogging types. As the Stooge's Icelandic tour driver explains; More »
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If you produce the oil that powers the engines, why not own the whole damn car? Or at least a good slice of it? Turns out, the Kingdom of Bahrain's purchase is not unprecedented as Abu Dhabi owns 5% of Ferrari and 15% of Spyker. What does this mean for lay pistonheads like us? Just that F1 will continue to be cash-flush and innovate like mad until Ferrari's manettino gets a sixth-setting in the eventual F430 replacement. Even still, we'd love to own part of an F1 team. Mel Brooks was right; it's good to be king. – Jonny Lieberman More »
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Time for a little "between the lines" style analysis. Jeep says, "[T]he Jeep Trailhawk is a more refined highway cruiser without sacrificing any of Jeep's legendary off-road capabilities." Jalopnik says, "Kill the Compass immediately." Jeep says, "The key to the look of the Trailhawk,' said Nick Vardis, Principal Exterior Designer, 'is the vehicle's distinctive proportions, due in part to its 116-inch wheelbase." Jalopnik says, "116-inch wheelbase? That is going to sacrifice a lot of Jeep's legendary off-road performance." As is the extra five-hundred pounds of bulging metal festooning this poor truck. Despite the puffy marketing hoo-haw ("with the sheet metal pulled into shape, much like a drawn arrow in the bow of a skilled archer") it looks like Jeep simply mated a Grand Cherokee with a Wrangler. Guys, you know there's a reason why siblings don't sleep together, right? No, it's not because of potential inheritance squabbles. More PR Hyperbole after you jump. – Jonny LIeberman More »
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Oh dear. While our impending Sebring review will go down in teh internets annuls as "why Loverman is unemployed," one thing is certain — the 2007 Chrysler Sebring is an abomination. One of the most visually vile cars to ever come to market. However, James Healy of the full-color-weather-maps-on-page-one rag writes, "The front of the car is dramatic, alluring, exciting." Um... Bullshit! He continues, "It has a special charm, especially visually" Oy vey iz mir... Can you do that? Can you just make shit up? Really? And his paychecks don't bounce? Unbelievable. – Jonny Lieberman More »
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When the AMC Eagle debuted in 1980, we wanted one. And yes, we were like four at the time. But it didn't matter. It had four wheel drive. And jacked up suspension. And available funky faux-wood paneling. While initial sales were decent for the struggling automaker's attempt to build a car-based ute an idea roughly only a decade-and-a-half ahead of its time were decent, they sharply nosedived rather quickly; American Motors sold only 9000 of the cars in the final year of production. In 2007, the current steward of AMC's legacy, DCX, plans to finally replace the Eagle with the Jeep Compass. Vindication is thine, noble Eagle. Vindication is thine. More »
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While the story's been developing since last December, it's been announced that General Motors and DaimlerChrysler will work together to develop a two-mode hybrid system that'll be deployable across a wide range of vehicles. Designed to add the good ol' American (and German) value of torque to vehicles, especially under load, while improving fuel economy up to 25%, DCX and GM have decided that the technology makes the most sense for their American-branded vehicles. The system's first slated to first appear in 2007 in the Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon, while Dodge will follow shortly thereafter with a hybrid Durango. More »
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Auto Bild recently conducted a comparison between two fuel-efficient SUVs the Lexus RX400h hybrid and the Mercedes ML 320 CDI diesel. On a coast-to-coast run, the Merc bested the Lexus in overally fuel economy, but it's important to bear in mind that most of the miles driven were on the freeway, where a hybrid's regenerative brakes have precious few opportunities to recharge the batteries. The RX also beat the ML in city driving, where hybrids excel by design, and features significantly lower emissions, but there's also the battery-disposal question to deal with. We're calling this one a wash for now. For greenies, which one you'll choose depends on the kind of driving you do most. More »
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Hot on the heels of the announcement that they'd pump out 750 R-Classes to help Saks raise funds for cancer research, Mercedes-Benz has announced that they'll sell the first twenty new-model S600s through Saks' holiday catalog. The Signature Editon S600s will come in shy of $150k, feature a 510hp twin-turbo V-12, and most likely have the most technologically advanced coathanger hooks ever conceived. After all, Saks wouldn't have it any other way, would they? More »
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If you spend as much time cruising the internet as we do, you ve undoubtedly seen the Viper-powered Jeep Wrangler that terrorizes Pennsylvania. Well, if you act quickly, you may be able to park this monster in your own garage, as it's up for grabs on eBay. More »
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Brutally overpowered pickups like the Ford SVT Lightning and Dodge Ram SRT-10 have always left us a little bemused. To us, trucks are by and large useful things, good for towing, hauling, or blasting flat-out across the Baja Peninsula. But the people like the horsepower, and who are we to deny them that? And although the Lightning's gone the way of the dodo, to eventually be replaced by something based on the ass-ugly Explorer Sport Trac, some Ram owners want to shore up their defenses should FoMoCo really come back to the party. Enter the Paxton-blown Macedo Motorsports Ram SRT-10. 671 hp. 627 lb ft. More tire smoke than Akron after an incendiary raid. More »
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About two years ago, we did a tail-out powerslide in the rain in our lowly 318-powered Durango. A couple of teens in an off-road equipped Nissan Hardbody pulled up next to us at a stoplight, and having witnessed the wanton display of meager power, said, "That thing got a Hemi in it?" That's when we knew that DCX's branding exercise for the revived Hemi had gone critical. Plus, it's just a goddamn great engine, and with GM's LS-series mills, one of the best American small-blocks of all time. Apparently the public agrees, because they've now built a million of the powerplants in everything from trucks and SUVs to the R/T's and Hemi C's. More »
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Can we just say that we're gonna miss J rgen Schrempp? He's got one of the best names in the business, he's fun to pick on, and we love running that one middle-finger photochop of him every so often. Here's one from the house that J rgen devalued, uplifted by those horsepower-happy wackos at Kleeman you know, the people who brought you the Viper/Bentley/Aston/whatever else-stomping C-Class? 5.0L of breathed-on Stuttgarty goodness and a blower conspire to spin out 595hp at 5800 RPM. Just watch your head getting out of the rear doors. More »
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Mercedes-Benz USA is offering 750 Signature Edition R-Class models for sale to help out Saks Fifth Avenue's Key to the Cure women's cancer research fundraising initiative. Now there's a much better brand-positioning strategy than using Tony Hawk as a spokesman. Skaters don't buy R-Classes; Saks-shopping women do (or most likely will when the crossover-wagon-suburban-luxo-car/van-utility vehicle drops in September). Which reminds us, we've gotta get to Saks, as we're running low on Prada lip balm. Seriously, that stuff does wonders. More »
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Ad Age recently took a survey regarding the return of Lee Iacocca to Chrysler ad spots. The verdict? Over 80% of customers who've seen the ads said Iacocca was "believable and relevant." The downside? Only a third of the coveted 18-24 demographic knew who the codger in the commercial with George Costanza was. Cripes, we're old. Oh, and in response to Lido's famous tagline from the '80s, "If you can find a better car, buy it," 80% of respondents thought they could indeed find a better car. Oh snap! More »
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