Mike Burgess <mike_burgess@yahoo.com> wrote:
: Went to Dodge premier night tonight, and got my silver
: eagle.
I went to two and got two silver eagles. ;-) Probably
not actually worth the time and gas to drive to the dealership,
but I had to drop off the CTD for some warranty work on the
A/C system at the one dealership, so as long as I was headed
in that direction... Plus, they had free food. :-)
: Also got an earfull of a sales pitch that the 4.7l hemi
: has " variable displacement " and if you are cruiseing
: level, not demanding much, some cyls shut down and save
: fuel?
Somebody's all hopped up on crack cocaine. ;-) The
sales droid in question has confused the 4.7L (non HEMI)
for the 5.7L HEMI.
: is that true, and if so, does the instrument cluster
: display that ?
I'm not sure about the instrument cluster, but the basic
idea is correct - the 5.7L HEMI does not run on all 8 cylinders
when you are in a light throttle, cruising type situation. I
had the opportunity to drive a Magnum R/T (or RT, whatever they
are calling it now) and I didn't notice the system kicking in
or out, so it is pretty transparent.
Speaking of the Magnum, I was actually pretty dissapointed in it.
Its got decent looks, but the exhaust note is *way* too quiet,
visibility and headroom is somewhat lacking, and its too darn
refined. I was expecting a more raw, visceral experience, but
it was more like driving grandma's grocery getter. The engine
does get the car moving pretty good (although I have to admit,
not quite as quick as I would like.) It looks great on paper,
but the reality just didn't click with me. :-(
BTW, I also drove a Crossfire just for the heck of it yesterday.
Its not a bad looking car, but very cramped, and as I expected,
a bit too gutless for my tastes. When I joked to the sales droid
that they should be putting the HEMI into a little car like this,
his response was that it got up to 150mph on the autobahn and
that the Germans were better than the Americans at getting power
out of an engine. He said that I should get on the throttle a bit
and I would be impressed with the power. I did, and I wasn't. ;-)
Top speed might impress a 10 year old, but on which American road
am I going to be able to drive at those velocities? IMHO, its
not the top speed that counts - its how quick it gets there. ;-)
Unfortunately, I didn't have time to pull the 440 'cuda out of
mothballs in time to drive it to the event, so that they could
see the type of car they *should* be building. ;-)
--
-Jon-
.-- Jon Steiger ---- jon@dakota-truck.net or jon@jonsteiger.com --.
| 1970 Barracuda - 1990 Dakota 'vert - 1992 Ram 4x4 - 1996 Dakota |
| 1996 Intruder 1400 - 1996 Kolb FireFly - 2001 Ram QC 3500 CTD |
`------------------------------------ http://www.jonsteiger.com --'
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