I've been reading a lot of the forums about the Caliber and as an owner of an original SRT-4, I have to admit that the Caliber is a victory on almost every front.

Almost all my gripes about my SRT-4, which are few and far between, have been addressed and solved in this new incarnation of a Dodge's sport comcact car. The problem we are having here is that almost everyone is comparing this car to more expensive offerings from Mitsubishi and Subaru. The feature we all want is AWD, but I'd like to compile a list of reasons why whining about the absence of AWD is simply not warrented in this case.

However, first lets talk about my car, a 2005 bone stock original SRT-4 and how the Caliber attacks every feature of my car with refinements.

Engine: What can I say about the world engine in the Caliber SRT-4? Well, firstly it produces 65 more horsepower without any stage kits whatsoever. To achieve these numbers in my car, I'm going to have to spend well over two grand to get the Stage-2 kit. Sure there's other ways to accomplish 300hp out of my car, but that's the standard bolt on solution to more HP from Mopar. Furthermore, even if I do that, my fuel economy is going to drop significantly with those modifications, while the Caliber will produce the same hp with very comperable miliage to my stock SRT-4. All in all, it's way more power with no fuss/no muss. Just look at the numbers: while weighing more, the Caliber SRT-4 produces about 33% more HP (225/300) at only 6% more weight (2984/3189)! On top of all that, a dynamic downpipe that allows an instant 3" turbo back exhaust configuration for maximum performance.

Transmission: One of the biggest complaints I had about the SRT-4 was that it lacked a close ratio 6-speed manual transmission option. The biggest advantage of the massive 5-speed that was placed in the SRT-4 was that 60 could be achieved in just second gear, making the 0-60 time... well, very low for the price and size of the car. The engine is so torque-y that this expectation could be met without much fuss. As we've all seen, trade out the 17" rims and you need one more shift in the ACR, dropping the 0-60 significantly, but producing a car much more suited to the auto-crossing its designed for.

Wheels : The number one derogatory thing people say about the SRT-4 is the "pizza cutter" style wheels. I have to agree, they are too narrow at 17"x6". To answer this gripe, the Caliber SRT-4 comes with not only bigger wheels at 19", but they are now 7.5" wide! That is a huge improvement over my car, and should prove to provide more traction in all scenarios.

Features : Probably the biggest place that the Caliber wins, features seem to be what this car is all about.
Size:
It's a 4 door hatchback with fold down seats, reminiciant of lots of SUVs such as my in-law's pathfinder. The fold down seats in the SRT-4, while nice, don't allow the item stored to be higher than say 2' or wider than say 3'. The caliber blows this away with the hatch feature. The chances of coming home with a 52" HDTV in the Caliber are way, way higher.

Seats:
By looking at pictures alone I can't be sure, but many have complained about the seating in the SRT-4 and in the Caliber they look less constricting. We'll have to wait for interior pictures of the Caliber SRT-4 to be sure.

Audio:
The kicker system in the SRT-4, while better than some factory speakers, still doesn't take high volume very well. Their new premium sound is produced by Boston Accustics, which, I believe, is a step in the right direction. Not only that, but the integrated iPod holder gains SERIOUS points with me. This is THE feature of the audio system in the Caliber. Also, liftgate speakers are going to be fun for cookouts at the house too. Maybe I'll never use it, maybe I will, regardless, it's great to have that feature too.

Features the SRT-4 simply doesn't have:
There's a lot, so I'm only going to list the non-saftey ones that interest me.

Drink Cooler : Awesome for long trips IMHO. I drink beverages very slowly and they always get warm.

Electronic Stablility : Nice to have I suppose. Never had it bother me at least, it's just one of those things that you hope is helping rather than hurting.

Universal integrated garage door opener : YES! No more crap on my sun visor!!!

Proximity sensors on back : Awesome feature for parking in the city. Both visual and audible is also a nice touch.

Adjustable pedals : I seriously need this. I'm 6'2" and my pant size is only 30. This means I'm what they call "Husky" in the pant department. My wife is also 6'2" but her legs are about 36 in men's pants. We have all kinds of seating and mirror adjustments when we trade seats. This will help out immensely with me because I get knee pain from having to jack my leg around in our Miata.

Microchip key : I love engine immobilizers. This feature was supposed to be so cool in "Gone in 60 seconds" on the mercedes. Either way, maybe it'll help.

Tire Pressure monitoring : First time I saw this in use was on a 2003 Mini Cooper. Glad to have that feature on the caliber. Believe it or not I have a slow leak on my Goodyears on my SRT-4 and I'd like an easier way to monitor it. (I'm taking it in today to see if I can get it warrenty replaced tho)

Available satalite navigation? : I've heard this, and I like sat-nav. Hopefully it will make it into the SRT-4 version.

All Saftey Enhancements : Too many to list, but my fav is the knee air-bags and the steering wheel that allows some give on impact.


So, compared to my SRT-4, the Caliber SRT-4 is a victory on so many levels that it is hard to believe that anyone can seriously say that this car is going to be anything short of what the original SRT-4 was to the Neon. It's a huge, huge upgrade.


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Now, I know, I know, we all wanted AWD. So let's talk turkey.

Subaru WRX STi - Price as I configured it, ~$34,000

That's with such awesome refinements as... you know... floor mats and a turbo gague. Feature wise the Caliber has smoked this car on every front (storage, fuel economy, features, audio) with the same HP. What's missing? The AWD that everyone is so intent on getting. Approximate prices of the Caliber SRT-4 are something on the lines of $25,000. Bear that in mind.

Mitsubishi Evo IX RS - Price as I configured it, ~$30,000

Again, no where to go really on features of this car. With lower overall HP than the STi or the Caliber, the Evo is one of those benchmark cars that everyone is nuts about beating. The caliber has way more than this car has on almost every front, save... you guessed it AWD! I'm not getting into the "tunability" of the Evo. Yeah, you can take it to 500hp easy off it, but the cost goes up.


So, basically, if we use the STi or the Evo IX MR (not RS) we basically have about 10k to play with on the Caliber. Honestly, if you read the articles on the World Engine, there's no way to put AWD on the World Engine without the CVT. It's either AWD CVT or FWD Manual. That's the way it has always been because of the reduced size of the CVT. It's unfortunate, but ... wait, there may still be hope!

First off, I'd like to remind everyone of the days of the SRT-4. Facing off against STis and Evos were seemingly no problem back then, were they? I don't know how many movies I've seen where the evo takes the SRT-4 till second gear, when the SRT-4 simply leaves it standing. Same for the STi. The general consensus was, top end on the SRT-4 made up for any slow starts off the line, ergo, FWD can beat AWD with less HP. Now the Caliber gives you the same HP as those compeditors! Will the AWD versions beat it off the line? Sure, but second gear is still going to be happy land in the Dodge Sport Compact market.


Secondly, the main problem with the Neon based SRT-4 is that it was never intended to be either RWD or AWD. Where is the drive shaft going to go? Where is the rear/center diff going to go? All of these questions are readilly answered in the Caliber because from the start it was designed to be an AWD car. In other words, the space is there for these components. Compared to the prices of the WRX and the STi, you have $10,000 to make this a reality. Is it possible? Maybe not, but $10,000 can go a long way in automotive performance. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Howell Automotive released a kit for AWD on the Caliber SRT-4 in the first year of production. There is zero chance this is going to happen on the Original SRT-4. With the Caliber, there's hope at least, and crazier things have been done to cars for less money.

Thirdly, if you want a fast AWD car, I reccomend the Porsche 911 Turbo AWD. I believe your chances of "smoking" STi's and WRX's are much higher in that.

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What are we left with but a car that offers us an upgrade on every comparable quality of the original SRT-4 (looks are up to the looker IMHO)? Given the history of Dodge's low torqueing, wide powerband, high output engines, how can we truely say that a car with 33% more HP is going to have problems beating cars that the original SRT-4 could conqure? How can a truely informed individual say that this car is anything less than a total victory over last years offerings?

Doku

 

Good article... I could argue a few points, I simply don't feel there would be any point, cause Dodge is not listening...

 

Nice write up.

 

I agree, good points were made. I won't be in line to buy a first-year model, though. Vehicles this radical will require a year or two in order to get the bugs worked out. Besides, knowing DCX, they will probably up the HP/Torque in the next model year......

Dusty

 

I agree. They did exactly that with the Neon SRT-4, and added new features as well. A good example is the terrible lack of traction with the 2003 SRT-4, which SRT fixed in 2004 with the addition of a Quaife (spl?) limited slip differential. I agree, I woldn't buy the first year either.

 

I agree with MidnightBlueNeon....good article....and I could definitely argue some points....but it wont change anything...

 

very good review... although I hadn't heard of the possible navigation feature. That would be awesome!