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Our video tribute to Star Wars with a Stormtrooper Charger

When the refreshed Dodge Charger debuted, the white one was immediately compared to a Star Wars Stormtrooper helmet. Chrysler recently ran with that idea and decorated a fleet of cars, including some Chargers, for use in a marketing stunt to hype its wares alongside the no-hype-necessary Episode VII: The Force Awakens film. We got our hands on one for a day and had some fun making a few videos. Above are a few shorts with names that we at least think are funny. There's one that includes the latest example of video producer Chris McGraw's patented nightlapse technology (it's a hyperlapse shot at night, which just looks plain neat). In the clip below, you can see all of the car's various Stormtrooper-inspired details. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. The car started out as a bright white Charger R/T Scat Pack and was treated to a partial vinyl wrap on the body and the glass. The fantastic 485-horsepower Hemi V8 was left alone. Watch the videos and then tell us how they're non-canon in the comments. Humor Dodge Videos Original Video star wars dodge charger scat pack

Dodge Charger Pursuit takes Tesla interior approach

A police car's computer is just as integral to its duties as a set of lights and sirens. The popular approach for these systems is to grab something like a Panasonic Toughbook laptop, add a big, bulky tray to hold it, and use this inelegant setup for running plates and doing all the other things a cop needs to do while on the road. The downside, besides simple aesthetics, is that this arrangement robs the officer's shotgun-riding partner from legroom. Dodge, though, has come up with a far more elegant and functional solution. Taking a page out of Tesla and Volvo's book, Dodge has replaced the five-inch UConnect display and laptop mount in the Charger Pursuit police car with an enormous 12.1-inch, portrait-format touchscreen display. Called, UConnect 12.1, the new system doesn't do away with the old fashioned computer outright. Instead it moves the bulky unit to the trunk, where it can connect to the display via an ethernet cable. This is good for multiple reasons. First, there are no pricey installation or upfitting charges, like there are for most laptop carriages. Secondly, the plug-and-play nature of the new UConnect system won't require the department to buy new laptops. And third, there's no need to retrain officers, since the only thing that's really changing is the input. While the Charger Pursuit will continue to offer redundant audio and HVAC controls, the 12.1-inch display can, at the press of a "button" split to display Fiat Chrysler's familiar 8.4-inch display. Make one more tap on the screen, and the police-issue laptop can be managed through the full touchscreen. The touchscreen will also display a menu bar at the top of the page, which can easily be edited by officers. All it takes is a simple drag and drop from the application menu to the top of the display. According to Dodge, the touchscreen will even play nice when its operator is wearing gloves. "As America's high-performance police vehicle, Dodge Charger Pursuit is going big for 2016, offering a massive, Uconnect touchscreen system that streamlines a law enforcement officer's computer system with our easy-to-use Uconnect system – on an all-new laptop-sized 12.1-inch touchscreen display," said Tim Kuniskis, Dodge and SRT's president and CEO.

IIHS says these are the safest cars of 2013

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has revealed its annual list of Top Safety Picks, an award that highlights automobiles it says offer "superior crash protection." A new and still more significant award, the Top Safety Pick+ honor, is given to those vehicles that earn good ratings for occupant protection in four out of five areas of measure. And while some 117 vehicles were given the TSP seal of approval for 2013, just 13 passed muster for TSP+.
To be fair, IIHS only evaluated 29 vehicles with its new testing procedures for TSP+ (we'd expect that the number of qualified cars will rise substantially for 2014). Luxury and Near Luxury midsize cars were the first groups evaluated, followed by midsizers in the Moderately Priced Cars category - unsurprisingly, it's only midsize cars that you'll find among the class this year.
Only two luxury sedans made the list of 13 for 2013: the Acura TL and Volvo S60. The other 11 cars on the list included entries from domestic, Japanese and German car makers: Dodge Avenger, Chrysler 200, Ford Fusion, Honda Accord (sedan and coupe), Kia Optima (but not its close kin, the Hyundai Sonata, strangely), Nissan Altima, Subaru Legacy and Outback, Suzuki Kizashi and the Volkswagen Passat all made the grade.