The day is still young — there’s still time for our Camaro story du jour.

0-60 in under 6 seconds? thats porsche cayman (0-60 in 5.8 according to Porsche) numbers…kinda overkill don’t you think?

You would think they would be tuning those engines down in favor of MPG.. I wonder which manufacturer will put MPG above torque and horses first? Ford? Whomever it is, I am betting it will be a prove to be a market coup de tat.

So what exactly is the Dakota’s standing these days? If Ford’s letting the Ranger soldier on for a few more years one might expect Chrysler to do the same.

Yeah, Dodge has always seemed to be the company to not care whatsoever about MPG, even now-a-days. Which is definitely not a smart choice. I have a friend whos step father is a plant worker at one of Dodge’s truck assmebly plant, he also drives Rams and has owned several of them.. Well he definitely is a Dodge fanatic and always brags about how fast the Ram compared to any other truck and yawda… yawda… Well I always come back and say how many times was your “brand new Ram” in the shop?

Every time I’m there he’s always under the hood because it’s not working properly, I’ve also ridden in it, and have seen the horrible interior, and I’ve never seen a truck after like 3 months start to have rubber seals break and little things start to wear and rust?

A truck that size stock doing under 60 in 6 is fast but I don’t care if it’s faster than a Ferrari, I’d never own a Dodge (well maybe unless it was a Viper…)

What i dont understand is why Dodge Constantly Banks off this Hemi engine. It doesnt make sense to me. If your looking for something fast buy a cobra. Real truck guys, who use there trucks the way there supposed to owns Fords. Ford consistently kicks Dodge’s ass. hemi or not. I find it ridiculous that engine is still in circulation, with the rising cost of gasoline. Dodge should just go bankrupt as a brand because there sales are embarassing. Ford still holds best payload, towing capacity, and is the only truck with a fully boxed frame. Let me remind you also the best selling truck for 30 years. Give it a break dodge.

supposedly this new dodge is supposed to be better than the ford. maybe its true! i guess we’ll see tho. & there is that new Ford coming out soon….. hmm…

Wow… it’s not more fuel efficient… but it’s faster! Guess what Dodge… efficient is the new fast. Better get used to it.

hahaha what bull****. a regular cab short bed 4×2 v6 will get 23 highway…HAHAHA.

13 mpg city? good god.

Raineman, you are right! Now, how many toothpicks are on the floor?
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“Two hundred and forty eight. Yeah. Two forty eight. Yeah. Ok.”

You know, the Hemi design is more efficient than a regular cylinder design, ihustle. Chrysler still using outdated technology however, and I have a feeling Chrysler is hoping the HEMI will cover up for that.

I think Chevrolet will be the first to bank off from these power wars. Either Chevrolet or Ford, because Toyota is out there to make a new image, and Dodge is trying to cover the image they’ve created.

The Dakota got a major redesign quite a while ago, and a major update recently. I don’t think Chrysler’s gonna let the Dakota soil; they’ll probably make it bigger to go against the rumored F-100.

And there’s still no market for a small pick-up…

I hope the Ranger stays small.

I think what Dodge should have done is invested in that V-6. They don’t sell because they don’t get any better fuel economy than the V-8’s, and a new V-6 would be of great use in the Durango, Dakota, Ram as well as literally all of Jeeps product line… and Chryslers… The 2.7 is crap.

fromes… its also Cobalt SS numbers, so what does that say about the cayman?

Wonder what the 4.7 v8 will get, my buddy gets 18mpg in his ram with it?

My friend gets 20 mpg with HEMI on highway; he does not like to talk about mileage around tone.

e36m: The 4.7L gets about the same mileage as the Hemi, which is aided by cylinder deactivation. In fact, for the ‘08 Ram, Dodge lists the figures at 13/19 for the Hemi, and 13/17 for the 4.7L.

@cookie4me

If you knew anything about physics you’d understand that improving efficiency improves both power and fuel consumption. Driving at X MPH requires Y HP based on drag and weight of the vehicle. It doesn’t matter if the motor providing Y has a potential of 380 HP or 390 HP. If the 380 HP and 390 HP motors have the same displacement and offer the same gearing to produce Y HP at the same engine speed, then the more efficient motor wins (ie. the one producing 390 HP). Higher power allows for higher gearing which in turn provides even more fuel economy benefits by allowing the engines to run at a lower RPM to produce Y HP. This in turn now makes the more powerful engine the more fuel efficient solution.

Dodge has always been about being the baddest dog on the block, so this is certainly no exception. I kinda like their rough attitude…don’t like us, don’t buy us. MPG be damned! If you want to save fuel, look elsewhere.

haha 1c3d0g, “If you want to save fuel, look elsewhere” That’s exactly what the majority of Americans are doing now, sucks for Dodge then…

fromes… its also Cobalt SS numbers, so what does that say about the cayman?-A4 Haha never thought I’d see the day when a production Cobalt would be as quick or faster than a Porsche, but true…

Payton Bird- That explanation was a little confusing although understandable… but your also being extremely misguiding to some. I think your explanation just needs some clarification.

More horsepower usually results in using more fuel. The more fuel, the more horsepower. However, if you can use the amount of fuel your consuming more efficiently, then your most likely producing more horsepower however the same fuel economy. Smaller engine using fuel more efficiently results in better horsepower numbers and usually that leads them to be “downgraded”, to use less fuel but to post the same hp numbers as before.

Higher gearing does not translate to better fuel economy. Usually, higher gearing results in worse fuel economy, as the engine often has to overwork itself to get up to speed. However, lower RPMS often translates to better fuel economy, as it will be using less fuel compared to higher rpms.

BTW, great site. I can see you don’t exactly like Obama. And that’s the first time I’ve ever heard about such a problem on an Accord… and the first time I’ve heard of a “active noise canceling feature”. Kinda scares me to think why they would need to use such a thing.

well the f-150 is still the better truck

@jayjc08

I think we may have our wires crossed on the definition of higher gearing. Numerically, a higher gear has a smaller number on the left of the ratio than the number left of the ratio on a lower gear. For example, a 4.00:1 gear ratio is lower than a 3.50:1 gear. The reason is that the 3.50:1 gear produces more RPM at the output of the gear than the 4.00:1 gear at the same input speed. Higher torque (and thus horsepower at a specific RPM) leads to the ability to run a higher gear which allows the engine to turn less RPM, thus saving fuel.

Most of the V8 engines on the market (and V6 for that matter) are starting to offer variable displacement, which is essentially the ability to shut off cylinders so that they don’t need to burn fuel. The inactive cylinders do add some reciprocating weight and the compression stroke still happens, so a 5.6L V8 running in 4-cylinder mode will have more parasitic losses as a 2.8L I4 engine, but that 2.8L I4 could never produce the power of that 5.6L V8 without turbo charging.

BTW, an American V8 uses a firing order that produces a naturally balanced engine at 90 degrees on the block bank. Running in 4 cylinder mode the math is the same for the angle, so there is no perceptible difference when running in 8-cylinder and 4-cylinder modes. A V6 has a natural angle of 60 degrees on the block bank, but when run in 4 cylinder mode the bank angle is wrong and the engine vibrates because it’s not harmonically balanced. This vibration typically is severe enough to upset the harmonics of the car and under certain circumstances can cause resonance. This is the reason that Honda and other companies that produce multiple displacement V6 engines use active noise cancellation.

The things that people don’t talk about that affect fuel economy the most are weight and drag. The reason pickups and SUV’s get crappy gas mileage is that they are heavy and as aerodynamic as a brick. The Corvette Z06 gets 27 MPG highway while producing more horsepower than any truck or SUV on the road. This is accomplished through an EXTREMELY tall overdrive gear and an EXTREMELY efficient engine combined with very low weight and very low drag. Most I4 powered family cars struggle to achieve 27 MPG highway.