As Bob Lutz said, you can have two vehicles that both average a "5" when rated on appearance on a 1-10 scale. One car may have a bunch of 2s and 3s but also has 8s, 9s, 10s . . . while the other is all 4s, 5s, 6s. Love-it or hate-it designs vs. vanilla, which would you rather have?

I'd wager the CR testers mistake normal Wrangler characteristics as problems . . .

While I do think the notion of a $100K+ Viper is hard for some to wrap their heads around, assuming a simple 3% annual price increase just to counter inflation and market adjustments starting with $52K in 1992 the sticker on a 2015 Viper should be . . . $102,626.50

The last four sentences of your post say it all: "in years to come."

I wrote my college position paper on the government's meddling in free markets by way of regulations such as CAFE. It's pretty nuts how arbitrary numeric targets pulled out of thin air have such an impact.

Automotive and Aerospace requirements are 180 degrees from one another. You're comparing apples and cowboy boots right now.

Ram's sales have increased by a greater margin than any other truck maker in the industry over the last few years and they are continuing that trend this year. I'd say they're doing just fine with their chosen strategy. Letting a competitor sort out teething problems with a change of this magnitude is rarely a bad…

Good points for sure. Though the lineup is certainly much improved and more efficient than it was just 6 years ago in the DBAG/Cerberus limbo era. As usual, it is hard to convince buyers that you've truly changed in just one vehicle generation/cycle. Hopefully people will continue to try out Chrysler showrooms and…

There are a great deal of knock on effects, not just the physical difference of stamping panels out of aluminum instead of steel. Need to consider corrosion resistance, metallurgical concerns for fasteners and coatings, handling and assembly concerns due to the difference in characteristics between the two materials.

Not talking about diesel. The slow roll out of DI has been due to gasoline cleanliness. Look at all the issues GM has had with their DI systems. Chrysler's DI implementation to the 3.6 Pentastar isn't set to take place until after the new cleanliness standards roll out in 2016. It'll be interesting to see what DI…

Pretty sure all of them need to worry about CAFE. Why do you it to be only or mainly Chrysler? Just curious.

Not one to trailblaze? I'd wager Dodge/Ram have been responsible for the lion's share of pickup truck innovation since 1994. Let Ford run with the aluminum and be the test bed, no problem with that.

Neutral: I think it is wise to gauge market reception and see how Ford does. Look how long it has taken us to get a diesel half-ton. Most industries, automotive included, are a bit gun-shy about being the "first" to do something hugely revolutionary, especially one that involves great investment and gambles on…

Easiest tell tale to spot is always the window surrounds. I just got back from Moscow and there's a LOT of armored Benz and Bimmers rolling around that city!

I know Andretti doesn't SOUND American, but . . .

My issue was transfer cases, not so much trans. I had a '95 Stealth TT with the 6-speed - built bottom end, bigger turbos, fuel, front mount, the works. Trans never missed a beat but I went through transfer cases like underwear and in all the time I owned it I never launched harder than about a 2.0 60 ft . . . loved…

Seriously? Check your automotive history:

Incentives on Jeep are almost nil and they led sales the most. Incentives or not Chrysler is turning a profit and has been leading the industry in sales improvements for the last year or so. I attribute it to them finally cranking out good product, competitive product. Looking at the Chrysler vehicles on offer…

I have a 2014, we've just crossed 12K miles without an issue. Did 28.6 mpg on a road trip from Houston to Detroit as well. They're awesome vehicles, don't know where these "reports" of poor reliability are coming from cause we haven't had one issue.

Can't wait to see the Viper mop the floor with the Vette!