06 Dodge Caliber
This weekend we rolled to Ohio for my cousin's wedding. My car's in the shop, and the loaner smelled like ashtray (not to mention the body shop said 10c per mile if I left the state). So, I rented a car for the weekend from Enterprise. Got it for $100 for 4 days. Not a bad deal, and cheaper than the loaner for the trip. They gave me a Dodge Caliber.
I'll start with passenger comfort. The front seats were comfortable and the ride was pretty smooth. I missed the steering wheel stereo controls on my Mazda, but that's a minor quibble. A/C kept us comfortable, wipers did their job front and back (and we saw A LOT of rain). All was good. The driver seat had a vertical adjustment, which I took full advantage of. After 13 hours in the seat, my ass was only slightly sore, which is a marked improvement over the Aspire and slightly better than the Mazda 3 even.
Didn't spend any time in the back seat, but my little bro like it. The hatch/trunk space was small, though. If you eliminated the extra vertical space from the station wagon shape of the car, it wasn't any bigger than my Mazda. Of course, the rear seats fold down to make more space. So does my Mazda's, though. So the difference is only really noticeable if you're cramming in a bike, keg, or mondo camping gear. That's my opinion.
Driveability wise, I missed the "zoom zoom" of my Mazda. A couple times when I had to flip into the other lane to avoid idiots (and once when I thought a guy was speeding up to merge, but he slowed down instead) I knew I was in a wagon. Likewise, while acceleration was ample, it wasn't fun. My biggest beef with the drive train was the auto tranny. It'd down shift or hit the "passing gear" at times when it wasn't necessary, like when just maintaining speed on a hill that even Wendy's Aspire wouldn't shift on.
We averaged about 27 mpg on the trip, with 29 being the highest point, so not much of an efficiency spread. I blame the dip on construction. We might have hit 30 without the A/C, but the only reason that was off was due to rain, which meant we weren't cruising at optimal speeds anyway.
As for the stereo, there is a 7 or 8" speaker in each door. That makes for fun bass. Didn't go well with Wendy's headache, though. Apparently, you can get a package that has speakers on the hatch door that fold out for tailgating. That could be cool. I didn't like the button arrangement on the stereo, but that's a personal taste thing.
Let's see, what else did I like/not like. The dash on our model was white, and lit up blue. Kinda cool. Had gauges similar to my Mazda, so I felt right at home. Oh yeah. The steering wheel is adjustable. I'm guessing that's why it's covered by a cheap ass piece of rubber, rather than a full enclosure. That's annoying if you drive with your forearm, while you hand is through the wheel resting on the column. Feels cheap as shit. And one more thing. There's two glove boxes on the passenger side. In the big one, there's a shelf that's shaped for bottles/cans. That seemed to be colder than the rest of the car, so it might chill your sodas. It kept our cough drops nice and cool.
Overall, I'd say I give the Caliber a B+/A-. I'm not a big fun of the SUV for many reasons, and this car drives like a station wagon trying to be an SUV (without the 4 wheel drive and associated suspension). I like my cars zippy and maneuverable. BUT, the Caliber isn't made to compete with those cars. It's a wagon with a fun look for those people that demand better than the 12 mpg you get from driving a waste of resources. It performs its wagon duties full on. It's a comfortable ride, gets better mileage than a lot of similar sized cars on the road, and probably has room for a couple of kids and luggage to visit the grandparents for a weekend. It doesn't, however, seem to have the LATCH system for car seats, so if you've got a little un, you might wanna look elsewhere.
So, B+ for me personally, cause it's not a car I'd like to own, but if the grandparents or someone said they bought it for me, I'd keep it. A- for people that are in the market for a car that does with the Caliber is meant to do. It's a solid Mom Rod.
I'll start with passenger comfort. The front seats were comfortable and the ride was pretty smooth. I missed the steering wheel stereo controls on my Mazda, but that's a minor quibble. A/C kept us comfortable, wipers did their job front and back (and we saw A LOT of rain). All was good. The driver seat had a vertical adjustment, which I took full advantage of. After 13 hours in the seat, my ass was only slightly sore, which is a marked improvement over the Aspire and slightly better than the Mazda 3 even.
Didn't spend any time in the back seat, but my little bro like it. The hatch/trunk space was small, though. If you eliminated the extra vertical space from the station wagon shape of the car, it wasn't any bigger than my Mazda. Of course, the rear seats fold down to make more space. So does my Mazda's, though. So the difference is only really noticeable if you're cramming in a bike, keg, or mondo camping gear. That's my opinion.
Driveability wise, I missed the "zoom zoom" of my Mazda. A couple times when I had to flip into the other lane to avoid idiots (and once when I thought a guy was speeding up to merge, but he slowed down instead) I knew I was in a wagon. Likewise, while acceleration was ample, it wasn't fun. My biggest beef with the drive train was the auto tranny. It'd down shift or hit the "passing gear" at times when it wasn't necessary, like when just maintaining speed on a hill that even Wendy's Aspire wouldn't shift on.
We averaged about 27 mpg on the trip, with 29 being the highest point, so not much of an efficiency spread. I blame the dip on construction. We might have hit 30 without the A/C, but the only reason that was off was due to rain, which meant we weren't cruising at optimal speeds anyway.
As for the stereo, there is a 7 or 8" speaker in each door. That makes for fun bass. Didn't go well with Wendy's headache, though. Apparently, you can get a package that has speakers on the hatch door that fold out for tailgating. That could be cool. I didn't like the button arrangement on the stereo, but that's a personal taste thing.
Let's see, what else did I like/not like. The dash on our model was white, and lit up blue. Kinda cool. Had gauges similar to my Mazda, so I felt right at home. Oh yeah. The steering wheel is adjustable. I'm guessing that's why it's covered by a cheap ass piece of rubber, rather than a full enclosure. That's annoying if you drive with your forearm, while you hand is through the wheel resting on the column. Feels cheap as shit. And one more thing. There's two glove boxes on the passenger side. In the big one, there's a shelf that's shaped for bottles/cans. That seemed to be colder than the rest of the car, so it might chill your sodas. It kept our cough drops nice and cool.
Overall, I'd say I give the Caliber a B+/A-. I'm not a big fun of the SUV for many reasons, and this car drives like a station wagon trying to be an SUV (without the 4 wheel drive and associated suspension). I like my cars zippy and maneuverable. BUT, the Caliber isn't made to compete with those cars. It's a wagon with a fun look for those people that demand better than the 12 mpg you get from driving a waste of resources. It performs its wagon duties full on. It's a comfortable ride, gets better mileage than a lot of similar sized cars on the road, and probably has room for a couple of kids and luggage to visit the grandparents for a weekend. It doesn't, however, seem to have the LATCH system for car seats, so if you've got a little un, you might wanna look elsewhere.
So, B+ for me personally, cause it's not a car I'd like to own, but if the grandparents or someone said they bought it for me, I'd keep it. A- for people that are in the market for a car that does with the Caliber is meant to do. It's a solid Mom Rod.
posted by Amazing Shafeman at 10:16 AM
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