5.7L HEMI Dodge Nitro

Next up is the 5.7L HEMI Dodge Nitro. Yes, someone at Dodge thinks the same way you all do, only he/she has the tools and the resources to actually make this car happen. Besides the fact that this thing is purple-on-purple, the first thing you'll notice about the HEMI Nitro is that it's LOUD. There's a dual exhaust on this thing, but something tells us that the Skunkworks engineers "forgot" to add on some mufflers. This Nitro rides on 22-inch Alcoa wheels and gets a set of 14-inch 4-piston Brembos from a Viper.

With no air conditioning or windows that roll down, it's safe to say that the HEMI Nitro is an oven on wheels. But just sitting in the leather-wrapped Viper buckets and seeing the big power bulge on the hood were able to make us forget about the cabin's triple-digit temperatures for a minute... well, that and the fact that we knew we'd be out of the vehicle in literally a minute.

The HEMI Nitro sure sounds great, but we had a bit of difficulty with the Tremec 5-speed manual transmission. Trying to shift this thing was like shifting an old tractor - not that we have any experience with old farm equipment, but we'd imagine that an old John Deere shifter feels like the one in this Nitro. We're sure that if given enough time, we'd be able to adjust to things - one of the Dodge boys hopped in this box, lit up the tires and left 50 or so feet of scorched tire marks all over the Rose Bowl parking lot on more than one occasion. This Nitro is no where near as civil as the Sebring, but it's HEMI engine and Viper brakes make it just as cool.

LINK: IGN.com
http://cars.ign.com/articles/787/787424p1.html

Picture: Love the twin hood scoops !
http://media.cars.ign.com/articles/787/787424/img_4536667.html