Test Drive:2007 Dodge Caliber

[mikeyb]

<TABLE class=cdbgtext cellSpacing=10 cellPadding=0 width=560 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top>2007 Dodge Caliber

</TD><TD vAlign=top align=right></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=2><!-- advertisement 2 -->Tiptoeing past the hatchback hex.

BY PATRICK BEDARD
PHOTOGRAPHY BY BILL DELANEY
April 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top><TABLE width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top>So the curtain comes down on cute. Adis, Neon (b. 1994, d. 2005). Say hello to daring. Dodge has touched the third rail of American car design, laid a hand flat on it. The Caliber comes in one body style only, a five-door hatchback!

So bold. So audacious. So suicidal!

American car buyers decided long ago that hatchbacks are for other people, and only a few of emyou know, Saab types. The mainstreamers stay away in droves. Remember the Pontiac Phoenix? How about the five-door hatchback that was to redeem the Corsica line for Chevy? No? Well, nobody else does, either.

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>But wait. Dodge denies that the chunky little Caliber is a hatchback. Sports tourer, it says.

Hmm. Wasnt the Pacifica called a sports tourer when it was introduced? For sure, the semi-wagon-esque Dodge Magnum was billed as a sports tourer. Those two have found respectable followings.

We think the Caliber will, too. For a small car priced at $13,985 going in, this machine has a great deal of presence, of visual swagger. Theres a brawny assertiveness about it, like youre meeting Durangos little brother. The fact that its a hatchback, a.k.a. a five-door, doesnt come up in the first hour of looking it over.

In size, the Caliber is a fraction shorter than the four-door Neon on a wheelbase shorter by 1.3 inches, at 103.7 inches. Width is up a tad (1.4 inches). The significant departure is upwardat 60.4 inches, its 4.4 taller than the Neon. The belly is higher, too, giving seven inches of ground clearance.

Yet theres more to the presence than height. Tire packages include 17s and 18s, pushed way out to the edges of the sheetmetal under bulked-up fender flares. Opt for the big chrome 7.0-by-18-inch five-spokers, and nobody will notice the hatchback.

Inside, the drivers eye point is up about four inches over the Neons, says Dodge. In back, the seat cushion is chair height. The high roofline raises the tops of the door openings, making passenger entry much easier than in a conventional four-door. Of course, the rear seat folds forward to nearly flatits a hatchback, rememberopening up 48 cubic feet of cargo room.

In front, storage spaces abound: Theres a lidded com-partment atop the dash, a small bin in the center stack, and numerous smaller cubbies in the console. All but the base SE get the Chill Zone, a four-bottle, air-conditioned drink cooler where the glove box would normally be.

The Caliber is a front-driver with all-wheel drive available (it adds 150 pounds) on the performance-flavored R/T, which is stacked above SE and SXT in the model lineup. A five-speed manual transmission is standard, and a CVT is optional, except in all-wheel-drive cars, which get the CVT as standard equipment. The platform, new for Caliber, will get more use later this year under the Jeep Compass, a taller and more SUV-like sister vehicle.

The Caliber is meant to be DaimlerChryslers new world car, to be sold in 98 countries around the planet. It has a new four-cylinder world engine, toono kiddingfrom the Chrysler Group World Engine family, a joint venture among DaimlerChrysler, Hyundai, and Mitsubishi. A 1.8-liter with 148 horsepower at 6500 rpm is standard on the SE and SXT, and a 2.0-liter with 158 horsepower at 6400 rpm is optional. All R/Ts get a 172-hp, 2.4-liter version of the same engine. These are state-of-the-art, four-valves-per-cylinder twin-cammers with variable valve timing on the intake and exhaust. They also have a tumble-inducing butterfly in the intake manifold to aid combustion dynamics. The 2.0 and 2.4 have balance shafts.

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Weve driven Calibers with all three engines, both transmissions, and front- and all-wheel drive. The engines are winners, remarkably silky over the rev range to the 6750-rpm redline (6500 for the 2.4), with smooth torque curves. The CVT is less pleasing. It responds to the throttle at low speeds with an overly amped jumpiness. R/Ts with the CVT get an AutoStick manumatic that simulates a six-speed gearbox.

The early Calibers weve driven were quiet cars, much more refined than the Neon, with carlike ride qualities. Wed call the steering ambiguous and inclined to carve a weavy track. Torque steer, unfortunately, was more noticeable in the 1.8 than the torque itself. The 2.4 CVT versions bordered on unruly at full throttle. We hope later cars will be better.

Dont expect to see many $13,985 Calibers. Most of the samples we drove were close to, or above, $20,000. Thats far too pricey for a conventional small sedan, but the Calibers high-riding, brawny-lad muscularity is a whole new thing at the price. Sure, technically, its hexed as a hatchback, but that doesnt keep buyers away from small SUVs. Looks like DaimlerChrysler has carved out another niche.




2007 DODGE CALIBER
Vehicle type: front-engine, front- or 4-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 5-door wagon
Base price: $13,985
Engines: DOHC 16-valve 1.8-liter inline-4, 148 hp, 125 lb-ft; DOHC 16-valve 2.0-liter inline-4, 158 hp, 141 lb-ft; DOHC 16-valve 2.4-liter inline-4, 172 hp, 165 lb-ft

Transmissions: continuously variable auto-matic with manumatic shifting, 5-speed manual
Wheelbase: 103.7 in
Length/width/height: 173.8/68.8/60.4 in
Curb weight: 30003350 lb
Performance ratings (C/D est):
Zero to 60 mph: 8.59.0 sec
Standing -mile: 16.517.0 sec
Projected fuel economy (mfrs est):
EPA city driving: 2328 mpg
EPA highway driving: 2632 mpg </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

source:http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp?section_id=19&article_id=10762</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

[genericuser]

not hard to see why the phoenix failed

 

[Leppy]

that Phoenix looks like an early 80's version of the Caliber... In my opinion, the only Dodge that ever looked good was the Viper. But that's because it was designed by Carol Shelby...

 

[Protege52003]

i am waiting to look at a Nitro!

-R

 

[Rogue]

I saw them at the dealership yesterday. They didn't look bad sitting still. Then I passed one going in the opposite direction, and it looked awful on the road....

 

[dbzeag]

Wow, nothing special or notworthy. Why do they make such a big deal about the "5-door hatchback"? I believe the VW Golf is doing quite well for itself, as is the Focus ZX5, let alone the Mazda3. If you make the package agile and like a GTI in concept (a car for every type of driver) then it will be a success. This is a brawny miniwagon. So it carves its own niche. It will be a niche I will not buy or even drive a car from.

 

[Dimitrios]

not hard to see why the phoenix failed

Reminds me more of:

...but I'd actually drive the AMC..