hotbox05

ewww. i had to promote for a dodge event once and there was a caliber there. what a waste. it looiks and feels like crap. sooo many other dodge/chrysler products are nice. or at least look good. this one loses on both accounts.

Skunk

Repost- deleted

Skunk

I noticed that the latest press release said that the Caliber will come with up to a 250hp V-6 engine. Is this including the SRT-4 version or might they be pushing a turbo engine with even more power?

Either way, I don't think the car will be as good as the last SRT-4, especially not in handling.

YourNameHere

when i was test driving cars while i was shopping i drove the srt neon. it feels like a fast neon. stupidly quick in a straight line. but the chassis was developed for ~$13,000 economy car. very harsh ride, very loud. and to me its just ugly. i respect the engine performance but thats about it. dodge should put that engine into a small rwd car, give it viper styling and take on the miata and solstice/sky. but i doubt DC has the ***** to do it

Skunk

I second that. If they were to put that engine in a small RWD coupe to fight the Solstice and Miata it would be awesome.

couper2

Its impressive that they decided to make the srt-4 neon. But, the safety rating in a regular neon is scary. Combine that with the power a srt-4 has and it gets really scary. I don't see the Caliber be'n much better.

Neothin

i was rummaging thru srtforums a minute ago and found a picture of the new caliber srt-4



not that bad if you ask me

300 horsepower, 260 ft/lbs of torque

now, someone slam it, tint it, maybe switch out the rims and lets see what it'll really look like

BreakTheStatic

I'm not a fan of the styling of the caliber based srt-4 but 300 hp is insane for a car that will probably cost around $22-$23k. With a 6 speed, LSD, 19" wheels, that's a nice package overall. I just wish they had a sleeker appearance.

hotbox05

it'll be nice for a good 100k miles. after that bye bye motor , and shoot that car is just sooo ugly . lord.

BreakTheStatic

You can't make a statement like that with this car. It's a completely new model, and the engine has just been developed. There's no way to determine the long-term reliability of a brand new engine/car.

Neothin

ya, they will be using the new world engine which iirc is a joint effort between daimler chrysler and mitsubishi.

BreakTheStatic

Yup, Chrysler, Mitsubishi & Hyundai. Supposedly they're some of the more resilient 4 cyl engines that Chrysler has developed in a long time...

Neothin

The A855 that was in the PT turbo (technically that's the A853 but w/e), the srt-4, and the mexican high output cirrus, sebring, etc was pretty resilient in itself. Stock engine, srt-4's are running 450 whp daily.

hotbox05

yea 450whp for about a year then boom. the lifetime of an srt4 is only 75,000

p2k17

I second that.

Although Caliber has a new motor. I still don't trust American cars. Sure it's 300 horse, but how much gas will it consume. Plus I bet its going to use premium. Wont be a cheap car if you take everything into account. Besides it's a Dodge anyways, no reliability.

TimmyT

the caliber r/t will have awd. not the srt-4.

ReverseGTR

Ok, for one thing the Caliber uses a "world engine" that was jointly developed with Mitsubishi and Hyundai, so with at least one of those manufactuers being now known for outstanding realiability this engine should not be at the buttom of the barrel. Also when it comes to safety it can be summed up in four words side curtain airbags standard and that large boxy grill is good for something. However, those bench seats in the rear can be a problem.

ddsboi

tht caliber thing is hideous man

Typhoon

I was reading about that thing in the magazine and noticed in the specs that they changed from an iron block to an aluminum one with obvious forged internals. Isnt cast iron much better for f/i?

As for personal opinion I liked the old one better something that maybe id get in that price range the new styling isnt me. And also out of curiousity what in the world is going to happen to ppl that drive it. 300hp+frontwheeldrive+all season tires+lead footed, young, inexperienced, first time drivers=disaster.

ReverseGTR

Iron use to be better for blocks fitted with higher compression combustion chambers or FI mostly due to the point that Iron as an element is naturally more thermal resistant so therefore stays it shape at higher temperatures. But with how well Aluminum can be tempered now as well as how it can have cast Iron chambers the advantages of Iron in a thermal aspect greatly deminished to reveal its main disadvantage, weight.