We've all seen the commercials about the line of Dodge cars with available Hemi motors. If you, like me, are under the age of 40, it's likely you also had no idea what the fuss is about. Short answer, it's an old muscle car engine that made Mopar famous. Longer answer, it's a modern day monster that can burn you off the line, tear down a house, or just make your commute an ounce more bearable� did I say ounce? I meant foot-pound.

I can boil down the whole Hemi thing pretty easily. It's an optional upgrade to your motor, from a well-reputed manufacturer, available direct from the Chrysler family on many models within the family of cars, most notably those from Dodge. If you take the Hemi, you'll get a good motor, that's also more powerful. That means greater speed, better acceleration, and significantly improved towing capacity. That's it in a nutshell.

There are only a couple reasons you'd want a Hemi, and all of them are valid. If you tow anything bigger than a single jet ski, torque is what you need, and most standard engines will feel sluggish in these situations. If you're going to put a camper or trailer behind your rig, there isn't a motor on the market that will give you "too much" power. Conversely, more than half will leave you seriously wanting by the top of a long uphill grade.

You might also opt for a Hemi because you want more power. Nothing fancy and nothing that will get you nominated for a Nobel Prize, but if you want a wicked blast on the straightaway, this is how you get it. You don't have to apologize for wanting it, but you may need to admit it's kind of a guy thing.

With most cars having traction control (electronic slip protection, or ESP), it's not like you'll be fishtailing into power poles in the rain, but you will have that extra ounce of oomph when it comes to merging in a tricky situation or getting ahead to cut over when your fellow commuters don't feel like being charitable.

Bearing in mind that it's entirely optional, you have the luxury of considering what's important to you. Luckily, it really is an option, because it's priced in such a way that it's not just for the rich or freakishly committed motorheads. Power is not free, but it is surprisingly affordable.

On most models, the upgrade is only about a thousand bucks, though it does come with a notable drop in fuel economy. If you have a genuine need for hauling, whether heavy equipment or simply ass, the efficiency is a non-issue, since you simply need it for what you're doing. As far as the upgrade cost goes, on a $20,000 vehicle, that's only about 5% of your total cost. On a $45,000 car, it's barely over 2%. You can afford a 2-5% increase to get what you're going to get.

Fortunately, technology has caught up with the horsepower industry, so these engines don't just scream through the gas all day. When you're sitting at a stop light, it stops firing on all cylinders, dropping back to just half of them. Even though there is drag in the motor to move the rest of these inactive parts, it's still a dramatic improvement over your old truck that burnt fuel full tilt whether you were pedal to the metal or coasting down a hill.

I had my first Hemi experience when I reviewed the Chrysler Aspen. I was skeptical at first, since I'm not a motorhead myself, since having kids, but when I found that the engine is just about whisper quiet at idle (and up to about 3,000), I was sold. It's not a raucous motor, and your neighbors won't hear you pull in at night� but if you want them to, oh honey, ain't nothing going to keep them from racing to the window.

If you want the Hemi just to be the fastest kid on the block, go for it. Unless you do an exceptional amount of driving, the gas isn't going to kill you. If you had a muscle car back in the day, consider this your shot at living the dream you could only dream back then. Many cars come with all wheel drive and electronic slip protection, but you can turn off the traction control. That means that when you punch it and start the burnout, you won't lay down a pair of black tracks, you'll lay down four of them. If you've never done a burnout on all four wheels, I'd say you've never had the sports car experience� of course, I've never actually done this myself, but last time I burnt rubber was in 2001 and I wrapped my car around a telephone pole� Like I said, I'm not a race car driver.

If you're a real pragmatist, I'd have to tell you to skip the Hemi regardless of your needs or abilities. You can always justify being cheap with yourself, even though more torque on a heavy load is often more economical. The better suggestion I'd make is that you stop kidding yourself and get in touch with what's important to you. You don't buy that many cars, so when you do, you should get what you really want. After all, you're going to be the one stuck driving it.

The addition of a Hemi may not up your resale value, but you'll have this car for years, so by then, really, who cares? Still, if you look back through the book values of cars over the past ten years, you'll see that it still asks what motor it has, because let's face it, people want what people want, and though I didn't believe it before I drove it myself, people want a Hemi.