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I know, right? I mean, both the Dodge Caliber AND the Jeep Patriot (snap!) made TTAC’s Ten Worst® (just kidding about the ®). A stripper Caliber would be unimaginably dire. And yet there it is: a poll question for the Chrysler Listens customer advisory board (death CAB for cutie). “How interested would you be in purchasing an ultra-base version® [just kidding again] of the Dodge Caliber (estimated MSRP $16,495) or the Jeep(R) [that actually is there] Patriot (suggested MSRP $17,495) if either were offered later this year?” Oh, and don’t forget “Jeep is a registered trademark of Chrysler LLC.” The odd thing is that someone—anyone—responded in the affirmative. What does that tell you?
37 Comments on ““Chrysler Listens”: How About A Stripped Down Caliber/Patriot?...”
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Can I buy you a comma for that headline? :)
Better?
Auto companies make their profit in the options so a stripper anything seems stupid, even for Chrysler.
If the ugly looks of the Patriot (was just looking at one at the M-B/Chrysler dealer here last evening – wow ugly from the hood-to-A-pillar interface, to the hidden rr door handles,and these are the better features, but I digress…) and the lousy quality of the Caliber (rented a new one from Avis for 3w last summer, door lock failed the first day, and for such an underpowered vehicle, it was a gas pig … had to keep checking that the parking brake was not on) are considered extra features, then a stripper Patriot w/o the ugly sheet metal, and Caliber w/o the crap interior would be … less than Zero. Maybe they can sell the strippers to the GAO for the A,N,AF,M recruiters to cruise around in…
4.5% of respodents work for Chrysler(R) PR
(somehow the edit machine cut me off)
Maybe the GAO would buy these strippers for the A,N,AF,M recruiters to cruise around in… (although such pathetic metal would scare off potential enlistees… if they interpreted these as an indicator of the way armor-plating and body armour is specified and procured…)
Hmmm… PhotoJim wants to buy you a comma for the headline, but then you responded that you fixed the headline. However, I think that the headline needs a comma more than ever (don’t know what the old headline said). Out of the list of “stripper, jeep, and caliber” (notice the commas there) I think you’ll get at least 5% responding in the affirmative on at least one item.
Just to caliberate this a bit, right now a local dealer has an ’08 Caliber from ‘closed factory auction’ for $10.5k, having 16k miles. AT and freight included. So…this program better be able to best that. i.e. that MSRP is current MSRP, not stripped MSRP, right ?
You mean the base Caliber can be further decontented? Oh, my. I think I’d rather find a nice low mileage Chevette.
Funny, the TTAC B&B frequently will state that they wish a particular vehicle were available as a bare-bones stripper. Granted, neither of these vehicles are the stuff that dreams are made of, but it goes to show you that not many people are interested in buying basic transportation.
(Sigh) There go my dreams of owning a modern-day version of a Model T or Volkswagen Beetle (the original one, not the “New Beetle”).
Almost two years ago I rented a Caliber. Well I rented a car and they gave me the Caliber. From the outside I actually didn’t hate it. It was like a mini-suv. I thought it looked sorta like a tank. Okay I said at least it’s not a Cavalier. But then I got inside it. The plastic was so cheap and so badly put together. You could have lost a child in the gaping holes in the seams of the plastic. The stereo and all the knobs were out of a toy box from Fisher Price.
Which really is a shame. It could have been a good or decent car if the car had a better interior. As for selling a cheap stripped down version. Oy! Please no! But they will. What they should be thinking about is the next generation of this car. As for the Jeep versions just kill them now while there is still time to save Jeep’s reputation.
Gee I’m feeling old.When I was a kid,we called them stockers or just plain stock.Or they would say”she’s got music,heat and four black feet”Cars like this were considered very cool.
My buddy’s older brother had a 68 Chevy Biscayne 2 dr post.Bench seat,crank windows,dog dish hub caps,color keyed to the car.Big block 396? under the hood.They called them sleepers.
I think it a great idea.Is there a market in 2009 for such a beast?I’d like for GM to try it with the Camaro.If the price was right, it might be a sucess.
I think I’ll ask the little woman,if its ok if I bring a stripper home.
What if it cost $10-12k? Would you then?
It makes sense because that’s all these cars are good for. Base transportation at the lowest possible price.
I know, right? I mean, both the Caliber AND the Patriot made TTAC’s Ten Worst® (just kidding about the ®).
The Compass is a three-time Ten Worst “winner”. The Patriot has never been on the list.
A trail-rated Patriot is actually kind of cool. The Caliber needs to kill the terrible CVT and drop its price. The Compass is simply an automotive abortion.
If Chrysler is listening I would be very, very interested in buying an ultra-base version of the Challenger or Charger R/T.
If the ugly looks of the Patriot (was just looking at one at the M-B/Chrysler dealer here last evening – wow ugly from the hood-to-A-pillar interface, to the hidden rr door handles,and these are the better features, but I digress…)
The “hidden RR door handles” comment gave it away. You’re talking about the Compass, not the Patriot.
The Patriot looks like this: Jeep Patriot. The Patriot and Compass don’t even look close to similar.
And to reiterate this point:
The Compass is a three-time Ten Worst “winner”. The Patriot has never been on the list.
“How interested are they in buying a base version of the Dodge Caliber…”?
I think the question Chrysler needs to be asking itself is “How interested are they in buying a Dodge Caliber?”
Like.a.kite: The Caliber isn’t even worth $10,000. It’s that bad.
*sigh*
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again-
Bring back the base Cherokee.
Reintroduce a Comanche light pickup on the same chassis.
Offer a 4-cylinder engine in the most basic models.
Midrange would be the 3.7L V6 and top end the 4.7L V8.
What is a decontented Dodge, a Plymouth?
Funny, I didn’t see a single comment which suggested that they pull out the old Neon tooling and update that, since as basic transportation it wasn’t really a bad car (assuming they found a way to make the paint stick to it for more than a couple of weeks…)
I do think that Chrysler had the underpinnings of a decent small car entry in the Neon and could not figure out how it grew into to such a ponderous and ugly child from what was at least a decent if bland looking little car. Weird.
I feel dirty for even thinking about it but I came across an ad on Craigslist for a Caliber SRT4. Brand new at a local (Toronto) dealer with an asking price of CAD $19K, which is under $16K in USD. Made me consider the beast briefly.
If it’s hard to justify spending $16K for an SRT4, a stripper would have to cost $10K to get any attention from shoppers.
You people are too harsh. I would gladly buy a stripped-down Dodge Caliber, if it came with a full tank of gas for the price of half a tank of gas.
No thanks. I’ll just ride my bicycle
Does anyone remember the Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon “America” editions? Late in the product cycle for these cars, Lee Iaccoca went on TV and said how the Americans were going to beat the imports at their own game, reducing the price of the Omni-rizon adding additional standard equipment in the new “America” edition. Here’s a link that I found to a Car and Driver write-up from back in the day.
By the way, the 86 Plymouth Horizon posted 0-60 at 10.0 seconds. A 2009 Dodge Caliber 5-speed is .2 seconds faster at 9.8 seconds. The 1986 Horizon returned a test average of 25 MPG for Car and Driver. Consumer Guide observed 21.9 mpg with its 2009 Caliber 5-speed SE. Now that’s what I call progress.
Doesn’t Nissan have a Versa for $10k? I suppose with employee quadruple extra plus with enzyte pricing they’ll get the price into Vespa range. If they build some stripped model, what do they do with the other 80k sitting around in storage? Maybe they plan on using it to up-sell – or maybe other creative uses for the unsold cars…
Thanks Luigiian, I rather suspected I was mixing the two, but didn’t take the time to google the image of that abortion to confirm … but to be honest, the Patriot doesn’t look much better (I actually opened the link twice to give it a 2nd chance… funky proportions … maybe with a shorter hood, new face, and a more vertical windscreen, it would look more like a Mini Commander, rather than a Hummerish Dodge Journey).
BTW, don’t know if it is of any import, but if I can’t keep them straight, it means they are going after too few customers with too many nameplates…
Years ago, ca. 2003 or 4, I remember walking around CTC and seeing a very interesting perceptual map showing the positioning for some vehicle … I wonder if that discipline departed the company when that expert retired… I just don’t get who some of these vehicles are intended to compete with, except for to canibalize their platform bretheren (in a very GM-esque fashion.)
I had a mid ’80’s Dodge Omni with a stick. Not a bad little car (I believe it had a VW sourced engine and drivetrain components), but it was nickel-and-diming me to death (I actually had to replace broken/sheared halfshaft bolts, among other weird stuff). It was roomy, and the hatch was useful.
I traded it on a brandy-new Ford Escort GT in 1990, which cost me the princely sum of $9995.
I have an old issue of Motor Trend from the mid 60s. In answer to reader’s complaints that they tested too many loaded cars they tested stripped [and modern buyer don’t know the bloody meaning of the word* ]Plymouth Savoy and Chrysler Newport. The Newport was optioned to keep it under $3000 as Chrysler was advertising it.
Their conclusion: the cars were a lot more pleasant when they have the options that a mjority of people bought : foam padded seats. A clock. A radio. Carpet. Automatics. Both tested cars were base V8 with 3 speed manual. Their main complaint was that Detroit essentially didn’t put much thought or energy into their default standard transmissions and that the automatics made for much better values.
They also published the stats that cars like these were actually purchased by something like less than 10% of their sales. Sort of putting the lie to “the cars people actually want” complaints by some of their readers.
However: those sorts of cars do appeal to me and actually are the ones that I buy [or what is now considered “stripped’].
*Stripped: optional items are: Auto/AC/Power steering, brakes, locks,windows, cruise control, heater, radio, floor mats,carpet, electric instead of vacuum wipers,radial tires etc etc. We are so spoiled now that anything with less than the above as standard equipment is called “stripped”. Comical.
Stripped is my 63 Valiant Signet 2 door hardtop, top of the line: it had radio & heater and probably whitewalls [those original tires were long gone by the time I got the car 18 years later. Besides 1 ply bias tires only lasted 10,000 miles in that era]. As options.
The so called “stripped” car today is the “luxury car” of years ago.
And $16,000 is way too much for a “stripped” Caliber. Think 10-12. I’d consider it.
Why on earth would anyone pay $12K for a new, stripped Caliber when a year-old fully optioned Caliber sells for $10K?
^that’s where the 65% “not interested” # comes in, Sherborn.
I do get your point: they’ve trashed the new car market with incentives and rentals.And resale values take a dump in turn.
But, that wasn’t the question. Sometimes new trumps used, especially when that “Used” means “Former Rental”.
Besides, the point was that some TTAC readers claim to want a “stripped” basic transportation vehicle whether it’s for price, simplicity, avoidance of electrical trouble down the road [the biggest source of problems in all cars foreign or domestic].
@ sherborn:
exactly the point. With depreciation being what it is on these things (and I admit to first kind of liking the styling of the Caliber…dug the glovebox cooler and flip down speakers…then I drove one with the CVT…and then didn’t like so much!), it doesn’t make any sense to buy a decontented vehicle when you can buy a nearly new one for about the same price with many, if not most of, the options that people want. Not many Americans are willing to buy a vehicle without AC, power windows, etc…not any more. Case in point, the local Carmax has a very nice low mileage Solstice on the lot. It’s for sale pretty cheap…why? It’s a manual tranny, with crank windows and no AC. Nobody will touch it, which is kind of a shame, as a basic convertible like that has some, I don’t know, primitive appeal to it…but not for the average driver.
Yup, sherborn and threeer are absolutely right. It’s goofy that people will pay $15000 for a brand-new hunka junk when a year or two old lightly used, optioned-up Malibu or Fusion will sell for the same money. Newness is highly overrated, especially in automobiles.
I wondered ‘aloud’ on this subject on another thread a while back. Would there be a market for a Charger Superbee (no, not the one that’s out now that they charge a premium for). I mean a Superbee in the traditional sense where you are buying car that is bereft of anything that isn’t part of the bodyshell and drivetrain. I mean the old Superbees were stripped. The floor covering was rubber floormats.
I guess the other question is it practical on a modern production line to produce something that is really stripped, i.e, if I wanted a Charger Superbee with no sound insulation and many other items, could they even build it?
Call it the Caliber Nano–no A/C, no power accessories, vinyl seats and “carpet,” untinted glass, no radio, one wiper, no power steering or brakes, etc. The new definition of “penalty box.”
Sold online only, bypassing dealers.
It’s rear windows were pop out style as well, they didn’t roll down. The Plymouth Road Runner started the basic [stripped] intermediate with the big V8 trend of the late 60s. Dodge got their version later in the model year. The RR was Motor Trend’s Car Of The Year.
Again: the question wasn’t Would you rather buy lightly used over new ? And 65% said they weren’t interested in the 1st place in either the Caliber or Patriot.
But why turn down an opportunity to trash Chrysler when you’ve got it ? That makes the question irrelevant I guess.
“Lightly used?’ at the rate Chrysler sold their products to the rental fleets ?
Sorry. I would rather have a “stripped” vehicle with options that I wanted on it not what was prepackaged or that wasn’t wanted. I would rather have the choice than not have it. I am buying a car not a condo. I don’t need all that electronic crap on it. If someone wants that electric bidet go ahead choose that option and buy it. But you pay for it when it breaks down.
And while it may be worth nothing on TTAC there is still the “lifetime warranty” for the original owner [Not applicable to lightly used or vehicles sold to fleets]. And yes, with a Chrysler product or any domestic the warranty is important as hhas been well documented on this and many other sites, as well as the crash and burn of carma catching up with GM & Chrysler.
But then many would find a life time with a Dodge Caliber worse than 4 seasons in Hell, so the point remains moot.
I think the “used vs new” angle would make a good “Hammer Time”, but it never makes sense to buy new. And it’s been discussed to death
You could get a used fully loaded 2000 Maxima for $6995. But that wasn’t the point of the article. If that was the case, why buy anything new at all ? How far down the scale do we want to take this ?
Canadians will buy it. (I am Canadian.) Generally we are very parsimonious when it comes to cars and a stripper at a comparatively low price would probably have broad appeal. (There’s a joke in there somewhere about ‘strippers’, but I am too tired…)
No.
Never.