The 2009 models and the Hemi horsepower conundrum

As you may already know from reading the forums announcement, the news page, and the home page, we’ve updated our coverage of the 2009 models.

What you may not know is that we’ve just finally updated every individual Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep model that had 2009 changes, so those are all in sync.

You may have noticed that the Hemi engine has wildly varying horsepower figures. There’s all sorts of speculation on why that may be. Here are some leading contenders:

• Chrysler PR people got a bunch of numbers mixed up. That’s supported by the Durango/Aspen press release which reports 356 and 365 horsepower - twice for both numbers.
• The engines are carefully tuned for the application, in some cases to get better gas mileage, in others to get more peak horsepower.
• The engines and their accessories can have different levels of efficiency and tuning, but the more horsepower they achieve, the more it costs. Therefore, power has been matched to the marketing and financial needs. The Ram, for example, had to be very close to Toyota’s 5.7 liter engines.
• The Hemi needs to breath well, and can’t do it in every vehicle. The Ram has a bigger underhood area and so gets the most power. The Challenger was designed around the layout of the engine and gets the second best power, etc. (Remember, we’re still just speculating.)
• The engine power is matched to the components and handling capabilities of the vehicle. Since it’s very heavy, the Ram can get more power without needing to upgrade numerous suspension parts, with various financial and gas-mileage costs; it also has a heavy duty axle for capacity reasons and doesn’t need an expensive axle upgrade to handle more power.
• Power ratings on the Ram were announced before gas mileage became an issue. Other applications of the new VCT Hemi were tuned for gas mileage, but the Ram number was “locked in.”
• In the case of the Ram 2500 and 3500, power is limited to increase durability.
• Chrysler is playing with our heads to see what kind of crazy theories we come up with. Really, the engines are all the same.
• After announcing the Ram 1500’s power rating, the engineers discovered that they could come up with a more satisfying, flatter torque curve by sacrificing some peak horsepower. Again, the Ram 1500 was locked in - they had already announced the number to the press.

You can speculate and guess along with us - the only people who really know are in the basement and executive towers of the Mall of the Pentastar, otherwise known as the Chrysler Technical Center.

Sorting it out

We know there is a replacement for the Grand Cherokee coming to the North Jefferson plant, based on Tom LaSorda’s statements. This should really be no surprise. It is planned to be lighter than the current model, also no surprise, given gas mileage issues and the reason why the current model is as heavy as it is (rumor has it the Mercedes people demanded changes based on their own needs). This vehicle will most likely end up being worked over and produced as a Mercedes, as the current one is.

Most likely some other vehicle will be built with it á la Nitro/Liberty. Prime candidates are the Aspen and/or the Commander. Maybe the Durango… it all depends how they want to play it. If the Grand Cherokee is the luxury version, a companion Dodge would make more sense than a companion Chrysler. On the other hand the Commander could be the true-luxury version, and the Grand Cherokee the sortakinda Oldsmobile version. They could also make a “lifestyle Dakota” from this.

Small cars… are a big open question. I suspect Chrysler has numerous paths under way and is trying to figure out which will work. There are two pacts in China, one with Chery and one with Great Wall, which might come to nothing or be the next small Chrysler, replacing the Horizon. There is the possibility of using the Fiat 500 chassis, and there is the thought that maybe engineers from Chrysler have been working on their own A-class car and that no matter who builds it, it is still coming from the plans that started to be drawn up last year or the year before. And then there’s the B-car, coming from the future Nissan Cube… and to confuse matters, the Nissan Versa spinoff to replace the Hyundai Atoz.

D-class (Sebring/Avenger) cars are coming, and I believe that they will be sourced from Chrysler, especially since they seem to be planning a whole series of vehicles at long last (the same plans were apparently made for numerous other projects). They’d want to keep control in-house if they were making sedans, coupes, hatchbacks, minivans, and crossovers all from the same source.

Hanging over all these future projects is the question of model cuts. It would not be insane to think that maybe the Durango and Aspen and Nitro will all be allowed to die. The Liberty may not even be needed, if the Grand Cherokee replacement can be built in two varieties - think Cherokee and Grand Cherokee. The old Jeep used to do things like that. I don’t know if the Liberty has a real following, but I doubt the Nitro does.

By the way, I’d appreciate it if your comments focused on what is likely to happen, not what you’d like to happen. You know my opinion, but here it is again:

Dodge - muscle cars (Challenger/Charger), Ram, Dakota, Caravan (sporty suspension tuning).
Chrysler - 300C, extended-wheelbase 300C (”New Yorker”), true-luxury T&C.
Plymouth - small crossover (”PT Cruiser”?), small cars, low-end, V6-only big car.

The 2009 Jeep Patriot is a step forward

The Jeep Patriot seems to have it all: gas mileage, offroad capabilities, reasonable pep, and a lifetime warranty, with numerous interior features. Sales have, though, been slower than one would expect during these frugal, gas-sipping days. The factory that makes the Patriot, Compass, and Caliber is still on limited capacity. Hopefully, customers will give the Patriot another look now that the Patriot’s gotten an interior workover; the “bulky look” is gone now, replaced by more curves and better-looking materials. We won’t be able to report on personal impressions for a while yet - we do have them! - but we can tell you just from the pictures that this is a much better interior than the current Patriot has. Pay particular attention to the treatment of the glove compartment; the blocky look is gone and textures seem to have been fixed, with chrome accents relieving the plastic. Overall, everything is still in roughly the same place - it’s clear that this was no “unlimited budget” or “from scratch” makeover - but the details have been cleverly reworked for a massive improvement.

You may wonder how we can release this photo (and more at our Jeep Patriot page). First, the details we have on the Patriot were leaked to us before we were bound by the media embargo; second, Chrysler has violated its own embargo with brochures and actual cars showing up at dealerships just a tad early. Is there really a point to our withholding photography when you can go to a Jeep dealer and see the real thing? We sure hope not, because we don’t want them to be mad at us again!

Patriot vindicated

This is not a column about K.T. Keller, the great Chrysler patriot who may have lost the company while saving the country (or at least, saving the country a lot of cash).

This is about the Jeep Patriot.

The Patriot came out to much scoffing at various auto blogs. Critics were fairly merciless, and one which proclaims to be especially truthful simply ravaged the vehicle - and then brooked no criticism of its criticism. Without actually taking the Patriot offroad, many simply said it couldn’t possibly be any good off-road.

This is of course standard fare for Jeep followers. No new Jeep is ever worthy; the predecessors were always better (of course sometimes that’s true). But with the Patriot, people were already feeling as though Jeep was becoming less credible, thanks to the Compass.

You know the Compass. It was supposed to be a great rally car, something akin to the Subaru Impreza. Somewhere along the way it became an economy wagon. Typical DaimlerChrysler thinking seemed to prevail - corners that could be cut were cut. Corners that could not be cut were cut, too.

Following the Compass could have been good, if this was a different age and if the spirit of the Internet was a bit more reflective. Articles could have begun, “Unlike the Compass…”

They didn’t.

The Internet does not usually lend itself to careful thought and reflection; it’s more the ignorant leading the fanatical. Having an opinion, as one engineer who has many opinions put it, does not make one’s thoughts worthy.

There’s also a lot of groupthink, not just on the Internet, but in general. We all know that German cars are all superior, followed by Japanese, then Korean, and finally, at the bottom, ignoring the French and Italians, come the Americans. We all know that it doesn’t matter if we buy a car made entirely in Japan or Korea or Mexico; it won’t affect our jobs. And especially, we know that anything made by the New Chrysler is a piece of junk with a lousy interior, and anything made by Toyota is superior — ignoring any actual experiences within a Toyota and a Chrysler. That also had an impact. Chrysler’s on a downswing and people are happy to push them deeper into the grave. GM and Ford had their turns, too. Ford was reputedly on the verge of bankruptcy. So was GM. Indeed, I had a friend who insisted stockholders would sue if GM did not declare Chapter 11, because only then could they escape those horrid unions that insisted GM focus all their energies on big trucks.

Obviously, Ford and GM did not go under. Equally obviously, the unions had little if anything to do with GM’s product decisions - or for that matter Ford’s and Chrysler’s.

The point of all this is that the Jeep Patriot, when I drove it, wasn’t bad. It was, in fact, so much nicer than the Caliber that I was rather surprised by it. And when people actually took it off-road, they found that properly equipped Patriots were pretty respectable.

Imagine that.

Now, Patriot sales are rising, at a time when just about all other American cars larger than a Neon are falling. The Patriot is the bright light of the Belvidere factory.

Hopefully, some of those with opinions to spare will start to give the Patriot a second look - and maybe even try it out on the trail. It’s not a Wrangler Rubicon, but likewise, it’s not a Compass.

2008 Jeep Liberty goes back to Cherokee look

With the 2008 Liberty now completely undressed at http://www.allpar.com/trucks/jeep/liberty-2008.html, we can see that the new look harkens back to the old look; the new Liberty looks remarkably like the beloved old Cherokee. And who said retro was out of fashion?

Speaking of retro, we now have two conflicting PT Cruiser rumors. One says the model is gone in 2009; the other said it is merely moving to the Avenger/Sebring platform so it can finally get a V6, and along the way differentiate itself further from the (less popular) Chevy HHR. We hope Chrysler won’t move even further away from the classic charm that has made the PT endearing to so many (along with its reasonable price tag and extreme usability). And hey, guys, if it’s too cheap to be a Chrysler, how ’bout making it the only Plymouth? Then you can admit that PT means Plymouth Truck. (Either that or it’s simply the Truck version of the PL body.)

What is missing in the Jeep line-up?

I will start this blog with a quote from the superduckie5000…

“A Question!   From The Days Of Future Past - Get It. Right.   What Set of Wheels Begins With the Letter “G”?

THE MAD DUCK.   All to Be Reviled Many Moons Out!”

I don’t know about you but my decoder ring has never ever worked.  I don’t think that I have ever understood any of the duckies remarks.  I also don’t know if I understand what the above quote is about…but I will tell you what I think the duckie is trying to say at the end of this blog. 

Some HISTORY OF THE JEEP BRAND

Willys MB started it all…

It was the jeep that started it all…sort of like the ring that controlled them all.  I will not go into the history of the Willys MB, any jeep lover knows all there is to know about this wonderful vehicle.

Willys Jeep Pick-up

The Willys Jeep Pick up was introduced to the world in 1947 and was dropped in 1965.  The Willys Jeep Pick-up was based off of the Willys Jeep Wagon and the VJ-2 and VJ-3 Willys Jeepster.  In the life-span of the Pick up, more than 200,000 were manufactured.  Kaiser buys Willys-Overland and changes name to Willys Motor Company in 1953.

FC-150 and 170

The Jeep Forward Control (FC) was a truck produced by Willys and then Kaiser Jeep from 1956 to 1965.  The FC-150 started production in 1956 and a year later the 170 was being manufactured.  And a year later; production of the FC-170 DRW (dual rear wheel) truck begins.  In 1963 the Willys Motor Company changes it’s name again to Kaiser-Jeep Corporation.

Jeep Gladiator

In 1965, the Gladiator J-Series pickup debuts as a replacement for the Willys Pickup.  The Gladiator was the replacement to the Willys Pick up and not the Jeep Forward Control because the FC were a Full Size truck and were not a Pick up.  When the Gladiator was debut in 1965 they were refereed to as the Jeep Gladiator but as time went on their name changed to the Jeep Trucks or J-Trucks.  The Gladiator was a full-size pickup based on the SJ Jeep Wagoneer SUV.  Another thing of interest was that the Jeep Wagoneer station wagons and Jeep Gladiator utes were the first Jeep vehicles designed from the ground up for a civilian rather than military purpose. They also were the first to provide automatic transmission and complete passenger-car styling. Thus, the combination of four-wheel drive and automatic transmission was an automotive industry first.  The Gladiator was finally discontinued in 1970 and in the same year the American Motors Corporation takes over Kaiser-Jeep. (Another note of interest: in 1971 the American General is spun off from American Motors Corporation. This company later produces the HMMWV.  Does the seven slot grill on the HMMWV ring a bell?)

Jeep Honcho

The Jeep Honcho was a full-size pickup truck based on the SJ Jeep Wagoneer SUV. It was sold through the 1970s and was discontinued in 1986.

CJ-8 Scrambler

The CJ-8 Scrambler was a pickup truck version of the CJ-7, introduced in 1981. It featured a 103 in wheelbase and a pickup bed. Only 27,792 were built in the 6 years of production.  It was produced from 1981-1986. 

Jeep Comanche

The Comanche (MJ) was a pickup truck version of the downsized Cherokee (XJ). It was a unibody vehicle, an oddity for a pickup truck. The Comanche production started up in 1986 and was discontinued in 1992. Sales of the Cherokee and Commanche took off in 1987; unfortunately, AMC had already agreed to the merger with Chrysler. The Comanche along with the Cherokee XJ could have saved the drowning American Motors however they had already agreed for a merger with the Chrysler Corporation in 1987.

One reason why the Comanche’s life-span was so short was because it competed with Chrysler’s own, mid-sized Dodge Dakota pickup. The conventional wisdom at the time was that Chrysler wanted to focus sales on the more popular Dodge Dakota rather than the Comanche.

So it has been close to 20 years since the Jeep brand has had a small pick-up (Scrambler) and 14 years since Jeep has had a mid-size pick-up (Comanche).
Pick-ups are a part of the Jeep brand; they are a part of their history This philosophy may seem odd at this at this point in the Jeep brand, but that is only due to the long period of the lack of pick-ups.
It is time that Jeep reversed this trend….PRODUCE the Gladiator. I and many other Jeep fanatics beg you.
I will go back to the superduckie quote at the beginning of this blog:
“A Question!   From The Days Of Future Past - Get It. Right.   What Set of Wheels Begins With the Letter “G”?
I am hoping that the duckie is saying that a production Gladiator will make its debut at one of the coming auto shows.
Jeep owes it to its costumers and to its history to produce this vehicle.
So to answer the question I posed at the beginning: What is missing in the Jeep line-up…it is the Gladiator Pick-up.