 They decided to go with a large, waterproofed 180 bhp 5.9L Chrysler engine, rear mounted, with a 3 speed automatic transmission.The body was fiberglass, and inside there was enough room for four fully equipped soldiers as well as the driver.The mounting of the engine in the rear gave the Cheetah very poor handling characteristics, and the engine choice was not powerful enough to be adequate for the heavy vehicle (), resulting in overall poor performance.