Righteous!

You have to admire Chrysler’s Dodge division. The brand has always been about brash styling and wild thinking what with a halo car like the Viper at the top end and a mainstream compact (but which doesn’t look it) like the Caliber at the bottom. So it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that the Nitro, an SUV whose parents are apparently a locomotive and a 30s era hot rod, shamelessly flaunts its urbanized approach to motoring and brings up the wattage to ghetto rapping proportions.

Sure it has electronic all-wheel drive, but one look at its 20-inch chrome wheels tells you no sane owner would ever take it off the beaten track. And with its wildly exaggerated fenders and crosshair grille, bordering on the cartoon-like with our test unit’s blazing orange paint, the whole thing understands the concept of “external deterrence” first pioneered by the Humvee. It has a visual impact guaranteed to deter would-be kidnappers and move aside the fast lane slowpokes. Really, a trip to Clark saw dozens of cars moving aside from the leftmost lane without ever needing a flash of the high beams. It gives off that image of arrogant wealth and power that will inspire hate among closet Marxists, but as a weekend out-of-town would prove, it’s actually quite charming. Sort of like finding out Batista has a soft spot for kittens.

As you would expect, the Nitro’s box-like profile provides quite a lot of interior room. Getting in requires a small step up onto the driver’s seat, and once you’re comfortable, the view out is, like that well-worn cliché for SUVs, “commanding”. Only this time we’re serious. From the driver’s seat you see a bit of the hood out in front. The windows, while not quite panoramic like the Japanese make them, give a reasonable view out. Like what the view must have been out of a bunker in Guadalcanal. More petite folks will find their feet barely touching the floor, and once you get used to this “high and mighty” position, it’s actually quite fun as you ride eye-level with more expensive trucks like the Ford Expedition and Chevrolet Suburban.

The Philippine-market Nitro gets by with a 3.7-liter V6. With 12 valves and a single overhead camshaft, it pumps out 210 horses at 5,200 rpm and 319 kg-m of torque at 4,000 rpm through a 4-speed automatic. As you would expect, it is no saint at the gas pump, but neither is it a shameless sinner. Over a weekend of city and highway driving with moderate traffic and around 350 pounds of driver, passenger, and cargo, the Nitro gave back 7.20 kpl.

Plus, it has the capacity to swallow up almost anything you can think of thanks to nifty cargo-carrying features.

The rear seatback is split 65-35. Pulling on some loops gets them flopping down, creating a flat load floor without the need to remove the headrests. That done, you can load your stuff on the sliding “Load-n-Go” floor behind the seats, unlocked via a spring-loaded handle and with several ratchets so you can lock it into several lengths out of the vehicle. Very useful for hauling out hernia-inducing luggage. Used thusly, the Nitro easily took in one road bike (front wheel removed), one wheel bag, one extra wheel, one stationary trainer, a full-size cooler, several pillows, and six gym bags. Better yet, with some creative loading, I even managed to free up the right side of the rear seat (the “-35” side) for another passenger without having to take out any of the aforementioned cargo (although I couldn’t see out the rear window by then).

In the tradition of Detroit iron, the V6 has plenty of low-end grunt for hauling you and your stuff around. The 4-speed automatic seems unambitious considering the industry is moving on to 5- and even 6-speed automatics now, but it gets the job done with ratios that are designed for highway cruising. Unlike the Caliber, there is no semiautomatic mode. There’s just the regular P-R-N-D4-D3-2-1 sequence, but really, all you’ll ever need is “Drive” as the shift algorithm is just about perfect for the kind of driving you’ll be doing with the Nitro; namely, straight and steady.

This is because the Nitro has the handling characteristics of an Amtrak. It tracks just fine straight ahead and the steering doesn’t feel anesthetized like with most other large SUVs, but try going a little too fast in the curves and things get very interesting in a hairy way. The Nitro’s suspension (double wishbones in front, rigid axle rear) has been dialed in with lots of travel and not much rebound control, probably as a consequence of those 20-inch wheels’ stiff riding sidewalls.

In tight curves, there’s enough body roll to get passengers holding on to their seats, and on bumps and dips in the road, the suspension pogos up and down, sending cargo at the back crashing around if you’re not careful. The upside? On the highway and with nothing dramatic up ahead, the ride is ethereal. Let the guy in the Fortuner move up ahead on that mountain road, you just keep it steady and enjoy the view.

A special mention must go to the Nitro’s Infinity sound system. It misses the Caliber’s swing-down-from-the-tailgate-speaker, but in pure wattage the Nitro’s brings the house down. A total of nine speakers are strategically situated throughout the cabin, and the head unit has the requisite 6-disc in-dash changer and AUX jack. Play it loud as it’s designed to be and you hear stuff you’d miss out on lesser systems, like the rasp of a pick on an electric guitar’s strings or the crisp “ping” of a drummer’s stick on a cymbal. We’re still suffering withdrawal symptoms.

As is the norm, the Nitro has the full range of bells and whistles: onboard computer, cruise control, leather, back-up sensors, tire pressure monitoring system, ABS, and front, side, and curtain airbags. Unfortunately, there is no third-row seat as a consequence of the “Load-n-Go” sliding floor, restricting the Nitro’s appeal to small families. With a retail price of P1.980M, the Nitro is expensive but still undercuts several competitors that breach the two million mark. With its unabashed styling, surprising utility, and capable performance, the Nitro’s formula sets it apart from a sea of me-too SUVs.

THE GOOD

• Shameless, get-out-of-my-way style

• Concert-quality stereo

• Cavernous interior

• Comfortable ride

THE BAD

• Awkward handling

THE VERDICT

• An SUV with lots of visual impact but which also works hard to earn its keep.