{"id":81523,"date":"2009-12-14T15:20:00","date_gmt":"2009-12-14T20:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/2009\/12\/14\/reader-spy-srt-fettled-dodge-journey-r-t-spotted\/"},"modified":"2009-12-14T15:20:00","modified_gmt":"2009-12-14T20:20:00","slug":"reader-spy-srt-fettled-dodge-journey-rt-spotted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/81523","title":{"rendered":"Reader Spy: SRT-fettled Dodge Journey R\/T spotted"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Filed under: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/category\/spyphotos\/\" rel=\"tag\">Spy Photos<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/category\/minivans\/\" rel=\"tag\">Minivan\/Van<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/category\/wagons\/\" rel=\"tag\">Wagon<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/category\/crossovers-cuvs\/\" rel=\"tag\">Crossover<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/category\/dodge\/\" rel=\"tag\">Dodge<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/gallery\/reader-spy-srt-prepped-dodge-journey-r-t\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" vspace=\"4\" hspace=\"4\" border=\"1\" src=\"http:\/\/www.blogcdn.com\/www.autoblog.com\/media\/2009\/12\/1213091503a_opt.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><em><small>SRT-prepped Dodge Journey R\/T &#8211; Click above for high-res image gallery<br \/> <\/small><\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n<p> We&#8217;ve always been intrigued by the notion of a higher performance people carrier, from back before <em>Car and Driver<\/em> magazine&#8217;s Ford Windstar-based <a href=\"http:\/\/www.drivingenthusiast.net\/sec-ford\/FMC-concepts-prototypes-showcars\/windstar-shostar\/default.htm\">SHOStar<\/a> to various shadetree high-strung turbocharged Chrysler minivans and outright lunacy like Renault&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.supercars.net\/cars\/1672.html\">Espace-bodied F1<\/a> car. <\/p>\n<p> Of course, that isn&#8217;t what you&#8217;re looking at here: it&#8217;s what appears to be an SRT-tweaked <a href=\"http:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/2008\/08\/27\/in-the-autoblog-garage-2009-dodge-journey-r-t\/\">Dodge Journey R\/T<\/a>, a vehicle that we want to like for its useful size and packaging, but can&#8217;t because of its indifferent drivetrains and tragic interior materials and ergonomics. <\/p>\n<p> Now, normally we wouldn&#8217;t get too excited about something like this, in part because private owners often add badges from other vehicles in order to make them seem more impressive (we just saw an i-VTEC Chevrolet Beretta the other day), but these spy shots sent in from reader Nick Leonard appear to be the real deal &#8211; not only does the Journey in question boast a well-integrated new front fascia, but also unique wheels, a lowered stance and a quad-outlet rear exhaust surrounded by a different valance. The clincher? Michigan manufacturer licence plates.<\/p>\n<p> Nick says notes that he came upon the car in the parking lot of a Best Buy in Saginaw, Michigan, and he only noted a laptop bag and a jacket in the passenger seat &#8211; no sign of any further testing equipment or interesting things on the dashboard. He further instructs that there was an AWD badge on the car (not pictured).<\/p>\n<p> Now, it isn&#8217;t at all clear that this is a production-intent vehicle, especially considering that R\/T and SRT are usually mutually-exclusive designations in the House of Pentastar. This vehicle might be something that bored engineers cooked up for their own entertainment, for a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/category\/sema\/\">SEMA<\/a> reveal, or perhaps for a customer clinic &#8211; but who knows? It could be something, right? If so, let&#8217;s hope there&#8217;s some genuine chutzpah under the sheetmetal, otherwise we&#8217;re looking at the decline and dilution of the SRT-branded vehicles as we know it.<\/p>\n<p> Check out our gallery of images below&#8230; and thanks for the shots, Nick!<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<div class=\"postgallery\">\n<p><strong>Gallery: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/photos\/reader-spy-srt-prepped-dodge-journey-r-t\/low\/\">Reader Spy: SRT-prepped Dodge Journey R\/T<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/photos\/reader-spy-srt-prepped-dodge-journey-r-t\/low\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.blogcdn.com\/www.autoblog.com\/media\/2009\/12\/1213091503a_thumbnail.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/photos\/reader-spy-srt-prepped-dodge-journey-r-t\/low\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.blogcdn.com\/www.autoblog.com\/media\/2009\/12\/1213091502b_thumbnail.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/photos\/reader-spy-srt-prepped-dodge-journey-r-t\/low\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.blogcdn.com\/www.autoblog.com\/media\/2009\/12\/1213091503b_thumbnail.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/photos\/reader-spy-srt-prepped-dodge-journey-r-t\/low\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.blogcdn.com\/www.autoblog.com\/media\/2009\/12\/1213091502c_thumbnail.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/photos\/reader-spy-srt-prepped-dodge-journey-r-t\/low\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.blogcdn.com\/www.autoblog.com\/media\/2009\/12\/1213091503_thumbnail.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p style=\"padding:5px;background:#ddd;border:1px solid #ccc;clear:both;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/2009\/12\/14\/reader-spy-srt-fettled-dodge-journey-r-t-spotted\/\">Reader Spy: SRT-fettled Dodge Journey R\/T spotted<\/a> originally appeared on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.autoblog.com\">Autoblog<\/a> on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:20:00 EST.  Please see our <a href=\"http:\/\/www.weblogsinc.com\/feed-terms\/\">terms for use of feeds<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h6 style=\"clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;\"><\/h6>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/2009\/12\/14\/reader-spy-srt-fettled-dodge-journey-r-t-spotted\/\" rel=\"bookmark\" title=\"Permanent link to this entry\">Permalink<\/a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/forward\/19280567\/\" title=\"Send this entry to a friend via email\">Email this<\/a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/2009\/12\/14\/reader-spy-srt-fettled-dodge-journey-r-t-spotted\/#comments\" title=\"View reader comments on this entry\">Comments<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Filed under: Spy Photos, Minivan\/Van, Wagon, Crossover, Dodge SRT-prepped Dodge Journey R\/T &#8211; Click above for high-res image gallery We&#8217;ve always been intrigued by the notion of a higher performance people carrier, from back before Car and Driver magazine&#8217;s Ford Windstar-based SHOStar to various shadetree high-strung turbocharged Chrysler minivans and outright lunacy like Renault&#8217;s Espace-bodied [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81523\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}