My '98 Neon, was sold at 132,000 mi to a friend. He sold it last year with over 225,000 miles, it's still on the road. I never babied that car. It was autocrossed for 2 years and it hit 100 mph every morning when I hit the freeway.

The "secret" to longevity? Routine maintenence and and a minimum of 10 minutes of easy/warm up driving before the beatings began.

Ya know, you really ought to THANK Obama. Without him, there would be no new Dart for you to whine about!

 

Oops, wanted to add:

Anybody know how much the Dart weighs? My boss was asking me yesterday if I knew, I didn't.

 

ask and ye shall recieve, along with comparison data for most of its competitors in its class:
source: http://www.allpar.com/cars/dodge/dart/comparisons.html

 

Dodge is smoking fine cigars. Yes, the baseline model has no included AC at about $16K, but for about $20K you can get a nicely appointed, fairly economical car at the SXT level - plus whatever taxes for your locale, minus whatever deal you can make. That's right from Dodge's pricing tool.

My last new car, an '05 Caravan SXT, was stickered at $25K and I got it for less $20K without a trade-in. So YMMV.

Just slow down, check the facts. If you don't like what you see, move on to something else. I wish I had kept my '75 Dart Sport, but I didn't, my bad. Will this new generation be like the Darts, Demons, Dusters of old? Who knows - it's a different world and the competition is different. Lighten up, find what you like, and then brag/complain about it.

 

I don't know where all the hate is coming from. The Dart looks very competitive, price and all. It's getting solid reviews across the board. How are you going to be down on that?

 

The New "Dart" looks like a re-imagining of the Focus ... but to me what is more interesting than that is the fact that they have 3 engine options over 4 trim levels. SE,SXT,RALLYE,R/T ... so you either can buy a 2.0L 16-valve Tigershark™ four-cylinder engine (160 hp & 148 lb-ft of torque) or a 1.4L 16-valve Intercooled MultiAir Turbo (160 hp & 184 lb-ft of torque),16-valve 2.4L Tigershark™ MultiAir II 4-cylinder engine (184 hp & 171 lb-ft of torque)... The 2.4L is in the R/T ... Seems to me that the least they SHOULD do is a 3.5 H.O just for the sake of the R/T badge. But that is why "smarter" people than ourselves design cars

 

I drove a 2013 Dart Rallye 1.4 Turbo with a 6 speed manual today. Wow, what a boring car to drive. EXTREMELY slow, and no clutch feel whatsoever. I am disappointed. However I am not the target market, and the car DOES get really good fuel economy. That manual transmission would make anyone feel comfortable driving a stick, since it was pretty much impossible to stall. I hope they sell lots, so they can afford to offer an SRT model with a man's clutch and some actual power.

 

I have put a few hundred miles on a 1.4 turbo 6-speed and I disagree to some extent. When you say that the Dart is boring to drive...what are you comparing it to? If it is anything outside of the C segment sedan class, you might be right but it is important to compare to what else is available in terms of competition.

I have spent similar amounts of time in the new Ford Focus sedan, the Chevy Cruze and the Toyota Corolla. Compared to those models, I think that the Dart is a fun little car to drive. It has more power than the competition (in base form..not considering the Focus ST) and I think that it is a much sportier car than the competition - both in terms of design (inside and out) and the overall feel of the car.

I will be driving the new Hyundai Elantra in a closed circuit soon and I will be logging more miles in the Dart at the Chrysler Proving Grounds soon but based on my early drive of the Dart compared to time spent int he competition, the Dart really is one of the better cars in the class.

Is it going to be as exciting as the Neon SRT4 or the Challenger? Hell no...but it is much more engaging than the Caliber before it or almost any of the cars currently in the class. It is also one of the "nicer" cars in the class while also being among the more efficient.

I spoke to one dealership rep who put serious mileage on his Dart after leaving the Detroit drive away event and after putting over 300 miles on his car, he was averaging...AVERAGING...almost 40 miles per gallon.

 

Good points. I have not driven any of the current competition, since I wouldn't consider buying them. I was comparing it to older manual transmission'd economy cars. Gutless comes with the territory, that is not a real complaint. What really turned me off to it was the lack of any feel whatsoever in the clutch engagement. I am old school, want my vehicles all to have 3 pedals, and want to feel I have a direct connection to what's going on with the car. I felt very disconnected from what was going on beneath the well designed interior and VERY attractive touchscreen media center. I understand that what I just described is what sells in today's market, which is why I mentioned that I am not the target market, and wished the best of sales for Chrysler corp's newest.

 

All I have is an opinion, but it seems that Chrysler HAS to sell this car to a broad range of buyers. There will be plenty of Grandmas and Grandpas buying them at the low to mid range. The more of those they can sell, the better position they will be in to build and market a genuine top shelf sporting car with really good power and handling options. The "bones" are good on this car, it's also good looking, it'll do well for Chrysler and be the basis of something really good. Yeah, smoking fine cigars!!