{"id":30684,"date":"2023-03-23T17:01:10","date_gmt":"2023-03-23T21:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=30684"},"modified":"2023-03-23T17:01:17","modified_gmt":"2023-03-23T21:01:17","slug":"payne-affordable-hornet-gt-brings-dodge-sting-to-compact-suvs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/payne-affordable-hornet-gt-brings-dodge-sting-to-compact-suvs","title":{"rendered":"Payne: Affordable Hornet GT brings Dodge sting to compact SUVs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Asheville<\/em>,\u00a0N.C.<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 You know it as soon as you grip the steering wheel on the Dodge Hornet. This SUV wants to play.<\/p>\n

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Direct, weighted and rooted to the road, Hornet\u2019s steering was a carving tool in my hands as I rushed the twisties up the Blue Ridge Parkway southeast of Asheville. The scenery was stunning, but the compact SUV offered no time to drink it in as I surged from corner to corner with 295-pound-feet of torque on offer to my lead right foot. Oh joy, another affordable hot hatch has joined the SUV segment.<\/p>\n

As readers of this column know, the Mazda CX-5\/CX-50 Turbo is my favorite mainstream compact SUV with its standard all-wheel drive, sharp handling, terrific torque and attainable pricing. It\u2019s been a segment of one. Until now.<\/p>\n

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For just $31,590 \u2014 a whopping $6,500 less than the CX-5 Turbo \u2014 the AWD 295-torque, 2.0-liter turbo-4-powered Hornet GT (yes, GT is the entry-level model) nearly matches the Mazda\u2019s 310-pound feet of torque while besting it in horsepower, 268 to 253. I\u2019m not making this up.<\/p>\n

Hornet marks the return of a storied badge that dates to the beloved 1951 Hudson Hornet \u2014 and of Dodge to the compact SUV segment for the first time since the unloved 2012 Caliber. But this is a different Dodge. Where Caliber was a cheap version of the Jeep Compass, Hornet shares a platform with the Alfa Romeo Tonale, for goodness’ sake. The new ute\u2019s playfulness took some of the sadness away from the death-by-government-regulation this week of the Challenger \u2014 the Hornet\u2019s performance godfather \u2014 as Dodge announced the V-8 era\u2019s end with a 1,025-horsepower SRT Demon 170.<\/p>\n