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Fell In Love With A Hemi

This holiday season I had the pleasure of spending 10 days behind the wheel of a Hemi Magnum. While I was previously impressed with the Chrysler LX trio a few years ago during some test drives, a 2500 mile trip behind the wheel of one has left me lovesick. The driving position is very good, the chassis soaked up the bumps and provided decent stick in the corners, the brakes are terrific, and the Hemi motor is addictive! Stomp on the gas and the Hemi rockets the car forward while playing an intoxicating soundtrack. In fact, the motor sounded so sweet I found it nearly impossible to keep my foot out of it. (The best MPG I could muster the whole trip was 18, the lowest was

14 and nearly all my travels was rural or highway.) The Hemi was very torquey down low and had a nice surge of power coming on around 4000 and running right up to its redline at 5800.

Driving the car is a delight! It has the feel of the big V8 sedans of yore, but the dynamics are light years ahead. (No retro mod/modding would ever get it to the Magnum's level. Evidence: On the return home I was able to log 17 hours behind the wheel and I still felt fresh.) My favorite activity while driving was to punch it at about 70 mph, run it up to about 85 then lift off. After getting off the gas the car's power/momentum would give a big push before starting to slow back down. Very cool feeling!

My experience with the Hemi Magnum was sublime, but wasn't without a few gripes. One: The stalk-operated cruise control sucked! Using the blinkers to change lanes and trying to modulate the cruise control/speed at the same time left me fumbling between the two stalks. Chrysler, just put the cruise buttons on the steering wheel like everyone else and be done with it. Two: The dashboard looks like it could wear a Tupperware stamp. Not pretty, but with a Hemi engine under the hood I could overlook it. Three: Okay Chrysler, I understand the Hemi Magnum's mission is to appeal to the hotrod dad/mom while keeping the sensible mom/dad happy so the exhaust noises are muted down to a whisper, but couldn't you at least off an optional exhaust system cutout? Four: The transmission needs a shift kit. When I crank it to redline and bang off a shift I want to hear some tire chirp! Five: Chop out a few inches from the wheel base, remove the two rear doors to create a 2-door wagon.

Patrick

Reply to
NoOption5L
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Nothing to add, but . . . your subject line made me immediately think of this

With apologies to The White Strips . . .

Fell in love with a Dodge Fell in love once and almost completely She's parked out by the lodge But sometimes these feelings Can be so misleading I crank her up and she's sound's alright I said, "I feel real fine when the motor is turning" She says, "Come and drive me by the riverside, The cops says it's fine if the tires aren't burning."

I had a Magnum for a week in 2004 out in Vegas. Drove it out to the Grand Canyon. Utter delight. The missus hated it because she thought it looked like a hearse, but I am giving it serious consideration as the next Maxmobile.

- Max - ======= As Americans we must always remember that we all have a common enemy, an enemy that is dangerous, powerful, and relentless. I refer, of course, to the federal government. - Dave Barry

Reply to
Max C. Webster III

I remember Patrick posting back in 1998...here...RAMFM...about (AAAGGHHH!!) LS1 CAMAROS!

So...along the lines of Max C. Webster III's post....

Fell in love with a Camaro I fell in love once and it was completely (YES...and thanks to NoOP 5.0 Patrick!) She's waits in the garage Sometimes those feelings Can be so misleading Can't wait to take her out again Yeah my left brain knows That tickets deplete me Drive real fast down the Bronx River quickly Yeah my wife is really cool She don't consider it cheating...

Patriick..I'm out of money man! Wanna buy a 2000 Z-28 you made me buy back in late 1999? (J/K of course...it's a great car)

Jimmy

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote:

Reply to
Jimmy

I'll ride a horse or walk before I ever buy another Chrysler product.

Reply to
nospam

Well that's just plain stupid. I'd drive a bowl legged Yugo running on 3 cylinders with no A/C and bad brakes before I'd walk anywhere.

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Reply to
WindsorFox

Thanks, Max! Their song title was my inspiration for the thread title and I was going to use the lyrics in my post, but ran out of time. (I love the Stripes! And think Jack White will emerge in the future as one of this generation's greatest talents.) Thank you for picking up my slack!

I've heard that from a number of women, my wife included. But I think it's a good thing, it gives the Magnum its bad boy image. Patrick

Reply to
NoOption5L

lol Man, you guys are good!

Jimmy, you got to build up your reserves quick before this next generation of pony cars debut! 350+HP GT Mustangs, 425+HP Hemi Dodges and 400+HP LS2 Camaros... it's going to be a glorious era!

Patrick

Reply to
NoOption5L

Reply to
nospam

What was your previous Chrysler expirence?

Patrick

Reply to
NoOption5L

Any just what does all this have to do with ford mustang

Reply to
Ray or Bobbi Adams

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote in news:1168139185.597343.246630@

38g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

understand

Patrick, let me know when you try a 6.1. I'd love to hear your impressions.

Joe Calypso Green '93 5.0 LX AOD hatch with a few goodies Black '03 Dakota 5.9 R/T CC

Reply to
Joe

My wife bought a Plymouth Grand Voyager that went through 3 transmissions in

3 years, in addition to a whole slew of electrical problems, etc.

Ford (not just Mustang) Rules!!!

Reply to
nospam

Directly? Nothing.

Indirectly? I'm sure Chargers are cross-shopped by some who are interested in purchasing a Mustang.

Me... I'm just curious about any cars that may have caused someone a lot of grief. You never know when you may suddenly find yourself car shopping.

Patrick

Reply to
NoOption5L

The fact that regular members of the group are discussing it. If you can't drag yourself to skip past the threads you have no interest in, then "rec.whiners" is ----> that way...

Reply to
WindsorFox

On 6 Jan 2007 19:06:25 -0800, snipped-for-privacy@aol.com puked:

How was the visibility out that little rear window? I sat in one once and it didn't seem to be a problem, but wondered about in on a long haul...

-- lab~rat >:-) Do you want polite or do you want sincere?

Reply to
lab~rat >:-)

Last summer when I was shopping for my mid-life crisis toy, I was cross shopping the Dodge Hemi's as well, along with the Mustangs, both new style and older style.

The Dodge was a monster for sure, but it's too heavy to really compare to a "sports car" IMHO. However, in it's class, it's light years ahead of the FWD Monte Carlos and Impalas.

The power is there and it is super smooth. The handling is sluggish, but again I am comparing to a Mustang which of course does not ride as civilized as the Dodge does. The Dodge does a very nice job of compromising between handling and comfort.

My previous/current experience with Chrysler products is bad news. A 2000 Caravan, which now has 114k on it, went through 3 steering racks, assorted input/output tranny sensors, a PCM, swaybar bushings at least 3 times and a short in the high beam circuit.

Thank goodness for the 100k mile warranty...

Reading the Allpar forums shows that little has improved since 2000 and people are STILL complaining of transmission failures, sway bar bushings creaking and a host of other problems. Chrysler doesn't seem to learn from it's mistakes and continues to produce the same cars, with the same defects over and over again.

Not that Ford doesn't have it's own set of problems. The 2005+ owners are going wild with rear end problems and leaks in the front passenger side of the car.

Interesting since my 2003 had leaks on that side as well. I repaired the seams where Ford was stingy on seam sealer and all is now good. It was NOT however an easy thing to find, as the 2005+ owners are discovering.

As a side note, I almost went Asian like a Honda Si, Mazda 3 or WRX, Mistsubishi Ecilpse etc but my kids said they would disown me if I went "rice". They couldn't see their 46 year old mom driving a ricer :}

Still, if you look in the ricer forums you will see all kinds of complaints so nothing is perfect.

Reply to
Stefani Bowers

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