Owners of a model year 2008 Chrysler Town & Country, Chrysler Grand Voyager, or Dodge Grand Caravan may want to keep a close eye on their mailboxes. Chrysler has issued a recall for 300,000 of these vehicles. The problem? Possible random airbag deployment.

Say what?

Some of these vehicles may be prone to leaks coming from the air conditioning system. This leak could damage the airbag electronics, possibly causing a sudden unwanted deployment of said airbags. Neato.

Owners will receive their notices later this month, and the repair will be free of charge as always.

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Ever wonder how the Pony Car Wars of 2011 are going? The fine folks over at TTAC have some answers.

The result probably aren’t a big surprise but they’re worth a look anyway.

The biggest take away is this: the pony car is alive and well, even in this time of high gas prices.

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Clearly Dodge is trying very hard to change my mind about them. They’re trying to force me to make a very questionable financial decision. When they updated the Charger for 2011, I was impressed. But this… this is something special. The 2012 Dodge Charter SRT8 is absolutely stunning. What a difference a blacked-out grille and some fancy bodywork on the door panels can make, eh?

This car looks pure evil. It looks, dare I say… Viper-ish. A four-door version, to be sure. A Viper that you can drive your family around in. A four hundred of sixty five horsepower family sedan. Hell. Yes.

Pics of this monster after the jump.
2012 Dodge Charger SRT8 Gallery

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The days of staring at spy shots are done – at least when it comes to the 2011 Dodge Charger. The front end gets a mild update, and looks as mean as ever. The real change is around back. For the past few years, I’ve thought the Charger was a good looking machine – except for the rear end. It was awful.

Now it’s downright gorgeous.

Obviously inspired by the Challenger’s full-length taillights, Dodge went the same route with the Charger. A whopping 164 LED’s make up that gorgeous light display.

Under the hood, the 2011 Charger gets the same updates as the 2011 Challenger. That includes the 305 HP Pentastar V6, 379 HP 5.7 liter HEMI V8, and 475 HP 6.4 liter HEMI for the SRT8. Tons of power, startling good looks, what’s not to like?

Sure, you could complain about the weight. Or the outrageous fuel inefficiency.

Who cares.

This car is big, loud, powerful, and mean. And it’s unapologetic. Just the way it should be.

2011 Dodge Charger Gallery

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With the introduction of the Chevy Camaro and the reborn Ford Mustang, Dodge’s pony car has been slacking in the performance department. When you remember that performance is what these cars are all about… well, it’s easy to see the issue for Chrysler.

Ontario Street Car got their hands on a leaked 2011 Challenger brochure recently, and the news is good for Mopar fans. Every single version of the Challenger is getting an upgrade, and some of them are quite hefty.

For starters, the base model is getting the new 3.6 liter Pentastar V6, which puts out 305 HP in 268 lb-ft of torque here. Dodge is estimating an EPA rating of 19 MPG in the city and 26 MPG on the highway, which is up a few MPG’s from the current model.

That’s a 50 HP bump from the current Challenger, which should help it compete with the Camaro and Mustang much more effectively.

The 5.7 liter HEMI model will now put out 379 HP and 410 lb-ft, which is a bump of 7 and 10, respectively. The estimated fuel economy is 17 in the city and 25 on the highway.

The current big dog of the Challenger world gets some more cubes.Up from 6.1 liters, the 6.4 liter HEMI in the SRT-8 model gets a serious bump of 50 HP and 35 lb-ft. The new specs are 475 HP and 460 lb-ft of torque.

Comparison of Model Year 2011 Pony Cars

As you can see from the chart, the Challenger is much more competitive than before, but still falls short across the board. On the V6 front, it matches the Mustang in power, while still packing an extra ~300 pounds. It will be slower and less efficient than the Mustang, and it’s even less efficient than the Camaro.

In the V8 world, Dodge didn’t do much. The Challenger is still light on power, while being the porkiest of the bunch. Assuming Dodge doesn’t have a secret weight drop in store, The Challenger R/T is ~200 lbs heavier than the Camaro SS, and a whopping ~400 lbs heavier than the Mustang GT.

When you step up to the highest level of pony cars, only two challengers are left – Ford and Doge. Chevy doesn’t yet make a Camaro faster than the SS, so it’s out. How does Dodge fare in this round? Poorly. Though the 2011 Challenger SRT-8 gets a solid 50 HP bump, it still falls short by a whopping 75 HP to the Shelby GT500. Adding insult to injury, the Dodge is 300 lbs heavier than the Ford. That combination means Dodge is sure to lose the performance crown here too.

Final Words

Sure, the Challenger got better for 2011. But the Mustang got a lot better, and crushes Dodge across the board. If you’re in the market for a pony car, you can feel free to skip Dodge. Ford and Chevy are running the show here.

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Chrysler is done with the little teaser images – the 2011 Dodge Durango has been fully unveiled. At least if you want to see the outside, that is. It looks like a Dodge Ram and a Chevy Tahoe got together and had a baby. If that sounds awkward, it shouldn’t – this is one good looking SUV / CUV / thingie.

That’s right, the 2011 Durango rides on the same platform as the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee – a car based unibody platform. Buyers are welcoming the switch these days – most folks are past the delusion of off-roading in their grocerymobile. With the improvements in ride quality and fuel economy, I can understand why.

Under the hood are the same choices as the Grand Cherokee – a 3.6 liter V6 and 5.7 liter HEMI V8. Fuel economy ratings haven’t been announced yet, but low 20′s on the highway is a lock. It won’t challenge your Prius, but it sure blows away the current Durango.

Just because this Durango is nicer and more efficient doesn’t mean that you can’t still tow your boat. Towing capacity is 6200 lbs with the V6, and 7400 lbs for the V8. In other words, more than enough for just about anyone.

If this looks like your cup of tea, you just need a little bit more patience. 2011 Durango’s should start hitting dealers lots before the end of the year.

P.S. Don’t forget, this CUV has a third row and seats up to 7, unlike the 2011 Grand Cherokee, which maxes out at 5 passengers.

2011 Dodge Durango Gallery

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If you’ve been dying for news on the upcoming 2012 Dodge Durango / 2012 Magnum, Twitter comes to the rescue. @AsianMartin in particular, as he snagged a spy shot of this soon to be released SUV. I utterly loathe the current Durango – it’s one of the ugliest vehicles on the road today. The 2012 version seems to be much improved. Not particularly adventurous… but Chrysler doesn’t need that. They need solidly built, good look vehicles that are top quality.

The looks are there – the quality is still a question mark. Here’s hoping.

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Are you a Briton who’s in the market for a Dodge Caliber or Nitro? First of all, what the hell is wrong with you? My thoughts aside, you’ll be out of luck very soon. Dodge is officially dropping both models from it’s already very limited UK lineup. In fact, with this move, Dodge is left with a single vehicle in it’s English portfolio – the Journey.

I’m not sure if this is just a step toward shutting down operations in English, or just clearing the crap to make way for some new models.

Via Autocar.

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In the market for a new Dodge Charger? Maybe you should hold off for a few months if you can.  The 2011 Charger that you see all camo’ed up to your left is due out later this year.  Chrysler did a great job of covering this puppy up, so there’s not a whole lot that you can tell from the pictures.

What we do know for sure is that there will be new engines under the hood, including Chrysler’s new V6 that they’ve been working so hard on.  I’m sure we’ll see some more ponies from the Hemi in the R/T and SRT8 models as well.

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Dodge has finally figured out their problem.  I know what some of you may be thinking – and the answer is no, they aren’t suddenly going to build high quality cars that people want to buy. Instead, they have, in all their wisdom, decided to – get this- change the trim level names on nearly all their vehicles.

<crickets>

What, no applause?

Gone are the silly, boring trim level designations like SE and SXT.  Instead, here are a sampling of what’s available:

Journey Express, Hero, Heat, Crew, and Uptown.

Nitro Heat, Detonator, Shock

Caliber Express, Mainstreet, Heat, Uptown, Rush

Avenger Express, Heat

I’m sure you’ll understand when I say Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.  Will there suddenly be a rush of buyers running toward Dodge showrooms to pick up a Caliber Uptown? Surely it was the awful trim level names that was holding everyone back previously.

For some reason, Dodge left alone the Challenger and Grand Caravan – they still have the regular SE / SXT / RT / etc trims. No word on the Charger, but I ask simply, does anyone actually care?

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