Slowly, I’m warming up to the Dodge Caliber. Part of my problem with the car isn’t its fault: The Caliber is the replacement for the Neon, and — for what it cost — I was a fan of the Neon from the time it was introduced as a 1995 model (for $8,975, but good luck finding one for that) until the time it finally drove into the sunset as a long-neglected 2005.
That was the year that Dodge unveiled the Caliber as a concept car at the Geneva auto show, and sure enough, here it is. And while there’s a lot to like about the Caliber, there’s one thing I’m not that crazy about, so let’s address it now: The Caliber feels cheap.
It is cheap, after all — base price is a seemingly impossible $13,725 — but there are bits and pieces on the car that suggest someone in Dodge parts procurement just kept hammering on suppliers, forcing prices down, down, down on every switch and latch and knob.
That said, the car works, and works well. The model tested is the base SE, and it had only two options: air conditioning and a CVT, or continuously variable transmission, which operates like an automatic. When you get the CVT instead of the five-speed manual transmission, you also get the larger, more powerful 2.0-liter, 158-horsepower four-cylinder engine. The base engine is a 148-horsepower, 1.8-liter four-cylinder. At the top is a 172-horsepower, 2.4-liter four-cylinder which comes in the R/T model. A hot-rod version of the Caliber is due late in the year.
There is no conventional automatic transmission — unless you want to shift, you’ll get this made-in-Mexico CVT, which does just fine. A CVT doesn’t have a set number of gears like a four- or five-speed automatic. Instead, it essentially has an unlimited number of gear ratios, using a belt that slides up and down a cone-shaped apparatus.
Inside, the Caliber is very roomy for what it costs — it feels like a real car, compared to, say, a Toyota Yaris or Chevrolet Aveo. Two adults fit in the rear seat without having to fold themselves up like origami. Fuel mileage, at 26 miles per gallon city, 30 mpg highway, is pretty good given the size of the engine.
One good thing about the CVT is that it gets you antilock brakes, too. Standard are side curtain airbags for the front and rear passengers, and there were other pleasing features, including a good AM/FM stereo with CD player, a tilt steering wheel, illuminated cup holders, a huge glove box with cold-drink storage (that comes with the optional air conditioning) and decent P205/70R-15 tires on steel wheels that helped make the Caliber a pretty good-handling car.
I respect what Dodge has done with the Caliber, but I’d also like to see what another, say, $400 would have done to upgrade the materials. Still, for the money, it’s a formidable package.
