Evelyn Reynolds

From the January 1991 issue of Car and Driver.Remember Renault’s weird and won­derful RS Turbo, the little rally rat that car­ried a lusty powerplant where the back seat used to be? Mid-engined, box-­fendered, fast and twitchy, the RS Turbo was officially a homologation special for rally competition. History will probably record it as the first econobox on steroids. A new car called the Shogun is from the same school of personal rapid transit.The Shogun is the aftermarket work of a company called Special Editions, of Up­land, California. Special Editions has tak­en a mild-mannered Festiva and put a Taurus SHO engine and gearbox be­tween its rear wheels. It plans to build 250 of them. We went for an exclusive drive in a proof-of-concept prototype to take a close look at this intriguing project. The principals at Special Editions bring some motor moxie to the table. There’s Rick Titus (son of the late Jerry Titus, 1967 Trans-Am champion), a driver­-consultant-journalist who won the SCCA’s 1987 Escort Endurance SS/GT crown. Then there’s Chuck Beck, whose engineering-fabrication credentials range from the Ford GT40 program in the sixties to today’s Vintage 550 Spyder, a Porsche replicar he builds. Similarly, the Shogun’s mechanical foundations come well recommended. The Festiva is a sturdy, nicely made econ­omy car. The SHO V-6 engine (220 hp, 24 valves) is perhaps the sweetest high-per­formance engine fitted to an American automobile today. Beck and Titus gutted the Festiva’s interior and cut away the floorpan and inner fenders in the back. Riding in a steel-tube subframe, the com­plete SHO powerteam—along with half­-shafts, vented disc brakes, and strut/coil­-spring suspension from the front of the Taurus—nestles in behind the two Recaro front seats. Front suspension and brakes are also Taurus SHO pieces, and the Shogun keeps the Festiva’s rack­-and-pinion steering. Giant fiberglass fender bulges cover serious-duty Goodyear S-compound ZR tires and BBS wheels: 20S/50ZR-15s on 8.0-inch rims in front, 245/45ZR-16s on 9.5-inchers in back. A safety cell carries fifteen gallons of fuel in the Festiva’s now-vacated front compartment, and a deeply cut-out hood vents the large radia­tor. Fully wet, this car weighs 2560 pounds: 43 percent of it up front, 57 percent in the rear. The Shogun is not a car for everyone. It’s a unique, sharp-reacting little terror that weeds out the general public with its demeanor and its anticipated $47,500 base price.Although our drive confirmed the Sho­gun’s performance potential (we mea­sured a 0 to 60 time of 5.4 seconds), much work remains to turn the Shogun into a civilized—or at least mildly tamed—roadgoing automobile. The pro­totype’s exhaust system was unmuffled, the throttle and shift linkage needed fur­ther development, and some minor re­contouring of the rear-fender bulges was under discussion. Most critically, the car’s handling was just starting to be sorted, with attenti0n zeroing in on adjustments and componentry to make the Taurus front end function properly as a rear sus­pension. Of course, with the outsized power and weight of that engine sitting in the back of a tiny, 91.0-inch-wheelbase car, the beast will be darty and eager to change direc­tion no matter how the chassis is tuned.But that’s the whole point. The Shogun is not a car for everyone. It’s a unique, sharp-reacting little terror that weeds out the general public with its demeanor and its anticipated $47,500 base price. All that will be left will be 250 hot-eyed enthusi­asts who simply must own the fastest, craziest shoe box in town.SpecificationsSpecifications
1991 Special Editions ShogunVehicle Type: mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 2-passenger, 3-door coupe
PRICEAs Tested: $47,500
ENGINEDOHC 24-valve V-6, iron block and aluminum heads, port fuel injectionDisplacement: 182 in3, 2986 cm3Power: 220 hp @ 6000 rpm 
TRANSMISSION5-speed manual 
DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase: 91.0 inLength: 144.0 inCurb Weight: 2560 lb
C/D TEST RESULTS
60 mph: 5.4 sec1/4-Mile: 14.3 sec @ 96 mph100 mph: 17.3 secTop Speed: 128 mphBraking, 70–0 mph: 208 ftRoadholding, 300-ft Skidpad: 0.86 g  
C/D TESTING EXPLAINED More

Tell your significant other you’re bringing home a quarter-million-dollar Bentley Bentayga Azure, and certain expectations come to the fore. Before it arrives, the very idea of gliding around in a stately and sumptuous ultra-luxe machine sets plans into motion. Where shall we dine? Would it be presumptuous to invite the couple down the street? Shall we make a day of it?When the chariot rolls into the drive, the fact that the Bentayga is an SUV may or may not trigger the merest whiff of disappointment. If it does, such trifles are easily brushed aside by the rational realization that SUVs are saving the grand old marques because they’re popular and practical, two automotive characteristics that are, it would seem, just as important to the upper crust as they are to the hoi polloi. But the arriving machine’s dark Tungsten paint, 22-inch black-painted wheels, and blacked-out trim robs it of further allure.HIGHS: Sumptuous interior, moves out smartly, rated EV range is easy to replicate.”So, it’s a murdered-out Bentley truck. Ah. Perhaps we should drive thru In-N-Out instead. And then we can visit 7-Eleven for one of those ghastly hashtag photographs.”James Lipman|Car and DriverInside, the sumptuous and aromatic leather interior claws back some of the deficit. Well-padded seats face a leather dashboard that features pipe-organ air vent controls and inserts trimmed with Fiddleback Eucalyptus veneer. Press the engine start button and then . . . a rather ordinary (but properly muted) mechanical note seeps into the cabin. That’s because this is not the throaty 542-hp twin-turbo V-8 powerplant of the Bentayga S, but is instead a 335-hp turbocharged V-6 that gets boosted to 456 polo ponies by a rear-axle-mounted electric motor.This powertrain gets good fuel economy, you point out. It’s good for an EPA-rated 20 mpg combined instead of the 2023 V-8’s 17 mpg. In fact, even though Bentley calls it the Bentayga Hybrid, it’s actually a plug-in hybrid with a 14.3-kWh plug-in battery that gives it 23 miles of estimated all-electric range.The RealityThe thing is, we wouldn’t call 23 miles of range sufficient to get through a weekday on electricity alone. It does readily achieve this rating, however. In seven full charge and discharge cycles of random mixed driving, we averaged 28 miles. Not bad, but talk to us again when the rated range is something like 40 miles. That may come to pass if and when Bentley gets the 2024 Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid’s larger 22.0-kWh battery. For now, the Bentayga uses the old Cayenne’s hand-me-down 14.3-kWh setup.On gasoline alone, however, the Bentayga also impressed. We couldn’t run a formal 75-mph test, but we averaged 23 mpg on gasoline alone over a 1454-mile span of mixed driving that included a freeway run from LA to Sonoma wine country to drive the Lucid Air Sapphire. That it could make that run and still stand a chance of getting through the week under electric power alone says much about the practical benefits of a PHEV. Bentley should lean into that more.For all that, the Bentayga Hybrid is no slug. It gets to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds and finishes the quarter-mile in 13.0 seconds at 107 mph. Bentley says top speed is 83 mph on electricity alone, but we coaxed it to 87 mph. But the EV mode isn’t steadfastly persistent below this point, because the engine comes to life whenever you mash the gas, which results in the full 456-hp wallop of urgency shoving you down the road.As for the thirstier V-8-powered Bentayga S, it has 86 more horsepower and weighs 229 pounds less, so it’s no surprise it’s a full second quicker off the line, achieving 60 mph in 3.5 seconds and polishing off the quarter-mile in 12.0 seconds. But its passing time advantage isn’t nearly as stark. Sure, its 2.6 seconds from 30 to 50 mph and 3.2 seconds from 50 to 70 mph is quicker, but only by a couple of tenths, because the hybrid’s rear-mounted electric motor doesn’t have to wait for a transmission to kick down.Ordinary DrivingPerhaps the biggest letdown is the Bentayga Hybrid’s ride comfort, which is not the butter-smooth Bentley experience you’re imagining. We’re not asking for a complete isolation chamber, but our Bentayga’s bordering-on-harsh ride was far less polished than it should be. We couldn’t help noticing that the track-tuned Lucid Air Sapphire rode far more smoothly than the Bentayga had on the trip up.The Bentayga corners well enough. Active anti-roll bars help it to generate 0.86 g of grip on the skidpad, which understandably trails the lighter Bentayga S’s 0.88 g on the same 22-inch 285/40R-22 Pirelli P Zero summer tires. The same physics-induced difference carries over to braking, where the lighter Bentayga S stops from 70 mph in 165 feet versus the hybrid’s 168 feet. Likewise, the S stops from 100 mph in 331 feet, while the hybrid trails a wee bit at 339 feet. Both utilize the same iron-rotor brake system, but the heavier hybrid was stinking, smoking, and exhibiting excessive pedal travel at the end of our test regimen.LOWS: Ride comfort is ordinary, unsatisfying brake feel, rated EV range isn’t remarkable. Thing is, the hybrid doesn’t rely on these friction brakes near as much in daily driving, as the regenerative braking afforded by its electric motor contributes a fair bit in the name of recapturing energy around town. The system is largely triggered by the brake pedal and is blended by software, but the programming lacks polish, resulting in somewhat vague and inconsistent brake feel. More Bentley BabbleIt’s all in the NaimOne of the Bentley extravagances that really works is the optional Naim premium audio system, which delivers exquisite sound through no less than 20 speakers that are backed up by 1780 watts of amplification. Turn the music down while cruising blithely at 70 mph and you’ll enjoy 62 decibels of background hush whether you’re running on gasoline or electrons. Stereo on or off, the audio environment absolutely lives up to Bentley expectations.In the end, the Bentley name brings with it a set of wide-ranging expectations that the Bentayga Hybrid doesn’t quite live up to. The implied ride smoothness and poise isn’t quite there, and the drive experience doesn’t feel exceptional when rolling down the road. The hybrid’s powertrain certainly feels quick enough and is comparatively thrifty in practice, but we find it odd that its plug-in part-time EV nature is largely hidden behind a plain hybrid badge. In more ways than one, the Bentley Bentayga Hybrid misses the marque. But the Double-Doubles were delicious.VERDICT: Drives far more ordinary than expected considering its extraordinary quarter-million-dollar price tag. SpecificationsSpecifications
2023 Bentley Bentayga Azure HybridVehicle Type: front-engine, rear-motor, rear/all-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door wagon
PRICE
Base/As Tested: $234,450/$273,095Options: Naim 1780-watt 20-speaker premium audio, $9150; Tungsten metallic paint, $6405; Bentayga blackline trim, $5875; front paint protection film, $4280; 22-inch black-painted five-spoke directional wheels, $3695; Dark Fiddleback Eucalyptus wood veneer, $2995; upper cabin leather, $1555; rear privacy glass, $1335; LED welcome lamps, $1140; space-saving spare wheel, $780; self-leveling wheel badges, $615; Bentley charging dock, $470; contrast overmat carpet binding, $350
POWERTRAIN
turbocharged and intercooled DOHC 24-valve 3.0-liter V-6, 335 hp, 332 lb-ft + AC motor, 134 hp, 295 lb-ft (combined output: 456 hp, 516 lb-ft; 14.3-kWh lithium-ion battery pack; 7.2-kW onboard charger)Transmissions, F/R: 8-speed automatic/direct-drive
CHASSIS
Suspension, F/R: multilink/multilinkBrakes, F/R: 15.8-in vented disc/15.0-in vented discTires: Pirelli P Zero285/40ZR-22 (110Y) Extra Load B1
DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase: 117.9 inLength: 201.8 inWidth: 79.1 inHeight: 67.3 inPassenger Volume, F/R: 54/52 ft3Cargo Volume, Behind F/R: 62/17 ft3Curb Weight: 5668 lb
C/D TEST RESULTS
60 mph: 4.5 sec100 mph: 11.2 sec1/4-Mile: 13.0 sec @ 107 mph130 mph: 20.2 secResults above omit 1-ft rollout of 0.3 sec.Rolling Start, 5–60 mph: 5.4 secTop Gear, 30–50 mph: 2.8 secTop Gear, 50–70 mph: 3.5 secTop Speed (gov ltd): 158 mphBraking, 70–0 mph: 168 ftBraking, 100–0 mph: 339 ftRoadholding, 300-ft Skidpad: 0.86 g
C/D FUEL ECONOMY
Observed Gasoline: 23 mpgObserved Gasoline + Electricity: 25 MPGePercentage of Miles Driven on Electricity: 13
EPA FUEL ECONOMY
Combined/City/Highway: 20/18/24 mpgCombined Gasoline + Electricity: 47 MPGeEV Range: 23 mi
C/D TESTING EXPLAINEDTechnical EditorDan Edmunds was born into the world of automobiles, but not how you might think. His father was a retired racing driver who opened Autoresearch, a race-car-building shop, where Dan cut his teeth as a metal fabricator. Engineering school followed, then SCCA Showroom Stock racing, and that combination landed him suspension development jobs at two different automakers. His writing career began when he was picked up by Edmunds.com (no relation) to build a testing department. More

From the August 1993 issue of Car and Driver.Bart McLellan, the product­ planning chief of Dodge Truck, wishes the launch of a new full­-size pickup could be like that line in the movie Field of Dreams. The one that goes: “If you build it, they will come.” But this is real life, and McLel­lan understands that Dodge will have to overcome fierce brand loyalty in the light-truck business if it is to meet its optimistic sales target of 160,000 trucks. Small as that number may seem when compared with the sales of mar­ket titans Ford and Chevrolet, it is twice Dodge’s current market share. The doubling of current sales may seem a tall order, but McLellan and the other members of the T300 light-truck engineering team have high hopes. Their strategy to break the GM and Ford stranglehold on the pickup mar­ket began with targeting all the areas of truck ownership and operation that would make the new Ram a class leader. Then they systematically set out to meet those objectives. They defined their targets by recruiting 100 employees as a jury and having them evaluate a number of current vehicles (including some high-­end luxury cars) to establish 400 detail objectives for the new truck. The jury was then called back to monitor progress at various intervals during the development process. The broad aim of the Dodge team included better ride and handling, comfort, convenience, and safety, plus increased storage, hauling, and towing capacities. They also wanted to improve passenger space and to provide switch and control tactile qualities like those of a good pas­senger car. Equally important, the T300 needed an appearance that would be instantly recognizable. Because of that prerequisite, an initial styling presentation was rejected by Chrysler president Bob Lutz, who asked the artists to be more radical in their approach. So chief designer Trevor Creed went looking for inspiration in trucks of the past and found the Power Wagon, a 1950s Dodge pickup with a distinctive front end. Creed echoed the high vertical grille and dropped fender-line motif in his T300 concept truck, the LRT, and then put it on show to test public reaction. Lutz was emphatic about the love-it-or-leave-it aspect of contentious styling. He reasoned it would provide a strong incen­tive for sales, even if the love-hate ratio was 20/80. Clinics have since elicited responses more like 50/50, so this may turn out to have been a smart gamble. Our only real regret is that a front-end treatment with a chrome grille-surround has been selected for most of the models. We pre­fer the matte-argent surround with black grillework that we saw on one of the trucks. Fortunately, our preference will be available on some models, and spokesmen say that body-color grilles are also on the way. Before tackling the interior, chief designer Trevor Creed looked at pho­tographs of pickup-truck cabs to see how owners customized them. As a result, he has incorporated the trucking world’s first “center high-mounted cupholders,” which pop out of the dash above the radio. The rest of the interior layout combines carlike aesthetics and truck functionality with the elegant simplicity we’ve come to expect of Creed’s work these days. The premise is that even tough truckers like stylish sur­roundings, an idea Creed says was con­firmed by research. In response to another perceived customer requirement, Creed’s team endowed the new truck range with an unusually large cab. In addition to enough room for C/D’s tallest truck driver, there is space behind the seats for what Dodge calls cab­-back storage. The rear bulkhead incorpo­rates special hooks that will mount cus­tom-made nets, pockets, and racks. The extra space has also enabled Dodge to relax the seatback angle on the regular bench seat by a few degrees (to 21 degrees of rake), but the real hot wrinkle in the new truck is a novel 40/20/40-split front seat that allows individual adjustments and uti­lizes the middle seatback as a fold-down storage box. Even in the bed, where you hardly expect innovations, there are a couple of handy features. In addition to the usual stake pockets (those holes in the top rim of the box), there are low-level tie-downs and clever tamped-in bulkhead dividers for wooden crossmembers, so that loads can be compartmentalized vertically and horizontally. Starting this fall, Dodge will offer reg­ular-cab versions of all three payload ranges (half-ton, three-quarter-ton, and one-ton payloads), designated as 1500, 2500, and 3500 models in long- and short-­bed form , with either rear- or four-wheel drive. The available engines will be a base 3.9-liter V-6, a 5.2-liter V-8, a 5.9-liter V-8 in light- and heavy-duty spec, and a 5.9-liter six-cylinder Cummins turbo-­diesel. The “iron-Viper” 8.0-liter V-10 will be available by January 1994. Cab­-chassis versions will roll off the line in November of this year, and club-cab production is expected to start by June 1994. Dodge will leave the four-door crew-cab market to Ford and Chevy.To cover the enormous spread of appli­cations, there are five transmissions in the catalog. All of the trucks will come with a five-speed manual as standard equipment, with four-speed automatics available as options. The manuals are supplied by New Venture Gear and come in light-duty, heavy-duty, and extra-heavy-duty (for the Cummins diesel engine and the V-10, both of which produce 400-plus pound-feet of torque). The automatics are Kokomo devices in light- and heavy-duty configurations. Four-wheel drive is handled, as usual, by transfer cases, which are synchronized for shifting-on-the-fly. The heavy-duty trans­fer cases include power-take-off provi­sions, even (for the first time) on auto­matic-transmission 4wd models. We drove a range of prototype trucks, with manual and automatic transmissions, and found the powertrains highly satisfac­tory. The manual-transmission trucks have a shifter that feels light and fluid, with smooth engagement, and the autoboxes (being electronically controlled) were any­thing but agricultural in the way they swapped ratios. The V-6 was absent from the lineup, but we tried the 5.9-liter V-8 with both types of gearbox and were pleased with the power delivery, the low noise levels, and the effective isolation.Even in a 4wd Ram, the ride has been finessed beyond what you might think possible in a truck designed for hard work. The rigid rear axle was given eight-inch -longer leaf springs for a compliant ride. The front end uses a rigid axle with double-leading links and a Panhard rod, a setup much like that found on the smooth­-riding Jeep Grand Cherokee. Rear-drive trucks get a double-control-arm front end, and the ride here is even better. But softer does not mean weaker, says executive engineer Craig Winn. “The trucks have accumulated four million miles of testing. We’ve run the durability course at such high speed that we bent frames.” More ram reviews from the archiveSome of the brutal testing was neces­sary because this will be the first truck to come equipped with an airbag. Due to the severe operating conditions trucks find themselves in, the airbag sensor calibra­tion had to be absolutely foolproof. Says Craig Winn: “We wanted to be sure there would be no inadvertent deployments, so we rammed curbs, dropped wheels into potholes, and ran snowplows into sand­banks. As well as two airbag bumper sen­sors, we have a ‘safing’ sensor on the tun­nel to ensure the bag only goes off in a real accident.” Although fine-tuning was still in progress when we drove the T300s, our demo trucks had clearly lost the numb, squashy, and vague control feel that might have been acceptable in yesterday’s trucks. When we tried the turbo-diesel, we found not only a responsive and torquey power­train (with substantially reduced diesel clatter), but accurate and damped steering feel as well. The brake pedal (on all models) was just a tiny bit of squish short of decent feel. We also drove the V-10 truck and discovered a delightfully smooth, massively strong powertrain. And, as in all the others, the driver’s environment felt safely isolated from noise or vibration. From a real working truck driver’s per­spective, the important thing about the new Ram series is that it offers the highest GCW (gross combined weight, the sum of payload and towing capacities) of any full­-size truck on the market. The trucks also meet new 1994 safety standards, which demand center high-mounted stoplights, compliance with roof-crush standards, and side-intrusion protection. And with what we’ve experienced in driving them, the new Rams look set to deliver on the promise of space and comfort as well as in the arena of ride and handling. Obviously, our limited access to the trucks only tells part of the story. With the mind-boggling multiplicity of chassis, engines, transmissions, axles, wheelbases, and bed and cab sizes that make up a full­-size pickup-truck range, the new Ram’s potential has yet to be measured in real­-world terms. However, Chrysler’s recent performance and our limited experience with the new Dodge trucks suggest that the new Ram is close to where the company wants it to be. And that’s on the Field of Dreams Come True. Where, if you build it right, they do come. And then they leave—in one of your trucks. SpecificationsSpecifications
1994 Dodge RamVehicle Type: front-engine, rear- or 4-wheel-drive, 3-passenger, 2-door truck
PRICE
Estimated Base: $15,000–$26,000
AVAILABLE ENGINES
3.9-liter V-6, 175 hp, 230 lb-ft; 5.2-liter V-8. 220 hp, 300 lb-ft; 5.9-liter V-8, 230 hp, 330 lb-ft; 5.9-liter turbo­charged and intercooled diesel 6-in­line, 160–175 hp, 400–420 lb-ft; 8.0-liter V-10, 300 hp, 450 lb-ft Displacement: 318 in3, 5210 cm3Power: 230 hp @ 4800 rpm
TRANSMISSIONS
5-speed manual, 4-speed automatic
DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase: 118.7–134.7 inLength: 204.0–224.3 inCurb Weight: 3800–6200 lb

C/D TESTING EXPLAINED More

From the July 1992 issue of Car and Driver.Let’s agree from the outset that any car or truck is getting pretty grizzled after a production run of ten years or so. The Dodge Ramcharger full-size sport­ utility vehicle is now into its nineteenth model year. Sleekness, sophistication, and charm are, none of them, merits of the Ramcharger. This is a big, brutish truck: 4823 pounds, six feet tall, nearly seven feet wide. It’s available with or without four-wheel drive, it offers a choice of V-8 engines, and, when properly configured, it can tow up to 7500 pounds. It wears its massive, defiantly unaerodynarnic sheet­metal like armor—”Let me loose in the parking lot,” it seems to say, “and I’ll squash the antifreeze out of that puny Suzuki Sidekick in the corner.” Hoary it may be, but the ’92 Ramchar­ger is not without refinements. The news this year is a contemporary Canyon Sport appearance package and the addition of Dodge’s redesigned 5.2-liter V-8. The Canyon Sport option discards the jumbo ram’s-head hood ornament and a lot of chrome in favor of a clean-looking two-tone paint job with a body-colored front grille. The new V-8 moves the Ramcharger from 0 to 60 mph in 10.2 seconds—a reasonable accomplishment considering the vehicle’s mass.Of greater import is the revised engine. Enhanced with sequential port fuel injec­tion and treated to a thorough going-over (including redesigned cylinder heads and new intake and exhaust manifolds), the 5.2-liter V-8 now produces 230 horse­power at 4800 rpm and 280 pound-feet of torque at 3000—a substantial improve­ment over the old engine’s 170 horse­power and 260 pound-feet. Indeed, the new 5.2 produces 40 more horses than the Ramcharger’s optional 5.9-liter V-8— though the latter engine is torquier, grunt­ing out 292 pound-feet at just 2400 rpm. Mated to a four-speed automatic trans­mission (a five-speed manual is available), the new V-8 moves the Ramcharger from 0 to 60 mph in 10.2 seconds—a reasonable accomplishment considering the vehicle’s mass. No points for engine-note quality, however. In the Ramcharger’s case, “fuel econ­omy” sounds like an oxymoron: on the EPA city cycle, the V-8 sucks up a gallon of unleaded every 12 miles. A 34-gallon fuel tank helps minimize gas ­station visits. The cabin is plain but commodious. Big, simple gauges. No-frills seats. Not an organic curve or designer switch in sight. Those who need their space will applaud the cargo room (86 cubic feet with the rear seat folded down). But hedonists will need to look elsewhere: The sparse optional lux­uries include an AM/FM/cassette stereo and power windows, locks, and mirrors. More ram reviews from the archiveRear-wheel ABS is standard on all Ramchargers. Our Canyon Sport test vehicle with the 5.2-liter V-8, an auto­matic, four-wheel drive, air conditioning, and power options totaled $23,783. As more modern rivals, such as the new full-size Chevy Blazer, edge toward car-like response and feel, the Ramcharger remains steadfastly truck-like. Engine roar, heavy doors, numb steering, shudders from the body, a harsh broken-pavement ride—all conspire to expose the Ram­charger’s age. Yet the Ramcharger soldiers on, with its square-jawed shape, rugged construc­tion, and prodigious towing ability still winning hairy-armed fans. It’s a macho machine with a uniquely American cut and swagger. And it’s built in Lago Alberto, Mexico. SpecificationsSpecifications
1992 Dodge Ramcharger Canyon SportVehicle Type: front-engine, rear/4-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 3-door wagon
PRICE
Base/As Tested: $20,190/$23,783
ENGINE
V-8, iron block and heads, Chrysler engine-control system with port fuel injectionDisplacement: 318 in3, 5210 cm3Power: 230 hp @ 4800 rpm
TRANSMISSION
4-speed automatic with lockup torque converter
DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase: 106.0 inLength: 188.8 inCurb Weight: 4823 lb
C/D TEST RESULTS
60 mph: 10.2 sec1/4-Mile: 17.7 sec @ 77 mph100 mph: 47.6 secRolling Start, 5–60 mph: 10.6 secTop Speed (C/D est): 107 mphBraking, 70–0 mph: 214 ftRoadholding, 300-ft Skidpad: 0.73 g
C/D FUEL ECONOMY
Observed: 12 mpg
EPA FUEL ECONOMY
City: 12 mpg
C/D TESTING EXPLAINED More

From the January 2005 issue of Car and Driver.What do Dodge Viper owners most frequently ask the company for? More refinement? A hardtop street model? An automatic transmission? Not even close.Dodge brass say the most frequent request is for a Viper-engined truck, something capable of towing the customers’ Vipers. Although the regular-cab Ram SRT-10 truck wasn’t up to the task of towing the 3400-pound Viper-towing wasn’t sanctioned due to the lowered ride height and Dodge’s worries about clutch abuse-this SRT-10 Quad Cab can tow up to 7500 pounds and has the most utility of any Viper-powered vehicle yet.When the folks at Dodge’s Street and Racing Technology (SRT) set out to build this more practical version of the Ram SRT-10, they took a half-step back from the goal of ultimate performance and instead focused on adding versatility while maintaining its ferocious performance. To that end, the Quad Cab has four real doors, seats a family-friendly six, and comes only with an anyone-can-drive-it automatic.The 8.3-liter V-10 Viper engine that pumps out 500 horsepower and 525 pound-feet of torque ensures that performance won’t be compromised. However, the Quad Cab, unlike the regular cab, uses Dodge’s 48RE four-speed and is automatic only. This tranny usually sees duty on the business end of the Cummins diesel engine in 2500- or 3500-series Ram trucks. Here it was tweaked to handle the V-10’s power delivery. But it’s still not a perfect match, as its excessively harsh shifts cause the SRT-10 to buck back and forth like a mechanical bull.All this powertrain excess catches up with you at the gas pump. We recorded 11 mpg over 1600 miles, and we didn’t even tow anything. (We may have done a couple of smoky burnouts, possibly. We’re human.)To accommodate the four-door configuration, the cargo box didn’t shrink, so the wheelbase had to be stretched-in this case 20.0 inches to 140.5-and the overall length similarly increased nearly 25 inches to 227.7.More on the Ram SRT-10 and Quickest PickupsDespite weighing in at 5618 pounds (479 more than the regular-cab SRT-10) and employing a power-robbing automatic, this truck’s performance still qualifies as exceptional. The Quad Cab’s 5.6-second 0-to-60 time was 0.7 second slower than the regular cab’s, and the quarter-mile was 0.6 second off at 14.2 seconds. The Quad Cab squealed its tires to a 0.83-g skidpad rating, 0.03 g less than its two-door sibling, and registered a lofty 147 mph top speed, just 6 mph slower.Both SRT-10 trucks have the same 15.0-inch front rotors, but for 2005, they each get slightly smaller 13.8-inch rear discs and a retuned three-channel anti-lock braking system. Our Quad Cab’s 180-foot stop from 70 mph was four feet shorter than that of its lighter regular-cab brother with the old, larger brakes, which points to more efficient ABS activity.Dodge invited us out to its proving ground in Chelsea, Michigan, to sample the SRT-10 Quad Cab in an autocross setting. After a few tire-spinning starts and a couple attempts to hang out the tail around an entire sweeping left-hander, we were left giggling like grade-school dorks who’d just successfully slipped a whoopee cushion on the teacher’s chair without his noticing.After a few tire-spinning starts and a couple attempts to hang out the tail around an entire sweeping left-hander, we were left giggling like grade-school dorks who’d just successfully slipped a whoopee cushion on the teacher’s chair without his noticing.Try as it might, however, this is still a truck, and although we appreciate the massive power, direct steering, sticky rubber, tough-guy looks, and firm seats, there are a couple noticeable areas that hold back its performance. This truck understeers, big time. The extra 20 inches in wheelbase only make it worse than the regular-cab SRT-10, and after thorough experimentation with absurd steering inputs, we concluded that the only oversteer possible is the power variety, and even that is tricky to dish out with the automatic as your mediator. Also, the brakes suffer from a condition known as knock-back. This occurs under hard cornering when a wheel (and pertinent brake rotor) moves slightly relative to the location of the brake caliper, causing the brake pad to be pushed back and giving the driver that sinking feeling when he goes for the brakes and- whoa!-the pedal goes nearly to the floor before the pads and rotors are reunited. Dodge hopes some Viper owners, who presumably have put down 85K for their superfast roadsters, will be willing to shell out another $50,850 ($5000 more than the regular-cab SRT-10) for an SRT-10 Quad Cab. In a year, we’ll see if there were enough of them out there to make this powerful truck a success. Specifications

SPECIFICATIONS2004 Dodge Ram SRT-10 Quad CabVehicle type: Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 6-passenger, 4-door truckPRICE AS TESTEDBase/As-Tested: $50,850/$52,115ENGINE TYPE Pushrod 20-valve V-10, aluminum block and heads, port fuel injectionDisplacement: 506 in3, 8285 cm3Power: 500 bhp @ 5600 rpmTorque: 525 lb-ft @ 4200 rpmTRANSMISSION4-speed automaticDIMENSIONSWheelbase: 140.5 in Length: 227.7 inWidth: 79.9 in Height: 74.7 inCurb weight: 5618 lbC/D TEST RESULTSZero to 60 mph: 5.6 secZero to 100 mph: 14.3 secStreet start, 5-60 mph: 6.0 secStanding ¼-mile: 14.2 sec @ 99 mphTop speed (drag limited): 147 mphBraking, 70-0 mph: 180 ftRoadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.83 gC/D FUEL ECONOMYObserved: 11 mpgEPA FUEL ECONOMYCity: 9 mpgC/D TESTING EXPLAINEDDirector, Vehicle TestingDave VanderWerp has spent more than 20 years in the automotive industry, in varied roles from engineering to product consulting, and now leading Car and Driver’s vehicle-testing efforts. Dave got his very lucky start at C/D by happening to submit an unsolicited resume at just the right time to land a part-time road warrior job when he was a student at the University of Michigan, where he immediately became enthralled with the world of automotive journalism. More

From the February 2004 issue of Car and Driver. Memo to: Csaba CsereFrom: John PhillipsCsaba, I’m not sure I should be the guy writing about this truck. Remember my Viper review (November 2002)? I recall a lot of hissing, some dark threats, a blanket apology or two. Didn’t you have to mail out pricey Xmas gifts to smooth that one over?Memo to: John PhillipsFrom: Csaba CsereEditors who are assigned a road test are expected to complete that road test. It’s not a difficult concept. If you didn’t get enough seat time, talk to Yates. I saw him driving the SRT-10, and I think he liked it. Don’t get me into trouble over this, okay?Memo to: Brock YatesFrom: John PhillipsHey, Brock, did you drive this brute? Moses in a muumuu, man. There’s a whole Viper driveline in there, did you know that? That’s insane. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fabulous engine. Who’d complain about 500 horses, right? But why attach it to a 5139-pound rear-drive truck with the traction of a gravy boat? You know, a Saturn booster rocket is powerful and fast, too, but it’s not particularly useful in rush-hour traffic. I’m willing to accept the concept of a 153-mph hot-rod truck the day I see it carrying a load of drywall to a job site, you know? If a guy wants a two-seater that costs $45,795 and runs like a Corvette, why not buy a Corvette? John, you trembling liberal weenie. Actually, it has three seats, just like a McLaren F1. And let’s get this straight. I don’t like the SRT-10. I love the SRT-10. Any pickup that’ll suck the headlights out of your beloved tea-bagger roadsters is all right by me and the rest of us beer-drinking, smoke-’em-if-you-got-’em real Americans. The only thing the SRT-10 needs is a big “No. 3” on the back window and a gun rack inside. If that offends you and your weepy pals, I suggest you go back to Canada where your real roots are planted.Brock, you Heston-hugging hunk of hubris. I’ve warned you about calling me a weenie. My grandmother called me that. Also my mother. My girlfriend, too.Listen, I’ll admit to liking the SRT-10’s steering—accurate, even light, which is amazing, because those 22-inch Pirellis (what’s that, a “dub plus two”?) must each weigh about as much as Orson Welles. And the clutch is lighter than I expected, although I still can’t depress the pedal through an entire red light. The trick seats are fine, too—aggressive bolsters that aren’t intrusive. So, see, there’s that.But don’t tell me you enjoyed the spindly foot-long Hurst shift lever. You’d replace the knob with an eight ball, right? You ever try to find reverse in this thing at night? I’ll bet you even liked the pushbutton starter. Probably reminds you of the Eliminator. Well, pal, does the Eliminator also make 83 decibels of racket at wide-open whack? Shouldn’t we be considering a pair of OSHA-approved ear protectors, here? HIGHSBrock: Smoky burnouts on demand, intimidating styling, annoys Phillips.John: Zero to 60 mph in 4.9 seconds.John, you Twinkie-eating teat. The second-gen Eliminator is also Viper-powered, so, unlike you, I’m accustomed to the big-decibel sound of success. I’m almost deaf to prove it. Actually, I wish Dodge had sexed up the exhaust pipes, as Ford did with the SVT F-150 Lightning. You know, side pipes like a NASCAR Craftsman truck’s? Either that, or four straight exhausts out the back.Brock, you Limbaugh-loving lackey. Maybe you were drunk and didn’t notice that this truck rides like a truck. I don’t want to hyperbolize, but those mono-tube Bilsteins are so unyielding as to blur my vision. The bed shakes and shimmies like a wet hunting dog, and I noticed a nice collection of trim bits vibrating in a paint-shaker dance that’s sure to end in tears. You’ll need a caulking gun at every service interval. Don’t believe me? Take Pam for a ride and see if she makes it as far as the Cannonball Run Pub before she bails on you. You’ll wind up having to date women who first ask for a Visa imprint.John, you pathetic, punctilious pedant. I’ll admit that the shift lever rattles under hard acceleration but, hell, pumping out enough torque to overturn an M1A1 Abrams main battle tank doesn’t come without penalties. Try to be a man about it, okay?Brock, you beetle-brained, trough-feeding bloviator. Zero to 60 mph in 4.9 seconds is not the be-all and end-all, okay? Although, I’ll grant you, it did get my attention because it’s three-tenths quicker than the SVT Lightning. Still, it’s the same acceleration you could achieve by, say, jumping out your bedroom window some night. You should try it.All I’m saying is that the Chrysler guys got it right when they created the little Dodge SRT-4. Six fewer cylinders, an actual back seat, 2219 pounds more eco-friendly. The SRT-4 goes 153 mph, too, you know, and it stops 17 feet sooner. Nearly the same skidpad grip. Only 3 mph slower through the quarter-mile. Costs $25,800 less. See? What I’m suggesting is that we all try using a dentist’s pick instead of a jackhammer.With this truck, what are you supposed to do after you leave the drag strip?Do you know how much torque this V-10 makes? Well, okay, me either. But it’s probably enough to qualify as wasteful, okay? Shouldn’t we be using that energy to fund national health care? LOWSBrock: Shifty shifter, sticker price of a triple-axle double-wide.John: Cement-truck ride, cement-truck noise, fuel mileage worse than a cement truck’s.John, you granola-gutted gelatinous git. The only two important components of Newtonian physics are torque and recoil. Shifting the SRT-10 under power is like firing a Barrett M82 .50-caliber sniper rifle. As for the choppy ride, you need some stiffness in the rear springs if you’re gonna haul enough Bud for a full evening of demo-derby thrills. You city types pack a bottle of Chablis and some Brie—well, that ain’t the SRT-10’s mission, Mister Ballet-Butt.Brock, you bilious bard of bombast. In the rain, you can spin the SRT-10’s rear tires all the way through first and second gears, assuming you can keep the thing on the portion of highway that’s actually paved. What are you gonna do, write your initials in Pirelli script all over America? I bet this thing’s a real treat in the snow. Holy smokes, I used to think Sam Kinison was the definition of crudeness.John, you hand-wringing, bed-wetting hysteric. Some say Kinison died the true American way—driving like a maniac in an overpowered Pontiac Trans Am. Which is better than the fate you face—crashing your Segway scooter while heading for a Gordon Lightfoot concert. Get some starch in your shorts before Jimmy Spencer knocks you into next Thursday.Brock, you conservative-clucking crock of cottage cheese. Like the Opel Speedster and the original Hummer, this truck is a nice thing to drive as long as you don’t have to get anywhere. I have just two words for you, and one’s not “buzz” and the other’s not “off.” Fuel mileage, Brock. Fuel mileage. I’m warning you, Brock, this is the sort of thing that causes the French to hate us.John, you Francophile. Of course the French hate us! What better endorsement for the SRT-10? Maybe we can use one to batter down their embassy and run them off to the perfumed Parisian brothels where they belong. Fuel mileage? With high-test still less than $2 per gallon and OPEC on the ropes, who the hell cares? It’s reactionaries like you who keep screeching, “Power to the people.” Well, here it is, pal.Brock, you subcutaneous canker on the chapped lip of humanity. You notice the SRT-10 has a real hood scoop that isn’t attached to anything? Remind you of something? Your brain, perhaps?I’ll give you this: Hot-rod trucks are capable of transporting me to a simpler era. Last night, this one made me want to jam cherry bombs into my neighbor’s mailbox and enter a college fart-lighting contest.John, you simpering softie. I’ve got a good notion where else you might want to jam those cherry bombs. You have Spencer’s number? I’m calling him right now.Brock, you pretentious pile of genetically engineered pork. Your defense of hulking trucks reminds me of Fay Wray when she said, “King Kong sure had nice fur for a giant stinking ape.” I’ll give you this: After you blow the clutch out of this baby while towing your speedboat up to the islands, you can always use the twin exhausts as eaves troughing. One other good thing about the SRT-10: It’s got a built-in compass so you shouldn’t have so much trouble finding your ass. John, you whiny, wet-eared wheat eater. If you love the French so much and have spent so much time in Canada, you already know where your ass is. All I can say is that the SRT-10 rocks. Of course, it could use an extra 100 horses for hauling my Donzi and towing the Eliminator and helping me run my new drywall business now that you probably got me fired. In the meantime, go back to Toronto with your draft-dodging buddies where I hope you overdose on Tim Hortons apple fritters. They’ll bury you in a vat of maple syrup beside Margaret Trudeau.VERDICTBrock: A Viper that hauls drywall. Plus, it annoys Phillips. John: Rude and crude, but it’s the current king of hot-rod trucks.Know what, Brock? Your breath stinks.Maybe so, but I’m not the guy knitting sweaters for Perry Como.You shave your legs before swimming.Your floral arrangements suck.Your lawn’s in poor repair.Your Haggars droop in the butt.Memo to: Csaba CsereFrom: John PhillipsCsaba, I think Yates fell into the Chivas again. He’s not talking to me anymore. You should fire him. Replace him with Norm Schwarzkopf, maybe. That’s my advice.Memo to: Csaba CsereFrom: Brock YatesCsaba, I think Phillips has been grazing too long inside NPR’s members-for-life lounge. His brain has turned to spätzle. You should fire him. Replace him with Arianna Huffington, maybe. That’s my advice.SpecificationsSpecifications
2004 Dodge Ram SRT-10Vehicle Type: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 3-passenger, 2-door pickup
PRICE
Base/As Tested: $45,795/$45,795
ENGINEpushrod V-10, aluminum block and heads, port fuel injectionDisplacement: 506 in3, 5600 cm3Power: 500 hp @ 5600 rpmTorque: 525 lb-ft @ 4200 rpm 
TRANSMISSION6-speed manual
CHASSIS
Suspension, F/R: control arms/rigid axleBrakes, F/R: 15.0-in vented disc/14.0-in vented discTires: Pirelli Scorpion Zero305/40ZR-22
DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase: 120.5 inLength: 211.6 inWidth: 79.9 inHeight: 74.4 inCurb Weight: 5139 lb
C/D TEST RESULTS
60 mph: 4.9 sec100 mph: 11.9 sec1/4-Mile: 13.6 sec @ 105 mph130 mph: 22.6 secRolling Start, 5–60 mph: 5.7 secTop Gear, 30–50 mph: 12.5 secTop Gear, 50–70 mph: 12.3 secTop Speed (drag ltd): 153 mphBraking, 70–0 mph: 184 ftRoadholding, 300-ft Skidpad: 0.86 g 
C/D FUEL ECONOMY
Observed: 12 mpg
EPA FUEL ECONOMYCity/Highway: 10/15 mpg 
C/D TESTING EXPLAINED More

From the May 1994 issue of Car and Driver.You won’t get this advice from “Donahue,” guys, so listen up: size matters.Face it, Pee-wee, Rosey Grier didn’t make the Pro Bowl because he learned how to cross-stitch. Wilford Brimley doesn’t work the commercial circuit because he’s a clotheshorse. And King Kong didn’t get lucky with Fay Wray because he had a hairy back.Granted, Dodge’s new Ram pickup can’t climb the Empire State Building, except maybe in the service elevator. But it is larger than life. And its size plays a big part in putting it at the top of the full-sized pickup class.The Ram’s immense measurements make their first impression when you open the door, because it requires a little leap to vault into the driver’s seat. Once you’re settled in, the echo of your low whistle will take a minute to quiet down. That’s because the Ram sports the biggest cab available on a full-size pickup. Headroom is about the same as in the Ford F150 and the Chevy C/K 1500, but the Ram boasts a 5.1-inch advantage in hiproom over the Chevy and a 3.6-inch edge over the Ford. (An early proposal, in fact, called for a fourth seatbelt on bench-seated models.) In overall length, the Ram also takes the crown. It’s 7.0 inches longer than the Ford and 10.2 inches longer than the Chevy. The short-bed Ram’s pickup box, how­ever, is marginally smaller than those of the competition.To fence in this real estate, the Chrysler styling team looked no further than the Unocal 76 rest stop for their inspiration. The designers at Freightliner must be impressed with the Dodge knockoff of their big rigs, maybe as and Rolex are with their imitators. In pro­file, the Ram’s fenders and the immense chrome grille look a little awkward—like a full-sizer trying to swallow a compact truck—but in the rear-view mirror the Ram looks as menacing as an 18-wheeler bear­ing down on your bumper.This kind of stage presence is guaran­teed to draw a crowd at Fingerle’s lum­beryard. But the Ram’s sheer mass does create some unique problems in situations where, say, a Nissan Altima would do the job. Addressing someone in the passenger seat over the somewhat hoarse powertrain might be better accomplished with a nine-digit zip code. You’ll need friends who know semaphore for parallel parking downtown, where they’ll flag you down into a space that could otherwise be occu­pied by two Ford Festivas.Otherwise, the Ram’s gargantuan girth doesn’t prevent it from performing like a pleasant mid-priced sedan. With the optional 5.2-liter V-8, the Ram we sam­pled would make any armchair trucker froth with envy. When coupled to a four-speed automatic with electric overdrive, the 220-horsepower V-8 sends the Ram scurrying to 60 mph in 8.7 seconds and forging on to a top speed of 113 mph. If you’re comparing apples to kiwi fruit, that’s the same top speed as a base Dodge Intrepid.The Ram also looks the family-sedan part, at least from the inside. Its simple dash contains all the gauges properly placed and clearly labeled. Two cupholders slide out from the dash above the radio. The rotary climate-control dials for temperature and fan speed are painlessly simple to use. And the largish steering wheel contains an airbag, a first in the class. Add the Laramie SLT trim pack­age, which gooses the sticker on the short-bed truck with the V-8 and an auto­matically shifted gearbox from $14,984 to $18,694, and the Ram gets the full-boat sedan treatment: a cloth interior, power windows and locks, and an AM/FM cas­sette radio. For construction foremen and anal-retentive urban cowboys, there’s a handy set of movable bins and netting behind the seats, plus storage space for a laptop computer in the fold-down center armrest.Anti-lock control is also included, but braking is nonetheless a sore point. Dodge claims best-in-class stopping distances and fade resistance, but we noted heavy fade during testing and recorded a mediocre stopping distance from 70 mph to stand­still of 214 feet. Still, the Ram does cor­ner in the car-like range at 0.73 g with min­imal understeer, and the rigid body shell and live-rear-axle suspension with longitudinal leaf springs handle all but the largest pavement pits without stepping sideways.So, don’t point and snicker at it because it buys from the big-and-tall rack. The Ram doesn’t carry its weight around its middle like its aging circle of full-sized friends. In size, look, and feel, the Ram is a barrel-chested gorilla of a truck, with enough muscle to elbow aside the chubby chimps at the top.Specifications

SPECIFICATIONS2004 Dodge Ram 1500Vehicle type: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 3-passenger, 2-door truckPRICEBase/As Tested: $14,984/$18,694ENGINE TYPE16-valve V-8, iron block and heads, port fuel injectionDisplacement: 318 cu in, 5210 ccPower: 220 hp @ 4400 rpmTRANSMISSION4-speed automaticDIMENSIONSWheelbase: 118.7 inLength: 204.1 inCurb weight: 4414 lbC/D TEST RESULTSZero to 60 mph: 8.7 secZero to 100 mph: 30.9 secStreet start, 5-60 mph: 9.0 secStanding ¼-mile: 16.8 sec @ 82 mphTop speed (governor limited): 113 mphBraking, 70-0 mph: 214 ftRoadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.73 gC/D FUEL ECONOMYObserved: 14 mpg

EPA FUEL ECONOMYCity: 13 mpgC/D TESTING EXPLAINED More

From the October 1995 issue of Car and Driver.Anything weighing more than two tons and casting an 18-foot shadow ought to be a national monument. Or, at the very least, federal law should prevent it from being named after an African antelope that is svelte, lithe, and agile. As if to rectify GM’s reckless stabs at nomenclature, hot-rodders have attempted for 34 years to make the Impala SS at least quick, if not agile. The latest attempt is the Callaway SuperNatural SS. “We hadn’t thought about modifying this car,” says Callaway Cars marketing director Rick Carey, “until a guy dropped off his own Impala and said to us, ‘Do what’s right.’ We already had the SuperNatural V-8 [C/D, June, 1995], so that was a good start.” “Doing what’s right” in Callaway-­speak involves depositing your Impala SS—new or used—in Old Lyme, Con­necticut, for about a week. The stock 260-horsepower engine is yanked pronto, of course, and its iron heads are replaced with aluminum versions whose ports have been polished to a Bulgari-quality luster. Larger-diameter valves are fitted. The cylinders are bored out 0.03 inch and a Callies forged-steel crankshaft with a 3.75-inch stroke is dropped into place, swelling displacement by 33 cubic inches. Next, the engine is enriched by Carillo rods, a Chevy MTG camshaft with greater lift and duration, and a 52 mm throttle-body.Aaron Kiley|Car and DriverSo that the own­er will experience as much of the new­found oomph as possible, Callaway recommends that the engine inhale via the company’s inelegantly named “Honker”—a 3.5-inch-diameter fresh-air duct and low-restriction air cleaner. And the V-8 exhales through dual 2.5-inch-diam­eter stainless-steel exhausts. Twin exhaust tips poke curbward just aft of both rear wheel wells, a layout that shortcuts some three feet of superfluous pipes and increases ramp clearance. This means your dramatic entrance into the A&W drive-in no longer generates a hail of angry sparks.According to Callaway, these minis­trations result in 404 horsepower at 5750 rpm and 412 pound-feet of torque at 4500 rpm, all of it 50-state legal and none of it inexpen­sive. At this point, you will already have shelled out $14,403. For which princely sum, frankly, the increase in perfor­mance—at least on the first SS we mea­sured—was slim. Compared with the stock Impala SS (C/D, June 1994), the Callaway SuperNatural romped to 60 mph just 0.3 second quicker and blinked through the quarter-mile 0.2 second sooner. Hey, you slam-dunk an extra 144 hp into any vehicle—even one the size of a high-school gym—and it ought to lean more toward Mr. Hyde than that, right?Part of the disap­pointing accelera­tion we traced to the stock engine-man­agement system and its attendant shift program. Upshifts under full throttle occurred at 5400 rpm—350 rpm shy of the burly new V-8’s power peak. Equally annoying were full-throttle second-to-third upshifts, in which the driver had to lift off the gas briefly to keep the engine from performing a Mel Tillis impersonation as it stuttered under the whip of a dominatrix rev limiter. Aaron Kiley|Car and DriverCallaway hauled our test car away and pondered all of this. When the car returned, the Connecticut yankees had replaced what they claimed was a faulty engine­ management box. The new one instructed the V-8 to shift at 5950 rpm—now in the meaty portion of the power curve—before imposing rev-limiting discipline at a heady 6000 rpm. (Well, heady for so many cubes.) Overnight, we had ourselves a real street rod. Sixty mph loomed large in 5.5 seconds (1.0 second better than stock) and the quarter-mile was history in 14.1 seconds at 100 mph (0.9 second quicker, 8 mph faster than stock). The moral: Don’t leave Old Lyme without that trick black box.As it happens, there are other Callaway virtues to consider. A mild $1014 suspension make­over, for example, that includes four adjustable Koni shocks and a set of Eibach springs—the latter a half-inch lower “but not much stiffer than stock,” says Carey. The droop in ride height is obvious, lending the SS a “let’s-stomp­-everything” silhouette that causes bystanders to gush with adoration. The springs and shocks also reduce roll, should you be so brave as to pitch this condominium into a hairpin. Also, they ensure that you will crush the two-inch chin spoiler the first time you nose this W.C. Fields baby over a California speed bump.Aaron Kiley|Car and DriverAdding to the festivities are four steamroller BFGoodrich Comp T/As—275/40s in the front, 315/35s at the tail­—which are mounted on raceworthy Forge-line wheels. The rears are 11.0 inches wide, 2.5 inches wider than stock. The result—apart from another $4000 assault on your wallet—is a contact patch the size of a small refrigerator and very little wheelspin under even the most radical of brake-torqued launches. Ride quality is slightly degraded, how­ever, and the front tires are now prone to tramline. Skidpad grip, compared with stock, goes from a not-bad 0.86 g to, ah, a not­-bad 0.86 g. To be fair, the Callaway SS is easier to hold in a steady tail-out pose, assuming you’ve located an 18-foot-wide lane to accommodate its porcine rump. A major runway or half of New Jersey will do.Working far better are the big-daddy Brembo brakes installed at the front. (Cough up another $4000.) This modification includes four-piston calipers and Pagid semi-metallic pads, hugging cross-drilled 13.1-inch rotors. Here, we measured improvement. From 70 mph, the Callaway SS stops in only 164 feet, which is a mere two feet shy of what a Porsche 911 Turbo can achieve. Holy cats. More Callaway Cars and the Man Behind ThemWhat a 911 cannot achieve is an exhaust that bellows, “I am one evil mother V-8!” right into the next county. This is appropriate for street rods. Unfortunately, there’s a part-throttle resonance that, at 2500 rpm, ricochets into one ear, stomps a steel-drum tattoo on your cerebellum, then performs a pounding pasodoble as it exits your other ear at about 2800 rpm. Full-throttle din is up 6 dBA—the differ­ence between Mozart and Megadeth.It’s like having an old Grand National stock car—”whOP-wah-wah-WHOOP!”—only with better paint and worse seats. (Even the Callaway guys are weary of the poorly contoured chairs and the steering wheel aimed at your left shoulder. They plan later to install Recaros canted per­manently toward the transmission-tunnel hump.) Aaron Kiley|Car and DriverWith the taxes and all options, the price of your new Impala SS has more than doubled. We’re talking about a $50,966 car based on a Chevrolet that GM has just axed from its lineup, very much like the 405-hp Corvette ZR-1, of which I just saw a zero-mileage example for sale in Columbus, Ohio, for just $966 more than Callaway’s Impala. This is somewhat difficult to explain to my 70-year-old neighbor Martin, whose own Caprice Classic, he says, “cost $18,910 on the nose, pardner, plus she don’t need a new muf­fler yet, like yours.”You know, you could also lay all of these rod mods on a Buick Roadmaster wagon.SpecificationsSpecifications
1995 Callaway SuperNatural SSVehicle Type: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door sedan
PRICE
Base/As Tested: $48,674/$50,966
ENGINEpushrod 16-valve V-8, iron block and aluminum heads, port fuel injectionDisplacement: 383 in3, 6271 cm3Power: 404 hp @ 5750 rpmTorque: 412 lb-ft @ 4500 rpm 
TRANSMISSION4-speed automatic 
DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase: 115.9 inLength: 214.1 inCurb Weight: 4224 lb
C/D TEST RESULTS
60 mph: 5.5 sec100 mph: 14.1 sec1/4-Mile: 14.1 sec @ 100 mphRolling Start, 5–60 mph: 6.1 secTop Speed (drag ltd): 154 mphBraking, 70–0 mph: 164 ftRoadholding, 300-ft Skidpad: 0.86 g 
C/D FUEL ECONOMY
Observed: 16 mpg
EPA FUEL ECONOMYCity: 16 mpg 
C/D TESTING EXPLAINED More