26th Nov 2006, 18:25

Speaking of ugly crap, check out any Toyota four-door! The Caliber has to be one of the coolest and most distinctive compacts on the road today. I am very interested in them. Congratulations to Dodge for building something outside of the boring Japanese sedan mold.

27th Nov 2006, 10:43

Yes, those Scion xBs are sooooooo boring looking.

And if you want to know about the future of the Caliber just check out the Neon reviews on this site. Just more American lame attempts to build a "competitor" at the lowest cost possible. Caveat emptor is the American manufacturer's motto.

And Japanese aside, you cannot possibly tell me that the Caliber is in any way "cool looking" compared to, say, a Chrysler 300.

27th Nov 2006, 14:14

"Just more American lame attempts to build a "competitor""

First off, I wish you people would just can the anti-American crap!

And secondly, I wouldn't say the X-box is "boring", but it is definitely THE UGLIEST new car out there since the Aztek is no longer made. I wouldn't drive that underpowered, sad excuse for a vehicle if they paid me. 1.5L?? is that a joke?! Now the Dodge Caliber, I haven't made up my mind about that one yet, from some angles it looks pretty good, but other times I don't really like it. I probably wouldn't buy it unless it came with at least a V6, it sounds too underpowered. However, the new Dodge Nitro is really cool looking, although I don't think it will be offered with a Hemi, a shame really.

27th Nov 2006, 14:21

I agree with the previous commenter on at least two points: 1) yes, the Scion is boring; 2) yes, the Chrysler 300 is cool. I also like the way the Caliber looks.

17th Dec 2006, 20:41

I can't imagine where anyone comes up with the idea that Chrysler products are unreliable. We've owned 3. One (an Omni) made it to 240,000 miles with nothing but routine maintenance. When I sold it it still ran perfectly and didn't use a drop of oil. We also put 100,000 miles on a Daytona with not one problem. It was traded in perfect running condition because we wanted something newer. We were shooting for a quarter million miles from our Dakota pickup, but unfortunately it was totalled at only 50,000 miles by a careless driver. One of my co-workers put an incredible 410,000 miles on an old '64 Plymouth with no major problems. A handicapped friend of ours, who HAS to have reliable transportation, bought a new 2001 Neon based on my recommendation and he is still driving it. He has never had one single problem with anything on the car. The ONLY vehicles that have totally disintegrated before 100,000 miles in our household have been a Honda, a Mazda and a Volkswagen. I expect the new Caliber to be as reliable as most Dodges, which is very good. I like the look much better than any of the competition, and after our experience with imports you couldn't GIVE me another one.

21st Dec 2006, 17:24

I test drove the Scion. It was nowhere near as smooth as the Calibre, and in view of Toyota's recent disastrous run of recalls and major safety issues I'd opt for something more reliable. Since the Calibre is brand new I am not sure about its reliability, though we've never owned a Chrysler product that ever had any problems. I'm going to wait a year before I buy one, but so far I'm very impressed with them. I also drove a Matrix (cheap, slow, and noisy) and a Saturn Vue (OK, but boring).

22nd Dec 2006, 11:04

What are you talking about? I had a Scion xB for three years and it was very smooth, and had 2 minor issues (radio problems which weren't Toyota's fault per se given it was a Pioneer and a faulty maintenance light). That's IT. Also keep in mind this was one of the first Scions in America, so truly a first year model.

Let's see how many wonderful Calibers have the same reliability.

I will say the two Scion dealers I took the cars to for maintenance were complete idiots, and Toyota should do more to screen their dealers.

23rd Dec 2006, 18:28

The ineptness of most dealership service departments is appalling. We stopped buying Fords because the idiots in their service department screwed up more stuff than they fixed. As for Toyota service, it is probably the worst on the planet. Be glad you got rid of your Scion after 3 years. That's about the time the paint starts falling off. (read the Scion Tc reviews). As for the Calibre, it's so far ahead of anything in the Toyota/Scion line that there is really nothing there to fairly compare it to.

24th Dec 2006, 10:44

Totally agree with you about Ford dealerships, too. Had a Festiva (a brilliant car) but the dealership was LOOKING for reasons to void the warranty claims I was making (mainly some rattles). I never went back and found a reliable ind. mechanic for maintenance.

The irony about warranty claims is that the dealership is getting paid by the manufacturer to make them, so I don't understand why the dealer is so recalcitrant. Maybe they get secret bulletins stating the manufacturer won't pay for warranty claims. Who knows, but it's unacceptable.

The tC and the xB are totally different cars, and the Scion was in perfect shape when I sold it, paint and all.

8th Jan 2007, 10:01

We actually avoided buying another Chrysler product for 14 years because of the refusal of the Dodge dealership we bought our 1988 Daytona from to fix the defective brake rotors. They basically told us "We aren't going to fix it and you can't make us!!" This was 3 WEEKS after purchasing the car new in '88. Contacting Chrysler's national arbitration board was also a waste of time. They refused to even acknowledge my complaint. I ended up paying a private garage to replace the warped rotors and I drove the car 100,000 trouble free miles before trading it for a Ford. I did buy a Dakota 14 years later, but (THANKFULLY) never had a single complaint with it. I really like the new Calibre, but due to the refusal of Chrysler to honor their warranty, I will stick with Ford and GM products. Ford service is AWFUL, but they have always promptly taken care of any warranty problems. GM is the best. Never a complaint with them.

24th Jan 2007, 00:43

The true test of these cars will take another year or two. Everybody raved about the Neon when it came out, and it was a fun car to drive. But those cars went through head gaskets like no other. I would consider buying one if it came with a good warranty.