Want a free Caliber?

[Soup DeVille]

Does it match the Neon?

The comparison would be unfair with the experience I've had. I wanted to buy a neon ACR for a while, and test drove a few, as well as a nicely modded R/T.

I don't think it would be fair to compare an ACR neon to a shagged out rental base Caliber.

[2o6]

This is where I mention that there has to be something very wrong with a new car if it's still a tossup between it and a 15-year-old beater.

I just think you're a snooty, picky, trendoid.

Well, you have 110bhp and are saddled with AWD (which generally doesn't make for a fun car by default and is wholly unnecessary unless you're talking about having more than twice the power you have) and the Caliber has 148bhp base (with 172 and 285 optional), FWD, and weighs 2900-3100 pounds. 

But for the price, I'll take a similarly priced Rabbit over the Caliber.  The 172bhp R/T is 20 grand.  That's expensive.

For some reason, I always pictured this car in the more 11-14K range.  Hmm...

The base models are the stronger sellers.

[BimmerM3]

The base models are the stronger sellers.

Your point? The Rabbit's base MSRP is still $1000 below the Calibers, and having had a considerable amount of seat time in a base Rabbit (I've probably driven it more than any car other than my own and my mom's Grand Cherokee, the only option on the Rabbit is AT), I can say it's a hell of a lot of car for under 16 grand (if you get a MT).

Damn, the Caliber is nearly $18,000 before you add any options other than the CVT. No wonder this car isn't selling. There are tons of better cars out there for the money, even if you stick to only new cars. Granted, they're clearly not selling at MSRP, but you get the point.

[Laconian]

Damn, the Caliber is nearly $18,000 before you add any options other than the CVT. No wonder this car isn't selling. There are tons of better cars out there for the money, even if you stick to only new cars. Granted, they're clearly not selling at MSRP, but you get the point.

what

Trim        MSRP ($)        Invoice ($)   
SE    13,850    13,014
R/T AWD    20,045    18,651
Sport    16,395    15,336
R/T    17,945    16,740
SXT    15,700    14,697

[Eye of the Tiger]

what

Trim        MSRP ($)        Invoice ($)   
SE    13,850    13,014
R/T AWD    20,045    18,651
Sport    16,395    15,336
R/T    17,945    16,740
SXT    15,700    14,697

The SE doesn't even come with A/C. I think that's a $2000 option or something stupid.

[Laconian]

Maybe it includes the ChillZone(TM)?

[Eye of the Tiger]

Maybe it includes the ChillZone(TM)?

Ya, the extra A/C ducting to the glove box adds $1000

[BimmerM3]

what

Trim        MSRP ($)        Invoice ($)  
SE    13,850    13,014
R/T AWD    20,045    18,651
Sport    16,395    15,336
R/T    17,945    16,740
SXT    15,700    14,697

+ the CVT is a $1000 option.

[Laconian]

What the hell? Did they raise the prices to make the discounts seem more significant?

CALIBER: NOW, SAVE 50%! (MSRP: $25,000)

[the Teuton]

$17k is a lot for that car.  There are several hundred new and used cars I'd take before that for the money.

[Madman]

A free Caliber?  Hmmm.  My first inclination is to say "No, thanks" but, hold on a minute, were talking free here!

Granted, the Caliber certainly isn't my first choice.  Or my second.  Or my twenty-eighth.  But is it so bad that I would refuse a free one?  Well, no actually.  Yes, I know it looks like a dog's dinner, the interior is made from Tupperware and it feels like it was built by prisoners on work release.  But it does have a few redeeming features.

Let's start with that hatchback.  You can't get one of those on a Chevy Cobalt or the current US-Focus.  I can't understand why ALL smaller cars aren't offered with a hatch.  Open it up, flip the seats down and the Caliber is a fairly decent load lugger.  There's also plenty room for passengers in the cabin.  I haven't heard any horror stories of the Caliber's reliability.  The engines may be somewhat unrefined but at least the mechanical bits seem to be pretty durable.  Pity the 138 horsepower CRD turbodiesel (sourced from Volkswagen) which Dodge offer on European Calibers isn't available here.  The Caliber is the sort of car you can drive and not care about what happens to it.  Save your "Pride and Joy" for sunny days and weekends and let the Caliber suffer the abuse of the daily slog.  Use it as the appliance it is and I think the Caliber would make a serviceable family hack.

Would I ever spend my own money on a Caliber?  No.  My first pick in this segment is the Saturn Astra, a vastly superior car in every respect.  But would I take a free Caliber?  Sure, why not?  May as well make it cheap and cheerful, so give me an SXT with the base 1.8 litre engine and five speed manual.  Oh, and throw in the optional six-disc in-dash CD changer, too.  Colour isn't really important to me since I'll be trying as hard as possible not to look at the thing.

Where do I sign up?


Cheers,
Madman of the People

[ChrisV]

Yeah, as a 5 door it's pretty handy. It reminds me of my old '81 Chevy Citation V6 5 door. Looked a lot like this:



2 tone dark metallic gold upper and metallic brown lower, with dents and dings (and some brown primer spots). Cloth bench seats. Got it for a dollar at 180k miles, and gave it away when it reached 323k miles. Ugly, smelled bad inside, but cheap to own and damn useful. Ugly meant i didnt' care what happened to it, didn't care where I parked it, didnt' care about winter, or tossing greasy engine parts in the back (and useful enough to be able to load complete engines in the hatch area). At the time I owned this, I also owned the V8 RX7 and '74 911S, and I'd dare say it allowed me to own those cars, as they didn't have to be practical and it didnt' have to be pretty.

A free Caliber would be vastly better than a 300k mile Chevy Citation... I'll see if I can find a pic of my actual Citation at home tonight and post it...

[Madman]

Yeah, as a 5 door it's pretty handy. It reminds me of my old '81 Chevy Citation V6 5 door. Looked a lot like this:



2 tone dark metallic gold upper and metallic brown lower, with dents and dings (and some brown primer spots). Cloth bench seats. Got it for a dollar at 180k miles, and gave it away when it reached 323k miles. Ugly, smelled bad inside, but cheap to own and damn useful. Ugly meant i didnt' care what happened to it, didn't care where I parked it, didnt' care about winter, or tossing greasy engine parts in the back (and useful enough to be able to load complete engines in the hatch area). At the time I owned this, I also owned the V8 RX7 and '74 911S, and I'd dare say it allowed me to own those cars, as they didn't have to be practical and it didnt' have to be pretty.

A free Caliber would be vastly better than a 300k mile Chevy Citation... I'll see if I can find a pic of my actual Citation at home tonight and post it...

I have a friend who runs a 1985 Chevrolet Citation II with the 2.5 litre four pot.  It's looks just like the one in the pic you posted except it's a sort of dirty gold colour and no two-tone.  These damn things used to be everywhere but this one is the only running example I have seen in years.  It has all the refinement of a vintage tractor but the damn thing refuses to die!  X-cars had a terrible reputation but this one is still chugging along!

Cheers,
Madman of the People

[ChrisV]

Yeah, I couldn't kill mine. Rarely changed oil, or gave it a tune up, and was still going strong at 323k miles. The only pic I found was this one, where it (and my V8 RX7) are in the background when I was taking a snapshot of a bike I had just finished painting for a customer. As you can see , the Citation was ugly brown/gold with primer and dents. If I could drive that for a couple hundred thousand miles, a Free Caliber wouldn't be a bad deal at all.

[Laconian]

I actually think that looks are the strong suit of the Chevrolet Citation.

[ChrisV]

I actually think that looks are the strong suit of the Chevrolet Citation.

maybe when they are in good condition, which other than dead nuts reliable, mine wasn't...

I happen to LOVE the later X11 versions, however, with the H0660 V6 and factory SCCA race suspension mods...

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k277/87aero/x11.jpg