1991 Dodge Stealth R/t Turbo Hatchback 2-door on 2040-cars

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Mustang Bullitt and Hellcat Redeye | Autoblog Podcast #549

On this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor Alex Kierstein and Green Editor John Snyder. They discuss driving the 2019 Ford Mustang Bullitt and the (deep breath) 2019 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye Widebody. They also recap this week's crazy Elon Musk news, and talk about the car brands they'd like to resurrect in the U.S. As always, they then help a listener pick a new car in the "Spend My Money" segment of the podcast.Autoblog Podcast #549 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Cars we've been driving: 2019 Ford Mustang Bullitt and 2019 Dodge Challenger Hellcat Redeye Elon Musk might privatize Tesla Brands we want back Spend My Money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Green Podcasts Dodge Ford Tesla Car Buying Used Car Buying Coupe Electric Performance bullitt dodge challenger srt hellcat redeye

The Dodge Neon is alive!

"Holy crap! It's a new Dodge Neon! Like a new new one." Oddly, no one else on the Cancun resort shuttle seemed to notice. Or care. Ogling Mexican-market compact sedans is apparently something exclusive to automotive journalists on vacation. Yet there it was, fittingly on Dio de los Muertos, in all its resurrected glory. With a margarita in hand and an ocean in front of me, ignored, I turned my attention to my phone to get to the bottom of Neon version 3.0. Introduced for 2016, today's Dodge Neon is based upon and built alongside the Fiat Tipo/Egea, a C segment compact sedan co-developed by Fiat and Turkish industrial outfit Koc Holding. More than 125,000 were sold last year in Europe, with another 47,000 in Turkey. It's also sold in the Middle East and Africa, with Mexico alone getting the Neon version. Exterior styling is really the only difference, and then, only the crosshair grille manages to identify it as a Dodge. Then again, the same could be said for the not-so-dearly departed Dart, which belonged to the same segment. It was much bigger, though, with an extra 6 inches of overall length and 3 inches of wheelbase (which, as I just discovered, is "distancia entre ejes" en espanol). The Neon interior, not surprisingly, is pretty much the same as its Fiat siblings. The dash has two variations. A bigger, upgrade touchscreen resides in a dash-mounted, tablet-style infotainment pod, but the standard stereo head unit or 5-inch touchscreen upgrade fits into a binnacle shared with the instrument panel. It's a bit more like the Challenger, Charger, and yes, Dart in this regard, but in total, the Neon's cabin design is also less blocky and more organic in appearance. The switchgear is pure Fiat, but the steering wheel has the same control layout as Dodges, Jeeps and Chryslers. Power comes from the Challenger Scat Pack's 6.4-liter Hemi V8. No, it doesn't, I totally got you. The standard engine, dubbed FIRE, is a 1.4-liter naturally aspirated four-cylinder good for 95 horsepower and 94 pound-feet of torque. So, less than the Scat Pack. The optional engine, dubbed E.TorQ, which is in no way related to the Ram's eTorque mild hybrid system and not especially eTorquey, is a 1.6-liter naturally aspirated four-cylinder good for 110 hp and 112 lb-ft. Sadly, the Neon color selection is in no way neon, which probably doesn't matter since virtually every car on the Yucatan peninsula is painted white.

SRT back to Dodge, Dart SRT, new Challenger, Charger and Caravan's death outlined in 5-yr plan

The onslaught of news from Fiat Chrysler's layout of five-year plans continued with Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis this morning, including the unexpected announcement that SRT was coming back into the fold.
After just a few years existing as an independent entity within the Fiat Chrysler universe, an unceremonious press release hit in conjunction with today's lineup of announcements, saying "the SRT family of vehicles will be consolidated under the Dodge brand." Group CEO Sergio Marchionne thanked SRT headman Ralph Gilles for his dedication to the high-performance wing, calling out is efforts in expanding the vehicle lineup and including more customized models. He did not reference disappointing SRT Viper sales today, but we sense there's a bit of subtext.
With the SRT reunion at Dodge, it's appropriate that some of the most exciting product announcements for the next five years have to do with upcoming performance products. First out of the gate will be a refresh for that flagging Viper in 2015, which comes as little surprise.