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.
My few problems with the caliber is the “hatchback only” configuration, the CVT and the interior quality.
I dont understand why Dodge, a nameplate with “macho” and “sports” linked to it, doesn’t have a B-segment coupe and sedan sports car… like the Neon… but without being a “lemon”. Dodge used (mid 90s) to have so many sports coupe and small cars… where are they now? I know budget cuts forced Chrysler to focus on their trucks, a lot more profitable, but there are many segments where Dodge could get into. The Journey is a good example, and I am sure it will sell very well (considering the Outlook/Acadia/Enclave and Edge/MKX are great success, even if they are pretty expensive), but the small cars segment aim for the youth, and if the car’s good, then the reputation follows.
I Know a guy at work (prolly around 19-20 yrs old, like me) whose cars never last a year… he races them and beats them to the ground.. i dont agree with him but if thats what he wants… so anyway, he owned a neon, a civic SI, and now a 2002-2005 V6 Tiburon. He loves Dodge, his neon (first gen) lasted way longer than his Civic, even if it was older, and he prefered driving the neon. He would have certainly bought a Dodge sports compact if it existed.
That shows Dodge has a pretty good reputation for sports car, even if they dont have any left. The demon and a new coupe/sedan would be a pretty good way to start all over again, and hurt Honda/Mazda’s sales, which makes a fortune out of the Civics/mazda 3.
The Caliber, by itself needssome improvement but is a pretty good car.. however it isnt a compact car, like the neon. Think about it more ike a Matrix. Dodge should… and produce a new small car.. along with a 2 doors avenger with stickshift.
I think that’s an interesting point; introducing (at least) one of the Jeeps first. I suspect they felt Dodge had the greater need. Of course, had they done more to pump up the Neon’s reputation, they could’ve stocked up on them, introduced the Patriot and still have Neons to sell so as to not totally abandon the ‘entry level Dodge’ niche while the Caliber ramped up.
People clearly felt (probably still do) that the Caliber replaced the Neon; when in fact they never did replace it - they just entered a new market.
i agree with both posters, and now what:
WHERE IS THE NEON REPLACEMENT?
I agree that a small coupe/sedan is sorely needed in the Dodge lineup, and I wonder how this “flex” platform would lend itself to one. I also wonder, now that they have the developed the SRT-4 drivetrain, can it be easily used in other platform-mates than the Caliber, such as the aforementioned coupe/sedan? If Chrysler were to make the decision to put the PT on this platform, could the SRT-4 drivetrain be used in the GT? And I wonder if it would be possible to make a four-seat convertible Jeepster on a Compass chassis with an AWD SRT-4 drivetrain and a modified Wrangler suspension.
A small, sleek coupe would silence the Neon/Caliber comparisons.
I wonder where the “Rebel” concept went. I was thinking all along that the Rebel was going to be the Neon replacement and then all of the sudden here came the Caliber. If Patriot was in the planning all along, I would have let that be the small SUV thing for Jeep and made the Rebel for Dodge. But I don’t know if you would have been able to make both of them at Belvidere or not. Patriot gets fairly good reviews at least for it looks but the Caliber is getting killed in the enthusiast blogs and critic areas.