Last week a little present showed up at the
StreetFire Studio, a 2008 Dodge SRT4. We only had it for a few hours, but it was enough to get a taste of it.
I'm happy to report it's actually a pretty fun car to drive, and with 4 doors and a hatch it has a practical side as well. The big thing? The engine. Pretty impressive little mill in a car this size it actually gets the Caliber down the highway at a good clip, assuming you can keep the car pointed straight under all the torque steer. I'm sure a decent differential would help keep things under control. Beyond that I was pretty impressed given the price.
The big thing I wanted to get was a dyno, and was sad to find out Dodge delivered the car with turbo-power sapping 89 Octane. Combine that with a hotter than normal October day and the numbers could have been better. But despite the excuses, the SRT4 put down 260hp at the front wheels. The more impressive thing though was the dyno graph, great torque that doesn't let up. My theory being long stroke to get the car moving and perhaps a slightly undersized turbo, but the result was great for a stock car.
Knowing StreetFire viewers are more interested in how to mod the car than it's grocery capacity, I managed to shoot some under-car photos as well. So check those out if you're curious what the car looks like underneath.
[2008
Dodge Caliber SRT4 Photo Gallery]
Labels: Caliber, Car News, Dodge, SRT