Chrysler announced earlier this week that production of the
2013 Dodge Dart sedans headed to dealerships around the world have officially
begun - with the first units expected to arrive in showrooms next month.
The first production model was a 2013 Dodge Dart Rallye,
sporting the Redline Red Pearl Coat exterior and Black with Ruby Red interior.This first production Dart was also optioned
with the 1.4L MultiAir turbo engine mated to a 6-speed manual transmission - a combination
that is good for 160 horsepower, 184lb-ft of torque, 27 miles per gallon around
town and 39 miles per gallon on the open road.
I recently had a chance to spend a couple hours tearing
around Texas in the 2013 Dodge Dart; one being a Dart Limited with the 2.0L
Tigershark engine and the other an Dart SXT fitted with the 1.4L MultiAir turbo
engine and the 6-speed manual transmission. (I drove the red Dart in the middle and the silver Dart on the left side with the all-silver fascia of the Limited trimline)
Before we get into the specifics of the 2013 Dodge Dart, I
should point out that I have spent a significant amount of time in the 2012
Ford Focus and the 2012 Chevrolet Cruze - two of the bestselling vehicles in the
C segment sedan class that the Dart officially enters next month.Dodge hasn't had a serious contender in this
rapidly growing segment since they killed off the Neon in 2005 but friends...I am
here to tell you that the new Dodge Dart is the big hit that the Chrysler Group
needs in order to take a slice out of the compact sedan segment.
Each summer, Chrysler Group plants around North American
take a couple weeks off so that they can re-tool the facilities for the
upcoming model year while also allowing the dealerships to sell off existing
models sitting on lots but due to strong sales through the first four months of
2012 - several Chrysler Group plants will stay open through their scheduled
downtime.
First and foremost, the Jefferson North Assembly Plant in
Detroit and the Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois will both completely skip
their scheduled two week summer downtime.Jefferson North builds the Dodge Durango and the Jeep Grand Cherokee
while Belvidere currently builds the awesome new Dodge Dart alongside the Jeep
Compass and Jeep Patriot.The strong
sales of the Durango, Grand Cherokee, Patriot and Compass require these two
plants to stay open all summer - bolstered by the start of production of the
new Dart.Also, the Toluca Car Assembly
Plant in Mexico will skip their summer downtime.Toluca produces the Dodge Journey (and the
Fiat Freemont) along with the compact Fiat 500.
The Chrysler Group has announced the official EPA fuel
economy figures for some versions of the 2013 Dodge Dart and with those models
arriving this summer, Dodge has a new compact sedan that offers some of the
best fuel economy figures in the class.The 2013 Dodge Dart when powered by the 1.4L turbocharged MultiAir Fiat
engine and a 6-speed manual transmission offers an incredible 39 miles per
gallon on the highway.This figure makes
the new Dart more fuel efficient than the Ford Focus, Toyota Corolla and the
Chevrolet Cruze with a manual transmission.
When the 2012 Beijing Motor Show opens next week, the 2013
Dodge Dart will make its Chinese debut but it won't be called the Dart and it
won't be badged as a Dodge - instead sporting the new name Fiat Viaggio for the
Chinese market.Also, the Fiat Viaggio
will not be built at the Belvidere Assembly Plant with the new Dodge Dart but
rather, Fiat will build the Viaggio at the new GAC-Fiat 'World Class
Manufacturing' plant in the Hunan province.
The differences between the Fiat Viaggio and Dodge Dart don't
end at the name and build site though, as the Chinese market Fiat wears under
fascias that are a bit 'softer' than the uber aggressive Dart along with adding
a bit more chrome around the front end to support a more upscale look. More importantly to Dodge lovers - the Viaggio
will not feature the awesome wraparound LED taillight from the Dart.
Since announcing that the 2013 Dodge Dart would come with a
starting price of $15,995 at the car's debut in Detroit, Dodge has been
pretty quiet about full pricing or standard features across the trimline range. Well, until now.
The 2013 Dodge Dart will come in SE, SXT, Rallye, Limited
and R/T trimlines with the first four arriving this summer and the Road and
Track trimline arriving in the third quarter of 2012.As expected, the Dart SE is the least
expensive of the lineup with starting price of $15,995 while the Dart SXT will
set you back $17,995.The sporty Dart
Rallye carries an MSRP of $18,995 followed by the Dart Limited at $19,995 and
the highline Dodge Dart R/T will cost $22,495 when it arrives this fall.
The Chrysler group has been making serious improvements to their interiors, as the Viper has shown us quite convincingly. It seems that Wards Auto agrees. Both the Dart and the Chysler 300 Luxury Series have made it onto their list of 10 best interiors for 2012.
It shouldn't be surprising to hear that the Chrysler 300 Luxury Series made Ward's 10 best interiors for 2012. Chrysler's engineers intended for the new 300 to offer amenities rivaling those from the best luxury cars in the world. The Luxury Series takes that a step further - entering as one of the most luxurious vehicles the Chrysler Group has ever offered.
The Chrysler Group has just announced that when the 2013
Dodge Dart hits dealerships later this year, it will be the first vehicle in the
American auto industry to offer wireless charging for cell phones, iPods and
other portable electronic gadgets.This wireless
charging system joins a long list of industry firsts introduced by the Chrysler
Group over the past few years with other "firsts" including vehicle information
applications for smartphone users, an electronic vehicle tracking system,
built-in Wi-Fi and electronic owner's manuals.
Ken Block's videos showing him tearing through various
settings in his rally cars are awesome but you know what is even awesomer?Watching Travis Pastrana put the new Dodge
Dart Rally Car through similar paces for the first time courtesy of the short
video below.
Since the new Dodge Dart rally program featuring
championship rally driver Travis Pastrana was introduced last week, we didn't know
exactly what the new Dart rally car would look like (or sound like) but thanks
to the first video of Pastrana and his 600 horsepower all wheel drive Dart
rally car in action--we know more about the new SRT Motorsports race program.
This past Monday the Chrysler Group held a press conference
to announce a new race venture with a new driver and when the curtain dropped,
championship rally racer Travis Pastrana was introduced as the newest drive in
the Dodge stables.Pastrana will pilot a
purpose built 2013 Dodge Dart rally car in the Global RallyCross Championship
in seven events beginning in May at the season opener at Charlotte Motor
Speedway.
The 2013 Dodge Dart rally car that will compete with Travis
Pastrana behind the wheel will be a far cry from the production version of the
compact sedan, packing 600 horsepower and 550lb-ft of torque but like the Dart
coming to dealerships around the country - the rally car will be powered by a
2.0L turbocharged 4-cylinder engine.All
of that power will be channeled to all four wheels by means of an advanced four
wheel drive gearbox developed by Sedav specifically for rally racing.
DodgeForum just received a note that next week, Dodge and
SRT Motorsports will hold a conference to introduce "a new race venture"
featuring the 2013 Dodge Dart and a new driver to the Mopar race team.This announcement marks the introduction of
the brand new dodge Dart to the motorsports world and while there is zero
indication as to what type of racing this new venture could be, we can make
some speculations as to what SRT Motorsports will unveil next week.
Since the day that the 2013 Dodge Dart was introduced at the
2012 Detroit Auto Show, some old school Mopar lovers have been grumbling that
this Dart was nothing like it used to be...and that Chrysler should have gone
with a vehicle more like the original Dart if they were going to use the
name.The crowd of naysayers is also complaining
that this Dart won't become a collectable in the future.As the owner of a 1972 Dodge Demon 340 (which
is technically a Dart), I am here to say that I like the new compact sedan just
the way that it is and before hating on the new Dart - old school owners should
consider a few things.
The 2013 Dodge Dart is expected to be a major player in the
compact sedan segment and Chrysler has big hopes--enough so that company CEO
Sergio Marchionne is reportedly considering postponing the expected start of
production past the planned date of April 1st to "avoid being
jinxed".Marchionne made this comment
last week at the Geneva Motor Show, referring to the jinx that could hit the
car if production was to begin on April Fool's Day.
It is unclear whether or not Sergio Marchionne was serious
about his comments to delay the start of 2013 Dodge Dart production, but with
the planned start date of April 1st falling on a Sunday - perhaps
the Chrysler boss will indeed hold off on the start of production until that
Monday, April 2nd.
Window shoppers take note. Dodge has officially released an online configurator for the people who just can't wait to get their hands on the new Dart. But be warned, Dodge has said that the features and prices aren't final, and will likely change several times before the car's release in the second quarter of 2012.
This week, Dodge paid homage to their sport-compact history at the Chicago Auto Auto Show. The carbon fiber hood and intake of the Dodge Dart GTS 210 Tribute are definitely meant to catch the eyes of SRT-4 Neon fans, but if you're looking for a fat front mount intercooler, it's not there. The only performance mods the Dart gets is a cold air intake that brings the output to a peppy 210HP.
The new Dart might just be the best argument yet for the merger between Ma Mopar and Fiat. To put it mildly, small car offerings from the Pentastar folks have somewhat lacking since the demise of the wide-eyed Neon.
Dodge redefines performance in the compact car segment with an all-new, state-of-the-art four-door sedan delivering class-leading aerodynamics - the 2013 Dodge Dart. With Alfa Romeo DNA and Dodge's passion for performance at its core, the
all-new 2013 Dodge Dart is a thoroughly modern vehicle that's
fuel-efficient, beautifully designed and crafted, agile and sure to bring fun
back to driving in the segment.
The new Dodge Challenger has allowed Dodge enthusiasts a
chance to buy a new "muscle car", with the definition of rear wheel drive,
front engine, V8s.However, models like
the Charger SRT-8 and Dodge Viper SRT-10 have filled the gap in Dodge
performance, although in other segments, and both have proven to be very
successful.
In speaking with a handful of performance enthusiasts (both
Dodge, other domestic, and import enthusiasts), I found that the following
models were the most commonly mentioned in the question of "what is the best
Dodge muscle car of all time?There is
no right answer, so here are the 8 models that were mentioned when I was asking
people the same question, so I present to DodgeForum a tail of the tape for
each of the following 8 cars for your consideration in what you would pick as
the greatest Dodge muscle car.
Chrysler announced earlier this week that production of the
2013 Dodge Dart sedans headed to dealerships around the world have officially
begun - with the first units expected to arrive in showrooms next month.
