I just got an email from Dodge about the new Caliber SRT4 and the Nitro. Man, what a couple of butt ugly vehicles! The rear view of the Caliber is especially ugly and the Nitro looks ugly from every angle.
What is Chrysler thinking? At least the engine should be decent in the Caliber as I believe it is essentially the same as the 2.4L in my new Sonata. I believe that Hyundai, Chrysler and a third company, Mitusbishi I think, collaborated on this engine. Mine is powerful and quiet. My only complaint is that it is a little thirsty. I'm getting only 27 MPG in driving that is probably 70% highway. And this is with a
24/34 rating on the Sonata with the standard tranny. I don't know the weight of the Caliber, but it appears that it shouldn't be much different than the Sonata, and lighter if anything, so it should perform fairly well.
The Caliber looks pretty good in person. I wouldn't buy it, but I don't think they'll have any trouble selling it to the target audience (skateboard-toting minimum wage earners).
I saw one 3 weeks ago doing some arrands while driving down 8 mile in Detroit. Had to take a double look. The style caught me off guard. Thought it was a import for a sec because of the sporty look it had with the hatchback. Personally I missed the hatch back years back. If I was in the market to buy a new car. i wouldn't think twice of get ting one. I'd get the diesel in it w/ the 4 wheel drive. *Looks sharp in that red*
Hey, wait a minute. I'm not a skateboard toting min wage earner, I'm a late-year boomer with a pile of band (bass guitar) equipment and a pa system, and I think this would make a right smart Bandwagon!
That these things will appeal toe the "kewl bloo headlights and wingZ on the trUnKliD!" crowd.
Yep, the so-called "world engine." The mere fact that Mitsubishi has its name on the stupid thing is enough to make me not go near one until it establishes about 10 years of solid service record. Again, why can't Chrysler learn from past experience that everything Mitsubhishi touches turns to manure?
No, a PT Cruiser would look a lot better. And its all Chrysler and no Mitsushitti, so the odds of actually making it to your gig before last call are a whole lot better.
Oh heck, I was thinking of buying one but now that Joe tells me I don't belong because I'm a retired senior citizen, guess I'll have to keep my Focus. Shucks.
I saw an article somewhere that discussed which company made which contribution to the design, and I didn't end up being too worried about it. I forget exactly which parts Mitsubishi contributed though and I can't find the article now.
I looked at a Caliber in a dealership the other day. It had alot of neat toys built in for the money. However I'm curious how well the CVT tranny works and how much maintenance it will need over the lifespan of the car.
I put a deposit down on a PT Cruiser today. Plan on using it around town, and for my 19 year old daughter to use when she is home from college, home depot runs, etc. Very different car from my 2000 3ooM, but I think it will be a good replacement for my old K car based New Yorker, which is rusting out from road salt in New York.
It was an interesting experience working thru 3 different dealers to find a PT Cruiser with the options that I was looking for. I have a 300M and a Thunderbird and was looking for basic transportation in the PT Cruiser. Reading the brochures the touring model with ABS brakes seems to be a good fit for my planned use but PT Cruisers with ABS were hard to find.
The first dealer wanted to sell me a leftover loaded 2005 with a turbo for $24k or switch me to the Caliber. They suggested I should buy the Caliber now at list price because they were destined to be "hot" and hard to get and my daughter would not want to be seen dead in the PT Cruiser. Their selling point were free tires for the life of the car if I came in every 3,000 miles for an oil change and tire rotation. . The second dealer, a local 5 star, the one I purchased the 3ooM from in 2000 was polite, showed me what he had on the lot, quite a few Walter P models, and a Route
66 model with ABS. The Route 66 model was overkill for my needs, none of the Walter P versions had ABS. The salesman wasn't really interested in bringing a car in from another dealer that was closer to my requirements.. I was told it would be difficult to make this happen since they were not making much on the sale since I was using the PP plan for the purchase.
So today I went to another 5 star dealer about 45 minutes drive to my south. They told me they could get a car with the options I wanted from a sister dealership in Connecticut, got the details on the car from that dealership, and said they would have it here in a couple of days for me to check out.
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