2005 Dodge Magnum

With the new Dodge Magnum, you don't have to call your car a truck any more. The term "crossover vehicle" has been thrown around a lot the last couple years, meant to apply to those SUVs that are leaning in the direction of cars and/or minivans. But the tag is too vague to mean much. Suddenly, with the new Dodge Magnum, it fits. This is the car that has the capability to wean the country off of SUVs. Its bold hot-rod lines might scare people away, but its utility can't be denied. It's a full-size American car with spacious cargo capacity and available all-wheel drive. And it's engineered for safety. It's got image and utility. If that isn't what people want when they buy an SUV, what do they want? Plus, it gets better gas mileage than full-size SUVs. The Magnum comes standard with a 190-horsepower double-overhead-cam V6 that gets 21-28 miles per gallon, at a stunning base price of $22,495 including destination. But the powerful new V8, the 5.7-liter Hemi, boasts a new engine technology that shuts down four of the eight cylinders when the car is just cruising, delivering up to 30 miles per gallon during those moments. Even if you got the 340-horsepower Hemi engine with the Magnum, if you used it to commute on the freeway at a steady 60 mph, you could average 25 miles per gallon, on 87 octane although 89 is recommended. With these stellar points, it might almost be expected that the Magnum would fall short in the areas of interior room and layout, cabin comfort and quietness, ride or handling. But it does not. In fact, it excels in all those areas.