2006 Dodge Caliber SXT from North America - Comments

Nothing has gone wrong.

I test drove the Mazda3 wagon, the Pontiac Vibe, the Toyota Matrix and then this car. The Caliber was the most snappy and responsive of all tested. The 1.8 liter offers enough HP and torque for most everyone's needs. If you are looking into something sportier that can beat everyone off the line, don't look here.

The inside is very comfortable and has plenty of headroom for me and I'm 6'1". The rear is surprisingly comfortable for two adults. It seemed that the other cars tested were a little more refined for the fine details within the interior of the car such as the AC power plug-in. I do, however, prefer the layout and gauges of the Caliber over the other cars.

I have driven this baby just over 4000 miles since acquiring it and it has been very easy on gas with the 1.8L engine. I usually get about 35-37 mpg on the highway.

I can't speak much for reliability as the car only has 4000 miles on it.

If you are looking into buying a wagon/compact/SUV type crossover, I would recommend looking into the Caliber.

Nice review. Keep us abreast of how she performs as the mileage is piled on. After reading so many negative things about this car in so many publications, I'd at least like to know if she holds up well.

Thanks for the review. I really like the Caliber and have test driven two, as well as the Toyota Matrix and Corolla, Scion Tc, Saturn Ion, Nissan Sentra and Ford Focus. The Caliber was by far better than everything except the Focus, and it was on a par with it. I'm hesitant to buy another Chrysler because out of all the "Big Three" manufacturers Chrysler is the only one that has just flatly refused to honor their warranty on a new car I bought. I and another family member, as well as some good friends have had problems with Dodges in the first few weeks of owning them and the dealer we bought from refused to fix the problem. I hear this is pretty common. I've never had any problem getting GM or Ford to honor their warranty. On the other hand, my last Dodge went well over 200,000 miles without a problem. Chrysler does build very good cars. Please keep us updated on how things go with your Caliber, and especially if the dealer refuses to honor the warranty on it. If so, I'm getting the Focus when I'm ready to buy a new car.

Wether or not they honor the warranty is basically up to the dealership... go to a good one and they will honor it... go to a bad one and get nothing but problems...

I did encounter a problem with Dodge honoring the warranty on my 1988 Daytona, and ended up having to pay a private garage to repair the problem (a warped brake rotor) at 800 miles. I kept the car another 100,000 miles and never had another problem with it. We also had a 1990 Omni that went an amazing 240,000 miles with only two timing belt replacements and two brake jobs. In 2000 I bought a Dakota pickup and up until it was totalled in January of 2006 it had never required a single repair of any kind. Chrysler builds very good cars (much better than the imports we've owned) and I think the Caliber is a definite winner. I've driven two and was more impressed with them than anything else in their class.

Responding to > 2nd Sep 2006, 14:12 < Honoring a manufacturer's warranty is not at the option or discretion of a dealership. A manufacturer guarantees a vehicle and certain assemblies for a certain amount of time and miles and dealers who sell/service those vehicles are obligated to repair failed systems.

The WheelMan.