Motoring: Fun Factor

Dodge’s Italian-built (Naples) compact SUV Hornet debuted last year. Its twin brother is the Alfa Romeo Tonale. These hybrids are an All-Wheel-Drive, five-passenger, four-door wagon with a gasoline-fueled engine under the hood and an electric motor in the rear. American trim levels include GT, GT Plus, R/T, and R/T Plus. I drove the R/T up and down the corridor for a week. At first blush, I noticed fire engine red Brembo brake calipers peeking out from behind the black-spoked wheels. Those high-performance brakes were the first clue I was about to take a wild ride.

A turbocharged 1.3-liter four-cylinder, along with an electric motor and a six-speed automatic, powers both of the R/T trims. For clarity, different power sources drive Hornet R/T’s front and rear axles. A turbo gas engine and electric motor power the front wheels. A second electric motor spins the rear wheel. Combined horsepower: 288.

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There are three driving modes: Electric and eSave, toggled on the steering wheel, and Sport mode via a button on the console. No big surprise, Sport speeds the fastest: Gas engine on and kept in lower gears to maximize horsepower strategically supplemented by battery/electric power. Sport mode recharges more aggressively than either Hybrid or Electric mode. In Electric mode, when accelerating hard, the gas engine comes to life. e-Save maintains existing battery energy or uses the gas engine to recharge the battery pack up to 80 percent.

Plug-in hybrid R/T trims boast a combined mileage of 77 MPGe while the all-electric range is a modest 32 miles. Those numbers mean a driver can coast around town running daily errands solely on battery power, then segue to gasoline for more distant out-of-town jaunts. The total range with both electric and gasoline is about 360 miles.

Remember those Brembo brakes mentioned early on? At 70 mph, hard braking brings Hornet to a dead stop in 164 feet. Repeating the panic stop at 100 mph on a test track takes 334 feet. Not bad for two tons of curb weight (4205 pounds).

The zero to 60 mph elapsed time clocks in at 5.5 seconds with a quarter-mile elapsed time of 14.2 seconds and 96 mph. Dodge engineers claim a top speed of 128 mph. In electric-only mode, the Hornet zooms to 84 mph before the gas engine awakens.

Plugged into the optional 240-volt Level 2 charger, Hornet R/T’s high-power inverter and 7.4-kW charging module fully charge the battery in just 2.5 hours. In comparison, plugged into my garage’s grid wall 110-volt outlet, going from a 2 percent to 100 percent charge takes overnight, or about eight hours.

As for handling manners, Hornet is sure-footed and fun to drive. The interior dimensions are admittedly tight, though they still provide plenty of room for a family. The laundry list of standard equipment is impressive. One particularly noteworthy option is PowerShot. In Sport mode, when the battery charge is 80 percent or higher, pulling both steering-wheel paddles and jamming the accelerator delivers 30 additional horsepower (electric) for up to 15 seconds. A 15-second cool down follows before another PowerShot can be activated. The boost accelerates Hornet from zero to 60 mph in 5.6 second, 1.5 seconds faster than the standard zero to 60 mph time. Handy when following slow pokes on two-lane roads.

Automotive journalist, Tim Banse, wrote The Gazette's Motoring car review column from 1989 to 2013 and has published stories in Popular Mechanics and Yachting magazine. He's toured carmaker factory floors in the U.S. and Japan and raced cars at Riverside, Watkins Glen, and Michigan International Raceway press events. He's stood close enough to a crash test to feel the shock wave reverberate off his chest. His first car was a vintage '56 Chevy Belair.