Being Patriotic instead of high-Caliber

When the Dodge Caliber came out, it had its share of criticism, because it was largely framed as a replacement for the Neon. The original Neon - the one that came out in 1994 - was a hard act to follow, and it must be said that the second-generation Neon didn’t really live up to it, at least not relative to competitors. The original Neon had a standard 132 horsepower engine, while the next best in class had 125 hp as an option in the most expensive price class - and the Neon had 129 lb-ft of torque, while that 125 hp engine (in the Civic in case you were wondering) topped out at 100 lb-ft. The Neon was as big as anything in its class, cornered better than most or all contenders, got reasonably good gas mileage, and outraced most of its peers, if you got the stick-shift. That stick was nicely done, too - it wasn’t a bear. No surprise, then, that the Neon swept through its SCCA class. Sales were good the first year but some less than wise decisions led to a poor reputation for reliability, and it slowly sank. The second generation suffered from leaders who did not seem to understand the attraction; and the SRT-4 took far, far too long to come up.

Still, the second generation Neon was pretty good, with capable cornering, a large interior, pretty good mileage (from the stick), and good acceleration (from the stick). Then came the Caliber, and it felt far slower, posted much slower sprint times, didn’t corner with the same confidence, and didn’t seem to offer much more other than some gimmicks and a bigger look.

The main problem with the Caliber, above all else, is that inevitable comparison to the Neon. How could they have gotten it so wrong? asked a number of people.

Let’s think about this the other way. The Jeep Patriot is not a spinoff of the Caliber as much as the Caliber is a spinoff of the Patriot. The Caliber was designed with the idea of making a small-SUV variant from the start, as far as we can tell from public statements. If we assume that the Patriot is the real reason for the Caliber’s existence, then everything makes more sense. It’s like building a sedan from the PT Cruiser; it wouldn’t be as sporty or as lightweight as a sedan built to be a sedan, at least not if it was done in a rush and on a nasty budget with people from Stuttgart berating the engineers.

The Patriot is, by most measures, a success. It takes the Jeep look and miniaturizes it without seeming foolish; it can actually handle off-roading; and it gets surprisingly good mileage for a Jeep. The Patriot is the realization of an idea first started decades ago, a small, lightweight Jeep that feels perfectly fine as an on-road commuter or family car, and doesn’t cost as much as a Wrangler in terms of inconvenience, purchase price, fuel usage, or replacement tires.

Now, if the Patriot had come first, and the Caliber later, the Neon comparisons would never have come up, and the Caliber would probably have only been compared with various SUVs, where the competition for performance and economy isn’t quite as bad. It still would not be a standout, but it would be able to finish closer to the upper middle of the pack.

It’s worth a thought, or at least a bad pun.