Weekend Athlete: 2007 Dodge Caliber R/T
I've seen a lot of Dodge Calibers where I live in Chicago, and I like wagons and hatchbacks, so I was excited to try one out when it came into the Cars.com fleet recently. I ended up a bit disappointed.
For starters, flipping the seats is easy, but when I had the passenger seat set comfortably for me, the rear seat wouldn't flip all the way down. This is common in smaller cars, but it's something you should know if you're shopping Calibers. The cargo opening in the rear was a bit small — again, common on smaller cars, but not the case on, say, the Scion xB.
It held the bike OK, but I couldn't stand the rear wheel up behind the rear seats. The fact that the passenger seat folds completely flat doesn't really help with carrying the bike either. Still, it would make carrying my cross-country skis sinfully easy, so it's a nice feature to have.
As for camping stuff, this is really a two-person car. There's not enough room to carry stuff and four people.
Camping and racing would be a bit of a challenge, but not impossible with the Caliber. I put the tent on the floor behind the passenger seat and had to think about where I was putting things and I still ended up with things jammed up against the bike.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
I really wanted to give the Caliber a better grade. It's acceptable if you ask it to do only one task — take you to a bike race or take you and a friend to a campsite. It's when you ask the Caliber to do both that it comes up short … and I have to ask the cars I test to do both.
Still, with the stain-resistant seats, lower price and flat-folding passenger seat, it's a better car for the Weekend Athlete than, say, the Acura RDX, so it noses ahead by .15, but it's just not utilitarian enough to displace the Mercury Mariner Hybrid, Scion xB and others.
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Question, what about roof rails? That looks like a slick top in the picture.
Yes, it's a smooth top on the one we had in the office.
After taking only a couple secs to check our Research channel and Dodge's site, I don't see roof rails or a roof rack as a factory option. Of course, I could've missed it in the list of options ... and there are any number of aftermarket options if you want to go that route.
Bill J.
We chose the HHR over this, the Matrix and some of the other competitors because if offered more usable storage space even with the rear seats up, which looks to be because of its boxier rear end. Thankfully factory roof racks are an option but it is cheesy that they do not give you the cross bars with the option. The HHR 2.4 was also worlds faster and less thrashier then the Matrix but that is not saying much. With all the GM rebates at the time it also ended up being the cheaper option.
I don't think this is a bad car at all. It's certainly a nifty, small, (utility?)type vehicle. I just don't understand why this is the Neon's replacement from a financial perspective. You just took yourself out of the entry sedan market in my eyes Chrysler. You had a cheap car in the neon and they sold well. All you have to do is look around you to see that. They also had a cheap thrills speed racer SRT-4 Neon. I've heard they are going to offer (might already be offering) an SRT-4 version of this Caliber, but there's no way it would appeal to the same buyers.
I believe Chrysler is working with Chinese automaker Chery to build a cheap entry-level car to import to America. Some think it will be similar to the Dodge Hornet concept car that showed up this past year, a little hatchback model. Even though it will probably have a great price due to being built in China, Chrysler better make darn sure the quality is there. People who buy entry-level cars may trade up someday and Chrysler can either earn or destroy brand loyalty.
AM I THE ONLY ONE THAT THINKS THE -- DODGR CALIBER HAS A LOT OF ROAD NOSIE ? MINE HAS A LOT OF NOISE . IS THER ANYWAY TO TONE IT DOWN ?
So I take it that the Dodge Caliber has no way of fitting a road racing bike in the back seat? Damn, I really like this car and I travel to a lot of races. If someone was able to fit the bike in behind the rear seat please let me know how it went.