Green 4x4 Laramie Edition With Hemi Engine on 2040-cars

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The Dodge Demon gets a Drag Mode and a lesson in Newtonian physics

It's Thursday morning, which means we have more news on the upcoming Dodge Demon, the pumped-up Challenger Hellcat variant that's looking to cause mayhem at a drag strip near you. This week's video, "Third Law," shows the Demon's revised suspension in action and displays another one of SRT's cryptic messages. Dodge claims that the 6.2-liter supercharged Hemi V8 in the Hellcat twins is compromised because it's fitted to a car that needs to be comfortable on the street in addition to a performer on the drag strip. Not so with the Demon, as Dodge says the car is "designed to be highly competent in all drive modes and configurations," including the all-new Drag Mode. Dodge says details about the new mode will trickle out over the next few weeks, but all the info this week focused on suspension. The "Third Law" in this week's title refers to Isaac Newton and motion: "When one body exerts a force on a second body, the second body simultaneously exerts a force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction on the first body." We're not sure what Newton would have thought seeing the sidewall wrinkling Nitto NT05R drag radials in action, but he'd probably have a reaction of some sort himself. An ideal suspension setup for the drag strip makes for a poor setup on the road. As Dodge puts it, the "old school" way to set up a drag car was to "get the quickest reacting springs upfront, the softest rebound front shocks that wouldn't restrict the springs' reaction, remove any restrictions (sway bar) and increase the compression of the rear shocks." This would give a car great front to rear weight transfer but made for very poor lateral direction control, meaning minor corrections were difficult. The Demon's Drag Mode will use electronics to give the car the best combination of launch and lateral stability. Dodge listed some of the parts to help aid in this goal. They also gave us a few equations that we can't make sense of. Let us know if you have any clues. Hardware: 35 percent lower rate front springs/28 percent lower rate rear springs 75 percent lower rate hollow front sway bar/44 percent lower rate rear sway bar Drag-tuned Bilstein Adaptive Damping Shocks Software: Rear = F/F and Front = F/S F/F – F/S maintained @ wide open throttle (WOT) F/F – F/F < WOT Traction control disabled/ESC maintained Result: 13.5=575@500 Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

25,000 Jeep Grand Cherokee, Dodge Durango SUVs recalled over brake feel

Chrysler has announced that it is recalling over 25,000 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango SUVs from several markets over concerns about brake feel under hard braking. The affected models are from the 2012 and 2013 model years, although the actual dates of production aren't available. 18,700 are in the US, while 825 are in Canada, 530 are in Mexico and a further 5,200 outside of North America.
According to a statement, Chrysler was informed of the issue by a component supplier for the Ready Alert Braking system, which primes the brakes in anticipation of an emergency stop. A component in the system was restricting the flow of brake fluid too much.
As Chrysler is quick to point out, the way the brakes functioned was in compliance with regulations and there are no reported cases of drivers losing braking power. Instead, the issue rests with what Chrysler calls a pedal feel that "was not consistent with customer expectations." So it would seem Chrysler is being proactive and fixing a problem not because there's a legal issue at work, but simply because it doesn't feel the way the manufacturer wants it to. Well done.

eGarage interviews a couple with 65 Vipers

Owning multiple vehicles can be a hassle worth enjoying if you're willing to spend the time and the money required to acquire and maintain them. But when it's hard to make ends meet while underused valuable hunks of metal, plastic and rubber sit happily taking up garage space, journeys into the depths of other people's well-developed automotive obsessions will either bring you and your cars closer together, or compel you to sell them off before you become one of those fanatics. A recent video by eGarage is one of those journeys, and it's not for the faint of heart: D'Ann and Wayne Rauh own 65 Dodge and SRT Vipers in a collection of automobiles that exceeds 100.
We're not sure if the couple has developed heat-resistant calves from stepping over Viper door sills made burning-hot by side-exhaust pipes, but we wouldn't be surprised if they did. We did learn that their obsession with the no-holds-barred sports car started in 2006 with a trip to a dealership to buy just one Viper, which goes to show how innocently car obsessions can start. But the Rauhs seem to be doing just fine - perhaps better - 64 more Vipers later.
Watch the video below for the full story and to see what eGarage claims is the world's largest Viper collection.