Have you driven the new Dodge Dart? Tell us about it!
 

Hello all!

I have been fortunate to log a few hundred miles in the 2013 Dodge Dart in both Limited and Rallye trimlines, with the 2.0L auto and the 1.4L turbo with a manual. I know that dealers around the country are getting their first demo models around this time and I know that some of you have driven them so I would like everyone to tell us what they think about the new Dart!

Also, who has gone to their dealership but couldnt drive it because it had already been sold?

I was in trainning last week on the 1.4 turbo dart. The seem to be nice looking and i think it going to sell well. We heard rumors that the dart is going to have 2.4 turbo SRT. That one maybe all wheel drive.

I just bought one this past Saturday. The 1.4L turbo, 6 speed manual Rallye package. I LOVE THIS CAR!!!!! It is everything I wanted. It's sporty enough, and fun to drive, lots of color combos for everyone, (Had to have the RED!). It has more bells and whistles than I imagined. It tracks great. Very stable and feels solid. Very quiet inside, and when I mentioned it to my 20 year old son, he said "Have you heard it revved from outside? IT SOUNDS AWESOME!!!" He and all his friends (we're a family of gear-heads!) are very impressed with my car. As a matter of fact, one of his friends was thinking about getting the Fiat Abarth, but now that he's seen my car, he's rethinking it. So far no complaints about anything!!

As soon as my dealership gets one or two, going to test drive it with the wife. Thinking about trading in her Durango for one.

depending on the size of your dealership, it could be a long time before they get two of them. most dealers are getting their first one around this time (depending on region) and it could be a month or more until they get the next one.

too small and like the Charger with its 4 doors-only format ruined the name of a great car.... this platform they call the Dart i feel the same; I have owned 70s Chargers and Dad had a few Dodge Darts... (OK so the last one was Duster.... same thing) I cant get my mind around this car....

Get over the name. Both the new Charger and Dart four doors are just fine with the names they carry...about the only people that complain are geezers that are too stubborn to accept change.

What should they call it, a Volare? Now there's a name that's gonna move cars.....

i suppose they could have just saved a bunch of time & money on the "re-design", and just called It the Alfa Romeo Gulietta....or even the Dodge Gulietta, but then again we americans don't like hatchbacks.... ( I know its a totally new vehicle, just shares a set of measurements (though modified from the euro model)I'm just being an ass..:D)

I loved that thing. The one we got was a 1.4 turbo manual and it was pretty darn fun to drive. Small motor, small turbo, it takes minute to before its starts putting you in the seat a little but one, thats to be expected and two, thats not was this car is for. I would be very interested in getting one as my commuter car. The other beautiful thing was when I got on a stretch of straight, flat, pseudo-highway. I set the cruise at 60, reset the mpg computer and watched it say 50.1........ 50.2........50.3.... on a three mile stretch. So I am really anxious to see what kind of mileage I can get on an actual highway on an actual roadtrip.

In short (not really) I was very impressed. I kinda already knew it was going to look sweet and I was wholly impressed by the function as well.

I drove one today. Decent little car. Completely gutless under 2500 in any gear but 1st, but after about 2300 she starts pulling and is at full song just north of 2500 I think. Not an SRT4, but moves pretty decent for 1.4 liters (~86 cubic inch). I drove the 1.4 turbo/6 speed, which I think is what all currently on lots are equipped with.

Back seat is a bit small, but the front was large enough and I'm 6'2". Trunk was quit large. I'd put serious thought into the Rallye I drove.

I got to see the one at the dealership this morning when I took my truck in for a tune up, sadly our dealership only got one and that dart was already sold so I never got a chance to really get a good look.

took a dart rally 1.4L turbo with 6speed for a drive today. I was very impressed. I'm 6'3" and somewhere between 350-375 lbs and I had plenty of room. The manual trans shifted well and smoothly and had plently of pep above 2500rpm. I was really impressed with the steering/handling/suspension when I started to do the nascar pace car draft at 50 mph on a 2 lane paved back country road. It was very quick and nimble. It is a VAST improvement over my 2001 neon. However, like most I'll be waiting patiently for the SRT before buying one.

every time my dealer gets one in it gone in about 12 hours The dealer had the first Rally and a couple of STX's and another Rally sadly they are gone prior to the test drive

CopyCat! I did just that this weekend!

And I love this little car. It's small, but not 'cramped' as many smaller cars feel - at least to me. Sure, the bigger 200 and Chargers looked wonderful, but I could not personally justify a car payment if the car got less than 35MPG highway.

I bought the Limited 1.4L Turbo - 6 Speed, it's a bit of a slacker under 2200 RPM's or so, but once the Turbo gets it's boost going it can get up and move just fine. I've been babying it, as I want a nice smooth engine break in - trying to stay under 4000 RPM's mostly.

It shifts really smooth, it handles and holds the road fantastically and has the power when you get on it and the turbo spins up. I did spin it up some getting on the interstate today, it stuck right to the corner/on-ramp - left the OCD 'cant be behind anyone' kind of driver behind me in the dust on that corner and was right at 65 when I hit the freeway. I like the feel of three kinds of autos: Powerful 4WD trucks, Muscle Cars, and these little agile 'euro' manual trans cars like this.

I'm really impressed overall; I've driven many cars over my life - worked at Goodyear a while, drive rental cars all the time with my current job, and just being a gear head - traded cars a lot. This is probably the most fun car I've seriously driven overall - I can't count anything real 'snazzy' I just drove on to the lift at Goodyear, lol. For it's price, it's a definite winner.

I went with the 'lifetime' warranty that was offered too. I'm working on too many friends cars lately to have kept working on my Durango, not that it needed more than one would expect for 130K miles, but it was getting there. I seen gas prices going up - my mileage on the D going up - seemed like an optimal time to trade it in.

The UConnect is just amazing, the screen is easily big enough for me to see clearly - I can just load it up with music on SDCard or Flash drive, and of course the Satellite Radio is great. We'll see about paying for that long term - maybe if the yearly price isn't too bad... I might. The Stereo is just the normal UConnect one - but still sounds great, albeit a bit light on the bass on some songs. So if you MUST have outstanding audio - you might want to look at the Alpine upgrade.

That being said - well, I wasn't being too terribly patient, lol - I was thinking about getting one with the options I wanted and waiting, but the Limited really caught my eye - tinted windows and all. Some options on it I would not have gotten, like Leather Seats, Sunroof, and the Backup Camera; I would have elected for the Stereo upgrade, however, the test drive got me good - and after thinking about it, the added Safety or the camera and the coolness of the seats and sunroof were a more than suitable trade for the Stereo.

Had to do my first fill up in the Dart - $38.00 for 3/4 tank of Premium - was quite a relief over the $80+ the V8 needed... especially considering how much driving I did...

I just owned the Dodge dart 2013. Features like thin film transistor, LED taillamp make it unique. Fortunate of owning the one!!:icon_smile:

I test drove the 2.0 SXT Turbo Manual on Wednesday and all I gotta say is WOW!!! I was expecting to hear the engine rumble like my 2008 Jeep Liberty and 2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee, but this Dart honestly hums! you barely at all hear the engine from the drivers seat, unless you are shifting gears. For the SXT, I was impressed with the standard features it came with and the sound system was pretty impressive also. Just makes me get goosebumps on how great my R/T will be. Also it was very nice seeing the fuel rate at 8.1L/km rather than my Liberty at 14.6L/km

I test Drove two Darts, the SXT and the Rallye, both with manual trans and the 1.4l turbo,

I love the cars, I test drove the Rallye because it had the u-connect with the huge touch screen to see if I liked it, While it is a nice feature, it is not something i would want to have, just seems like more to go wrong.

One thing I noticed on both cars was the notorious High Beam Clunk that everyone seems to be having. They both seemed to shift smoothly and I love the 6 speed. Funny bit was when i was backing the car into the lot after the test drive I stalled it twice because where Reverse is on my Honda civic is actually 6th haha. Also the salesmen tried informing me that it had "True Dual Exhaust," but I quickly corrected him on that.

The motors are "gutless" under about 2500 rpm's, but pull strongly above that through the gears. Since I am in Germany with the military I got the privilege to drive on the autobahn :) and while there actually are speed limits, I did a 90mph run for a few miles and the instantaneous MPG calculator still showed a reading of 35+ MPG.

As far as options go I prefer the Rallye trim(just more sporty in my opinion) in white, with the 18in smoked rims advertised on the limited(The dealer could order them with the 18's!), with the full "race track" led tail-lights.

And as far as interior i like just the base radio and speakers with the popular equipment package and the black/red interior. The base still has your aux, usb jack. The front seats are very comfortable and I had more than enough head/leg rooms(at 6'3"), my head however did hit the roof in the back seats. The passenger seat storage was nice and the trunk was quite large as well.

All in all I was quite impressed with the car, I was strongly considering buying one, but as for now I am just going to hold off until most of the issue's are resolved, or until my current car dies, seeing as i got offered 1500 dollars for a 2002 Civic in Good condition lol

just purchased 2015 dart rallye (sxt)
 

So the rallye package for the sxt has the 2.4l motor and some appearance item . All around sharp car. Just took delivery of mine today. Its friggen sweet. Got to a strait stretch n decided to do a 0-60 lost track of it due to the fact I was burning rubber in both first n then second and then chirped the wheels in third (manual tans with Tc shut off) I was laughing like a madman. On highway at 70mph I was averaging 35mpg according to the gauge readout.
Love it can't wait for Mopar to release the scat pack addons for it