2014 Dodge Grand Caravan Wheelchair/handicap Ramp Van Brand New 100k Warranty on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Dodge Journey to get a performance-focused replacement in 2022?

The Dodge Journey is neither fast nor agile, but it has proved a hard-to-hit target for everyone trying to figure out what the next generation will hold, including Fiat Chrysler. In 2014, the automaker's five-year plan for Dodge included an all-new Journey in 2016, and a hotted-up SRT version of the crossover come 2017. In 2016, "supplier sources" told Automotive News a new Journey on rear-drive Alfa Romeo's Giorgio platform would show for the 2019 model year, and production would be moved from Mexico to Italy, Those prognostications came to naught, the 11-year-old Journey riding on its Mitsubishi-based platform into 2020 with fewer options. Now Mopar Insiders says the next-gen Journey could come in 2022 as an early 2023 model, still on the Giorgio platform and given a performance-focused brief. According to MI, the new Journey — and it's not clear if the name will be retained — comes in strict two-row, five-seater guise. It "will be around the size of the Stelvio," the Alfa Romeo coming in at 184.5 inches. Previous reports have said the Journey will be shorter than the current 192.4-inch model, but longer than the Stelvio. The Dodge Charger is said to donate major styling cues, and there will supposedly be a Scat Pack trim. Under the hood, the entry-level engine will be the same GME 2.0-liter four-cylinder in that makes 276 horsepower and 306 pound-feet of torque in the Stelvio. MI believes a Hemi V8 will make the options list, hence the Scat Pack. Previously, other outlets have figured a turbo V6 like that in the Alfa Quadrifoglio models will stand in as the upgrade, although the model is "being developed with V8s in mind." Any engine choice is expected to be paired with an eight-speed transmission. All of those options far outdo the 2.4-liter four-cylinder with 172 hp and 165 lb-ft, shifting through a four-speed automatic, which is the only powertrain possible for the 2020 Journey. The platform switch and the change to rear-drive will greatly enhance on-road manners and performance, but MI believes an all-wheel-drive option should make the transition. If Journey production moves to Italy from Mexico, Fiat Chrysler will open up capacity in North America for big-profit crossovers and trucks, and get more from its underutilized European operations. Rumor says the Journey would roll down the same lines as the Stelvio in the Cassino Assembly Plant; the crossover is still sold in Europe and other markets as the Fiat Freemont.

Burglars target Detroit-area dealership, steal Hellcat from showroom floor

A crew of Detroit car thieves seriously upped their game this week after stealing a Hellcat Challenger straight off the showroom floor. According to CBS Detroit, at around 1:00 am on January 24, a crew of burglars hit the Snethkamp Ram City dealership in Highland Park, MI. In full view of surveillance cameras, the burglars smashed a large glass door that led to the showroom floor and within seconds made off with a $75,000 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat. First they pushed the car through the broken door and out on to Woodward where a van was waiting. The van then pushed the car to a waiting tow truck and, just like that, the car and the crooks were gone. "It looks like they had about a minute and 30 seconds to open the door and push the car out, and then we see another car pushing it away," owner Mark Snethkamp told WWJ. "We've got some really good video and I'm shocked that the Highland Park police didn't catch them because they were here very shortly right after them." Snethkamp also told WWJ that they haven't had a break-in at the dealership like this since the 90s. Both the car and the suspect remain at large, and the Detroit Police Department are encouraging anyone with information to call either DPD or the Help Eliminate Auto Thefts (HEAT) tip line. VIDEO-2: Not gone in :60 but :90. Thieves still a $75,000 @DodgeHellcat off the showroom floor in #HighlandPark. @WWJ950 @CBSDetroit pic.twitter.com/8FvDkgboJ5 — Vickie Thomas (@VickiethomasWWJ) January 24, 2017 News Source: CBS Detroit Auto News Dodge Coupe Performance Detroit thieves challenger burglary

Junkyard 1983 Dodge Rampage has Franco-American roots

Lee Iacocca and the K-Cars get most of the credit for saving Chrysler after the company's 1979 bailout by the US government, but the success of the Simca-derived Omnirizon platform was a large, if overlooked, component of Chrysler's early-1980s resurgence. The Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon were sold in the United States for the 1978 through 1990 model years, and variants included the 1983-1987 Dodge Charger and the Rampage, this well-worn example of which I spotted in a Denver self-service wrecking yard last week. The early Omnirizons came with a Volkswagen-sourced 1.7-liter engine, but all of the Rampage pickups (and their near-identical Plymouth Scamp siblings) came from the factory with a 2.2-liter K-Car engine making 96 horses. This truck has a 4-speed manual transmission, which would have made it reasonably quick by Malaise Era standards. This one had plenty of body filler and rust, even before the crash that sent it on that final tow-truck ride to this place, so it wouldn't have been worth restoring. Still, we can hope that some of its parts will live on in other L-body trucks. Related Video: Featured Gallery Junked 1983 Dodge Rampage in Denver View 16 Photos Chrysler Dodge Automotive History Truck Classics dodge rampage