MSRP Range: $20,000
Invoice Range: $18,000
Price Quote
MSRP As Tested: $19,450
Versions: SRT-4
Vehicle Category: Compact Sports Sedan
Engine Location: Front Engine
Drive Wheels: Front-Wheel Drive
Engine As Tested: 2.4-liter, Dual Overhead Cam, Turbocharged, ">Inter-cooled, Inline 4-cylinder, 215-horsepower at 5,400 rpm and 245 lb-ft torque at 3,200 rpm.
Transmission As Tested: 5-Speed Manual
Fuel Economy (city/hwy): 22/30
Standard Safety Features: Driver and front passenger, front airbags, 4-wheel power disc brakes, In-Trunk Emergency Trunk Release.
Competition: Ford Focus, Honda Civic, Mazda Protege, Nissan Sentra
WITTMAN, Arizona -- Crank that three-spoke steering wheel quickly to the left, then hard to the right, now left again to scoot through snaky chicane curves on a blacktop slalom course spread across pancake-flat sands in the desert west of Phoenix.
On the straight stretch that follows, you can put your foot into the dimpled aluminum accelerator pedal and play the stick on a manual gearbox, but look out: This new turbo-charged sports sedan from Dodge runs up to high speed as fast as you can shift it.
It's so swift, in fact, that Dodge ranks the performance of this car second only to the awesome Viper SRT-10 supercar in the current Dodge fleet because its zero-to-60 time is topped only by a Viper.
The new performance sedan, sized in the compact class and rigged with street-legal mechanical gear to run in the fast lane, also shares a name with the SRT-10 Viper. Dodge casts it as the SRT-4.
The initials of SRT -- signifying "Street and Racing Technology" -- mark new high-performance vehicles for Dodge, while the digit tacked at the tail indicates the number of cylinders in the engine.
With Viper that means ten cylinders and for SRT-4 it denotes four cylinders. But the four-pack in SRT-4 is not the tepid plant that comes in a typical compact. There's a turbo-charger and aluminum inter-cooler attached to a dual-cam 2.4-liter four-in-line rigged for high output with a large-hole throttle body and high-flow intake manifold.
It's rated up to 215-hp at 5,400 rpm plus 245 lb-ft of torque available between 2,000 and 4,800 rpm.
To translate all of that torque to speed at the wheels is a heavy-duty five-speed manual shifter with equal-length halfshafts and a high capacity clutch.
How quick is it?
Stopwatch times for a romp from zero to 60 in SRT-4 easily clip below six seconds.
Now tie the car's performance figures to its competitive price points to reach the sweetest spot, as Dodge sets the MSRP for SRT-4 at only $19,995. That makes it the swiftest production car in the American market priced below $20,000.
Think of it as a factory-sanctioned and affordable route into the world of street racers customized off compact-class front-wheel-drive (FWD) sedans.
Roots of SRT-4 trace back several years to a Neon SRT concept car that twirled on the turntable in a Dodge display at the Los Angeles International Auto Show. Using the compact-class structure of a Neon as the starting point, SRT resembled one of those customized sport compact cars from the street-racing scene in Los Angeles as captured on the big screen in "The Fast and the Furious" flick.
Subsequent reaction to the SRT concept on the auto show circuit was so strong that designers at Dodge soon went to work on a production version and the new SRT-4 is the result. It's now rolling out of a Dodge plant in Belvidere, Ill., that also constructs the Neon.
To call the SRT-4 a Neon would be a mistake, however, since the two vehicles share few components aside from the core structure, although Neon has performance roots of its own with thousands of drivers lured into sports car races through the Neon Challenge series of SCCA-sanctioned events.
But SRT-4 goes far further than any Neon to fashion a street racer. First, it captures the look of a custom job.
Aggressive styling at the prow reflects cues of street performance machines with a deep fascia etched with multiple air intake ports and cross-hair grille plus a horizontal port carved into the shapely hood.
On flanks SRT-4 carries curvy sills that pitch the body low to the ground like a racer. Round wheel arches are large with wells filled by low-profile 17-inch tires rimming aluminum wheels that resemble pricy aftermarket rollers.
At the tail a tall basket-handle spoiler flies off the deck and works at speed to exert force on rear wheels and pin them to the pavement.
A choice of four strong paint colors mark the SRT-4 in Flame Red, Black, Bright Silver Metallic or Solar Yellow.
Beneath its muscular skin, the souped-up sedan conceals special suspension tweaking with performance-tuned struts and springs plus heavy-duty sway bars. The tuning, tight and nice, keeps the body in an athletic stance to handle hard-wrought turns.
Steering, through a direct rack and pinion system, was designed to feel neutral but respond quickly to a driver's demands, as do the disc brakes with 11-inch rotors and upgraded brake pads.
Further, a computerized anti-lock devise brings more control when steering and stopping.
Additional safety elements on SRT-4 include frontal air bags for driver and front passenger plus an optional pair of side-impact air bags.
The cockpit also comes with the look and feel of a customized performance car. Front seats, patterned after a wrap-around design for buckets in the Viper SRT-10, contain reinforcements in lateral and lumbar segments to support the torso when this car runs through a wiggly chute. Also, textured cloth fabric lines the face of each bucket for extra grip, with bolsters wrapped in vinyl.
The steering wheel in three-spoke style has leather on top looking like carbon-fiber material, while the design of the wheel allows the driver to keep an eye cocked toward dials in the instrument cluster.
Included is a turbo boost/vacuum gauge tucked beneath the brow of the panel. Gauges with silver rims reflect easy-to-read silver faces, and similar satin metal trim shows up on door handles and the center stack with rotary knobs for climate control.
The theme continues in the foot well with all three pedals made of cast aluminum with dimple surfaces. And a short-throw stick extending from the center console has a cue ball shift knob also in satin silver.
Standard on-board equipment ranges from air conditioning and a remote keyless entry fob to power controls for windows and door locks plus a stereo audio system with CD deck and six speakers
MORE DATA
Where Built: Belvidere, Illinois, USA
Seating: 5
Number of Rows: 2
Crash Test Ratings:
- NHTSA Frontal Impact/Driver Crash Test Rating: ****
- NHTSA Frontal Impact/Passenger Crash Test Rating: ****
- NHTSA Side Impact/Front Seat Crash Test Rating: ***
- NHTSA Side Impact/Rear Seat Crash Test Rating: ***
- NHTSA Rollover Resistance Rating: ****
- IIHS Frontal Offset Crash Test: rated Marginal
Length in Inches: 175.7
Warranties: 3 years/36,000 miles bumper-to-bumper, 5 years/100,000 miles corrosion, 7 years/70,000 mile powertrain (has a deductible), 3 years/36,000 miles free Roadside Assistance.
Weight in Pounds: 2,581
Towing Capacity in Pounds: Not Applicable
Gas Tank Capacity in Gallons: 12.5
Destination Charge: $545
