The Dodge M4S is the Dodge that answered a simple question — how much car can this badge carry? — with 440 bhp from 2.198 L Cosworth-headed 16-valve DOHC I4 w/ dual Garrett T25 turbochargers. It was built from 1981 to 1987, in the age of turbocharging and the first electronic engine management. The shape is credited to Bob Ackerman.
How it came about
The Dodge M4S is an American prototype high-performance sports coupe originally engineered, designed, and built by Dodge in 1981 as a technology demonstrator vehicle. The designation M4S denotes "Mid-engine, 4-cylinder, Sport“. It was developed in collaboration with PPG Industries in the early 1980s and was used intermittently from 1984 to 1987, including as an CART pace car.
The hardware
The engine is 2.198 L Cosworth-headed 16-valve DOHC I4 w/ dual Garrett T25 turbochargers; the output is 440 bhp. On the scales it comes to ~2550 lb. That is roughly 173 horsepower per tonne: quick by any era's standard, the kind of figure a hot hatch or a sports saloon posts. Drive goes through a Liberty-modified Chrysler five-speed transaxle. The layout matters: the engine sits behind the driver and ahead of the rear axle, which puts the mass in the middle of the car and is why mid-engined cars change direction the way they do. The wheelbase is 100.3 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
In the Dodge line-up the Dodge M4S has a clear place: the factory was Troy, Michigan, United States. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Lamborghini LMA002. Its Dodge stablemates include the Dodge 1500 and the 1955 Dodge.
Owning one today
There is no federal ownership record for the Dodge M4S — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.