I don't know how many of you read Motor Trend but in the May Issue they pit these 3 cars and 1 van aginst each other. The Caliber got 4th place (Last). It recieved a 1 out of 5 rating (5 being the best). To the common person this may discurage them from buy the Caliber. But if you read the artical you will find that the deck was totaly stacked aginst the Caliber and the test was totaly unfair and bias!!!
1st off the pics of the Caliber that were taken both inside and out were some how scued to make the Caliber which IMO has a very nice look inside and out, to look cheap compared to the others. Also they start by saying don't write to us because we know that this test is not perfectly matched. (ok???) Some are manual, ones a CVT and there's an auto. One's AWD (Caliber), one's a base ect...
2nd And this is HUGE the Caliber used was PRE PRODUCTION MODEL. Thier 0-60 times were 10+ there braking was 127 feet from 60-0, all of these numbers are better in the production Caliber according to Motorweek TV. Much better accually, with breaking AVERAGING 122 feet which is GREAT IMO, and 0-60 at 8.9 to 9.0 which I think could be better but in not bad concidering the wieght of the Caliber.
They also pit the Caliber aginst the HHR for cargo space which is just stupid the HHR is a Mini Van IMO and shouldn't have even been in the test.
You can read the article if you want. The Cover reads "Dodge Caliber Takes on Mazda 3, Matrix and HHR." Makes you think the test was fair then they rip the Caliber apart. F**k you MT!!!

 

This has been discussed here so many times. I don't think a lot of people are looking at magazines when making their purchase. If they did and took their word on it, Dodge would have to screw around with this allocation thing because the car just happens to be the fastest selling car Dodge has right now and they can barely keep up with orders. Those places are all completely bias anyways. If its a domestic car, it automatically finishes nearly dead last, if not last before they even start to test any of the cars.

I wouldn't even pay attention to any of these reviews.

 

I really have never been able to figure out why the foreign cars always seem to win these so called test's by some if not all of these magazines. I've had foreign cars I've like some and others leave you feeling a little cheated. Also every foreign car that I have owned when I traded it, the worth fell like a 500 pound stone. And one was a Spec-V. My friend bought an RSX typeS and I really don't care for the car at all, and he's had many problems with it. Yet in every mag the RSX is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

 

Hell, I bought the Caliber without even looking at one first or even reading anything about the car other than the brochure at my local dealership. I used to have a 99' Dodge neon I was really happy with, but sold for financial reasons a few years back. I went to buy a brand new Neon a few weeks ago only to learn that they stop making the Doge Neom, and was replacing it with this new car the Caliber. The first look at the Caliber in a brochure, I was instantly hooked! That very same day I bought the car after making some phone calls to other dealers to see if they had any Calibers on the lot, but to no avail. Anyway, I ordered my Caliber May 1st and probably won't see it till July. Since then I've been looking at other 4 cyl cars by other manufacturers to compare prices and available options, and really couldn't find a car similar to the caliber as far as price and what your getting for that price.

 

mahal3680- That's what I like to hear! Blind faith man, blind faith! Have you been driving Dodge/DCX products before? Either way, that's some good stuff. It's true, for the price, there really doesn't seem to be another car out there that matches the size, utility and creature comforts like the Caliber has.

I also question the logic/wisdom behind that "recent" MTrend article...but honestly, it doesn't matter too much. The sales figures on the Caliber are incredible so far and I would expect that through the summer they're only going to continue to get better. I'd like to see gas prices go down a little bit- but either way..its a damn good car. Congrats on the Caliber...!