Car’s vertical doors1 quality dash kits. The Dodge Magnum is a landmark car. There is no other car like it. When equipped with all-wheel drive, it will do almost anything an SUV will do, with distinctive style, more speed, better handling and better fuel mileage. The Magnum excels with its quiet cabin and smooth and solid ride. Its interior is well thought-out, and the underlying rear-wheel-drive design with a long wheelbase and short overhangs allows a lot of room inside. The styling might be too aggressive for many, but the practical arguments for this car are hard to beat. The SRT8 trades fuel economy for muscle car fun and succeeds, but the other models are easier to live with day to day.
NewCarTestDrive.com correspondent Tom Lankard filed this report from Northern California. The Dodge Magnum is a car we enjoy driving, especially the SRT8, though we like all the different models. All that horsepower, all that torque, predictable handling, and a solid, comfortable ride.All that said, the 6.1-liter Hemi easily resolves the R/T’s minor deficiencies in the power department; granted, the power band isn’t much broader, but there’s ample horsepower and torque to compensate. The SRT8’s 6.1-liter V8 Hemi pumps out 425 horsepower and 425 pound-feet of torque through a performance-tuned, five-speed AutoStick automatic. Fuel economy is an EPA-estimated 14/20 mpg. Anything more than a temperate foot on the gas pedal readily produced rear wheel spin, even with the ESP active. Turn it off, and it’s back to the days of adolescent, muscle car hi-jinks. The specs say that the SRT8’s engine is electronically limited to 6600 rpm, but the tachometer indicates a 6250 rpm redline, and upshifts generally occurred between 6000 and redline. The engine felt comfortable at that speed, as it should, seeing as how the 425 horsepower peaks at 6400 rpm.
Thankfully, stopping does not hark back to those yesteryears when wide-eyed, two-foot braking was not uncommon. The SRT8 comes with beefed up brakes. Front vented discs grow to 14.2 inches, rears to 13.8, and four-piston, aluminum, Brembo calipers do the clamping all around. Again, as with the R/T, over several hundred miles of every type of driving, from about-town shuttling to an occasional retro-blast down a favorite racer road loaded with hairpins, half-mile straights and moderate whoop-de-dos, we never had reason to doubt the SRT8’s ability to stop, and right now.
The Magnum feels mighty big in crowded parking lots. Rear park assist or a rearview camera would be a blessing for this long car, but neither is offered. When parallel parking, care must be taken to avoid scuffing the 20-inch wheels as there’s insufficient rubber extending beyond the rims to protect them from even the slightest brush against a curb. Modern alloy wheels scratch easily and damaging one is always a depressing event. Car’s vertical doors1 quality dash kits.
