Dukes (car)

You may be looking for Dukes, a borough in Liberty City.

A Dukes in GTA IV.

The Imponte Dukes is a two-door muscle car featured in Grand Theft Auto IV and Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories.

Design

The Dukes is the quintessential American muscle car: aggressive 1970s styling, a large engine, and a low, roaring exhaust note. It is based on a 1969 Dodge Charger since its side profile and front end also strongly resemble one (and the name is a reference to the show, "The Dukes of Hazzard"). Since Imponte is based off Pontiac, the Dukes may have been meant to emulate a first generation Pontiac GTO, especially since the front end is similar to a 1968/1969 GTO but it actually barely resembles a GTO. The back of the rear fenders are similar to the 1964 Pontiac GTO and could also be from a 1966/1967 Dodge Charger. The taillights also have a vague resemblance to those of a 1969 Pontiac GTO.

Dukes are quite popular in the borough of Bohan, and some of them are found with an hood scoop - bulge with the words "supercharged" painted on it, roots blowers and bug-catcher scoops, all with "750 HP" written on each side - referring to its powerful 750 bhp V8. In addition certain Dukes have an small spoiler mounted on the back of the car or rear window louvers. A "Highway Reaper" decal is also present on any "hood blower" variant of the Dukes, at the back end of the car's side, a possible parody of Dodge's Super Bee.

Performance

The Dukes has a 450ci supercharged V-8 engine producing 750bhp. Unfortunately, a lot of this is wasted because the engine is producing more power than can be transferred to the wheels, which results in wheel slip under full throttle in the low gears, making acceleration well below average, but giving the Dukes a very refreshing top speed. Lending to it's design generation (Early-to mid 1960/70s), the Dukes has one of the softest suspensions in GTA IV, making it flop heavily in turns and giving it massive oversteer that un-experienced drivers find hard to control; though with effort the oversteer can be easily transferred to drifting, making the Dukes one of the most impressive driftable vehicles in-game. The Dukes constantly feels "urgent", often giving it a flamboyant driving style of constant fishtails, burnouts, 180s and power slides. Braking on the Dukes is, as expected, poor. The large rear drum brakes, coupled with the weak and undersized front discs make for extended stopping distances and front wheel lockup. ABS, also as expected, is not available on the Dukes.

Crash deformation is acceptable, and thanks to it's very heavy chassis, the Dukes can take many direct hits before failing/catching fire, making this vehicle good for most on-road applications.

Gallery

Rear quarter view, with louvers on the rear windows.

Rear quarter view, with louvers on the rear windows.
A variant of the Dukes, featuring a hood blower and chin spoiler, among other modifications.

A variant of the Dukes, featuring a hood blower and chin spoiler, among other modifications.
The "Highway Reaper" decal present on any "hood blower" variant of the Dukes.

The "Highway Reaper" decal present on any "hood blower" variant of the Dukes.
The Dukes, as depicted in GTA Chinatown Wars.

The Dukes, as depicted in GTA Chinatown Wars.