Way back when I was 9, my dad drove a brand new Dodge Aspen wagon for a year or so. When he tired of the wheezy slant 6, it was replaced by a new big block Dodge Monaco wagon. Both of these monstrosities wore the hideous fake wood paneling that was so popular during the time and both were the same ghastly colour of the one in the ad above.

When Chrysler chose to resurrect the Aspen nameplate, car fans old enough to remember the first Aspen shuddered. This was supposed to be an upscale machine. Would people buy a modern wagon with a moniker that was related to the Ricardo Montalban Volare days of Mopar history? Would a Chrysler Aspen be cool enough to lure Escalade drivers over to Chrysler dealers? Would the addition of a Hemi overshadow the name’s unfortunate history?

Obviously I was too young to take the wheel of that original Aspen and I suspect that’s a good thing. The 07 Aspen on the other hand is a joy to drive. At first glance, this premium suv can be a little intimidating for someone who is not used to driving a truck, as it is quite big. For the shorter set, getting in requires use of the running boards, as the seats are otherwise a bit of a climb. Outward visibility is excellent and the towing style side mirrors make seeing neighboring cars a breeze. Those mirrors have an auto tilt feature which allows the driver to see that parking spot they are trying to navigate. The driver’s side mirror has a cool auto dim feature, just like an interior rear view mirror. It’s a small touch, but in night time traffic it’s nice not to have the glare from that great big mirror.

On the road, Chrysler has done a good job of taking a work truck chassis and smoothing it out for a more refined ride. The shocks have been tuned for comfort, but the heavy duty side still shows up on occasion. The Aspen is quite stiffly sprung, befitting a truck that is as capable as this one. On occasion, these stiff springs overpower the shocks as the truck can get a tad bouncy over large expansion joints on the highway. That should be an acceptable trade off though, as the Aspen can tow up to 8950 pounds, which should be more than enough for the gentleman racer or weekend boater.

Moving all that weight around takes more than just a strong chassis though, something has to provide the grunt to get it all moving. Boy, does the Aspen have grunt. Powered by a 5.7 liter Hemi V8 that puts out 335 horsepower and 370 ft lbs of torque, the Aspen has the stones needed to move this refined beast down the road. That engine is mated to a full time four wheel drive system through a 5 speed automatic. This unit shifts so smoothly that it feels more like a CVT than a conventional automatic.

The engineers have done an interesting job with the exhaust. When driving gently, one would never know there is 335 ponies under the hood. The Aspen just cruises quietly along without a peep. Crack the throttle though and a beast awakens that would sound more at home in a muscle car than a luxo cruiser. Even though the Aspen weighs in at over 5000 lbs, the Hemi still allows more than enough go for any passing maneuver. Just don’t watch the fuel guage!

Speaking of the fuel guage, one must approach a full size SUV like the Aspen in the right frame of mind. If one attempts to compare it to the neighbor’s Prius, one is going to be disappointed in a major way. This is a 335 horsepower, 5000 lb truck we are talking about and to think it won’t be thirsty would be naive. During our week with the Aspen, we encountered a snow storm and some extremely cold weather, both of which would hamper our attempts to get decent gas mileage. We experienced 18.9 L/100 km, which works out to 12.45 MPG for our American readers. Definitely thirsty, but I suspect it’s not all that different from other vehicles in the segment.

During the week we had the Aspen, we had the aforementioned snow storm, which gave us the opportunity to see the full time 4 wheel drive in action. What a great vehicle in the snow. This tester had over 24,000 kilometers on it, which means that roughly half the life of the tires were worn away. Even still, the Aspen performed flawlessly in snow, with barely any electronic intervention. With a full set of snow tires, this would be one serious ski country hauler.

Overall, the 2007 Chrysler Aspen has decent on road manners for a vehicle of this size and is certainly more than capable to perform weekend warrior chores.

Next up, we’ll talk about life inside the Aspen.