Dodge Caliber, is it Really Worth the Rave?

The Dodge Caliber was introduced in 2005 in place of the Dodge Neon, but is it really better than the Neon was? Is it worth all the rave? Is it as good as people say? The American car industry have been striving to keep up with the import sport compact car industry, but is the Dodge Caliber one to replace Mitsubishi and Honda line of sport compact cars? In this article, we'll go over a few aspects of the Dodge Caliber and what it has to offer and what it doesn't.

Let's start with the appearance of the Caliber. It is 1.4 inches wider and 4.4 inches taller than the Neon. Its box-like sharp edges of the vehicle make it very toy-like. Regardless what the numbers say, the car itself looks a lot larger than the numbers say. It looks more like a mini-SUV rather than a hatch-back, but Dodge prefers the Caliber to be categorized in the "Sport Tourer" category rather than the hatch-back category. You know what was also categorized in the "Sport Tourer" category. The Chrysler Pacifica.

Alright, so maybe looks isn't everything. Let's talk performance. There is currently available 3 models you can get, the SE (1.8L I4), SXT (2.0L I4), and the R/T (2.4L I4). The SE bearing 143 horsepower, the SXT 150 horsepower, and the R/T having 173 horsepower. These aren't too bad of numbers but, what everyone is curious about is the SRT-4 model that will be available soon. The Dodge Neon SRT-4 was a big hit, a lot of import tuners loved it and so did the American car tuners. It had become very popular in the autocross racing world, but now that it is gone and has been replaced with the Caliber SRT-4, how will it do? There has been tests done by several automotive magazine companies and although it has 60 more horsepower than the Neon SRT-4, it is running slower times on the track. It's running a quarter in the low 14 seconds and hitting 60 in the 5 second range. The SRT-4 also does not have all-wheel-drive like the R/T model does. If they have the technology, why not put it into their performance model?

So, we've covered the looks and performance. Let's move onto the unnecessary components of the interior. The Caliber features a lot of interior features that seem like a neat idea but in all reality, not very practical. We'll start with the cooler in the glove box. There is a compartment where you are allowed to place 4 water bottles in to keep them cooled. Nice to have? Maybe. Necessary? Definitely not. If you lift the arm rest up, you'll notice a holder for your phone and a plug for your mp3 player. Taking notice that the shape of the holder looks to seem to only hold a"Rzer" cell phone or an "IPod"/"Zen". If you have another other mp3 player or phone, it may not fit. Moving on, the cup holders have neon rings around them which glow blue and green. Does this look familiar to you? Perhaps in a car that your teenage kid might've tried to trick out. When you open up the hatch, you will also notice two speakers come down from the hatch. In all practicality, when do you need to listen to music from your car when not being in it? Maybe to create noise in your quiet neighborhood? I think not.

Conclusively, the Dodge Caliber seems to be geared towards teenagers who're looking for something new to trick out, it has a lot of unnecessary interior components, and seems to be conforming to Dodge's new style of aggressive look. The upcoming SRT-4 will be a big disappointment for the previous Neon SRT-4 fans because of its lack of performance and style. In all reality, the Caliber isn't a bad car for just driving and transportation but, what it bares and what it suggests is where the negativity arises.