Dodge Phoenix Reviews

The 1969 Dodge Charger, known as General Lee in the 1980s Dukes of Hazzard TV show, sat for 23 years in a junkyard in Atlanta until it was discovered in 2001. The car had been wrecked in the opening credits of the show where it was seen jumping over a Hazzard Country police car. The V8 Charger was restored to its pre-jump condition and recently bought by PGA Tour golfer Bubba Watson at an auction in Arizona. It was one of several cars used in the TV show in chases and stunts. One of the features of the car was that it had the doors welded shut, so the Duke cousins Bo and Luke had to climb in and out through the windows. It also featured a large Confederate flag on the roof and the horn played the melody from the first line of the Southern "anthem" Dixie. Its name is a reference to Confederate General Robert E. Lee and the idea came from famous bootlegger Jerry Rushing's car, which was named after Lee's favorite horse, Traveller. The car appeared in all but one Dukes of Hazzard episode.

The Koreans starred, the Japanese mounted a comeback, and One Ford hit the headlines with an extended family of Focus-based newcomers that it is certain to make a big hit in Australia. But it was one car and the commitment of its company chief that made the most impact as America fought back on the opening day of the 2011 North American International Motor Show. The first-born child of the new Fiat-Chrysler alliance, the new Dodge Dart is unveiled this week as Chrysler's headliner at the Detroit motor show and the jockeying has already begun to get the car confirmed for local showrooms. It will not arrive before the second half of 2013 but, because it is based on the Alfa Romeo Giulietta already sold in Australia, there is a better-than-even chance of a go-ahead for local deliveries. "We find out the production plan this week. We believe there is no inhibitor. If the numbers support the engineering investment it should go ahead," the managing director of Chrysler Jeep Australia, Clyde Campbell, tells Carsguide. "We need help from the UK, South Africa and Singapore, as well as Australia and New Zealand, to band together to build the business case. If not, we've got to carry the cost ourselves." The Dart would take Chrysler back to the compact class for the first time since it sold the good looking but underwhelming Chrysler Neon in Australia in the late 1990s. "We're pretty keen. It's a good segment. We don't have an offering there so we'd be delighted if we could get it," says Campbell. Early information on the Dart shows a stylish four-door sedan with the sort of punchy looks that have made the Chrysler 300C a success in Australia, with three four-cylinder engines and three six-speed, front-wheel drive transmissions, as well as five different trim levels. Chrysler is claiming significant American input on the conversion of the Fiat Group engineering package for its local needs, and production at its factory at Belvidere in Illinois. “Dodge is back in the compact car segment in a big way. The Dart is well-crafted, agile, powered by world-class, fuel-efficient powertrains, loaded with high-tech features that are both clever and useful, and it’s fun to drive," says Matt Liddane, the vehicle line executive responsible for the car. The Dart is the real beginning of genuine product sharing spun from Fiat's effective takeover of Chrysler, which will see the American brand putting fresh 'top-hat' bodies on Italian platforms and Fiat tapping larger cars and Jeep vehicles for its needs in Europe. Chrysler is touting the Alfa Romeo DNA in the car but pushing its styling work on a car which looks massively different from the Italian original. “The Alfa Romeo-based architecture allowed us to design an exterior with great proportions that say ‘fun-to-drive’ when you look at it," says Joe Dehner, head of Dodge Design. But one thing could easily change before the Dart makes it to Australia - the badge. Dodges are not sold downunder and Campbell hints it might need a new name here. "It might as a re-badged product in another brand. Perhaps a Chrysler," he says. Campbell also says the Fiat-Chrysler alliance, which might eventually see his team take over local distribution of the Italian brands from the Ateco Group in Sydney, will definitely bring more models for Chrysler. "Obviously the platform sharing will bring further opportunities. If something is engineered in one brand, then it increases the likelihood of getting more product to our market." But he warns against any early optimism, even if the Dart is fired from Detroit. "We wouldn't get it until 2013. We certainly won't be getting it this year. It's a 2013 model launch late this year in the USA and we would be somewhere behind them, perhaps even in 2014."

One Australian car cut through the 1970s cultural cringe of Farrah Fawcett hairstyles, tan-coloured flared trousers and looking cool with a cigarette. Chrysler's Valiant Charger was hip, possibly even hop, and the colourful dancing graphics of magazine advertising and the monochrome TV ads of smiling kids and a hairy Graeme Blundell flashing the "V" sign with their fingers, shouting "Hey Charger", was addictive. In retrospect, the corny - and blatantly sexist - TV ads were extremely successful in relaying the fun aspect of the car that singularly lifted Chrysler's Australian image onto a higher plane. Despite the intervening decades, that addiction lingers. Charger owners' clubs are firmly entrenched in our capital cities, the cars are loved and paraded and the market prices are as strong as a Hemi six. John Urquhart caught the Charger bug at age 33, buying a new R/T in early 1972 - the build date was September 1971 - for about $3600. After 39 years, he still has it. "I bought it because I intended it for motor racing," says the retired lawyer now living the quiet life in country south-west WA. "But it became the family car right up to the 1980s and I never entered it in an event until 1991. It really lives up to its name - R/T for road and track - because it was comfortable and roomy for my two children as they grew up." The beige coupe with its blacked-out bonnet panels, pressed steel wheels finished in graphite to look like alloys, the golf-club head gear knob and serious "265 R/T" badges is as aesthetic today as it was when Chrysler Australia penned the body shape atop a chopped sedan platform. Urquhart pressed it into service in 1991, entering hill climbs, sprints and regularity trials and campaigning it around the country venues and even using it to trailer his other car - an open wheeler - to eastern states events. These include a Mopars on the Murray show and Shannons' 2001 National Motoring Tour. "I remember I drove it to Adelaide for a supporting race for open wheelers that preceded the main event at the 1985 Adelaide Grand Prix, the first one," he says. "On the way home (to Perth), the Charger turned over 100,000 miles. It's now done 145,500 miles since new." The Charger is original down to its number plate, but hasn't been free of incidents. A bushfire in 2006 that devastated forests around Urquhart's home destroyed the sheds - but left the house intact - in which the Charger was stored, damaging the car. Later, a following motorist in the city failed to stop in time and wrote off her small car on the back of the Charger. You can still see the scratch in the Charger's rear chrome bumper but the minor sheetmetal damage has been repaired and the tail light replaced. The 265 (for cubic inches which is 4.3 litres) "Hemi" six has a new block - though Urquhart still has the original - and there are extractors with 2-inch pipes, a meatier cam profile and the Carter carburettor has been replaced with a Holley 500. The original three-speed manual gearbox has given way to a four-speed box. Dyno testing shows it has 163kW at the flywheel and 123kW at the wheels at 4950rpm, just shy of the engine's 5000rpm redline. "I had power brakes fitted. It doesn't stop any better, but the pedal pressure is a lot less," Urquhart says. "It has also had the steel members replaced around the steering box. It is a common problem that this area is weak and prone to rust, so it's now reinforced." Like most Chrysler enthusiasts, Urquhart remains a member - he was one of its originals - of the Charger Club of WA. So he knows its value and now indicates the car could be for sale. "I retired from events in June," he says. "So the car won't be used much now. I estimate it's worth $47,500 and I was analytical in arriving at that because when new it was about half the price of a Bathurst-specced Charger that are now going for $80,000-$90,000. "I'm not desperate to sell it - it's been a part of my and my family's life for 40 years - but I may let it go." HISTORY Chrysler Australia built the emotive Valiant Charger from 1971 to 1978, creating a coupe body from the A-pillar back on top of a VH sedan platform and chopping 152mm out of the wheelbase. It was also 333mm shorter than the sedan and 54kg lighter at 1352kg. The first VH series of the Charger was the most popular. It was a sell-out in Australia and also in New Zealand where it was assembled from imported kit components. The VH Valiant Charger won the 1971 Australian "Wheels Car of the Year" Award. The Charger R/T and Charger 770 shared the 265 "HP" (high performance) two-barrel carburettor six-cylinder Hemi engine. The optional E37 had a tuned "Six Pack" version of the engine with triple sidedraught Weber carburettors. There was a further tuned version, option E38, which was the basis of Chrysler's touring car racer for 1971. The E38 had 209kW and added $580 to the 1971 purchase price.

Let's see if they could survive the thrust for a drag race.

...Dodge has rolled out a concept ute that could pull a trailer from Darwin to Adelaide without refuelling. It's called the Ram Long Hauler and is, at this stage at least, a one-off. Dodge started off with a regular 5500 Ram crew-cab ute, which is the big daddy of the range and used for the toughest jobs. They then stretched it to a monstrous 7.3 metres long. It weighs in at a hefty 4220kg. Engineers developed a secondary fuel tank that fits between the chassis rails. And just in case that wasn't enough, they added another tank to the ute bed. All up, the long-distance Ram has a huge combined fuel capacity of 643 litres. The exact range would depend on what you wanted to tow and Dodge doesn't provide any figures. But the Pickuptruck.com website reckons it would have to manage somewhere between 2600km and 3218km lugging something pretty heavy. To cart around all that fuel, and whatever you want to tow, you'd be wanting a fairly powerful engine under the bonnet. The Ram has a grunty 6.7-litre Cummins in-line, six-cylinder turbo diesel with 1085Nm of torque. It works with the proven Aisin four-speed automatic gearbox that sends power to the rear wheels but can also power a four-wheel drive set-up. There is also a Dana 110 rear axle with dual wheels that helps bolster the ultimate ute's lugging ability. The adjustable air- suspension, meanwhile, makes for a super-smooth ride. Dodge took the regular model's Crew Cab passenger area and turned it into the much larger Mega Cab, which aims to provide optimum comfort for the chosen quartet on those long hauls. That's right _ it has only four seats. The rear seats, with footrests, are fully adjustable. There are a fridge and tray tables, as well as some US-spec super-sized cup holders in the rear, and WiFi to ensure full connectivity. It would appear Dodge has thought of everything to ensure the big Ram doesn't have to stop until its massive tank runs dry. Well, everything except the toilet breaks, that is.

Building on the muscle-flavoured sedan launched this year in the US, the 2012 Dodge Avenger R/T has a stiffer suspension to improve driving dynamics, and is expected to show fuel economy improvements from the 211kW 3.6-litre Pentastar V6 engine.The car to be unveiled at the show will be given unique styling touches, a body-color grille, black headlight backgrounds and 18-in painted aluminium wheels.The interior gets touches of red accents and leather, with the R/T graphic scattered liberally around. 

The Chevrolet Caprice Police Pursuit Vehicle was put up against Ford's ageing Crown Victoria and the new Dodge Charger in a series of on-road tests earlier this year and oupointed its US-built rivals in every aspect from acceleration to braking and outright lap times. That's given the Commodore-based long-wheelbase car the early lead in the sales battle for a market that takes around 70,000 vehicles a year.  Holden will build the Caprice PPV in Australia, with department-specific equipment requested by each police force fitted in the US. Holden spokesman Jonathan Rose says the company has had an encouraging reaction to it's purpose-designed police vehicle, but is still looking to translate that into firm export orders. "We have received initial orders for the Caprice PPV which is very exciting, but we're not in a position to provide full details just yet. The orders we have received so far are from the smaller law enforcement agencies in the US," he says. "We don't expect to receive the larger fleet orders from departments such as Los Angeles and Michigan until the first quarter of next year.  We have already started building pilot vehicles for testing and fleet marketing activities in North America and we will begin building cars for customer orders early in the new year." The Caprice PPV is powered by V8 and V6 engines, though the V8s _ rated at 265kW and 521Nm _ were the ones tested in the Michigan Police Vehicle Evaluation trials and it was the ethanol-boosted E85 version that performed best. It is competing with the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor _ which had been the backbone of the various police department's vehicles - and the Charger Pursuit.  The Crown Victoria is being replaced next year by the Taurus Police Interceptor sedan, which will have a two V6 engines - a 196kW/338Nm 3.5-litre V6 engine and an all-wheel drive model using a 3.5-litre EcoBoost twin-turbo V6 with 272kW/475Nm. Holden and it's parent company GM have invested considerable time and money to customise the Caprice PPV - and an unmarked police equivalent - for the US law-enforcement market. The front seats have been specially designed to sculpt around police equipment belts, inculding the gun, Taser and handcuffs. Trial units were fitted to vehicles for police to evaluate and the resulting shape, foam densities and hard-wearing fabric covers is a result of feedback from police on patrol. The electronics - from stability control to ABS - have also been adapted for police use and the side curtain airbags don't prevent a full-width rear security screen from being fitted. Chevrolet Caprice PPVPrice: $30,995Engine: 6-0-litre V8Power: 265kW at 5300 revsTorque: 521Nm at 4300 revsTransmission: Six-speed automatic, rear-wheel driveSeats: FiveSuspensions: MacPherson strut front, independent spring-over-shocks rearBrakes: 345x30mm ventilated fronts; 342x22mm solid rears.

Holden has unveiled a new Commodore running on fuel that is up to 85 per cent ethanol and 15 per cent petrol. Caltex is opening its first E85 pumps around the country with up to 100 to be available by next year.The good news is that apart from ethanol being cleaner and greener than petrol, the fuel company vows the new fuel will be "priced significantly below unleaded petrol."Unlike diesel or hybrid cars, you don't have to pay a premium for the E85 compatibility. And unlike LPG, which is also cheaper than petrol, you won't need to lose most of your boot space for a tank. However you will need to buy a car whose engine is equipped to run E85. Apart from the upcoming Commodores and some Saabs, Dodge's Journey people mover and its sister Chrysler Sebring Cabrio share an E85 compatible engine.VALUEPriced about the same as many of its competitors, the flexible-fuel Journey could become a thrifty option for families once you have somewhere to fill up.With the Journey range priced from $36,990 to $46,990, we tested the mid-range $41,990 2.7-litre petrol V6 R/T. That's the same price as the glamour-leader among people movers, Honda’s Odyssey, significantly cheaper than the class-leading Toyota Tarago but a few thousand dollars dearer than the base Kia Carnival at $35,990.While the Journey is seen as a seven-seater, it’s really a 5+2 as there's not much leg room in the third row for anyone other than small children, and in this mode there's also very little boot space. The seats are easy to manoeuvre by a lever, making it flexible for a variety of uses and for family access.Integrated child booster seats come standard with the extra row, eliminating a need to carry child seats. There are plenty of cupholders, side and front row central storage compartments, a cooler in the glovebox, but it misses front row armrests.The sound system is good without being great; the reversing camera is handy in a car of this size while features such as satellite navigation and TV screens in the back of the front row headrests are available as options.When you can buy E85 you will need to buy more to go the same distance than a petrol car would travel, as ethanol has less energy. The saving is in its cheaper pump price.TECHNOLOGYThe 2.7-litre engine puts out 136kW/256Nm, slightly better than the Odyssey and the huge Hyundai iMax, but well below the V6 Tarago and V6 Grand Carnival. It has a workhorse six-speed auto gearbox. In full petrol use it averages a claimed 10.3l/100km, though in city traffic that leaps to 15L. Without an E85 pump to be found we couldn't test that figure.DESIGNThere are people movers that look like vans, some that look like mini-buses, others that resemble wagons and none that look like sports cars. The Journey is unique because it can easily be taken for an SUV. Its high stance, squarish shape and the Dodge grille give it more macho looks than its competitors.Drivers buy people movers out of necessity rather than desire. For those who don't have large families, coach sports teams or run a chauffeur service, it’s easy to look down at many bland people movers. But not the American Journey, its tougher looks give it a meaner presence on the road.SAFETYThere's plenty of the basic essential safety gear on board with Electronic Stability Control, brake assist, front and side airbags among the standard equipment. The SUV-like high seating position is also a bonus to see ahead in traffic. It's a pity the features don't extend to an automatic opening rear hatch on this model as it is heavy to lift and high to reach when you need to close it.DRIVINGThe Dodge is a keen worker. I first tested it under light load as the sole occupant and it showed spritely acceleration and a smooth and comfortable drive, even on notorious bumps and potholes.It also got loaded up with boxes and gear to help move house. Although it felt more sluggish as would be expected it showed some guts when laden. In fact the drive was better with some weight on board. It made the car more stable on the road.One concern is how noisy it us under acceleration from a standing start, with the engine roaring as it searches for the next gear.VERDICT: The Journey is a versatile, competent people mover with good looks and comfortable ride. I just wish it had armrests. Its E85 fuel-compatibility may prove to be a sleeper for boosting sales.DODGE JOURNEY R/TPrice: $41,990Engine: 2.7L/V6 136kW/256NmTransmission: 6-speed autoEconomy: 10.3L/100km (official), 14.9L/100km (tested)

Here's our guide to the five biggest-selling people movers on the market (2010 year-to-date, VFACTS).

Just a brief look into any junior sports club shows fewer people now do more to keep such clubs and teams afloat.