It must have taken a great deal of willpower for the Nitro's powertrain team to keep from stuffing a 5.7-liter HEMI V8 under the
hood, but the fact that a stock 210-horsepower 3.7-liter V6 with 235 lb-ft of torque was chosen for this concept was a pretty good sign when first seen in Chicago, that it would become more significant than the mere flights of fancy many concepts portray.
Equally production oriented, the engine is mated up to a 42RLE four-speed automatic transmission. While hardly state of theart, the 42RLE has proven to be a reliable workhorse.
Workhorse might be the apropos title for the Nitro when it comes to performance. While hardly embarrassing, its zero to 60 mph time of 9.6 seconds,
standing quarter mile of 16.9 seconds and 108 mph top speed isn't about to have import tuners peering into the cargo bay to find a can of nitrous hooked up via a braided hose - despite the concept's name.
Handling should be good, however, with an independent short/long arm front suspension system and a five-link setup in the rear. Its 7.8 inches of ground clearance, means that medium duty off-road capability should be possible.
Getting back to chassis architectures, building an additional SUV off of the Liberty platform is necessary for optimizing economies of scale so as to be competitive in today's ruthless automotive marketplace. Similarly, the seven-occupant Jeep Commander is based on the GC platform.
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| The 210-horsepower 3.7-liter V6 engine is mated up to a 42RLE four-speed automatic transmission. (Photo: DaimlerChrysler) |
Equally production oriented, the engine is mated up to a 42RLE four-speed automatic transmission. While hardly state of theart, the 42RLE has proven to be a reliable workhorse.
Workhorse might be the apropos title for the Nitro when it comes to performance. While hardly embarrassing, its zero to 60 mph time of 9.6 seconds,
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| A lengthened version of the Jepp Liberty chassis architecture underpins the Nitro. (Photo: DaimlerChrysler) |
Handling should be good, however, with an independent short/long arm front suspension system and a five-link setup in the rear. Its 7.8 inches of ground clearance, means that medium duty off-road capability should be possible.
Getting back to chassis architectures, building an additional SUV off of the Liberty platform is necessary for optimizing economies of scale so as to be competitive in today's ruthless automotive marketplace. Similarly, the seven-occupant Jeep Commander is based on the GC platform.