Chrysler isnt trying to build future collectable vehicles...they are trying to build cars that will sell well in today's market and like the Neon (which sold very well), the Dart is the type of car that will resonate well with the current new car buyer. These people who are considering something like a Ford Focus, Chevy Cruze or Hyundai Elantra arent looking for vehicles that will turn into collectables...theyre looking for vehicles that arent terrible to drive that get good mileage and have gadgets that older low priced compacts did not...and that is exactly what Chrysler has put together with the new Dart. At $17k, the Dart is in the same price range as some of the bestselling models in the segment. The Dart also offers alot more power than the competitors from Chevy (138hp), Hyundai (148hp), Honda (140hp) or Toyota (132hp) so if youre ok driving a car with no ***** thats fine...but if I were in the market for a compact sedan, I would happily pay the difference in price for the additional power...plus the fact that it doesnt look like the Elantra, Civic or Corolla.

This isnt the 1970s anymore fellas...cars cant cost $5,000 anymore. As for the AC, Im working on finding out if AC is indeed only available as an upcharge for the SE.

For the Chrysler Group to build a rear wheel drive model based on the original Dart in any way would be completely retarded. This isnt 1970 where a company can have 10 different rear wheel drive coupes that they claim are all different segments. The industry has changed and Dodge already has as many great RWD cars as they can fit with the Charger and Challenger.

The new Dart isnt a Fiat product with a Dodge badge slapped on it...do some research before complaining about things. The Dart is based loosely on the Alfa Romeo Giulietta but the car being marketed as the Dart in the US is based on a US platform named the compact US wide chassis which is bigger than the Alfa in every dimension inside and out. The car is built in the US on a US-specific chassis...it is as american as any of the other models in the lineup regardless of where the chassis engineering began.

 

update: I heard back from my Chrysler contact who reminded me that the current Dart configurator page is not final and the company hasnt announced any standard features other than the engines and transmissions. They did say, however, that the Dart will be "competitive, model by model, with the other vehicles in the segment."

i dont know of any vehicles sold right now (new) that dont have standard AC...i would be pretty surprised if the dart did not but in the meantime, people shouldnt freak out about what they see on the internet because even the Chrysler information isnt official.

 

I must agree with BadStrat, Chrysler doesn't give a rip if the new dart will become collectible. What they care about (and what matters) is how well it will sell. That being said, i'll take one with a 6-speed (stick) and the baddest 4-banger they offer please

 

With all due respect to badstratrt, f chrysler. They did the same thing to the Chally back in the 80's. I'm sry but all of this teasing stuff is for the birds and I'm getting fed up. They need to concentrate on improving what they have now. Like these hp sucking transmissions in our Hemi Rams. They could at least give us the 66rfe for the 2013's. Who cares about the 6 cylinder getting the 8speed...what about the hemi? Do I smell another tease coming for that...quit playing mind games mr ceo's. Very few of us have a hundred grand for the Viper and very few of us ole schoolers on this forum want the Dart in that form. And mr srt8 Giles...you need to put a halt to the encripted pcms or find a new job...you're hurting sales and loosing costumers by the minute (like you care). And clean up the plants while ur at it...it's embarassing! Sry forum members and staff but the s*** is getting old.

 

Very well said.

Dodge needs to be in this market segment, if it wants to continue growing. The Dart was a good move. Whether it can compete in this class, that will be fun to see. The Caliber was not going to compete with the Ford Focus, Chevy Cruze or Hyundai Elantra.

 

This new dart wont ever be able to compete with any other manufactuer, chrysler cant build an engine like the japs can. It would cost to much because of american auto unions. They gotta get the big bucks, thats what drives the price right out of sight, quality will ALWAYS suffer because of unions. (unions = under worked, and overpaid) Like i said before, this dart is just another dodge neon with new sheet metal, and thats all. The neon has been the biggest joke since the "K" car. The dodge avenger is nothing but another POS too, they need to dump that garbage asap. I bet chrysler is hopeing this dodge dart is the answer to getting rid of the avenger. Joke`s on them, the dart will be no different, both are junk from the get go. One thing about chrysler, they`re consistant, consistant in building junk gas sippers. The smartest move chrysler EVER did, was to let the RAM trucks go on their own.(thankyou fiat) Once chrysler goes under, and they will, at least we can still buy trucks for a little while longer until the libtarded green tree huggers ban them from the planet. The SRT department is on its own now too. (CEO Giles see`s it coming and dosent want to loose the srt vehicles) Not hard to tell whats leaving soon, and bankruptcy wont save them either...! No more bailouts because OBOZO`s days are numbered. Bye-bye chrysler. Tommorrow coudnt be soon enough.

 

The K-car saved Chrysler, the fact that Mopars are still being manufactured is because of the K-car.

Avengers are selling very well, that's what Chrysler needs.

 

You seem very anti Chrysler. (This IS DodgeForum just in case you forgot)

 

Wow I can't believe some of the crap I'm reading on this thread. Chrysler is doing exactly what it needs to do. They've needed a compact car to replace the Neon since they discontinued it. The Caliber was supposed to be the replacement and sales were lackluster on it. I think the new Dart looks cool, is modern, and I believe that these new 4 Cylinder Tigershark engines or whatever they call them are probably the best 4 cylinder engines that Chrysler has ever offered by and far.

If you want a Dart like the one in the 70's then go and buy yourself a 70's Dart or quit complaining because this is the year 2012. Vehicles are much different now and manufacturers are forced to build vehicles that meet government requirements for emissions and safety. This isn't the 70's where they built 4000lb muscle cars with giant gas guzzling big block V8's, this is 2012, the economy is bad, unemployment is high, and people need cars that get better gas mileage. If Chrysler did nothing but resurrect old names to slap them on V8 or V10 performance cars they wouldn't be making any money. They still cater to performance enthusiasts with the Charger, Challenger, and Viper but they also have to cater to the normal everyday average joe that just needs a vehicle to get them from point a to point b.

To suggest that Chrysler is going to go under is ridiculous. They have just about got this bailout debt repaid. Fiat actually seems to give a damn, unlike Daimler. Quality on a majority of their vehicle lineup across all brands is miles ahead of what it was just a few years ago. The difference in the quality of materials used to build the interior of my 2006 Dakota and my 2011 Ram is HUGE. My RAM is miles ahead of my Dakota in every category. Chrysler, Dodge, and RAM vehicles seem to be getting much more favorable reviews across the board from both the owners and the experts as well. Not really sure where you come up with this Chrysler can't build an engine like the Japs can crap LU. The Nissan Titan rolls with an outdated 5.6 Liter with less horsepower and worse fuel economy than the new Hemis, there were even talks that Nissan would swap out the 5.6 and start putting in the 5.7L Hemi a couple of years ago. The Toyota 5.7L has less horsepower and also gets worse mileage. As for the cars I think that company's like Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi, etc... do have good 4 Cylinder and 6 Cylinder engines but that's been their bread and butter since they've all been around. Japan is a totally different country and a totally different culture from our Country. In America the cool thing is Muscle Cars and Pickup Trucks with high powered V8 engines, and in Japan it's more about economy or "tuning" in their performance scene. Chrysler is getting much better, the Pentastar is probably the best 6 Cylinder engine we've had in years, and these new Tigershark 4 Cylinders are going to be light years ahead of the boring, loud, and underpowered 4 Cylinders they've been offering in the Avenger, Sebring, etc...

Also I'd like to point out that Unions aren't always a bad thing. I work in Law Enforcement at the County Level. Without the Teamsters we wouldn't get half the benefits or half the pay for the job we do. I work in Corrections. I deal with some of the biggest sh!tbags society has to offer so you don't have to deal with them yourselves. Our board of supervisors would hang us out to dry with all of the budget cuts going on if the Teamsters weren't in place to protect us. So Unions do serve a purpose, I am not underworked, and I am definitely not overpaid for the crap that I have to put up with.

 

+10 I agree completely.

I used to work in county corrections myself and we had the FOP (Fraternal Order of Police) and that union is compete sh*t, we were working on trying to get teamsters in but you know just as well as anyone how the county operates. I certainly wasn't underworked and sure as sh*t wasn't over paid. Unions have purposes, it's just some do a better job than others.