Buzzing to our driveway, the 2023 Dodge Hornet GT Plus AWD was in the bright Acapulco Gold color. I’m glad the Hornet offers the loud color because the black accents make it pop even more. Although Dodge classifies the Hornet as a CUV, I would consider it more of an oversized hot hatchback. The hood vents add a very aggressive design to the front along with the large lower grille. One detail I liked was the very small lower lip that only extended on the sides. Although the ride height seemed a little on the high side, it performed like a sports car. It did have me thinking that Dodge should produce a rally influenced version of the Hornet.

Getting into the Hornet, you could easily see the European design influence. The red stitching on the dash, seats, and doors added a nice racing feel to the interior. I was also impressed by the sporty but comfortable seats that were taco lover friendly as well as kept me in place during spirited driving. The one awful thing in the Hornet would be the wireless charger. It was uncomfortable to put my phone in and once it was, there was a constant message of it overheating even though the temperature in the Hornet was no higher than 70 degrees. Be aware that the rear seating is also going to be tight in width and legroom.

Under the hood is where the Hornet’s 2.0L turbocharged 4-cylinder delivers the fun. The 268 horsepower was distributed among all the wheels. Although it was fun driving the Hornet in a spirited way, the everyday bumper to bumper traffic was difficult to deal with. To start, when you let off the gas pedal, the Hornet will still have a slight acceleration which made it a close call if the car in front suddenly stops. The pedal’s sensitivity felt like it was always in sport mode and required extremely small inputs to avoid aggressive power delivering and downshifts.

Overall, I was impressed with the fun factor of the 2023 Dodge Hornet GT Plus AWD. Every day driving did suffer and almost had me thinking of looking elsewhere but then the road opened up to let this Hornet go into attack mode!