The transmission in those things is an amazing level of suck, too. It’s this bizarre automatic manual thing that’s just awful to drive.
Porsche measures their automatic gear changes in milliseconds. Smart measures them in geologic time scales.
I truly don’t understand why they didn’t put a CVT in those 2nd generation cars (the ones sold in North America). It’s the perfect application! Small car, not a lot of power, efficiency minded.
They’re not so bad if you drive one often enough. I had one for five-six years and drove it only in tiptronic, shifting while lifting off the gas. In automatic mode yeah it’s dog.
This was the gas version that needed premium fuel. I drove it daily on the 401 for awhile. Was the first car I had that absolutely required winter tires, was undrivable in snow/ice without.
I thought it was a decent enough car, got it barely used very cheap due to it’s wild depreciation which was a good thing, until it started needing serious work that made no sense to do. At the end it was worth as much as a new set of tires for it, as in nothing.
I once had a loaner from a dealer that was a Dodge Caliber. Ugly as sin and the transmission was definitely on its way out. That car was just a struggle. It was a reminder why I will never buy a Chrysler product.
I test drove one when they first came out. The salesperson was telling me about the continuously variable transmission, and how revolutionary it was.
“It’s a new technology? From an American car company? In it’s first model year? Ok, no thank you.”
I am not defending that car.
Not good practice to use a loaner or rental as a reference. People drive those like they are trying to break them. And dealers will use a shitbox as a loaner because it is a shitbox
This was an unofficial loaner that was for sale as a used car by the dealer…so they were actively trying to sell it.
Like i said im not defending that car, was meant to be general advice.
I work for an autoparts company processing returned parts. Im the guy that inspects and rejects (if thats even worth noting).
If they were willing to use it at all as a loaner, it was probably a problematic vehicle. Even the highest quality vehicle will have some units that someone didnt put together well. Dodge is not a top quality builder to start.
But that all aside im very happy to hear you wont be buying one anytime soon
I got a 2008 Dodge Avenger when it was new and immediately hated it. Everything felt cheap, it had absolutely no ability to get up to speed, and felt all around sluggish.
Everything I hated about that Avenger for the 8 years I drove it were nothing compared to the two Dodge Calibers I got to drive in that time. Every bad feature for a car dialed up to 11. Felt like it was built so cheap it could fall apart on the road. My parents and my partner both got one. They were both so, so very bad. It’s unreal that car ever got sold.
Jeep. All of them. Rickety. Not built well. Terrible gas mileage. Bad on highways. Bad on city streets. I literally got bruises on my butt on an off road trail in one of them. Just absolute shit cars.
They’re terrible street cars but offroad there’s really nothing more capable unless you plan to custom build a rig. If you want a smooth ride offroad it will be way to soft for on the road and vice versa. Jeeps from the factory are designed on a compromise between the two so they’re not really good at either. The build quality on modern jeeps is absolutely terrible though and the majority of jeep owners never use them for what they’re intended for so I generally agree with you. But ride in a jeep that’s properly setup for strictly offroad driving and you’d be amazed.
Are Land Cruisers not a thing in the USA? Because they are the ultimate off-road vehicle.
I’m sure you have the Hilux and there is no place where I’d choose to take a Jeep over a Hilux.
I don’t think they are available in the US but the Suzuki Jimny is the perfect off-road vehicle for me.
It’s an extremely fun vehicle to drive!
Nothing more capable provided it’s a Wrangler and one of the newer higher spec ones where they actually give you functional equipment like 37" tires and lockers. The old ones were build with crappy parts that needed to be swapped out before they could be truly capable and the entire rest of their lineup is pure garbage both on and offroad.
A fleet/company car. A Chevette. I pressed the accelerator to the floor, the engine went “huh? you want what?”
1994 Ford Taurus.
I went over a speed hump at 5mph and the whole engine fell out of the front.
Apparently it’s not supposed to do that.
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