2007 Dodge Caliber SXT CVT 2.0

Summary:

Great little car, good MPG

General Comments:

I just rented one from Budget, and drove 2000 miles in 3 days, from Omaha to San Antonio and back. I was planning on buying one in a few months, and this way I had a chance to drive it longer than a test drive. The pick up was just fine, at all speeds. It would pass cars and then settle right back in to a very quiet engine at 70-75mph. I did get 2-3 mpg better with regular gas and not with the ethanol blend. I averaged 28-30 with ethanol and 30-32 with regular gas. It's a great car and will buy one after my lease is up.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 9th January, 2007

17th Feb 2007, 17:46

Unlike what a lot of people think, regular (what some call low grade) gas has as much energy in it as so called high test gas. As you found out, the Caliber gives its best performance on regular gas. The Caliber manual says only regular gas (including the winter blends) should be used in the Caliber.

15th Jul 2007, 09:26

My wife and I purchased a dodge caliber one year ago. We really liked the exterior and interior. What we are unhappy with is the gas mileage and the way the engine performs. The best mileage with out air was 27 mpg with air 24 mpg. When ever you go to give it gas to pass or speed up, the motor rev's up, but you speed up slowly... We have taken the vehicle back to the dealer, they tell us this is normal and the posted mileage on the sales sticker of 32 hyway mpg is under ideal conditions not general. My wife is a school teacher that drives 80 miles a day we are VERY disappointed.. WE DO NOT RECOMMEND YOU BUY THIS CAR...

15th Jul 2007, 13:04

I do not think the interior quality is really up to snuff. Maybe for an American car... but what does that accomplish?

24th Jul 2007, 14:34

To 09:26...The Caliber CVT is NOT like other automatic transmissions. Approach the CVT Caliber as if it were a propellor driven airplane. Set your transmission in Drive. Set your rpms with the gas pedal & away you go. Like a propellor plane, the acceleration is continuously smooth. Also like a plane, the speed is independent of the rpms of the Caliber engine. If the Caliber is driven hard the CVT internal hydraulic pressures approach 1000 pounds per square inch. This pressure is provided by the engine & drives MPG way down. If you carefully feather foot the gas pedal tho, the CVT pressures are lower, & you can get fair to good MPG.

30th Jul 2008, 16:51

Curious how one person gets 32 mpg and the other gets only 24-27 mpg. Either the latter is an AWD or SRT-4, or somebody has a lead foot.

2007 Dodge Caliber SXT 2.0

Summary:

Nice car, still needs refinements

Faults:

Nothing yet.

General Comments:

Overall we like this car so far.

The driver's door panel is starting to squeak on rough roads a bit, and the light carpet colour is very hard to keep clean and stain free.

The glove box sliding door does not stay open to keep things cool. The dealer has heard same complanints about this.

We leased this car just to be on the safe side, as we don't want to be stuck with a lemon.

The Boston stereo sounds amazing and clear.

The car looks smart and handles very well in town and on the highways.

Overall, a well thought out car that is fun to drive, but is definitely not a race car.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 30th July, 2006

9th Aug 2006, 22:12

I had heard that the Caliber was very slow and had poor build quality. I liked the looks, so I test drove a couple that had the 2.0 with the CVT. I was very pleasantly surprised with both the power and the smooth, solid feel of the car, as well as the AWESOME price. I had test driven the Toyota Matrix, Pontiac Vibe and the Scion. The Caliber would blow the doors off any of them and do it very smoothly and quietly. As for build quality, the ones I drove were much more solid and well-appointed than anything else I've driven. I've owned several Chrysler products and have never had a minutes trouble with any of them. If I can sell my current vehicle I'm buying a Caliber.