I couldn’t believe Chrysler was stupid enough to replace the Neon with the Calibre, and this is proof as to why it was so hard to believe. The running joke of a Neon was finally getting some respect, and they turned it into a really ugly Compass/Patriot clone.

I still have yet to ever see one of these on the road. The more hot hatches on the American market, the better, though.

The Caliber has always been a joke of a car. What an absolute turd. I still have NEVER seen a Caliber SRT4 on the road….gee I wonder why? Hmm

Oldraven, and not only that but they went and took the coolest part of the Neon SRT4 away- or perhaps more correctly added on- and that would be mufflers. I was actually very close to buying one at the time I bought my ‘Stang and it really came down to price. I loved the sounds it made and it had some serious power, but it was on the lot of a Mazda dealer and they wouldn’t move. This was well over a year ago and, funny enough, the car’s still there.

what!? you mean no one wants a car that isnt reliable to begin with and you put an even worse engine in it and wonder why it doesnt sell?

hmmmmmmm, i dont get it either….

Another wonderful product of Jim Press,,,,,,he should be in jail

Good, one less ugly car.

It makes good sense to do this because in this category of High Performance Vehicles are not CUVs . The NEON was perfect and this near CUV looks does not go over with the “TUNER” buyer. They need to do a major smoothing of it’s lines or a new vehicle all together.

-Sarge

I actually saw one of these in a parking lot last weekend. I think it was the first one I’ve ever seen in person. Lots of Neon SRT-4s around, though. Either way, just kill the whole Caliber line up and bring us the 500 already.

I still haven’t seen one yet, what kid wets them self over a 300hp fwd rental hatch?

Redesign it, give it AWD, give me a suspension option for rally-style driving and ill take on, otherwise ill stick to a Speed3 or Evo. WRC style cars are what we need more of, not American Ricers like this and the Cobalt SS. Atleast the Focus SVT was a success. My hat is off to Ford.

I will take the American automobile industry one model at a time if I have to. The SRT4 was poor idea. FWD, cheaply made, loud, bad ride, tons of plastic….if I wanted that, I could have bought a Corolla…with a jet-assist attached to the front fenders. Hmmm. Gives me an idea. Gotta fly.

This doesn’t surprise me because, like others have said, Chrysler has sold almost none of these Calibers so equipped. I have maybe seen 2 SRT-4 Calibers (both the same blood-red color) in the three years it’s been available for purchase. The current SRT-4 was hailed as a rather bad proposition when I read about it over two years ago. It’s nothing but a hot engine in a FWD platform that isn’t built for such an application. As such the Caliber SRT-4 is fundamentally flawed compared to the EVO and STI, even the Cobalt SS and MS3, which both seem to have far better driving dynamics if sales and reviews are anything to go by. Chrysler failed when they figured the Neon SRT-4 formula would automatically generate serious interest. They apparently forgot to factor in the general crapiness of their interiors, their significant size compared to others in the segment, and the starkness of the change from the Neon sedan format to a sort-of-Matrix-but-not-really mini-wagon. Ironic how they have now decided to cancel this car the second after it’s announced they will be fixing the crapiness of the interior. The thing’s practically ready for the next generation let alone a new interior.

Fiat, Fiat, Fiat. Chrysler cannot seem to catch a break. Dodge is cancelling models left and right. Jeep is…well Jeep. When are these hot new models and remakes coming? Ford is taking off and GM is beginning their game plan. Fiat it is time to walk the walk and stop stalling. You bought it now fix it.

I think what really made the neon srt-4 was that it was such a fun car to drive. It felt like a really fast go kart. A lot of that was taken away in the caliber even down to the weird shifter posistion and the torque steer was probably the worst out of any factory car that I had ever driven, you had to fight the steering wheel the whole time you accelerated. They spent too much time on cranking huge numbers out of the engine then working with how the car handled and felt.

i’m definitely in the “hate it” camp as far as calibers, and this model isn’t an exception…i gets the official ceasar thumbs down…off with it’s head…yadda yadda…how do companies get away with putting out this kind of crap anyway?

An interesting vehicle… but just like the HHR SS, there is very little demand for a “sport” crossover. Very potent… but I’ve only seen one or two on the road.

I was under the impression that they cut this 2 years ago. Wow.

The very last vehicle my (closed) local dodge dealer had was an SRT-4. Lucky (or unlucky) for him, they also sell Toyota.

Now they just need to kill off the Caliber, period.

I’ve seen two SRT4s, actually at the same time, at an autocross event. They got pwnd.
Dodge should cancel the entire model for 2010.

I try to to see the good in everything before I tear into it. But the Caliber SRT-4 was never handled well. this was a car that could have and should have had the AWD as a given.

That said, I’m going to chalk the entire CALIBER line up to another MERCEDES-BENZ debacle at CHRYSLER’s expense.

CHRYSLER did better working with MITSUBISHI and both were better off for it.

livelyjay,

It is kind of hard to see how CALIBER SRT-4 got beat. It is remarkably well conceived. But I don’t think anyone seriously buys compacts for their sporting potential. The biggest issues are that the car’s attitude and styling just were NOT what people wanted.

The SRT-4 is a ridiculously good, and on proper re-examination a good looking, machine, but again it just was not handled well. V8 gas mileage, from an I4 – skip the turbo, and decidedly polarizing styling do a lot to hurt the machine.

As a mini muscle car, the CALIBER had all the right details and parts. It just wasn’t honed well. As a compact commuter car, it was a dead flop.

It might be possible to retrieve this one from the crusher, but unless FIAT really thinks it can, it just isn’t going to happen.

Better F/econ, to satisfy the majority of prospect buyers (who would buy a mini-muscle car if it could cap 32+mpg), better drive trains (AWD for the R/T and a revised SRT-4 standard would be a major plus), put some shine on the suspension (sporting or not it can be less harsh. Shoot! $500 is shocks and springs and you get a major improvement don’t tell me it costs too much), and sell the thing like you proud of it. It isn’t a bad handling car, just a very badly handled car.

Stop continuing with DIAMLER’s mistakes and fix this thing already.

You know this thing is crap if a salesman from Dodge tells you NOT to buy one!! I speak from experience.

Hi, it’s me, Rick again.

Anyone still remember me?

Anywhoooo, I need to point out that my very good friend and water polo buddy, Jim Press, had nothing to do with the Caliber. That POS was greenlighted for production while he was introducing Toyota’s FJ Cruiser. This failure falls squarely on the shoulders of Jeugen and Dieter and that old guy designer Creed who must have had some pretty damning photos of the Germans posing with Dobermans, wearing black leather jackets with captain’s hats and nothing else.

I mean, to have that long of a streak of failures and still hold on to his job, he must have had some major dirt on all the machers!

BTW: Life outside the Ren Cen isn’t so bad. Me and the missus are traveling more, play bridge on Tuesday nights and meet friends every Thursday night at 5pm down at the Chelsea Diner for the early bird.

Thanks for asking!

Rick

The Neon SRT4 was an amazing little car for what it was and I would love to own one, it’s too bad they had to go and ruin it with the Caliber.

Two words for ya here about this story, WHO CARES?! This is the sad but constant and always true story about US automakers, they innovate when they design the next generation of small sporty car but fail to deliver when the actual car comes to market. Scion coms to market fully supported by the manufacturer with all kinds of tinkering and upgrades to be had from the factory installed at the dealer level, and still is under warranty. The Mini does this also. To a lesser extent so does the Golf/Jetta combo from VW. All these brands plus a few more from foreign nameplates such as Honda and their Civics all offer some kind of upgrades and enhancement options from the factory installed at dealer levels. Reasonable and affordable upgrades such as body kits, turbo’s, enhanced exhaust systems, more wheel options, etc. All the things you can convince a young car shipper to buy at the dealer since he/she does not want to have to buy all these things aftermarket. I can name two very prime examples of this tren, the Chevy Cavalier and the Dodge Neon. I drove a Cavalier regularly, although it was not mine, and it was a capable, fuesl saving compact sporty vehicle. Its road manners were decent, it was peppy for such an underpowered vehicle and somewhat fuel efficient. Yet this decent example of a vehicle did not come with any upgrade options.from the dealer/factory. There was no upgraded engine, no sporty body panels, etc. Sales of this car lagged all foreign manufacturers and the car was killed off. The same can be said about the Neon. Another thing these cars suffered from in a bad way was cross badging with their other in house brands. The Neon was the same vehicle for both Dodge and Chrysler namesakes and the Cavalier was the Sunfire for the Pontiac moniker. And even through cross badging and minor body differences, they were all unsupported vehicles by the manufacturer. And the cycle continues to this day via the Cobalt and that abomination the Caliber. The Cobalt is a very decent compact and even though it comes decently equipped, there are still very few customization options available for it aside from a rear wing or no wing. Decent road manners, decent fuel economy, great color options but that is about it. Comes in econobox engine or sporty turbo engine. Those are the available options, not much. The same can be said about the Calibur and its premium compact car price for an ugly vehicle.

I can’t help but wonder if most of the haters here have even driven this car…I’ve borrowed my cousin’s black SRT4 twice, and I’ve found it to be a lot of fun to drive. And I’m no podunk, having owned my share of European iron, four of them with manual transmissions. Is it perfect? No, but I’ll argue that for the price, it’s a damn good value…

the SRT4 calibur…The engine isn’t bad at all. its potent…crappy mileage but potent. The interior made you wanna puke and the exterior….well it wasnt gonna win any beauty awards. Conceptually, it would have been a nice hot hatch; however, Chrsler tried to pawn it off as a “rugged” hot hatch and that is where they fail. People shoppin for hot hatches dont want rugged they want speed, tunability, and a touch of finesse, the SRT had none of those qualities. When it was the neon it was quite nice it did battle with the likes of the civic Si just fine, this thing however even with the SRT4 engine still felt like it couldnt get out of its’s own way. and simple when you looked at what it was supposed to do…be a a sporty type hatch with a touch of practicality, no one in their right mind would have chose this over the MS3 or the WRX hatch.

So im curious? Who is going to miss this car? Who knew that this was even being produced still? I live in a pretty exclusive area and I see everything from Bentley Continental GT’s to Ferrari California’s… but I’ve never seen anymore than 5 of these things on the road.

Ive only seen one of these on the road, and it was just last week.

MrTreize, the SRT-4 Neon had an incredible amount of factory upgrades, and was very well supported by MOPAR. I’m not sure how much they ended up doing with the Caliber, but I know the Neon had plenty.

Here you go, Caliber upgrades that you were talking about a lack of. MOPAR has a very extensive accessory catalogue.
http://mopar.com/performance/street/caliber/index.html

Blakkarr,

It got owned because the car handles just the way it was built, an overstuffed pig. High center of gravity and top heavy. Not to mention Dodge doesn’t know how to design suspension systems. It’s the same reason why the Neon SRT4 can’t compete on a national level, it can’t turn well.

Excuse me … mistype … it’s got a high center of gravity and it’s heavy as hell. Both of which are bad on an autocross course.

Yea, not that I personally liked the Caliber SRT-4. But from being a former Cobalt SS owner, the NSRT-4, and the CSRT-4’s aren’t cars to underestimate. While I’m not a fan of Chrysler vehicles what-so-ever, except Viper, Chally… the 2.4T World Engine is a very strong engine. And MOPAR had plenty of aftermarket support for it to be fast as stink. And it was plenty quick stock.

But as everyone said, it was wrapped in the wrong package…

livelyjay,

I’d like to see your aforementioned video. I am curious. You can post a link, you know. It’s nice to say you have a resource but please feel free to share it with the rest of us.

I’m not calling you out, but all the video I have seen on the CSRT4 have shown me a rough but more than able machine. So if you have some dirt to dish on the car please show us a link.

SO FUGLY!!

Why do you think the Neon can’t compete livelyjay? Both the regular Neon and the SRT4 version are actually quite successful in SCCA and other racing, so much so that Dodge released track versions of both (The ACR).

Just ONE example “Pro Rally: Three 2004 Dodge SRT-4 entries combined to win all nine races in the Group 5 2WD class of the 2004 SCCA Pro-Rally season”
http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=173078&FS=GRASSROOTS

The Neon nameplate was killed in an effort to bury one of the worst made vehicles of the 90s. The Neon SRT4 is also infamous for killing the teenagers that drive it.

The Neon was actually a pretty good car for what it was, it sure beat the Civics of the day. And as for the SRT4… I’d say any relatively affordable small sports car with a large amount of power (Especially when you have FWD torque steer) would be prone to killing any idiot who stepped behind the wheel.

Here’s an idea: why not stuff the SRT-4’s engine into the Avenger?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…..

I won a 2008 CSRT….Some of you have probably already seen my talilights at one time or another….
I bought one because of exclusitivity…..Handles great,goes even greater….285Hp (stock) in a 3200lbs vehicle = quite a few folks getting embrassed….Oh yeah,it’s a 6-spd Getrag (for those of you who know performance transmissions)…..Best braking in its class (340 x 28mm Brembos front/302 x 10mm Brembos rear;Dodge Charger police package brakes)…..Looks nastier than a MazdaSpeed 3 (beat one)
WRX (beat that too)….Made 48 more HP stock than a stock NSRT,better engine as well (VVT-varible valve timing to those who don’t know)……

Oh yeah……MOPAR has a few parts for this car,I have a Stage 1 ECM upgrade,and larger sway bars from them….Tuners are available too;

Modern Performance (got the downpipe,AEM intake,dual exhaust,coilovers)
PTP Performance (turbo upgrade,etc.)
DCRacing
Realtune (Stage 1 and Stage 2 upgrades,clutches,etc.)
Exhaust Depot (fender braces)

Right now…I’m pusing about 350 HP in a 3200 lbs car,next spring/summer it will be about 400HP…Anybody that actually KNOWS something about cars care to equate what type of performance that is??!!??

Wow… I agree with an earlier poster as far as actually driving this car as opposed to sitting way back in your office chair complaining about a car you know nothing about.. This car is a beast.. I dont care how many are on the road: in fact, I have only seen 2 others myself here in Florida. The fact remains that those who would compare a Mazda Mazdaspeed3 ( smoked every single one that has the guts to step up) or a (what?) Chevrolet HHR ( undeserving of comment) are obviously on drugs… I do enjoy all of the big talk here, though, with so-and-so should be fired for the CSRT4 etc… Get a f****in life… Nothing in it’s price range can touch it performance-wise..

The Caliber SRT4 has absolutely nothing in common with other Calibers in the Dodge lineup besides sheetmetal and interior pieces, they are a totally different animal. For the price, they are an amazing car to drive, and all that I can say is you have to drive one to really appreciate one. The main reason the CSRT4 failed was because Dodge never promoted the car, not many people even know what it is when they see one, they never even heard of one.

There’s lot’s of crap regurgitated here, with no actual experience driving this car. V8 mileage??? 24MPG daily and 29MPG highway is actual. Plastic Interior??? Yes the interior is plastic, but It’s not cheap, it doesn’t rattle and creak, besides who buys a low level performance sports car expecting a plush interior?

Looks are subjective, but the car handles better, stops better, and is faster than 90% of the cars on the road. It’s far from the turd of a car that people are painting it out to be. Too bad Dodge didn’t do a better job of promoting it.

Wow, I am not a Dodge guy. I tend to levitate toward the German hot hatches. But I will say, I have driven both ! Neon SRT 4 AND the Caliber SRT4. And to cut to the chase. Previous statements that are negitive about the flying foot ball are not backed. THIS CAR WAS WELL THOUGHT OUT FOR WHAT IT DOES. It’s made for a family guy to haul daily and have a nice weekend at the race track also !! This would be a perfect real world Track Day car. So enough with the hate. IT IS WHAT IT IS !!!! …..I WILL SAY …HOPE FIAT BRING A NEON LIKE HOT HATCH TO THE TABLE. Not convince about the 500 yet …we will see huh? Keep in mind it all comes back to the 83 vw Rabbit GTI !!!!