WTF? Caliber SRT4

[BadKenny]

....apparently I missed something....did they drop the price on the Caliber SRT4??? Ya I know its domestic, its also stupid fast (300hp is still 300hp). The mrs. wants a caliber so I scrolled over to the right a bit to see all the models on dodge.ca and apparently they start at 21k for the SRT4! I thought an SRT4 would be low 30's NOT low 20's.....

Damn.

[danno]

Re: WTF? Caliber SRT4

i thought 24k for one, and i think 265hp or something closer to that.
that's off the top of my head.

i think it's pretty cool to be able to make a car cheap and fast.

[Klobi-One-Kinobi]

Re: WTF? Caliber SRT4

i think it's pretty cool to be able to make a car cheap and fast.

Agreed. It may not be as refined or have as many fancy features as the competition but for the price, why not? And yea I've seen the ads for the new srt4's starting at $21k.

[bigbadboss101]

Re: WTF? Caliber SRT4

At that price you are going to see quite a few on the road.

[FlyBoy]

Re: WTF? Caliber SRT4

You would there there would be lots, but I went with a buddy to look at them and Crowfoot Dodge only had 1. And no test drives, you have to buy it.

[NeonGTI]

Re: WTF? Caliber SRT4

From what I have read the SRT engine in the Caliber is a lot like the 1.8t and the old SRT-4 - very under rated. Dyno runs of stock engines have put it at 250 to the wheels.

The North American manufacturers are in deeeeeeep sh1t this year so I would expect to see some exceptional deals from them.

[R_Ethug]

Re: WTF? Caliber SRT4

yea i was going to say ford just posted like an 8 billion dollar loss last quarter!!!

[62degVR6]

Re: WTF? Caliber SRT4

who cares if it has 300hp it still looks like crap IMO, and why would you want to own something that everyone can have. The people who really appreciate their cars will not care if it has 300 hp they will care about how it looks/drives. the people who drive these cars will be the same people who where driving cavalier Z24's 8 years ago, and they will prolly stick graphics and west cost chopper stickers all over them.

[Klobi-One-Kinobi]

Re: WTF? Caliber SRT4

lol just checked out dodge.ca. Base srt4 is 21995, purchase financing is almost 9%, lease is like 12%. Given that you can get a base gti for $279xx at 0.9%/3 years, or ms3 $31xxx at 0%/5 years I'd say there are better options than the dodge.

[BadKenny]

Re: WTF? Caliber SRT4

Heh, I didn't look at those interest rates....I always assumed that domestic dealerships basically gave it away for free. Apparently they don't like selling cars???

62degVR6, remember that VW's aren't exactly an exclusive or "bourgeois" car. I wouldn't automatically bust out the straw man argument about people who buy powerful, inexpensive cars. Remember, that is the same category elitist BMW owners lump us VW owners into, except that they say that VW owners are even dumber, because our cars aren't even powerful....


And last time I checked, everyone can own a VW....

[62degVR6]

Re: WTF? Caliber SRT4

so why do yo own a VW and not a dodge ????(not an attack just a question)

we all have reasons for liking the cars we drive, I think most VW owners appreciate the whole car as a package not just the power or the looks. That is what there are so many repeat VW owners out there, we love our cars, If we need them fast we will make them fast.

yes anyone can own a VW I understand that and they are by no means elite cars . Although they still keep their special models somewhat exclusive 337, 20AE, R32's and so on. It seams to me like dodge will saturate the market with these little powerhouse calibers. Plus would you want a 300hp car that only costs 20K they had to cut costs somewhere. I don't think I would want to find out where at 200kph (not that I would ever go that fast)

[danno]

Re: WTF? Caliber SRT4

i was talking with a friend about financing or leasing my car "07 gti", he asked if i could live with it for 10 years then i should finance it. which i did. to make a long story short i could live with a vw for a long time a domestic i could not. on a side not i'd rather be know as a gti owner rather than a srt4 owner.

[Klobi-One-Kinobi]

Re: WTF? Caliber SRT4

i was talking with a friend about financing or leasing my car "07 gti", he asked if i could live with it for 10 years then i should finance it. which i did. to make a long story short i could live with a vw for a long time a domestic i could not. on a side not i'd rather be know as a gti owner rather than a srt4 owner.

Yea, gti's have always seemed to have "staying power" regardless of year for the most part. Like I mentioned earlier vw's msrp drop and finance deal for the new gti make it priced awful close to the srt4. For the small difference in price after everything is said and done who would'nt want the gti as their daily driver?

[Klobi-One-Kinobi]

Re: WTF? Caliber SRT4

[QUOTE=NeonGTI;151204]From what I have read the SRT engine in the Caliber is a lot like the 1.8t and the old SRT-4 - very under rated. Dyno runs of stock engines have put it at 250 to the wheels.
QUOTE]

Another good point. The new srt4 is not like the old neon srt4(which was underated) feb/08 R&T does a comparo of the csrt4 and ms3, the ms3 is actually quicker up untill about 100km/h even though the dodge is rated at 285hp vs the mazda's 263.

Also, (and I found this odd) the mazda had much better braking but smaller brakes/tires with similar curb weight.

[BadKenny]

Re: WTF? Caliber SRT4

so why do yo own a VW and not a dodge ????(not an attack just a question)

we all have reasons for liking the cars we drive, I think most VW owners appreciate the whole car as a package not just the power or the looks. That is what there are so many repeat VW owners out there, we love our cars, If we need them fast we will make them fast.

yes anyone can own a VW I understand that and they are by no means elite cars . Although they still keep their special models somewhat exclusive 337, 20AE, R32's and so on. It seams to me like dodge will saturate the market with these little powerhouse calibers. Plus would you want a 300hp car that only costs 20K they had to cut costs somewhere. I don't think I would want to find out where at 200kph (not that I would ever go that fast)

In terms of driving dynamics there were far more fun cars than the GTI I chose. Sad but true, I chose the GTI because of the dsg transmission (yes I am addicted to technology) since it has paddles and just the technology was neat, and because the fiance and I like the exterior. If my primary concern was performance (it's not, because the GTI is not exactly a demon) I would've gone with something else.

Immediately classifying other drivers as "not appreciating the whole package" is somewhat narrow minded....if driving feel (not even straightline performance, I'm talking about tossability, connection to the road and feedback from the chassis) was paramount on my list I would've actually gone back to my 92 civic hatchback (if it weren't totalled) -- no joke. It was slow in the straights but it had a driving feel that no VW or Audi I've driven has (my experience being limited to A4's, A6's, 90Q's, mkv and mkiv GTIs).

Sit in an SRT4 and you know they saved money on the interior materials. Don't make a thinly veiled comment that you assume it will fall apart at speed -- most people that don't own VW's think that about our cars. Remember that in the consumer ratings for reliability, even Dodge, Ford and GMC ranked higher than VW. Mini, land rover and VW were at the bottom of the pile. As for Dodge "saturating" the performance market....I call that "dominating" its competitors in the market. It pays their bills. That's depending on IF they outsell their competitors and what sort of profit they turn in at the end of the day.

People like different cars for different reasons but ad hominem (ad auto-nem?) attacks to justify one's own fanboyism does not prove the value in one's own choice. I like the look of the VW, the transmission, neat things like how the rear wiper turns on when I reverse and the front wipers are on, stuff like that. I chose the VW because it had what appealed to me for what I was going to use it for.