Detnews.com reviews the 2008 Dodge Caliber SRT4
From the article: “There’s no doubting this car’s capabilities on the road: it’s quick, agile and powerful. However, its interior still needs some improving, when held up against competitors such as the Civic Si sedan and MazdaSpeed3, which are similarly priced and more refined.”
HOT WHEELS: Dodge Caliber SRT pushes 285 horses from 2.4-liter engine - detnews.com
October 24th, 2007 at 10:32 am
Did ya hear that Cerberus?
Interiors in the CG,,,, SUCK…………………..
October 24th, 2007 at 6:57 pm
Especially in the Caliber!
October 25th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
European car paper: Brackes sucks and suspension sucks too.
Typical american: Fast in a streight line, but beware of corners.
Any present mopar interior sucks.
October 25th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
well no one pay attention to that post… A. he can’t spell brakes or straight, and B. any other comment he said isn’t true.
October 25th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
And Euro Pee Ons SUCK!!!!!
October 26th, 2007 at 4:34 am
B.S.!!! ALL MOPAR INTERIORS ARE GREAT,MODERN STYLE.!!!
October 26th, 2007 at 4:36 am
P.S. I WILL OUTCORNER ANY EUROTRASH WITH MY SRT8!!!GUARANTEED!!!AND DON’T FORGET THERE WAS NO OTHER BETTER HANDLING CARS AS LH,AND JX IN THEIR CLASS,SO “EUROPE” SAVE IT!!!
October 26th, 2007 at 6:44 am
You tell em Archie, I do like when they bitch about the new Chargers and say its dash and door panels are solid hard plastic…REALLY….I guess thats why you can press your finger into the dash and top of the door panels and it actually indents(pushes in)oh, so its not hard plastic….people should actually drive/touch a car before they judge it… Funny people always trash american cars and they know nothing about them..Mopars almost always handled better than other american cars and out handle many imports in there class and era…example my 71 Charger will stop from 60 mph in 125 feet (as tested by the mags in its day) and I can attest that today as well ,that is still far better than many “modern cars”of today … it handles corners at high speed on our canyon roads with ease,and its solid body will crush any plastic eurocrap around… like I said mopars will out handle almost anything,stop better..dont believe me fine drive an 2008 Viper srt …then say mopars dont handle,stop…and people remember I said ALMOST anything there are some exceptions…
October 26th, 2007 at 10:22 pm
http://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070608/AUTO01/706080377/1148
You tell ‘em, Archie Bunker, Chrysler interiors are the class of the industry! And what does that commie rag, the Detroit News, know about it when it carried this article last June? What does Frank Klegon, Executive VP of Product Development, know about interiors compared to those two paragons of taste and refinement, Archie and C? Everyone who has read this Weblog is aware that Klegon, LaSorda,Nardelli and Press have all been quoted in the media on the urgent need to improve interiors. But from reading Archie and C you’d think that Chrysler didn’t report a big loss in the multi million dollar league in the most recent fiscal year.. The guy from Kelley Blue Book quoted in the Detroit News article linked above has a lower opinion of Chrysler’s interiors than Archie and C, as does Consumer Reports. GUESS WHO INFLUENCES MORE BUYERS? Hell, if the American automobile buyers had the same refined tastes as Archie and C then Toyota would be raiding the top floor at Auburn Hills to hire exeuctives instead of the other way around. And if 300 million Americans had the same views as Archie and C— then Toyota and Honda wouldn’t be the most profitable automobile companies in the world, Chrysler would be. Can you two deal with that simple proposition? Can you get a grip on the concept that the world does not revolve around you, and that your opinions and tastes are not shared by the majority of car buyers out there if the sales data is to be believed. But nobody who thinks Chrysler’s interiors are great is going to accept sales data as objective evidence? Who needs objective evidence when you have the brilliance, the intellectual dept and the perspicacity of Archie and C? Are you two so inebriated with your own opinions that you continue to spout nonsensical crap about Chrysler interiors in the face of Chrysler’s own executives saying that they are not getting the job done in the marketplace and they have to be upgraded as soon as possible. Take your juvenile line of defensive horse manure and your reasoning ability(?) to some second grade remedial reasoning class so that intelligent people with rational thoughts and some respect for objective data can maintain a civilized level of dialog.
October 27th, 2007 at 9:11 pm
Good stuff, Dave S., though you are probably arguing with trolls.
October 28th, 2007 at 11:02 am
That’s what I like about the Chrysler weblog, you get all kinds here.
I love to see a moron like archie spin out DaveS and then DaveS feels the need to educate archie when he could give a shit about what DaveS thinks.
But on that note it does show why Chrysler has a hill to climb to get back into the car selling game. This company needs the press to start liking it’s products in order to get the consumer to pay attention and bring them back to the Chrysler show rooms.
This spring the Challenger will bring customers back to our dealerships and give us a chance to win some consumers back to Chrysler.
October 28th, 2007 at 5:39 pm
Actually DaveS,I would rather have a slightly more plasticy interior than having a Toyota with a blown engine,transmission and cracking tail gate…yeah the new tundra has all of those..this is well reported even the tacoma has CRACKING tail gates..WOW..quality yeah right buddy…by the way I was only talking about the Charger stating its dash,door panels are not hard plastic as people asume by looking at pictures….its NOT solid cheap hard plastic on the Charger…by the way DaveS why in the 1990’s before the merger was Chrysler the most profitable car company and it still had bad reviews from the auto mags ?It still had plastic interiors but it was MOST PROFITABLE … And also,I really agreed with Archie on his second comment when talking about flat out PERFORMANCE,that the srt charger will out handle,power most eurocrap..unlike some people I do not roll around naked on my dash board,the only time I touch it is when I clean it anyways and I do like the way they styled it it looks good. At least they dont scratch like Acura’s cheap interiors…for you DaveS that was even said by some auto journalist (acuras interior scratching),so please get off of the crap that Chrysler is not profitable because of its interiors…..My original response was to the unknowledgeable response by europe,stating american cars cant stop,handle..thats why I referred to my 71 charger(i cant find the article but from 71)but a 1974 stops from 60 mph in 127 feet from road test mag.oct 1973,(yes it was called road test) . Yes you can always improve a product thats what i’ve said they should do with all Chryslers,but contrary to your belief people do by Chryslers because they like them,I dont know why you think they buy them,but yeah DaveS people do like them…you probably wont believe me because some journelist never wrote it down anywhere ..or consumers never told you…so quit thinking the world revolves around you as you get so mad when you cant see eye to eye with someone else..
October 28th, 2007 at 10:09 pm
Fred,
Your use of “trolls” as a noun was something I’d never heard or seen before. I looked it up in the dictionary. I’ve always heard the word used as a verb meaning to sing in a rolling voice or as trolling for fish, but never as a noun like you used it. Anyway, the Random House Dictionary gives this definition when it is used as a noun: ” In Scandinavian folklore, one of a race of of supernatural beings, sometimes conceived as giants and sometimes as dwarfs, inhabiting caves or subterranean dwellings.”
Thank you very much for introducing me to this definition of the word. It fits the subject like a glove.
C, ole buddy, yeah, people buy Chrysler products because they like ‘em a lot. Trouble is that so damned few like ‘em that Chrysler has been losing its shirt for the past two years, hemorrhaging cash, losing market share and just got sold for a pittance to a leveraged buyout firm, and can’t even sell its top-volume truck without incentives than run from $1,500 on the low side to $6,000 on some models. So many people like Chrysler products that it has been shutting down plants for weeks at a time from Brampton in the north to Toluca in the South and Belvidere in the middle just to get rid of unsold inventory….The real problem remains that there aren’t enough potential buyers out there with the highly refined taste and aesthetic values that you and Archie share. How do we clone about 3 million more of you two guys? That’s what it’ll take to move the existing product line. If you and Archie can’t be cloned then Chrysler is stuck with the population the way it is now. And you know how sorry their tastes are! That’s real bad because they seem to prefer those Toyotas you write about with the blown engines and the faulty tail gates…
C, bless you, and pray tell, what in the hell has Chrysler’s profitability in the 1990s got to do with its market share and bottom line in 2007? In the early to mid-1990s, Chrysler had a near monopoly on the minivan segment, the price of oil hadn’t reached 90 a barrel and trucks were selling in huge numbers without discounts and Chrysler’s model mix was suited to the then existing market for minivans and trucks. because the Asians and GM and Ford were heavier on cars at that time. .But nobody who thinks Chrysler’s interior are great is expected to understand the irrelevance of 1990’s sales when discussing today’s automotive market place and Chrysler’s declining role in it. And if Chrysler keeps the same interiors that you and and Archie rave about as works of beauty its market share will continue to go to hell in a hand basket. Fortunately, Chrysler’s top management has expressed views diametrically oppose to yours.
October 28th, 2007 at 11:04 pm
Dave S - I was thinking more along these lines:
//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll
October 28th, 2007 at 11:06 pm
I feel like I’m ring side a great boxing match.
You got the “c man” who goes straight ahead defending Chrysler products to the end, carrying the torch for the faithful, taking as many punches as he gives.
In his corner you have archie the cut man and manager, patching up the “c man” and telling him we got that DaveS bastard right where we want him. Just keep throwing punches KID!
Then there’s DaveS the reigning champion of the truth, justice and you’d better spell it the right way, throwing stinging blows of reality at both the “c man” and archie.
Will “c man” and archie rally the faithful, who would purchase a milk carton with 4 wheels and a Chrysler emblem on it to save the company or does DaveS prevail in his quest to demand that Chrysler build vehicles that people will just want to own.
Will Chrysler go the distance or does a knock out loom!
Only time will tell
October 29th, 2007 at 11:29 am
Hi DaveS,Once again Dave I do not praise all of Chryslers interiors I believe im with you on improving/redesigning/canning models that dont sell…go for it,but I do like the Chargers interior(some auto journelists say its materials are on par with toyota and honda)Myself I dont like the new stain free material for myself ,that does make it feel cheap..get the leather now i guess..and once again I really meant to agree with him on his second comment about the Charger (please read again) and also do like the design of SOME of its other interiors including my Ram-whats wrong with that?Also never a complaint on the Aspen/Pacificas interiors those vehicles are mostly complimented by reviewers.The bulk of complaints are for the compass/caliber/sebring/avenger for some reason on its should be higher volume vehicles they fell asleep. What is wrong defending Chryslers when some clown who says Chryslers dont handle or stop?That is pure bs,thats why i quoted crap from years ago to prove Chryslers can stop.Should I just say nothing and let that clown think his 1987 vw fox can out handle any american car new or old bs. As for profitability,it seems it always comes hand in hand with its interiors so I was just saying in the 90’s Chrysler was most profitable people still bashed its interiors and cars,minivans,trucks. And by the way I would never buy a milk carton with 4 wheels,but I think toyota sells the scion and people buy em..thats pretty close…oh please Dave please sit in a toyota fj cruiser and tell me its of high quality, plastics and interior..please…that has to be the cheapest interior vehicle on the market…good day bud.
October 29th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
If you want to see how bad Chrysler’s interiors are please go look at the Ford Pickup and then look at the Ram with the Laramie package.
It does not stand up to comparision.
The worst interiors are Nitro, Sebring/Avenger, Caliber, Ram,
it’s a pattern and a HUGE problem.
Some customers care more about what the car looks and feels like on the inside than the do on the outside.
Chrysler and the Germans (they aren’t all Nazi’s Rich—but I have thought that about Dieter and Herr Eberhardt) totally missed the boat on interiors and we are paying dearly for it today.
C probably makes trim pieces for Chrysler or works at Sterling Heights—-but I wish the Consumers that I listen to each day had the same interior standards as he does.
The old days of building crappy interiors and people putting up with cheap “faux” components and plastic are long gone.
October 29th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
Dieter always reminded me of the crazy Nazi Rocket scientist with the big bushy mustache and Eberhardt reminded me of the German Tank commander in all the old WWII movies.
That’s where I believe some of the Interiors for the latest Chryslers came from WWII German Tanks.
My thing is just who had the final say on these interiors and who decided that not having door lock cylinders or power door lock switches on the passenger door was such a good idea.
I keep reading about how over weight Americans are, but Chrysler makes seats for 5’3” 115 pound girls. I’m 6 foot 200 pounds and I can’t stand to seat in over half the cars we sell. Is having a seat that’s as hard as a rock and stains by just looking at it a good thing.
Give me an old New Yorker seat, I felt like I was sitting in a Lazy Boy Recliner.
You know the Wrangler has a nice seat, hopefully that a sign of things to come.