no surprise here…

We all knew this car wouldn’t cut it on the West Coast or in Europe

I’m so glad I’m getting a Rabbit and not this POS

And cheap feeling inside to boot! I looked at one of these as well and was taken back by the utter el cheapo plastics throughout the cabin. My fingernail (I am a guy and are trimmed short mind you) actually SCRATCHED the plastic when I misjudged where the door handle was… I Can’t imagine once you have to start using it day-to-day….the rear cargo area will look like a nightmare….

^^^^ Guys, you missed the anti-american bandwagon. it left without you.

no bandwagon

the car is **** PERIOD

Mike we know you have wet dreams about the Caliber in particular and DCX products in general. Hating the Caliber has nothing to do with anti-american feeling but is an opinion on a ****tily designed and built product.
Mike you are like Isrealis who say criticising isreali foreign policy is anti-semitic. No it’s not it is valid criticism.
It is my opinion that the Caliber is a poorly designed and built product. Please explain how that is anti-american?

There was that ad posted on here a few days ago about a car advertised as “German Engineering. Swiss Innovation. American Nothing.”

This car sounds like the exact opposite of that.

Kinda reminds me of a line from Top Gun about the US F-14s vs the Migs. “The planes you’ll be flying against are faster, smaller, and more maneuverable, just like the enemies’.”

Seems this car follows the American tradition of being slower, bigger, and less maneuverable.

Having said that, the Z06 still sweeps the floor with every other supercar out there, price considering.

Kinno id rather spend more and get the real thing a 911

I have not looked at the Caliber in person. On TV it looks rather piggish, so I’m not surprised with Dan Neil’s observations. I have a 2000 Neon tastefully upgraded with 17″ wheels and other small tweaks, and I gotta say except for it being front wheel drive, it’s fun to zip around town in, and I’ve owned 2 RX-7’s and an MX-5. (I’ve actually owned just about everything Mazda has produced in the last 20 years, but that’s a subject best left for another day.)

I was very disappointed when Dodge killed the neon and put this blocky station wagon in it’s place.

Kinno,

Performance-wise it’s (the Z06) very good, but it falls short everywhere else: interior quality, comfort, design, paint quality, fit and finish…

Jon.

For the same price you can get a Mazda3, so why wouldn’t you? And before everyone goes all crazy with import/domestic, keep in mind that it’s a Ford platform.

And the Caliber is made in Toluca Mexico?

Hey Mike I like some American cars….I was saying that upon personal and upclose inspection of this car, it was nasty and cheap! And it was sluggish and the Auto box was a dog…. The Neon was a better drive…. Now The Charger….that’s another story : )

I don’t hate American product Mike, but I think the Caliber is Crap

I really miss the days when few people were aware of LLN, thus allowing the comments some degree of intelligence. While the occasional worthwhile response is made to some of the stories here, they are now the exception. Instead ignorant/racist/sexist (you name it) posts seem to be the rule.

1. Disliking the Calibre is in no-way Anti American.

2. Insulting someone by calling them Anti American, and ignoring the story altogether gives no value to the conversation. If someone felt the interior was cheap it is a valid observation. Perhaps in response you could offer a counter-argument?

Finally, about this story – did anyone notice that on the (Canadian) commercials, they insert the sound of the Hemi engine when this car pulls out to pass?

I think this car has some hip features and interesting design, but it is a fact that it is not being very well received by the press. There are numerous questions about its build quality arising from many sources.

Is it unreasonable to ask people to have a normal conversation in response to these stories? Honestly – some people here are so hyper sensitive at even the slightest alternate viewpoint. Grow up! (And responding to this post by insulting me further only continues to prove my point).

in all the reviews i have seen they say its better then the Neon…personaly, i think my little red Radio Flyer from when i was 6 is better then a Neon. But hey…the Caliber has a “chill zone”…I wonder if that option has swayed someone to buy this over another car

It was in AMericas interest to Publish, GO California!, GO LA Times!. What has this to do with the Caliber being Crap Mike?
You obviously sit and study wikipedia all day, but knowing lots of facts is different from having intelligence.
I bet you think it was wrong to publish that the US army killed unarmed civilians at Haditha.
I don’t want my rights or antyone elsses trampled on in the name of anti-terrorsim. The government, partucularly this inept administration is not always right.

Yea, the LA Times posted a story about SWIFT, that means their auto critics are anti-american idiots. Thats a reasonable logical conclusion. No Bias at all from Mike, the self admitted member of a GM loyal family and aspiring GM technician. No bias at all….

Thought he jerked off to DCX product catalogs, and not the decent Mercedes-Benz ones at that?

If you are funnelling funds to Al Queda through international banks, and our treasury department (with congressional oversight) issues a subpoena to the data processor, and the processor determines that there is adaquate information (including just cause)to provide the treasury department with the transaction information… well, my friend, you have no rights.

Murtha ass kisser, why condemn our soldiers before trial? Oh yeah, that is the anti-americanism kreeping out in you. The terrorists are innocent until proven guilty. The troops are guilty until a government cover-up gets them off… correct?

well, the story starts off as “The LA Times…” and all sources have bias.

Mike you are a wanker. Everyone has human rights and deserves due process under the law. I dont want mr colorado off-roader deciding who should and should not have those rights stripped, because you might one day decide that blond californians have no rights. Crawl back into your blinkered hole.
The Caliber is crap end of story.

“No Bias at all from Mike, the self admitted member of a GM loyal family and aspiring GM technician. No bias at all…”

Where did I say I am a GM loyal family?
Aspiring GM tech?

you are 100% full of ****. I want links, because I am neither of those, and have no idea where you got that from.

this is the most pointless car of the year.

I dont believe the current Caliber is really made for performance. I think you need to wait for the Caliber SRT4 version for that.

Anyway, it looks like everyone who actually HAS a Caliber is quite happy:

http://www.caliberforums.com

They have to justify their purchase so of course they will say they are happy. Maybe they have low expectations of the car, or just not much experience of better machinery. I have tried one, I think it’s crap, I would buy something else. The new Rabbit is a far superior machine.

the SRT version is a joke…300hp to the front wheels????? give me a break.

Hey throw a fridge and tailgate boom box and let the buzz begin.

i just wish they’d stop using the R/T badge on vehicles like this. it’s a proud option-up from the old days and i hate seeing it applied to grocery ferryboats.

neil does a good job and is a good writer, so i’ll take him at his word that the interior is **** on the Caliber. i had a 1995 stratus once and believe me, it was like sitting inside a Revell-Monogram model kit, that interior was.

and mike, please get back in your time machine and return to 1936 germany, where no media outlet would dare uphold the tradition of government watchdogs (”fourth estate” anyone?) and you can sleep easy in the blissful comfort of the daddy-nanny-state you so desperately crave. and take that tranny ann coulter and closet bukkake queen hannity with you.

you wingnuts are the first ones to wet the f-ing bed at the thought of “terrorism.”

A fat and lazy car for a fat and lazy market. It knows it’s audience perfectly. Noone outside the U.S will give it a second look though. The Neon SRT-4 was a great little car. Too bad DC couldn’t build on that idea instead of trying to economy-size a Durango. Pure rubbish.

i was considering buying a caliber R/T, but once I saw how horrible it is I bought a Toyota Camry. It is considered the car for enthusiasts!

Mike,

http://www.leftlanenews.com/2006/06/06/columnist-questions-pontiac-rwd-strategy/

Pleas see comment #27. If thats not you, I guess your’re just 1 Mike of many here at LLN that rant like domestic fan-boys and drape themselves in the American flag while espousing they are the only one who knows what it is to be a true American.

I hardly care to debate the SWIFT story here, but bravo for the LATimes keeping the American public educated. I love my country, but I fear my government.

“If we restrict liberty to attain security we will lose them both.”

http://www.autocolorado.com is Mike

“and mike, please get back in your time machine and return to 1936 germany, where no media outlet would dare uphold the tradition of government watchdogs”

except they state in the article that it was a perfectly legal program, with more than enough safeguards and oversight for checks and balances, and that it was an incredibly successful program. There was no reason to reveal this classified information, and your comparison to Nazi Germany is a straw man argument at best, packed with fallacy.

How is legally tracking money flowing from known terrorist to known terrorist a daddy-nanny state?

For what you pretend to know, how has reality escaped you?

Ahk-med
http://www.leftlanenews.com/2006/06/26/reports-daimlerchrysler-decides-to-bring-smart-to-us/#comments

post #7 and #8

I should use a more distictive screen name.

Rory McGrory: Good catch, how long did you spend on that? PS, I am not the one who built that site, nor am I the one who maintains that site in any way. It is in the family though.

about 3 minutes

The Caliber is a POS at any price and nothing you can say will convince me otherwise. i beleive it is the duty of every American to point this out so that Dodge builds a better car. If people buy crap then they build more crap.

Something you said to Range Rover Boy or British Rover made you very easy to trace. You said you posted as MKbruin on some 4×4 colorado blog site and your profile on that site linked to your web site, so all in all it took about 3 minutes.

#14…The Caliber is made in Belvidere, Illinois, along side the not-trail ready Compass and Patriot.

I saw a Patriot in Febuary just wandering around past Cherry Vale rd in the country south of the plant. Looks like they were just doing a short run-about with it. Didn’t look as fugly as the Caliber.

Honey I shrunk the Aztec….Coming to theaters near you. This is when platform engineering goes to far and bean counters make engineers steal platforms from Mitsu. Oh and then to top things off they come out with a comericial that all but calls the Neon a fairy car. Nothing says upgrade your Neon to our new product like calling your present car homo-suspcious.

Oh and all of you VW guys out there, do you really think you are cool when the same manufacturer makes a Beetle. Come on really. Golfs are for budding teenage girls as are MX whatever Miatas. I don’t care what it drives like, you are one step away from a Sebring convertible. Might as well get some Elton John and Ru Paul bumper stickers.

“Ru Paul bumper stickers”
Wouldn’t that be a BUMP-ersticker…

Chris why bring your homophobic attitudes and bias to this forum? Gay people love cars too and spend a lot of money on them as well, just ask Mike. Though most of my West Hollywood Friends wouldn’t be seen dead in a Neon or a Caliber, in COlorado it is obviously OK for tham to do so.

uh, i don’t see the problem, its apparently not a good car. however he did say the neon wasn’t exactly good when it first came out, mike, the author came out and said its crap now, but has potential and may be a lot better eventually. where is the anti-american sentiment? btw, before you open your stupid mouth again, realize i’m just bout as red as it gets, hardcore conservative, so don’t even THINK of saying i’m anti-american cuz i will hunt you down and shove the keyboard up your ass. mmmkay?

this is the first bad review ive seen for the caliber, It doesnt surprise me that the LA times doesnt like it.

I would say that car and driver’s group test was a bad review. Every European magazine I have read think it is wank. And I don’t know many Californians thinking of adding it to their shopping lists…..

except they state in the article that it was a perfectly legal program, with more than enough safeguards and oversight for checks and balances, and that it was an incredibly successful program. There was no reason to reveal this classified information, and your comparison to Nazi Germany is a straw man argument at best, packed with fallacy.

For what you pretend to know, how has reality escaped you?

you moron. everything is “perfectly legal” now that we have a one-party system of government rubber-stamping every fascist program they can dream up. how about legalizing illegal wiretapping after the fact?

you’re so afraid of arabs and other brown people that you’ll gladly give up your freedoms that people fought and died to hand down to you – even if you don’t deserve it.

comparing the modern-day policies of this incompetent administration to those of Nazi Germany is anything but straw – but i’d imagine a loser that hangs out at Redstate.com would somehow miss this. in fact, it demeans the Nazis to compare the bungling losers you clearly want to protect you with those of wartime Germany. at least they were competent at what they did, albeit evil. these people – your heroes – are just plain hacks who can’t even shoot straight.

i’m so sick of phony patriots like you. please stop sticking up for the same auto companies i love. you make me feel like i need a shower each time you do.

jim forget it he lives in COlorado we live in that paradise on earth California, he is just upset he can’t be here too

Wow. I didn’t read all 50 comments, so if I repeat what someone else said, I apologize in advance. Although I doubt That’ll happen judging by the last comments I see.

I give DC credit for trying something different, but I think they still missed the mark. They need more variations, like a sedan or maybe a coupe, and it could stand to shed some weight.

My wife got one as a loaner a week ago, I drove it this Monday. Well, to make it short, it will definitely qualify for one of the worst cars in the world in all the aspects.

A caliber coupe? that sounds truly disgusting, but we have yet to see the Avenger, which may bring a new styling low to dcx

Two of my friends have dodge neons. They’re crappy. One of em did a turn about and accidently hit the curb and the front passenger side tire got popped. IMO, it was just a bump on the curb and it shouldn’t have popped but it did lol. The other one had a crappy ass capacinno or expresso edition? It was such a horrible car hehe. He got a max speed of 120 before slowing down on the freeway because the car started to rattle viciously, he was too afraid to push it any further.

Yeah, not a fan of dodge at all. Only car that I would consider buying is the charger (for some reason it reminds me of a skyline gt-r esp. the headlights).

zombie, that could really happen with any tire.

Furthermore, a Neon isn’t exactly my definition of a car that should see speeds of 120 and be expected to take it well without extensive modifcation. No one really has any business going 120 anywhere but on a roadcourse, but I digess, I’m not here to parent.

DC needs a small coupe/sedan, and I dont think using the truck-esqe Caliber design would be a good idea.

Maybe it’s time to revive the Plymouth nameplate…

Terrible, terrible interior plastics. Where do they find this stuff……at a warehouse?

I disagree completely with Mike on both politics and cars, but face it Jim in LA and 3_way, California SUCKS. I hope it gets wiped off the map.

“I really miss the days when few people were aware of LLN, thus allowing the comments some degree of intelligence.”

Hmm. Guess I missed those days. I wish they’d come back too.

“California SUCKS. I hope it gets wiped off the map.”

Well, then say good-bye to the world’s fifth largest economy and source of most of the nation’s technological innovation and automotive design bureaus. Hope you don’t plan on Googling anything anytime soon.

On to the topic at hand, have any of you defending the Caliber actually driven it? Seriously? I drove one two weeks ago and the L.A. Times’ description of the driving experience really is spot-on. The steering is vague and rubbery, handling feels sloppy, there’s too much road noise, the engines are weak, and the interior looks and feels like it was built by Rubbermaid. You’ve got to go out and drive these things yourself before you mouth off about how wrong everybody else is.

And yes, the Neon actually was better to drive than the Caliber. Better steering, better cornering, quicker acceleration, and a better manual shifter. The Caliber is a step forward in terms of packaging and practicality, but a step backwards in terms of fun-to-drive.

- P.J.
motoralley.com

Well yeah, its another piece of **** from DC.

PJ, understand that my California SUCKS rant was out of frustration, not lack of intelligence. I do know that California is the 5th largest economy in the world, but that’s the problem. California has no business dominating the American cultural, populational, and economic landscape like it does. It also has a climate that every other state would love to have. How is that fair? That’s called totalitarianism. If the U.S. were truly a democracy, there would be no overwhelmingly dominating force in youth/entertainment culture, population, and economy. Call me a hypocrite, but I don’t mind New York City having the status of America’s flagship city. NYC’s and old city, rooted in American history since the beginning, and deserves its world status. California is just a bunch of overrated suburbia. Believe me, I would know. I have lots of family in SoCal, so I’m familiar with L.A. and can find my way around most of L.A. and Orange Counties. I’m Asian, and my aunt lives in the Palos Verdes Peninsula area, so I have seen the headquarters of Toyota, Honda, and Nissan in nearby Torrance and Carson, which are home to a large percentage of the American Japanese population. I am not just talking out of my ass.

Well, life’s not fair

Actually, you can’t truly judge California before you’ve seen more of it. SoCal, and Orange County in particualr, is its own world. Personally, I hate it. Drive a little north to Big Sur, and it’s a completely different world. Before you form too concrete an opinion, go see the Bay Area, Humboldt, Yosemite, Napa, Gold Country, the Central Valley… not because it’s all the end-all be-all, but because California has so many different cultural climates that it’s impossible to generalize just based on visiting one place (I know, I’ve lived in six very different cities here).

- P.J.
motoralley.com

I think that’s the reason California has so many earthquakes and fires. It’s God’s way of compensating the rest of us for California’s abundance of beauty.

I thought someone with something positive needed to speak up. I like the Caliber. I would buy one. and look, I was able to express my opinion without using the work s**t. Which seems to be a popular explative on here. I just always find is remarkable how people that hate something feel the need to tell everyone else how much they hate it.

I agree jack…the Caliber has a lot to offer and you can’t beat the price. The added features are a bonus as well. I know I wouldn’t mind driving along, having my iPod right next to me and a soda chillin’ in the cooler.

Plus, it’s not all frills. It received a 5-star front crash rating.

I took the Caliber for a test drive, the CVT definitely takes some getting used to, but by the end I wasn’t noticing it as much, and I used to drive a Saab Turbo! It’s certainly a different feeling, but I don’t think the CVT is a deal breaker for the segement that this car is targeting (first time car buyers, young families, etc.)

The dodge caliber is the best car ever made

I sat in a Caliber and Compass the other day. You have to jack the seat up real high to see over the hood and cheap thin placticky dash (and I’m tall). You see the seats held in by these huge exposed nuts and bolts.
When I got in the back seat I banged my shin on the cloth covered steel hinge of the front seat. What good is a 5 star crash rating if your passenger’s leg gets cut in half by a seat hinge!
What an absolute POS, especially after sitting in a new Versa a few minutes before.

Sheesh DC, charge a little more for a car and make it better.