2013 Dodge Dart + Fiat 1.4t MultiAir

[ksa8907]

So I drove by our local dealer today and they had a couple limited models sitting out front. Look real nice! Small and low, id really consider one if I had the means.
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[UltArc]

I saw an ad for this, where they talk about how to actually design a car, make it, go through all the stages, and so on, and at the end, they say they have made a great car.

I don't know the real life results yet, but looking back on every chrysler I have known, dodge jeep plymouth chrysler, I have very poor expectations. Hopefully more thoight went in than the viper. I mean for a 100,000 k sports car, it was a dreadful show. So a 15-25k car? Uh oh...

Hopefully it's better than the chargers, magnums, avengers, calibres out. Going to NAIAS for the 2011 show, we rented one because my father insisted "chrysler has to have figured out something by now" and I must say, the FE gauge was very accurate. That concludes my list of positives.

Now, they are owned by Fiat. So has the Alfa, Maserati, Ferrari, Fiat group helped?

Well, Alfa's are pretty reliable, right?
Oh...well, Maserati's are, right?
What!? Ferrari?!
Ugh. Fiat? Even a little?



As much as I like the Alfa, Ferrari, Maserati group work, if I am going to spend thousands to repair a car, and always be workong on it, more time in the garage on jacks than the road, it should be a nice exotic. I hope chrysler is starting to turn this around. As of now, there is this and the new viper to hopefully re invent them. And hopefully the new viper is more like a car than a tractor trailer this time around.

If anyone actually gets in one and drives it, please let me know. I am very interested in the results. Every time I go past a dodge dealership, I see a Toyota or Subaru or Ford or VW dealership, too, and I never make it in lol

[ksa8907]

I always hear about poor quality from chrysler, but having owned 4 personally and almost 200,000 miles the worst I've ever experienced was a cracked radiator. A ford minivan limped out of our drive with a failing motor, gm have terrible electronics, honda and Toyota are reliable but feel... wrong somehow. Maybe its just me, maybe I should play the lottery.

[UltArc]

Well surely not everyone is bad. I would call you blessed! I have an uncle who works for chrysler, but He gets rid of them, fast.

I was reviewing some quality things, and a lot of people had problems with 99,00, and 01 intrepids. 00 is supposed to be the worse, you must be very blessed!

But these sources were consumer reports, so I don't hownaccurate or what not they are. I noticed a few trends on there I kow to be accurate. Like the Taurus, each teansmission only goes to 150k, but everything else is decent. A lot of crazy stuff, very interesting. I saw surprised how many Honda pronblems there are.

[gone-ot]

Over the years, I've owned equal percentages of MoPars, FoMoCo and GM products and IMHO they have ALL been just about equally problematc & troublesome, but in their own uniquely aggrevating ways.

[bluetwo]

I drive a Dodge Dart Rallye edition now. Dodge has since changed things so the Rallye is only an appearance package that can be added but mine was an actual Rallye edition so it came with a lot of bells and whistles, minus the TFT display in the dash.

My real world fuel economy isn't that great, not by hypermilers standards anyway. Sure, it'll get 35 on the highway with moderate care being taken (and obviously a bit more if you are super conservative). In other words staying at 60 to 65, being careful to never jackrabbit, bleeding off speed on hills and just generally staying steady as you go, the basic stuff we all know.

City driving is where you loose it all though. I easily see my averages drop from low to middle 30's in highway driving to low to middle 20's in traffic and city driving.

The Aero versions are actually more expensive than my Rallye was (sticker price) and the best things they have going over the others are: a lower ride height, LLR tires with somewhat frugal wheel covers and it only comes in a 1.4 liter turbo (manual only I think). The 2 liter and 2.4 aren't ever going to do better than the 1.4 all things being equal.

I've had some frugal cars in my time, including most recently a Honda CR-Z but the Dart not only betters that car in FE but easily doubles it on the fun factor. 160 horse and 180 torque doesn't sound like a lot but it sure as hell ain't slow. Bottom line, if you drive it like a V6 you'll get V6 like fuel economy but if you drive it like a 1.4 then yeah, it'll reward you at the pump quite nicely.

[UltArc]

Originally Posted by bluetwo

I drive a Dodge Dart Rallye edition now. Dodge has since changed things so the Rallye is only an appearance package that can be added but mine was an actual Rallye edition so it came with a lot of bells and whistles, minus the TFT display in the dash.

My real world fuel economy isn't that great, not by hypermilers standards anyway. Sure, it'll get 35 on the highway with moderate care being taken (and obviously a bit more if you are super conservative). In other words staying at 60 to 65, being careful to never jackrabbit, bleeding off speed on hills and just generally staying steady as you go, the basic stuff we all know.

City driving is where you loose it all though. I easily see my averages drop from low to middle 30's in highway driving to low to middle 20's in traffic and city driving.

The Aero versions are actually more expensive than my Rallye was (sticker price) and the best things they have going over the others are: a lower ride height, LLR tires with somewhat frugal wheel covers and it only comes in a 1.4 liter turbo (manual only I think). The 2 liter and 2.4 aren't ever going to do better than the 1.4 all things being equal.

I've had some frugal cars in my time, including most recently a Honda CR-Z but the Dart not only betters that car in FE but easily doubles it on the fun factor. 160 horse and 180 torque doesn't sound like a lot but it sure as hell ain't slow. Bottom line, if you drive it like a V6 you'll get V6 like fuel economy but if you drive it like a 1.4 then yeah, it'll reward you at the pump quite nicely.

So the dart is more efficient than the CR-Z? Did you modify the CR-Z at all? It seems like there is a big after market for it. I look forward to seeing your fuel log

[sx4dude2013]

I also recently bought a 2013 Dart SXT Special Edition. I have the 2.0 with the 6 speed auto. ITS AMAZING! For the price, there is nothing else out there that I would want. I havent hyper milled it yet. I just love to get in the throttle. Driving at 70 mph I get 35 mpg

[billbixby]

I've had a Dart Ralleye 6spd 1.4l turbo with the underbody aero packagefor just over a year now. Driven normally the EPA mixed rating is very close, I do about 33mpg. But the best I've got is 59 mpg on an 80 mile trip averaging 60 mph, but with lot's of variable speed in relatively heavy highway traffic. Now that's not totally realistic because it was one way, and I think overall there is a slight drop in elevation. Typically the same trip both ways at 70 mph gives me 38 mpg, quite a drop.

The drag coefficient is 0.285, unlike the .3 suggested earlier in this post,which is pretty good, the car is really heavy, but also more midsize than small car, but the 1.4 can move it along quickly when the need or desire requires it. It is nothing like the Neon at all, I had one of those. I've put 25 000 miles on it already, and the only issue I've had is a poorly placed tail light cable which was pinched in the trunk, causing the rear lights to fail. But quickly remedied at the dealership. I like car, and would buy it again, but with more options, I should have sprung for the 8.4in entertainment nav feature.