Few engines arrive on the scene with as much hype as the redesigned Mopar Hemi V8 did. Big marketing, big talk and pretty decent power figures came forth. Of course, it carried the "Hemi" name, which was more for copyright purposes than a mechanically accurate description of the head design. Whatever the case, it is a good motor and an improvement over the Magnum V8 engines, which the Hemi replaces. Fuel economy on the earlier Hemi versions won't dazzle too much. Later versions with Active Displacement improve on this, primarily at cruising speeds.

Hemi's are installed into Jeeps by a couple of specialty shops that have the cryptic Chrysler computer codes to do it. The engines and installations remain overpriced, and with time, things will shake out as they always do to see if they'll become more affordable and feasable, and if the shadetree installer will pick up on them.