Dodge builds a wagon with streetswagger to go.
BY PATRICK BEDARD
PHOTOGRAPHY BY TOM COSGROVE
January 2005


Wagon or muscle car? Mommy's grocery getter or bad-boy drive-in cruiser? Ah, such artful ambiguity.

For sure, Tom Gale's fingerprints are all over the Dodge Magnum. Before he retired in 2000 as Chrysler's longtime head of design, some say he made sure this choptop two-box form was locked down and beyond second thoughts from Daimler's takeover guys. DaimlerChrysler's response to our query on this point was firmly noncommittal.

Gale brought swagger and stance to what, by the late '80s, was the K-car company. You see Gale's DNA in the end views of the original Viper, radically wide and low. The new-for-1991 Dodge Stealth had it, too. And now, as a 2005 model, we have the Dodge Magnum, outrageously broad for its height.



Call it the street-rod illusion. Gale is very fluent in this art form, to the point of sculpting, and then commissioning, his own impression of a 1933 Ford roadster. The result is stunning and fresh.

Street rods look low, but they really aren't, and neither is the 58.3-inch-tall Magnum. The effect comes from just the right slope of the roof, a high beltline, and slit-shaped windows. Broad shoulders add to the look. The Magnum has the full rodder's treatment.

It's fun and, at times, frustrating, too. The top of the windshield crops off your view of overhead traffic signals. In the Safeway lot, be careful when you back up. With the driver seat full up, giving the best view, a shopping cart within 11 feet disappears behind the liftgate. And parallel parking is tricky. The whole hood of a Cavalier was eclipsed when we still had six feet of backup space remaining.

The above comments apply to all the Magnum models, but only the RT gets the 345-cubic-inch Hemi V-8 (saying "5.7 liters" fights with the pushrod Hemi image). It delivers its 340 horsepower with a satisfying basso voice and authoritative thrust through the five-speed automatic.

The RT, on its standard-equipment 225/60R-18 touring tires, moves confidently over the road, yet it has clearly been told not to beat up the customers. Few will find the ride too sporty. There is a welcome tautness about this car that we find reassuring—;no slack at the top of the brake pedal, for example, and timely transmission responses.

The 120.0-inch wheelbase is up in the range of standard-cab full-size pickups, and so is the turning circle. You sometimes must take two cuts at a straight-in parking slot.



-Matt-

 

The wagon roofline gives the Magnum its look—and extra flexibility as a hauler. Attention, Home Depot shoppers: With the rear seatbacks folded forward, you can slide six-footers in without hitting the backs of the front buckets (eight-footers extend between the buckets about halfway to the dash). The Chrysler 300 sedan swallows similar lengths. The Magnum's advantage is easier loading—the liftgate opens hatchback style from a pivot point well forward in the roof—and about 12 more inches of "headroom" in the cargo area.

Passenger space in the back seat has a limousine mood about it. Partly, that's a comment on the generous room for shoulders, elbows, and feet, but it also describes the isolation. It's dark back there. The windowsills come up to your chin. The view out is trimmed down by the slit windows. Next stop: the castle. Or will it be the dungeon? Did we mention the darkness?

The RT designation dates back to Dodge muscle cars of the '60s (it was R/T then), but applied to the Magnum, it just means "top of the line." The RT has fog lights; a bright grille; leather seats, wheel, and shift ****; and a six-speaker stereo. Four-wheel discs and anti-lock are included, but traction control is extra. And don't forget the 19-gallon tank, up one from the lesser Magnums.

This is a Hemi, after all.


Vehicle type: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 5-door wagon
Price as tested: $31,435 (base price: $29,995)
Engine type: pushrod 16-valve V-8, iron block and aluminum heads, port fuel injection
Displacement: 345 cu in, 5654cc
Power (SAE net): 340 bhp @ 5000 rpm
Torque (SAE net): 390 lb-ft @ 4000 rpm

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Transmission: 5-speed automatic with manumatic shifting
Wheelbase: 120.0 in
Length/width/height: 197.7/74.1/58.3 in
Curb weight: 4289 lb

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Zero to 60 mph: 6.1 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 15.6 sec
Zero to 120 mph: 24.0 sec
Street start, 5-60 mph: 6.5 sec
Standing 1/4-mile: 14.7 sec @ 97 mph
Top speed (governor limited): 130 mph
Braking, 70-0 mph: 182 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.78 g
EPA fuel economy, city driving: 17 mpg
C/D-observed fuel economy: 15 mpg




-Matt-