2013 Dodge Dart in the flesh!

[TomcoPDR]

I wonder if they'll offer a hemi

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

Looks kinda ok.

[Nissanaddict]

Originally posted by Aleks


I agree they are not best at anything really. But overall for people looking for cheap transportation you can't beat them for value. Combination of excellent reliability, resale values, fuel economy and low interest rates is what people look for when looking in this segment. It's reflected in sales. VW cheapened the Jetta dropped the price added content and it's selling best it ever has even though it's worse than previous gen in many ways.

Yep, and that's effing tragic.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Literally anything is better than a Neon, so lets hope they put enough Fiat into these things to make them decent cars. Unfortunately, pictures have never been a good indication of interior quality, so I hope they've kicked it up a notch there too. I agree that Dodge needs a competitive car in the compact segment, though.

[Aleks]

Originally posted by TomcoPDR
I wonder if they'll offer a hemi

Likely not but if SRT group does a similar job with this as it did with the Neon back in the day it will be awsome.

[heavyD]

Originally posted by Mitsu3000gt
Literally anything is better than a Neon, so lets hope they put enough Fiat into these things to make them decent cars. Unfortunately, pictures have never been a good indication of interior quality, so I hope they've kicked it up a notch there too. I agree that Dodge needs a competitive car in the compact segment, though.

Believe it or not the 2nd generation Neon was a pretty reliable car. It was made of low rent materials but was solid, cheap transportation. My 2005 SRT-4 had only a single problem despite me adding stage 2 and driving it hard and had durable paint that shames the garbage paint on Japanese cars. It's funny how people are so focussed on certain low cost parts of reliability such as a window motor switch or interior trim piece yet paint which is very expensive to fix and repair is always overlooked. Paint on new Japanese cars is absolutely horrendous.

[revelations]

Originally posted by heavyD


Believe it or not the 2nd generation Neon was a pretty reliable car. It was made of low rent materials but was solid, cheap transportation. My 2005 SRT-4 had only a single problem despite me adding stage 2 and driving it hard and had durable paint that shames the garbage paint on Japanese cars. It's funny how people are so focussed on certain low cost parts of reliability such as a window motor switch or interior trim piece yet paint which is very expensive to fix and repair is always overlooked. Paint on new Japanese cars is absolutely horrendous.

My ex-gfs new (then) 350Z had paint chips happening from day 1 almost (never winter driven).... something to do with the new environmentally friendlier paints??

[heavyD]

Originally posted by revelations

My ex-gfs new (then) 350Z had paint chips happening from day 1 almost (never winter driven).... something to do with the new environmentally friendlier paints??

Yep it's the water based paints automakers now use. Still my Mustang has water based paint but it's not as thin and soft as the paint on my EVO or the Subaru's some of my co-workers drive. My brother has a 2007 Audi A3 Quattro and his paint looks brand new and his girlfriend's 2009 Nissan Altima has paint that looks five years older in comparison. Not sure if it's stricter regulations in Japan or simply a matter of cutting costs due to the yen/USD imbalance but Japanese car paint is much softer than German/US cars.

[duaner]

Seems as though Dodge is the new Pontiac. All ugly vehicles, not one I would consider buying.

Originally posted by heavyD

Yep it's the water based paints automakers now use. Still my Mustang has water based paint but it's not as thin and soft as the paint on my EVO or the Subaru's some of my co-workers drive. My brother has a 2007 Audi A3 Quattro and his paint looks brand new and his girlfriend's 2009 Nissan Altima has paint that looks five years older in comparison. Not sure if it's stricter regulations in Japan or simply a matter of cutting costs due to the yen/USD imbalance but Japanese car paint is much softer than German/US cars.

My guess is that they use cheap paint and perhaps cheap steel to keep prices competitive with American cars. Many newer Nissans, including 2002+ Altimas, have bad rust issues.

[schocker]

Originally posted by duaner
Seems as though Dodge is the new Pontiac. All ugly vehicles, not one I would consider buying.

I am going to venture to say that the majority would say they are now quite good looking vehicles especially with the fiat influence.
And how would they be the new Pontiac, that makes no sense either.....

[duaner]

Originally posted by schocker

I am going to venture to say that the majority would say they are now quite good looking vehicles especially with the fiat influence.
And how would they be the new Pontiac, that makes no sense either.....

Charger and Challenger are just big and ugly. Something Dodge cannot seem to let go of is retro, but they need to. Calibur and Avenger are just smaller, ugly cars. Dodges just don't have nice flowing lines at all.

They're the new Pontiac because Pontiac used to make the ugliest vehicles. Should make sense now.

Fords have gotten much better. I find the Taurus kind of bulky and uninspiring but all their cars have nice, clean lines. It's just too bad they're giving the 2013 Fusion the a similar front end to the Taurus but it might look better in real life. Ford is progressive; Dodge is stuck in the past. Chevy is meh--uninspiring at best and I wouldn't buy one of their vehicles either.

Aesthetically, the Kia Optima blows all similar American offerings out of the water (just for an example of a good looking car versus a Dodge).

[Rat Fink]

.

[schocker]

Originally posted by duaner

Snip

Oh don't get me started. IMO new charger looks awesome and has the performance to boot. Super agressive, nice interior, lots of power. The challenger is subjective as you either like it or not, but I believe it will be going away soon as they might bring back the barracuda name plate. Durango is awesome as well now. There is nothing wrong with retro, look at the camaro, corvette, mustang etc. Caliber was horrid and that is replace by this car, avenger is also stupid but should hopefully be done soon as well. Pontiac looked fine to me though, especially with their last two efforts, the Solstice GXP Coupe and G8.
All of the american companies have gotten much better in the last few years. Dodge I would say is jumping ahead I would say with their help from Fiat. They needed to adress their interiors, engines and looks. They have started to do all that.

Kia, blah, looks like remnants of a korean space agency explosion.

[corsvette]

Originally posted by schocker

Oh don't get me started. IMO new charger looks awesome and has the performance to boot. Super agressive, nice interior, lots of power. The challenger is subjective as you either like it or not, but I believe it will be going away soon as they might bring back the barracuda name plate. Durango is awesome as well now. There is nothing wrong with retro, look at the camaro, corvette, mustang etc. Caliber was horrid and that is replace by this car, avenger is also stupid but should hopefully be done soon as well. Pontiac looked fine to me though, especially with their last two efforts, the Solstice GXP Coupe and G8.
All of the american companies have gotten much better in the last few years. Dodge I would say is jumping ahead I would say with their help from Fiat. They needed to adress their interiors, engines and looks. They have started to do all that.

Kia, blah, looks like remnants of a korean space agency explosion.

I agree 100% on you're thoughts on Kia, both it and some of Hyundais designs are overwrought and tend to look dated very quickly. I love the new Durango, Charger, and 300, to me they look great in and out. I also like the direction Cadillac is going. Ford has some great looking products coming out. Really nobody builds any "bad" cars anymore, they all keep getting better.

[schocker]

Each of the american manufacturers had their own specific problems.
GM - Too many brands, too much overlap, interiors needed work, engines needed work, needed to introduce global cars instead of having cars for each market
Ford - Pretty much the same as GM, still needs to adress lincoln and what they can do with that
Chrysler - Needed new designs, interiors, engines as their cars were all pretty shitty, Fiat has helped them to do all that

Hyundai cars to me look like a designer snuck a mutated fish into a design meeting and the made it

[duaner]

Originally posted by schocker
There is nothing wrong with retro, look at the camaro, corvette, mustang etc.

Well, Corvette and Mustang I don't mind at all. Love the new Mustang. The Camaro, not so much; too beefy and not as refined as the Mustang.

Pontiac looked fine to me though, especially with their last two efforts, the Solstice GXP Coupe and G8.

I will admit that their last couple of efforts were okay and a step in the right direction. But everything before--Grand Prix and Aztec (don't think many will disagree on that), and to a lesser extent the Vibe--were all on ugly side. Maybe it seems worse than it was because there are so many Grand Prix's around. Still would have been worried about their quality.

Kia, blah, looks like remnants of a korean space agency explosion.

You're sure you know what the new Optima looks like? lol

Ford - Pretty much the same as GM, still needs to adress lincoln and what they can do with that

Totally agree. Lincoln has not kept up with the competition. And that grill...

The problem with Chrysler is not that they're ugly, they're just plain. There's nothing about them that would make me want to buy one.

Originally posted by corsvette
I agree 100% on you're thoughts on Kia, both it and some of Hyundais designs are overwrought and tend to look dated very quickly. I love the new Durango, Charger, and 300, to me they look great in and out. I also like the direction Cadillac is going.

Kias look much better than Hyundais. Hyundai is over-the-top and they need to tone it down. And I agree about Cadillac. It took a while but I really like the lines of the CTS.


And just to keep this on topic, I suppose it's good that some people really like Dodge, otherwise they would go under....again.

[schocker]

Well Pontiac changed near the end and some though the G8 and Solstice coupe would be able to turn things around but their fate was sealed. Oh I know what the Optima looks like. I hateeeeeeeeee hyundai and kia though. Cheese cutter wheels, the heck were they thinking
See Chrysler is more subdued and has subtle good looks while Dodge tackles the agressive side of things. Hopefully with Fiat though things will change. I really like the 300 but the 200 was just trying to save the sebring which was awful so hopefully the next version of that is nicer. They could really use another model though. Jeep has the explorer which is nice for instance but the rest of the models will be heavily revised except for say the wrangler which still works fine for the people that want a jeep like that.

[duaner]

Because of the wheels!? lol I actually don't mind the wheels, although those would be winter rims, but wheels can be changed, sheet metal not so much.

[schocker]

Originally posted by duaner
Because of the wheels!? lol I actually don't mind the wheels, although those would be winter rims, but wheels can be changed, sheet metal not so much.

No I hate all Hyundai and Kia models, I am not subjective. The wheels are just one of the things.

[Xtrema]

http://ca.autoblog.com/2012/01/10/wa...gauge-display/

All digital gauge, not bad @ this price point.