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FCA cuts powertrain warranties to 60k miles

FCA US is cutting back the mileage of its powertrain warranty on some 2016 model year vehicles. Rather than the current five years/100,000 miles of coverage, the new amount is five years/60,000 miles for gasoline-fueled models from Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Ram. In March 2015, General Motors made a similar switch to five-years/60,000-miles of coverage for Chevrolet and GMC, and FCA US seems to be citing this as part of the reason for the shift. "Following changes already made by competitors, FCA US is adjusting powertrain warranty coverage for 2016 model year vehicles to be more consistent with industry practices," the automaker said in a portion of its statement. The bumper-to-bumper warranty for these vehicles is unchanged at three years/36,000 miles. According to Automotive News, Fiat's warranty is remaining at four years/50,000 miles. When it changed the mileage limit, GM also halved the number of free service visits for Chevy, GMC, and Buick to two from the previous four. The automaker claimed that the reason for the adjustments to its coverage was that a long warranty was seldom a reason for customers to buy a vehicle. Related Video: Response to Query: 2016MY Powertrain Warranty Adjustment Following changes already made by competitors, FCA US is adjusting powertrain warranty coverage for 2016 model year vehicles to be more consistent with industry practices. For 2016MY, Chrysler, Jeep®, Dodge and Ram Truck vehicles with gasoline engines will be covered by a 5 year/60,000 mile powertrain warranty. The basic coverage, also known as "bumper to bumper," remains at 3 years/36,000 miles. # # # News Source: FCA US, Automotive News - sub. req.Image Credit: Mark Ralston / AFP / Getty Images Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM Car Buying Maintenance Ownership FCA warranty fca us powertrain

The Dodge Challenger 1320 is rarer than the vaunted Demon

Dodge stopped making the 840-horsepower Challenger Demon after the 2018 model year, and it filled the gap the coupe left in its range with a slightly tamer variant called 1320. While it wasn't a limited-edition model, production figures released recently cement its status as a future classic. 1320 references the length of a drag strip, which normally checks in at 1,320 feet, and the name speaks volumes: It was built to go flat-out for a quarter mile. It offered all of the go-fast goodies found in the Demon, including a transbrake, a line lock, an SRT-tuned suspension, plus bigger brakes provided by Brembo, and it swapped the supercharged V8 for a naturally-aspirated, 6.4-liter eight shared with the Challenger 392 and tuned to 485 horsepower. It wasn't quite as quick as the Demon, but it remained a race car barely street-legal enough to put plates on, so it occupied a shallow niche. Dodge made 1,054 examples of the 1320 during the 2019 model year, according to Mopar Insiders. Of those, 1,026 units were sold in the United States, and the remaining 28 stayed in their home country of Canada. As for colors, 232 enthusiasts chose Pitch Black, making it the most popular. At the other end of the spectrum, 13 buyers ordered Maximum Steel, which is the rarest color offered to the public. One 1320 was painted in Yellow Jacket, and another in Billet, but they were pre-production cars. To add context, the firm capped Demon production at 3,300 units, including 300 for the Canadian market. The 1320 is returning for the 2020 model year, so it might ultimately become more common than the Demon, but it remains a rare edition that will turn heads at high-profile classic car auctions in a few decades' time. If you've got one, race it, but pamper it off the track, and hang on to it. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.    

Dodge designer on yellow plastic splitter guards: 'I wish they would take them off'

About a year ago, Dodge began placing yellow strips of plastic on the leading edge of Charger and Challenger front splitters to prevent damage during transport from plant to dealer. Dodge embossed "To Be Removed By Dealer" into the plastic, but those instructions weren't always followed. By summer of 2018, so many owners had left the tabs on, or reinstalled a discarded set, or bought a set on eBay for $100 or more, that factions broke out. Some thought the protectors looked cool, some thought they looked foolish, some thought it didn't matter either way. Now Dodge and SRT lead designer Mark Trostle has stepped in with his thoughts, those being, "I wish they would take them off."  Trostle made the remarks at the end of a video by Canadian auto scribe Brian Makse that otherwise dove into the design and technology on the 2010 Charger Widebody. Part of the designer's remarks related to aesthetic aspects — designers are paid to be precious about every line they draw, after all. "When we did the sketch for the Charger and Challenger," he said, "it never had yellow strips on it," and, "To me, as a designer, it ruins the lines of the car." He had a functional reason as well, though: "You're just ruining the paint!" The paint issue convinced Tyler Grant, the Internet sales manager at a Dodge dealer, to make a Facebook post in April this year requesting owners remove the splitter guards. Grant wrote that because the guards aren't specifically molded to fit perfectly, dirt and moisture get between the plastic and the splitter and mar the clear coat or paint, illustrated by a scuffed example that had been driven just 18 miles with the protectors on. He ended with, "Please, on behalf of your splitter AND its paint, take off the splitter guards." Despite forum chatter, splitter-shaming Facebook photos, and Facebook groups like "Hey Pal, You Forgot to Take Your Splitter Guards Off," it appears too late for the protector color to curb (get it?) the trend. Owners have already dealt with the dirt issue by putting protective tape on the air dam, others have painted the spilitter guards to match the car, and the owner of a vintage Dodge pickup ran yellow tape across the width of his front bumper in an attempt to join the party.  In the Makse video, Trostle said that the automaker would soon be rolling out a "new fashionable purple color" for the protectors. "We'll see if that one takes off," he said. "I hope it doesn't."