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Why the 5.7 Hemi is One of the Best Dodge Engines Ever Made

When people think of Dodge, they tend to immediately think of the most legendary of Dodge Engines: the Hemi. While the old-school Hemi from nearly a quarter-century ago was renowned around the world for its jaw-dropping brute force that could catapult full-sized cars through the quarter mile faster than you can say “Hemi”, it was not necessarily known as a fuel-efficient motor. The new 5.7L Hemi, released in 2003 is a completely different story, and it has already gone down in history as one of the very best Dodge engines. In fact, it would not be a stretch to say that many performance enthusiasts would agree that the modern Hemi is probably one of the best high-performance engines on the planet.

What makes the 5.7L Hemi one of the best Dodge engines ever? There are three primary factors: power, reliability, and efficiency. Combined, these three factors make the modern Hemi a world-class engine, and serve as a shining example of what Dodge engines can do when given the chance.

The modern Hemi is powerful enough to actually replace not only the outgoing 5.9L Magnum engines in many Dodge/Chrysler vehicles, but also to replace the legendary 8.0L V10 that powered some of the most impressive Dodge pickup trucks of the 1990s and early 2000s. Depending on how it is tuned, the modern 5.7L Hemi can have over 360 horsepower and nearly 400 lb-ft of torque on tap, most of which at a very wide rpm-range that starts just shy of the 2000-rpm mark. For this reason alone many muscle car enthusiasts have taken a real liking to the 5.7L Hemi, and more than one old-school Challenger has gotten a new lease on life thanks to one of the best Dodge engines ever created.

Of course, muscle cars of 60s and 70s were not famous for their reliability. A large part of the problem had to do with the titanic force that their engines were putting to the pavement via oversized tires and transmissions that were struggling to keep up. Nowhere was this more true than with the earliest Dodge engines to bear the Hemi-moniker; the bottom line was that these motors were just too powerful for their own good and all that power caused undue stress on a number of components both inside and outside of the old-school Hemi block.

Oh have times have changed. The new 5.7L Hemi is far more refined than the old Hemi in terms of reliability, and car-making in general has come a long ways in the past few decades. The results are that the latest Dodge engines to proudly carry the Hemi-badge are so reliable that they have been listed on Ward’s 10 Best Engines list for six out of seven years. The Ward’s 10 Best Engines list covers engines produced by all major automobile vendors with a global reach, which includes all of the major Asian and European automakers. With competition like that, it is impressive that not only has a Dodge engine won a slot on that list consistently, but that the list favors reliability above all else.

The MDS (Multi-Displacement System) in the modern Hemi also makes it very efficient and easy to drive in day-to-day situations. Who ever thought that anyone would say that about one of the fiercest Dodge engines ever made? The bottom line is that the new Hemi sets the standards not only for Dodge engines in general, but for engines around the world.

About: Anyone looking for replacement Used Dodge engine could do a lot worse than to look at the powerful, reliable, and efficient Hemi.