The five-speed automatic transmission upshifts smoothly. Even in AutoStick mode, however, it sometimes upshifted before we wanted it to. Gear engagement often lacked the crispness we believe should be the norm in a car with the SRT8's credentials. The shift lever moves through a slotted gate, with AutoStick actions managed with sideways movements at the bottom end of the gate.

Power in the SE with its 2.7-liter V6 is barely adequate for a car weighing close to two tons, and the base, four-speed automatic is basic.

The SXT is better, with some 30 percent more horsepower and torque on tap, plus a five-speed automatic, in a car weighing barely 50 pounds more than the base SE. The SXT's 3.5-liter V6 makes 250 horsepower and, in these days of high horsepower V8s, that number might have lost its meaning, but 250 horsepower is a lot, and it's especially effective with the 250 pound-feet of torque this engine offers. The SXT is more fully featured for the money, too, including sharper wheels and tires more befitting the car's abilities. It's rated to tow 2000 pounds and gets an EPA-estimated City/Highway 19/27 mpg. The SXT uses a five-speed automatic with AutoStick for manual gear selection.

The R/T is our favorite with its 5.7-liter V8 Hemi, although even with all that power and torque, the acceleration isn't neck-snapping; the R/T has a tall final drive ratio of 2.82 in the rear-wheel-drive version and 3.07 with all-wheel drive, which may be great for gas mileage and quiet running, but tempers acceleration. There were times it felt like it had 340 horsepower, and times it didn't. There were more times that it didn't feel like it had 390 pound-feet of torque, which might be because the torque peaks at a relatively high level, 4000 rpm. With horsepower peaking at 5000 rpm, that's a relatively narrow stretch of maximum happy performance for such a big engine.

The R/T engine's Multi-Displacement System, or MDS, cuts out half of the eight cylinders whenever horsepower is not needed. At a steady 60 miles per hour or less on a flat highway, it only uses four cylinders and gets about 30 miles per gallon. With a response time of 0.04 seconds, we couldn't feel when it went from a V4 back to a V8 when we hit the throttle to speed back up again. The R/T is rated by the EPA at 17/25 mpg. Although technically capable of towing 3800 pounds with the optional tow package, Dodge does not recommend using the R/T as a tow vehicle. The R/T uses a five-speed automatic transmission with AutoStick.

The R/T longs for grippier tires. It comes with Continental Touring all-season tires, P225/60R18, which were the likely cause of the Electronic Stability Program's occasional intrusion into our hard but not overboard driving. As the tires lost their limited bite, the ESP feathered the throttle. With stickier tires, it's unlikely that intrusion would occur. A good idea is to add the 20-inch wheels available this year with their high-performance rubber, even though they may not last as long or work as well in the winter. We also felt the front wheels bouncing at times, which was the only blemish on an otherwise great ride, tested in a variety of road conditions.

The brakes are fully up to the task. The front vented rotors measure 13.6 inches, an inch larger than the SE and SXT, and the rear vented rotors are 12.6; additionally, the front brakes use dual piston calipers. Couple that mechanical strength with ABS with Brake Assist, which balances the braking between front and rear and, no worries, you're going to get stopped when you need to. On twisty mountain roads we repeatedly hammered the brakes into downhill curves, and the pedal never once showed any sign of stress or distress, or brake fade, an impressive feat given the weight of the Magnum.

The SRT8 is to the Magnum what BMW's M3 or M5 is to the 3 Series or 5 Series. It attempts to address the tire dilemma, with standard footwear being three-season Goodyear F1 Supercar stickies. While this extended somewhat the adhesion limits we encountered in the R/T, it still doesn't transform a car weighing more than two tons into an exemplar in the handling department. Regardless of the amount of rubber touching the road, the Magnum plows when driven as hard as its image might tempt an enthusiastic driver. The ride is markedly stiffer than in the R/T, and the lowered suspension much more talkative over anything less than glass-smooth pavement. The ride is bumpy on bumpy neighborhood streets. The front spoiler drags like a Corvette on the sharp transitions between some side streets and the main road.

All that said, the 6.1-liter Hemi easily resolves the R/T's minor deficiencies in the power department; granted, the power band isn't much broader, but there's ample horsepower and torque to compensate. The SRT8's 6.1-liter V8 Hemi pumps out 425 horsepower and 425 pound-feet of torque through a performance-tuned, five-speed AutoStick automatic. Fuel economy is an EPA-estimated 14/20 mpg. Anything more than a temperate foot on the gas pedal readily produced rear wheel spin, even with the ESP active. Turn it off, and it's back to the days of adolescent, muscle car hi-jinks. The specs say that the SRT8's engine is electronically limited to 6600 rpm, but the tachometer indicates a 6250 rpm redline, and upshifts generally occurred between 6000 and redline. The engine felt comfortable at that speed, as it should, seeing as how the 425 horsepower peaks at 6400 rpm.

Thankfully, stopping does not hark back to those yesteryears when wide-eyed, two-foot braking was not uncommon. The SRT8 comes with beefed up brakes. Front vented discs grow to 14.2 inches, rears to 13.8, and four-piston, aluminum, Brembo calipers do the clamping all around. Again, as with the R/T, over several hundred miles of every type of driving, from about-town shuttling to an occasional retro-blast down a favorite racer road loaded with hairpins, half-mile straights and moderate whoop-de-dos, we never had reason to doubt the SRT8's ability to stop, and right now.

The Magnum feels mighty big in crowded parking lots. Rear park assist or a rearview camera would be a blessing for this long car, but neither is offered. When parallel parking, care must be taken to avoid scuffing the 20-inch wheels as there's insufficient rubber extending beyond the rims to protect them from even the slightest brush against a curb. Modern alloy wheels scratch easily and damaging one is always a depressing event.