By Edward A. Sanchez
The new Jeep Hurricane concept is either the in-the-flesh embodiment of your off-the-wall notepad sketches you scribbled in the back of Trig class in high school, or what happens when you get Jeep engineers loaded up with all-you-can-eat-and-drink beer and pizza and deprive them of sleep for three straight days.
Whatever way you look at it, it's one bad-ass machine. It has four-wheel independent suspension, 20 inches of travel, 14.3 inches of boulder-hopping ground clearance, and not one, but two Hemi V-8s. Never mind the combined 670 horsepower and 740 lbs./ft. of torque, DCX makes a token gesture of environmental responsibility by equipping both engines with the company's MDS cylinder-deactivation system.
Even more impressive than the overkill twin engines are the approach and departure angles, 64.0 and 86.7 degrees, respectively. But wait, we're not through. To give this off-road beast the ultimate in maneuverability, DCX equipped it with four-wheel steering that gives it a turning radius of zero, thanks to skid steer capability and toe steer. Basically, it turns in its own circle.
This also would make it the ultimate vomit comet; crank the front and rear axles opposite and floor the twin Hemis. . .WOOHOO!! In addition to its ability to reduce the turning circle, the four-wheel steering system also lets the driver turn all four wheels in the same direction for nimble crab steering. This allows the vehicle to move sideways without changing direction.
Don't even ask if it's going to show up in showrooms in the next few years. It ain't gonna happen. But Jeep engineers hinted that a version of four-wheel steering could show up in showrooms eventually.
Even though it doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of making it to production, we're glad Jeep has the cojones to build such a crazy machine to show us that the engineers designing the Jeeps of the future are real enthusiasts, too.