2003 Dodge SRT-4

Fast. Raw. American.Dodge's new SRT-4 redefines this collective concept. This ridiculous little car overwhelmed us every time we stepped on the gas. It spun tires, snorted turbo sounds from its mufflerless exhaust and proved without question that Dodge is playing hardball.

These initial impressions are just the beginning of the good news. Dodge plans to sell this rocket for $19,995 beginning early next year. Based on our test numbers, you better order yours now if you want one anytime soon.

During our testing, the angry little SRT-4 hit 60 in 5.8 seconds and put 223 hp and 250 lb-ft of torque to its front wheels on our Dynojet chassis dyno. That means our test car made more power and torque at the wheels than it's rated for at the flywheel, which is unheard of from nearly any car.

These impressive performance numbers come with a caveat, however. The car we tested was a prototype and putting it through our instrumented tests sent convulsions through DaimlerChrysler. The engineers on hand for our testing, however, engine calibrator Ethan Bayer and development engineer Stephan Zweidler, insisted the engine calibration and hardware are within several percent of being finalized for production. That means the numbers we produced at the track and on the dyno should be repeatable on production cars.

Even if conservative final tuning takes five percent from the engine's output, it will still far overshoot its factory power rating of 215 hp and 245 lb-ft of torque.

The engine, by the way, is new and based on the 2.4-liter turbo the company has been selling in the Mexican market. However, in the SRT-4 it's radically updated. Still displacing 2.4 liters, it gets new pistons, which are now cooled by oil squirters. Stronger rods and a new cast crank both support the 14 psi shoved down its intake manifold by the Mitsubishi TD04-16G turbocharger. Before reaching the intake manifold, charge air is cooled by a huge front-mounted cross-flow intercooler, which does wonders for the looks of the car.

A beefed up cooling system is also in place to handle the radically increased thermal loads. From the front, the efforts to keep the engine cool are integrated into the front fascia and hood styling. Six bumper vents and a functional hood scoop tell us there was some communication between stylists and engineers on this project. The hood scoop dumps air over the turbocharger and has a unique stamping, which can be cut to provide cool air to the airbox with little work (see photo on page 74).

Out back, the rear valence has two exhaust exits spaced symmetrically on each side. We've never understood the point in splitting the exhaust on an inline engine. Zweidler and Bayer don't either, but say function was forced to follow form.

The engineering retaliation was simple: The SRT-4 has no mufflers, which helps make up for the compromised exhaust routing. That's right, there's a turbo, a catalytic converter and two resonators in the exhaust system, but no actual mufflers. Again, the engineers insist this will make it to production. We'll be impressed if it does as the SRT-4 sounds as pissed as it acts. Burbling under engine braking and spitting backfires under hard acceleration gives us some doubts about the production readiness of the exhaust system, but we absolutely love it.

On the street, the SRT-4 is a monster. Blast through the gears hard and you'll scare the pants off of anyone driving a Subaru WRX. Sure, the SRT-4 doesn't have the all-wheel-drive holeshot of the Subaru, but a careful look at the numbers tells us that a drag race between the two cars would be a contest of drivers as much as cars-it's that close.