Better than what, you ask? Why, better than the previous Rubbermaid-meets-snap-together-model version, of course. Is it good enough? Somehow we aren’t feeling positive enough to predict that this will reverse the Caliber’s doomed-to-China fate. Hit the jump for the most positive spin possible on the Caliber’s improvements, courtesy of Chrysler PR.
The new Dodge Caliber debuts at the 2009 International Motor Show (IAA) in
Frankfurt, featuring an all-new refined interior with a more harmonious design
aesthetic executed with premium materials and craftsmanship. An all-new
designed instrument panel features a more integrated look and includes
additional cubby space, center storage bin and larger climate controls. Bright
satin silver accents add contrast to Dodge Caliber’s interior design, while
chromed accents brighten heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC)
vents, shift bezel, door handles and cluster rings. New door-trim panels and
center console with armrest split-lid feature padded soft-touch materials for
improved passenger comfort.
Full presser here.
The outside’s still as ugly as homemade sin.
I like it. It looks contemporary. I rented one and was shocked that I liked it (well, I didn’t like the CVT or buzzy engine, but I’d get a manual and they’ve since quieted down the engine).
And 31mpg highway isn’t that shameful.
Just pointing a camera at a Caliber is enough to break the camera. The Caliber makes the Trabant, the Aztek, and the benign tribeca look good. Heads should have rolled at Chrysler after this thing went out the door.
I can’t wait to see the new Fiat engines which will apparently be replacing the Hyundai developed engines.
You know, the Hyundai developed engines that Chrysler did a prior joint venture on because it became apparent to even the blind, deaf and dumb that Chrysler could not engineer a decent four cylinder engine which wouldn’t blow head gaskets.
You know, the Hyundai engine which Hyundai specifically engineered to last 250,000 miles and which they’ll still be using in Sonata cars (as well as Kia using them in many cars, too).
The Hyundai versions of the engines are built in Montgomery, Alabama so I’d say that the Dundee, Michigan plant will be all Fiat all the time before long….
What is it that Dr Phil says, again?
“How’d that work for ya?”
Well, it is better…as in, this is the interior the car should have been launched with.
It’s all been said before, but I do remember seeing the Caliber launch at the Chicago Auto Show a few years back, and being really, I mean truly, amazed at the craptastic interior (then) DaimlerChrysler was trying to pass off. Bet the poor sales, redesign, and interior update cost more than just launching the thing with the nicer interior right off the bat.
WILL THEY EVER LEARN ?!
When you’re at the bottom, theres really only one way to go.
sfdennis1 – my thoughts EXACTLY!
When I squint my eyes and look at the Calibre, I wonder how long it will be before someone engineers a quasi-Cayenne front end for it.
I think they need a little more dark grey plastic..
Not enough…
I’ve seen the pictures (plural) over at Autoblog. It really does look nice, not just nicer than before, which of course it does.
David Holzman:
“The Caliber makes the Trabant, the Aztek, and the benign tribeca look good.”
That’s silly. There is nothing (in modern times) that looks worse than the Aztek. The Caliber looks good at certain angles. The Aztek doesn’t look good at ANY angle (unless the camera is pointing in the opposite direction of the vehicle).
menno:
“You know, the Hyundai developed engines that Chrysler did a prior joint venture on because it became apparent to even the blind, deaf and dumb that Chrysler could not engineer a decent four cylinder engine which wouldn’t blow head gaskets.”
The 90’s era 2.0 and 2.4 were great little engines that made a lot of power. The head gaskets would have lasted much longer if Bob Eaton, the ex GM executive, hadn’t listened to the bean counters and overruled the engineers and changed the head gaskets to save $2 a car. Curse of GM, I guess. Once they had head gaskets replaced with the upgraded ones originally called for you’re good to go.
Well, as expected a black or dark-grey interior will photograph better. The proof will be in things like the door-lock post holes: in the old Calibre/Compass/Patriot, these looked like they were drilled through the door without any attempt at finishing. Awful workmanship.
I saw one in a showroom with a little spiral of plastic still attached to the hole. Terrible.
I repeat that in years to come, everyone will be surprised to realize that the Caliber replaced the Neon and not the other way around.
Europeans will get a 2.2l diesel with 236 lbs torque based off of the new Mercedes Benz OM651. I wish they would bring that over here. Do that and get rid of Nissan based CVT and replace it will a real transmission and I would think about it. It has a lot of utility. The 40 mpg wouldn’t hurt either.
Well the only thing you can do with a crap stain is clean it up or throw it away. Personally I wish all of Chrysler was thrown away. You know, survival of the fittest kind of thing.
Do that and get rid of Nissan based CVT and replace it will a real transmission and I would think about it.
The CVT is actually not really a bad transmission and it’s the least of the Caliber’s problems. It’s also not a Nissan unit, or at least not of the same type as that used in the Sentra or Altima.
I agree with fincar1. the caliber makes me like the neon, in the same way that bush2 made me like Nixon.
@windswords: I can look at an aztek–maybe because it’s so outlandish. I avert my eyes from calibers.
windswords wrote:
There is nothing (in modern times) that looks worse than the Aztek. The Caliber looks good at certain angles.
The Aztec was silly. The Caliber is monstrous. Does that work for you?
From the press release:
This all-new 2.2-liter Euro V capable CRD engine is paired to a six-speed manual
transmission and produces 120 kW (163 hp DIN) and 320 N*m (236 lb.-ft.)
…and is for “international” markets only. The YSM appears to remain stuck with the pathetic (i.e., Chrysler) versions of the World Engine.
How about to make it available for North American market with CRD mentioned in press release? 2.2-liter. 163hp and 236 lb.-ft. sounds a lot better then NA gas engines offered here.
“The Aztec was silly. The Caliber is monstrous.”
No. No. No…
The Aztec was silly.
The Caliber is tacky.
The Honda Accord Auto Tour is hideous.
The Acura ZDX is monstrous.
The BMW X6 is dorky.
It’s important to properly describe the automotive macabre. This is serious business folks:)
Is it true that 2009 is the last model year for the srt4 caliber? I read that in one place, but I have not seen it mentioned anywhere else…..
fincar1: “I repeat that in years to come, everyone will be surprised to realize that the Caliber replaced the Neon and not the other way around.”The Neon had a pleasant, inoffensive, organic shape about it, in both the exterior and interior which tended to allow buyers to overlook some glaring omissions (like a 3-speed automatic and non-power rear windows on all cars).
OTOH, when Daimler tried to go for a purposeful, Jeep Wrangler type shape with the Caliber, what they ended up with was an obnoxious, industrial, appearance which is further hampered by the industrial-grade interior plastics.
The Neon looked lithe and ‘friendly’ while the Caliber tends to look like something more akin to a small, lumbering tank.
That’s silly. There is nothing (in modern times) that looks worse than the Aztek. The Caliber looks good at certain angles. The Aztek doesn’t look good at ANY angle (unless the camera is pointing in the opposite direction of the vehicle).
The difference is that the Aztek was supposed to be different, and maybe even a little ugly. The Caliber is supposed to be a viable competitor in the compact car market, instead it’s a joke. Being unattractive isn’t even its worst offense, the build quality is far worse than its brutal ugliness. Hopefully for Chrysler’s sake the interior looks as good in person as the photos do, that could help at least a little bit. My sister, who drives a Cobalt, said the Caliber is a miserable piece of crap. I think that alone goes a long way toward telling the story.
It’s a start. Now all these idiot car manufacturers have to do is put back in some real cloth for the seats that doesn’t collect lint and feel like harsh sandpaper like the crap there putting in now, come up with some colors other than black, tan or gray and use some padded surfaces like they did years ago or like Kia does now!
Quote:That’s silly. There is nothing (in modern times) that looks worse than the Aztek. The Caliber looks good at certain angles. The Aztek doesn’t look good at ANY angle (unless the camera is pointing in the opposite direction of the vehicle).
Ah apparently you haven’t seen a Nissan Cube. That pile redefines the word ugly!
windsworth: The Caliber looks good at certain angles.
Yes. From right under the car. In a dark windowless garage with the lights off. And your eyes closed.
From just about every other angle imaginable (and that includes from outer space), it’s hideous.
Windwards, I beg to differ. In fact, a 1999 Dodge Neon was my LAST (EVER) Chrysler product because I found it inexcusible that despite a brand new head gasket being put on by the dealer under warrantee, the new head gasket blew, too. And no, I didn’t “Baruth” it to death. It was my wife’s car; she drives conservatively.
In fact, I made a point of asking the service department BEFORE I even bought the new car and they assured me that the head gasket issue had been fixed for 1999 and it wouldn’t blow.
Epic Fail on Chrysler’s part – so I washed my hands of them and went to Hyundai, never looked back.
Menno,
If there was a running change in the ’99 model year it’s possible your Neon was made before the change. The dealer wouldn’t know. Or the dealer simply lied to you (not that that would ever happen!).
Hideous, monstrous, there all synonyms of ugly, and the Aztek is it (and lately any Honda grill). The Caliber was not ment to be cute like the Neon. It was supposed to be anti-Neon. Remember the tag line, “Anything but cute” or the commercial with the cute little imaginary creatures at the focus group and one of them says “It scares &%^$# out of me”. That was the design direction. Maybe they wanted a smallish hatch that would attract the same clientel that went for Chargers and Rams. Did it work? Don’t know except that the failure of the Caliber in the market is not due to its design, but because it is not well engineered as it’s competition, doesn’t get particulay good mileage, and Daimler saddled it with a miserable interior. And yes, the Nissan/Jatco sourced transmission is crap. I’ve read enough reviews that pan it. The real crime was because Daimler destroyed the small car platform team this was the best they could due with a Mitsubishi hand me down.
What afflicted the Caliber and its platform-cousins (Sebring, Avenger, etc) was the same that held the first-gen GM Epsilons (last-gen Malibu and G6) back – they were mechanically competent, but didn’t get the necessary engineering polish and detailing to make them really competitive.
Looks like Chrysler’s learning the lesson GM learned a few years back.
Still, no way I’d buy or even consider this car…just too frakkin’ ugly.
Sorry. You can dip a dog turd in chocolate but it still won’t be a Snickers.
@rudiger:
The Neon (…) tended to allow buyers to overlook some glaring omissions (like a 3-speed automatic…
That TorqueFlite 31TH 3-speed automatic was a great deal sturdier and more reputable than Chrysler’s abysmal 41TE 4-speed rebadge of the A604 UltraDrive ProbleMatic. The latter quickly and utterly destroyed Chrysler’s many-decade reputation for the industry’s best automatic transmissions, but that didn’t stop Chrysler—in fact it seemed to encourage them—equipping almost all their passenger vehicles with one or another version of it.
The CVT is actually not really a bad transmission and it’s the least of the Caliber’s problems. It’s also not a Nissan unit, or at least not of the same type as that used in the Sentra or Altima.
You sir, are wrong. The CVT is supplied by JATCO which for all intents and purposes is owned by Nissan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jatco)
The CVT ratios are probably to a Chrysler spec which might be different from Nissan ratios, and the software to “shift” the thing might be Chrysler specific, but otherwise it is similar to what JATCO makes for Nissan.
In fact at Caliber production startup, JATCO almost managed to shut the Chrysler line a couple of times because of supply issues.
One of the biggest problems with the previous Caliber interior was the ugly steering wheel. This is what is right in front of the driver and what they sit closest to. The driver has to stare at this all day, and an ugly steering wheel can ruin an otherwise well-done interior.
This steering wheel has the vitally the same square box ugly awful design as the previous one. In fact, I would venture to say that this new steering wheel is even worse looking than the previous one.
Who does Dodge have designing steering wheels — the janitor in his spare time? Designing a pleasing looking steering wheel takes time and effort and talent — and it cannot be an afterthought. Dodge better find someone who can design good-looking steering wheels fast — someone with a good sense of design.
There’s not much point of redesigning an interior and sticking another awful goofy looking steering wheel in it.
The Caliber is a pretty unattractive car granted. I’ve always blamed Chrysler’s blatant attempt to “truckify” it in the hopes of benefitting from the SUV fad. However, nothing has ever offended my eyes so much as an Aztek. The parking lot where I work is absolutely crammed with Benzes, BMWs, Audis, Volvos and even a few Porsches, but every time I pull in my eyes are drawn to the lone, putrid Aztek parked in the middle–like the irresistible draw of a horrific crash scene. Perhaps we should take up a collection so the poor sap who’s condemned to drive it can buy himself something better.
I’m not sure if I wouild rent a Caliber if it were the last car on the rental lot. I would rent an Aztek. The styling of the Caliber is totally unprofessional. No artistic integrity whatsoever (unlike the Aztek, which at least has some integrity, even if it’s not artistic integrity). Some pieces were thrown together. And they were ugly pieces. If it’s supposed to be the anti-Neon, it’s not. There’s nothing particularly macho about it. It’s just ugly! And ugly in a bad way, not in a fun way, like the Deux Cheveaux. There is definitely no uglier mass market car for sale in the USA, and there may well be none in the world, and even most of the glorified niche market golf carts are probably not as ugly as the Caliber.
Daniel J. Stern: “That TorqueFlite 31TH 3-speed automatic was a great deal sturdier and more reputable than Chrysler’s abysmal 41TE 4-speed rebadge of the A604 UltraDrive ProbleMatic. The latter quickly and utterly destroyed Chrysler’s many-decade reputation for the industry’s best automatic transmissions, but that didn’t stop Chrysler—in fact it seemed to encourage them—equipping almost all their passenger vehicles with one or another version of it.”Well, when all of the competition was equipping their small cars with a reliable 4-speed automatic, it’s a little tough to justify the Neon’s 3-speed auto, no matter how more reliable than the 4-speed it might have been. Clearly, Chrysler was lagging the competition in this area.
You know, the Hyundai developed engines that Chrysler did a prior joint venture on because it became apparent to even the blind, deaf and dumb that Chrysler could not engineer a decent four cylinder engine which wouldn’t blow head gaskets.
You know, the Hyundai engine which Hyundai specifically engineered to last 250,000 miles and which they’ll still be using in Sonata cars (as well as Kia using them in many cars, too). …
Well, I put 254,000 miles on a 87 2.2 litre 4 cylinder engine before it blew a head gasket, but maybe I was lucky.
Daniel J Stern: Agreed. The three speed auto that was ubiquitous in so many Mopars was a legend in reliability, much like the 727. And it was followed up with the A604, one of the most un reliable…kind of like the way the Dart was replaced by the Aspen. And I have to ask: is there a problem spelling “spelling”?
The Caliber is pretty ugly, but a positive knockout when compared to the ugliest-car-in-the-US, namely the Chrysler Sebring. Even the Aztek, homely indeed, had a unifying design theme. The Sebring is just a mess.
What’s funny is that this isn’t the car that could benefit most from an interior re-do – that honor falls to the Journey.
Frankly, the Journey’s a neat car and a great concept – a three-row crossover on a compact chassis. Same basic concept as, say, a Mazda 5, but the Journey’s far better looking. The Journey also has a ton of clever features, and even drives pretty well.
But then you look inside – “craptastic” doesn’t even begin to cover it. There is not ONE surface in this car that isn’t covered in hard, grungy-looking plastic. And the quality of the leather on the seats was absolutely awful. I was just renting this car, but I have a family, and my wife’s been lobbying for something to replace our ancient Volvo wagon. One sit in this interior was an instant no-sale for me.
If GM can put decent interiors in its cars, there’s no reason Chrysler can’t as well.
Time to stop piling on the Caliber.And Sebring. And Aztek.
We have a new winner of the all time ugly award:
The Mazda 3 : like the front and rear of two wrecked cars from two different makes welded together.An atrocity of the first order. In any color.
We all have our definitions of ugly, and those definitions keep changing. Remember when the AMC Gremlin was the very definition of hideous? Look around today: Everything from the Nissan Murano to the Kia Soul nicks styling cues from that sad little car.
I’m with the faction that says the Caliber was a misfire but the Aztek was an all-out disaster. I remember reading the auto show coverage suggesting that the real thing would look like the concept car and thinking that even GM wasn’t stupid enough to do that. Then the production version came out and it was even worse.
To come up with an equivalently hideous lump of incongruous styling cues, I think you have to reach all the way back to the Datsun F-10, one of the all time spectacular ugly champs.
Much more interesting than the new interior is the fact that they are replacing the Volkswagen diesel in Euro-spec Calibers with a brand spanking new Mercedes diesel.
Nice present from the ex spouse.
“Well, when all of the competition was equipping their small cars with a reliable 4-speed automatic, it’s a little tough to justify the Neon’s 3-speed auto, no matter how more reliable than the 4-speed it might have been. Clearly, Chrysler was lagging the competition in this area.”
It was also done to keep the cost down (and thereby make a profit). Although most of the bugs had been worked out of the A604 the previous two years, the reputation of it was shot. The Neon’s mission was to make a profit (something no small American car had ever done before) while still undercutting the competition on price, and to be as reliable as possible. So that ment no 4 speeds (the 2nd gen was available with a 4 speed starting around 2002).
golden2husky: “The three speed auto that was ubiquitous in so many Mopars was a legend in reliability, much like the 727. And it was followed up with the A604, one of the most un reliable…”I’ve read that the source of the A604 problem was that the transmission would overheat and cook the fluid. That, in turn, was supposedly directly attributable to lack of cooling caused by the restrictive space around the transmission itself.
I think the Caliber looks pretty good, still stands out in a sea of egg/bubble cars. The new interior is definitely a visual improvement.
The best looking compact available in the US was the Saturn Astra and nobody wanted that either.
People here who say the Caliber is ugly should just say they think all boxy shape cars are ugly and be done with it. Some of us love boxy/angular shapes.
People here who say the Caliber is ugly should just say they think all boxy shape cars are ugly and be done with it.
H’mm. Me, I prefer rectilinear (boxy) car designs, and think the Caliber is unjustifiably ugly.
Two things turned me off from the caliber: the fuel economy sucked and the arm rests were rock hard. Other wise it was acceptable in terms of price, ergonomics, practicality, etc.