my friends as of late have been questioning myself trading in my montero sport for the caliber. when you vs 16/20 mpgs towards 28/30 mpgs...and the fact my insurance goes down and etc its a no brainer for myself and my family...hell...its a horrible feeling to have when you just spent 40 dollars on gas...and its already half gone just going downtown which is only less than 35 minutes away...

they argue with me about the whole 24 valve vs 16 valve with me as well...but, i never once used the 4x4 mode on my car...why? i live in the city...can anyone justify this argument for me?

i love the caliber...and it feels great...ordered the sxt model.

 

There comes a time where HP isn't everything. You may have 250HP or whatever in the Montero, but if you can't afford to keep it running because of the price of gas then its only practical to go for something cheaper. You can also think this way, you may have 250 HP, but the speed limit is still 30 in the city and 65/75 on the highway, so where are you gonna use that HP? Its useless to you and makes you spend more money on something you can't or don't use. Same with the 4x4, if you don't use it, then why have it. All 4x4 does for you then is get you worse gas milage rather than helping you in sticky situations. For some people, driving 90 or nothing is a way of life, but tell them to talk to the hand when they start bitching about gas milage, and/or the price of gas.

I would get what you like. Who cares if no one likes it. They're not the one who has to drive it everyday. Life's too short to try and impress everyone all the time. Buy what makes you feel happy.

 

You are always going to find someone who thinks your choices were bad, but in this case I think you made the right choice.

I went from an Explorer (basically the same mileage as your montero) to the Caliber. The simple fact that I get the same amount of miles out of a tank of gas, but am paying half as much, is saving me 100-200 dollars a month.

How is that not worth it right there?

Outside of that, 16 or 24 valves, thats a stupid argument. It all depends on what the engine needs. Having more of something is not always a good thing, but you knew that. They just sound like the typical group that just says whatever useless marketing info they know about something without actually knowing what they are talking about. All it would take is a simple comparison of vehicles, pro's and con's, and anyone should see that you made the right choice.

If you love it, go with it, god knows I have heard a lot about me buying a Dodge, which is funny because most of the people I know love Ford, Chevy, Toyota, whatever, and will argue all day long, and it seems the only thing they can agree on is anything is better than a Dodge.

But whatever, I bought it and I am driving it, and it seems good to me. Thats what really matters, you are signing those checks not them.

 

I agree with the two previous posts, and I dont see any reason why you shouldnt make the switch. I had a GREAT and fun 01 Dakota. Best vehicle I had ever owned. I traded it only cuz the gas was costing me more then I could afford. Had I made more then I do, or maybe had a lower payment, I'd have kept it. I still miss it and everytime I see a 2nd Gen Dak I still wish I had kept it.

Now I drive an 02 Stratus R/T, and I get about 13-15mpg better then I did in the truck, as a larger part of my driving is highway and long strips of city streets. I still miss the truck, but the Stratus is just as much fun and I get to enjoy my money a lil longer...

Good luck in your Caliber! I personally would have gone with the R/T or waited for the SRT-4....but I like speeeeeeeeeeeeeed

 

i purchased the sxt because it was still a reasonable engine...anyone complained about the speed of the engine yet?

i'm an a1c in the air force with a family...which means...i have a budget. haha. the difference between the sxt and r/t in my opinion aren't miles long...and doubt i'll miss too much of the difference...

 

The engine may seem a little bit slow at first, but hang with it and break it in properly and it will really effing open up.

 

what would be deemed as "properly breaking it in properly."

 

Sounds like you may have out grown those friends!

 

Meaning, you don't want to constantly redline the sucker until about the first oil change. Being a new engine, its usually not a good idea to be really hard on it for the first 1000 miles or so. Thats not to say you can't floor it every once in a while to pass someone when needed, but try to limit that for a little while.

 

Caliber Break In: https://dodgeforum.com/m_429821/tm.htm

Glad you bought one, congrats...