This is a very reliable car.
Nothing major has ever gone and its past 100,000 miles. It has only been in the shop for oil changes and regular maintenance.
One of the windshield washer nozzles became clogged and had to be replaced, but that was it.
The Dodge spirit has a boxy exterior that could best be described as a "grandma car." However, it is very solidly built and can take a lot of abuse. I got rear ended by a Ford SUV and only got a cracked tail light. The SUV had a smashed bumper and crumpled fender.
The interior is also plain, but is very roomy. There is lots of head room and it has more leg room in the back seat than almost every other car its size.
The interior is noisy, mostly because of the loud 4 cylinder engine.
The performance of the 2.5L engine is not very good at all. While it has acceptable low speed torque for a 4 cylinder, there is almost no mid and high range power. I don't even try to pass people in this car, and I have to floor it to merge onto the highway. This car is available with a more powerful 3.0L V6, so look for one with that engine if you are going to buy one.
On the positive side, the 2.5L does get good gas mileage and has been reliable.
One interesting feature of this car is that it was a government surplus vehicle and can run on methanol, but I have never tried using it.
There are several ways (which are actually pretty cheap) that you can increase the performance of the 2.5L engine. One way is to add air scoops (think Ram Air) under your car and run them to the various connectors of your air box.
Yes, the Spirit, in fact, is a very sturdy car. I remember driving in one with my dad a few years ago. It was in Moscow, the Russian one, not the one in the US mid-west. There was a Lada up ahead, and a Volvo S70 just cut him off. The Lada hit the Volvo, and we hit the Lada. At quite a high speed, mind you. The Lada was totaled, while the Spirit had a minor crack on the grille. The Volvo was in need of a 4000$ repair... Oh, yeah, and the Spirit 2.5 is quite underpowered. I would want to boost the 102 hp figure, but how? The "ram-air" idea is a no-go in Russia, because we have a lot of snow, and the ram-air box will suck it all up into the intake system... Any ideas?
The 2.5 4 cylinder is a better engine than the 3.0 v6. it may be underpowered, but is way more reliable and less expensive to fix.
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