Dodge Magnum sports tourer emerges as a high-tech wagon 'rod
Bob Plunkett
Date Posted: 5/10/2005
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PINYON CREST, Calif. -- The wiggle route to Pinyon Crest, California Highway 111 carved into granite-crusted slopes of the San Jacinto Mountains overlooking Palm Springs, consists of a series of curves, curves and more curves climbing up Seven Level Hill.
We select this road on a day with scant traffic to impede our uphill progress while testing the handling characteristics and high performance traits of a new big car from the Dodge Division of DaimlerChrysler.
It's titled the Magnum, a word derived from the Latin and meaning great or, in the physical sense, big.
Dodge casts Magnum on a new platform of large-car scale with a powerful engine mounted up front and all torque directed to the big back tires to mark the first rear-wheel-drive (RWD) car from the Dodge brand in nearly 20 years.
Magnum carries an impressive collection of mechanical hardware to allow a vehicle of bold dimensions to act with the agility of a not-so-big machine tuned for sporty work.
It also comes with a well-dressed passenger compartment set with two rows of seats for five and the appointments of a refined luxury car.
Yet, in a twist away from the expected, the body of Magnum resembles the shape of a station wagon -- sort of.
Study this vehicle in profile and you'll see that, although the basic shape amounts to the familiar two-box format of a station wagon, something new and different is happening here.
Magnum's hood stretches to an exaggerated length and the body's beltline on flanks seems rather tall, with a long roofline tapering down toward the rear and squeezing window glass to narrow -- and interesting -- proportions.
Front and rear overhangs have been whittled away and the big wheels on front and back corners convey an impression of strength and high performance.
Overall, it seems as if Dodge's stylists took a station wagon and rearranged the structure to forge a slammed and stuffed hot rod skewed to a hip and sporty mode.
We prefer to think of it as a contemporary muscle car that also carries the convenience of a wagon's rear cargo quarters.
But please dismiss that image of a conventional station wagon when contemplating what kind of a car this is. Dodge even devised is new classification to keep from sorting Magnum as a station wagon: It's a sports tourer wagon.
Despite that distinctive and unique low-slung roofline, Magnum rides on a long-wheelbase platform and provides a passenger compartment of sizable scale.
Layout of the cabin consists of two big sport buckets up front and followed by a rear bench broad enough for three but with indented sections for two.
Space for heads and legs is more than generous -- and passengers on the rear bench may sit with crossed legs and still find room to stretch.
Seatbacks on the second row split in 60/40 sections and fold down to extend the floor of the back cargo bay, which has over 70 cubic feet of room with rear seats flat, including bonus space in a broad below-floor box at the back with stow bins separated by netting.
Magnum's driver sits in a bolstered seat with the seat track adjustable for more than 10 inches forward and back to stretch the legroom.
Instruments on the dashboard include white-faced analog gauges housed in chrome-rimmed binnacles.
At the center of the dash is a cluster of stacked controls for climate and audio systems, plus an optional navigation system.
Below the center stack, a floor-mounted console holds the transmission's shifter lever in a squared gate bordered in chrome.
Measures for passenger safety in the cabin extend from the sturdy safety-cage construction to front seatbelts with load-limited and pretensioning apparatus, backseat restraints with upper and lower anchors to mount a child's seat, smart multi-stage air bags up front plus optional side curtain-style air bags for all outboard seats.
And Magnum stocks active safety systems to avoid accidents, including a quick-response rack and pinion steering system, big disc brakes at all wheels plus an anti-lock brake system (ABS), all-speed traction control (ASTC), emergency brake assist (EBA) and electronic stability control (ESC).
Dodge offers three different engines to propel Magnum through three trims tagged as a base SE, luxurious SXT and the performance model, Magnum RT.
price-leading Magnum SE packs a dual-cam 2.7-liter V6 that produces 190 hp at 6400 rpm plus torque of 190 lb-ft at 4000 rpm.
It comes with a four-speed automatic shifter.
Magnum SXT draws from a high-output V6 -- Chrysler's single-cam 3.5-liter six-pack that runs up to 250 hp at 6400 rpm with 250 lb-ft of torque at 3800 rpm.
This engine also uses the four-speed automatic with SXT RWD trim.
Magnum's top performance issue sports the RT badge, with the initials abbreviating a designation of "Road and Track" in recognition of Dodge's muscle car heritage.
Magnum RT totes a high-tech rendition of Chrysler's fabled HEMI engine with hemispheric combustion chambers.
The HEMI 5.7-liter V8 makes 340 hp at 5000 rpm and 390 lb-ft of torque at 4000 rpm through an electronic automatic five-speed transmission teamed with the AutoStick, which brings shift-it-yourself choices like a manual.
And this HEMI comes with a multi-displacement system (MDS) that can switch seamlessly and transparently to fuel-saving four-cylinder mode when all of that horsepower is not needed to romp.
Dodge adds another option to the Magnum line with an all-wheel-drive (AWD) system available for the HEMI V8 and 3.5-liter V6.
The AWD device, with front differential and center planetary transfer case aboard, splits the engine's power between front and rear axles with 62 percent sent to drive the rear wheels.
Magnum looks like a high-performance car priced for the mega-rich, although Dodge draws the MSRP below $30,000 for all trims -- in a range from $21,8700 for the RWD SE to $29,370 for a RWD RT.
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| 2005 DODGE MAGNUM VEHICLE SPECIFICATIONS |
| Description: |
Full-size sports tourer wagon |
| Model Options: |
Full-size sports tourer wagon |
| Wheelbase: |
120.0 inches |
| Overall Length: |
197.7 inches |
| Engine Size: |
SE: DOHC 2.7-L V6, SXT: SOHC 3.5-L V6 H.O., RT: OHV 5.7-L V8 MDS |
| Transmission: |
SE RWD: Auto/4, SXT RWD: Auto/4, SXT AWD: Auto/5/AutoStick, RT RWD: Auto/5/AutoStick, RT AWD: Auto/5/AutoStick |
| Drive: |
RWD, AWD |
| Braking: |
2.7-L V6: Power 4-disc opt. ABS/ASTC/EBA/ESC, 3.5-L V6: Power 4-disc ABS/ASTC/EBA/ESC, 5.7-L V8: Power 4-disc ABS/ASTC/EBA/ESC |
| Airbags: |
2 (front) plus opt. 4 (side curtain) |
| Gas Mileage: |
2.7-L V6 RWD: 21/28 mpg, 3.5-L V6 RWD: 19/27 mpg, 3.5-L V6 AWD: 18/24 mpg, 5.7-L V8 RWD: 17/25 mpg, 5.7-L V8 AWD: 17/23 mpg |
| MSRP Price: |
Magnum SE: $ 21,870, Magnum SXT: $ 25,370, Magnum RT: $ 29,370 |
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