8th Mar 2010, 19:00
You can change the speakers for cheap money.
The new interior on the 2010 Caliber is much better than the old..
14th Jun 2010, 23:00
I hired two of these in the US over the past weeks.
Both had poor driver-side visibility, imprecise suspension and one (an almost-new one) was so low on power I thought it was actually broken. With 4 adults it was unable to keep up with motor scooters on hills.
Brakes were OK. Cornering was average. Nice wide tyres.
The central locking was a mystery - opening the doors and rear gate sometimes took 4 or 5 clicks of the remote.
Seats were minimal, and the plastic "spoiler" - come on!
I'd buy a Corolla or Golf over this any day.
15th Jun 2010, 12:12
I test drove several Calibers with the 2.0 and CVT. I found them to be adequate, but slow on take-off, as all CVT's are. The interiors were on the spartan side, but considering the amount of standard equipment for the price, I found them to be a great bargain. I opted for a more sporty car (Mustang), but paid quite a bit more.
I'd still recommend the Caliber to friends wanting an affordable vehicle. I'd steer clear of anything from Japan now due to the recent revelations of deceit and lies concerning major safety issues. Toyota is now being forced to investigate recalling cars dating back to 1991. Having had personal experience with a Honda Civic, I can attest to the poor build quality of Hondas.
13th May 2014, 17:42
As a new Caliber owner in the UK, I was interested in all the former comments about the Caliber and also diesel versions. Personally I think diesel engine cars come with too many hidden faults; they can destroy clutches/flywheels at low miles (40k in the diesel Caliber), turbos fail at 70-80k miles, any common rail injector faults can lead to massive bills (a friend's diesel Ford failed at 80k miles and he scrapped the car! And another friend's Peugeot diesel clutch replacement at 45k miles was £1500!) - not much point in getting 50 MPG is there?? I think a petrol engine car may be cheaper to run over the vehicle's whole lifetime, that's why I got the 2.0 CVT, and it's a brilliant combination for economy and not bad performance (mine is 31.4 combined cycle, UK gallons). I had a 300c last, and think this is a better Chrysler product!
11th Aug 2009, 18:40
I am driving my second Caliber at present.. a 2L SXT CVT... I can say that compared to my 2006 model of the same spec.. the interior is much more nicer.. I'd much rather drive a Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep product than any other car make.. and at the end of the day... if the Caliber was so rubbish... then why does my friend's 2004 Ford Focus keep breaking down??? And why does my sister have a Ford Galaxy 2001 that is almost on the scrap heap??? And why does my neighbour's keep getting their BMW (1 series 2007) towed to the garage??? God knows why, but I love my Dodge... it is solid.. it does not give me any grief.. there is no paint falling off it.. there is no problems with the interior.. the gearbox runs fine.. the steering is fine...
It's not the most beautiful car I've driven, but it's growing on me.. yes it cost me £7,500.. it's only 10 months old.. and it is a good little car.. but it's not really little because I had it parked with a new model Focus on one side and a 1996 Jeep Cherokee on the other.. and it was higher up than the Focus.. and the guy got out of his focus and said to me..that's a nice car.. but it's huge.. he liked it..
And as for the Jeep.. the Caliber is near enough the same height as it.. it's not really a car that drives like a car.. I'd say it was a little like the Jeep in terms of handling...
I just don't think people should slag off the Caliber.. because it's a good little car... and as a previous resident in Canada.. I was used to the Dodge brand.. so to me the Caliber was a good choice over the very popular Focus.. which I test drove but did not enjoy it at all... after running my 1997 Chrysler Grand Voyager to 177,000 miles... I had no problems with the brand at all and I have every faith that my Caliber will be running in ten years time (hopefully).. it can be slow to start but flies on the motorway.. a great car.. at a decent price...it's not cheap or tacky...