As a reader of The Autopian, I can appreciate what it stands for; in part, bringing life to the worthless crapcans that were once rightfully neglected when new and then revived with passionate enthusiasm. Not every vehicle rolling off the production line will set hearts on fire – at least not right away. Maybe with time, age will bring the deliciousness of a fine wine.
Take David’s BMW i3 for instance. It was an early expedition into the world of EVs at the same time the Tesla Model S hogged all the attention. Years later, a replacement powertrain battery gives the initially unpopular compact a second lease of life that outperforms the EPA estimates. Holy bullfrogs! And just the other week, I learned about a very special Dodge Omni that saved DeTomaso. It definitely wasn’t my mom’s.
So there is potentially a market for bad new cars turned good when used. For instance, the recent praise for the PT Cruiser that, in my opinion, was never terrible. Just cheap.
I’ll take this point further and nominate an entire lineup of Chrysler cars released toward the end of the 2000s. This was the result of a corporate merger that bit off more than it could chew followed by a recession.
[Editor’s Note: For the record, while I think some bailout-era Chryslers can be reliable and cheap transportation today, I still think most are marginal. Hell, even the Wrangler (that 3.8 and four-speed auto!) somehow sucked during that era, and that’s about as easy a product to get right as it gets! Anyway, I’m happy to have differing opinions on this site, so Tyler, take it away! -DT].
The Memory
The year is 2006. I’m at a Dodge dealership in Glendale, Arizona that’s a suburb of Phoenix. My dad is in the process of purchasing a brand new Ram 2500 Super Duty. I wander about the lit showroom until I stop at a poster. It shows the back end of a Caliber with the trunk open. A pair of speakers hang from the liftgate. The car sits atop the platform of a concert stage overlooking a blurred audience.
I decided at 10 years old that was the car for me. Fortunately, I grew up to know better. But the Caliber was an early sign of consequences in the midst of a dark period for Chrysler.
I suspect someone in Dodge’s marketing department was feeling the gloom, which makes this ad funny to look back on:
In 1998, Daimler entered into a “merger of equals” with Chrysler in hopes of elevating its status with American buyers. It was only nine years later that it would cut losses and sell off its shares to an equity firm.
Then-Chief Executive of DaimlerChrysler Dieter Zetsche had this to say, according to the New York Times:
Daimler (he said) was unable to exploit the combination of its highly-engineered Mercedes-Benz luxury cars with the mass-market vehicles of Chrysler, because U.S. motorists could not, or would not, pay a premium for a Chrysler equipped with Mercedes technology.
In other words, a German-priced automobile with an American badge wasn’t the way forward. Look no further than sales of the Chrysler Crossfire—which would be about $50,000 in today’s dollars—to tell you why.
The Frugality
When it became apparent this was the case, the company had to conjure a new plan on the spot to ensure the cash flow kept coming in. This is where Chrysler’s on-again, off-again relationship with Mitsubishi came back in.
The partnership began as a way for Dodge to sell economical cars in the late 1960s, and for Mitsubishi to arrive in the United States. Browse through the classics classifieds and you’ll see cars with names like Dodge Colt or Chrysler Galant often mixing American with Japanese roots in (more or less) equal harmony. These were called captive imports, and versions of this still exist today.
It was never a full stake of ownership for either party but time and time again over the next 30 years or so prior to the Daimler merger, it brought us cars like the Dodge Stealth: essentially a reskinned Mitsubishi 3000GT in the 1990s.
A new platform was co-developed to support compact cars for both brands. Known as the GS platform, Mitsubishi would make use of it starting in 2006 while the Dodge Caliber was the first American model to take advantage of it. It would be far from the last.
In fact, the way Chrysler saw it, it could spin off multiple variations of the GS platform to build its own compact cars. These would adopt new chassis codes to carry the brand through one of American car manufacturing’s bleakest periods.
I shall declare this clique as the Chrysler Bailout cars. It resulted in the following to be produced:
- Chrysler Sebring/200 (JS platform)
- Dodge Avenger (JS)
- Dodge Caliber (PM)
- Dodge Journey (JC49)
- Jeep Compass (MK49)
- Jeep Patriot (MK74)
These may present different choices for varying buyers on a budget looking for value but as a unit, each of these were critically panned when new on account of meager powertrains and hard plastics that plagued interior quality.
Car and Driver called the 2008 Avenger’s interior “‘rental-grade.”’ (That’s never a compliment, to be clear.) CNET gave the 2011 200 a middling score of 5.0 out of 10 on account of its interior quality. Google each of these models from when they were new between 2007 and 2011, and you’ll see almost unanimous verdicts of questionable value, underwhelming engines, and interior quality that is next to nothing.
Of course, not every publication reviews cars the same. MotorWeek will find the good in just about every vehicle John Davis gets his hands on:
So perhaps then, the key is just to give this compact lineup time and maybe, just maybe, opinions would mellow. Take this Car and Driver review of a 2016 Journey for instance, which noted that roughly 100,000 units have been moved in previous years consecutively. And the V6-equipped Journey presented competitive stats even if they weren’t class-leading. It was still on the receiving end of the bargain scale.
And then the entire compact lineup received a second lifeline as a result of a fresh Fiat takeover, which ushered in an era of fresh capital, improved interior materials and updated powertrains. The Fiat-derived cars like the Dodge Dart came later, but until then, the Chrysler Bailout cars got some needed updates.
This gave ammunition to Chrysler’s marketing division, who pushed out new stuff to reflect this attitude. You can get the picture:
For the Dodge Avenger, Dodge Journey, and the Chrysler 200, that also meant the addition of the new 3.6-liter V6 dubbed Pentastar. (Editor’s note: Actually a pretty good six-cylinder engine, then and now. -PG) Suddenly, your choices for a new purchase improved and you felt less like you were driving something rental-grade.
Remember, the designs of this lineup dated back to the mid-2000s so there was no room for safety tech such as lane departure warning and blindspot warning; common standard equipment today. So the prices they demanded when new were considerably less as well. During most of their production cycles, MSRP rarely demanded more than $30,000.
The exception was the most expensive Dodge Journey and Chrysler 200 convertible equipped with the metal hardtop and aforementioned V6. These used a new six-speed automatic that was reportedly a marked improvement over the old slushbox.
The Jeep Compass and Patriot siblings got updated four-cylinder engines and eventually, a CVT option became available. But over the course of their production runs, a six-speed manual was available and you could equip with either front- or all-wheel-drive. Seeing the number of mechanical options these two had, it’s a good idea to look up which Jeep Patriot models were good and which Jeep Compasses to avoid.
By most accounts, the Chrysler Bailout cars were less than impressive. But Chrysler from that era showed more signs of ambition than people give it credit for today, even if a tough economy and shifting ownership stakes meant it didn’t work out.
Take the Ram trucks, Dodge Charger sedan and, of course, the staple minivans. It planned a roadster to rival the Miata, the Dodge Demon concept (before that name was reattached to the muscle cars later) that was even drivable. And it supposedly had an enticing line of—get this—electric vehicles in the works, including Jeeps and a minivan. This became known as the Environment and New Vehicles division, or ENVI for short. The potential looked like this:
An offering in every vehicle size turning away fossil fuels? Looks like something you’d see today, right? How appetizing! I spy a Dodge-branded Lotus Europa, as well as familiar faces in the Jeep Wrangler, Patriot, and Chrysler Town & Country. The designs weren’t evolutionary but the tech showcase was key.
There’s a caveat though, because details are scarce. MotorTrend reports that the company’s EV goals in 2009 targeted a range of 400 miles of range for the passenger cars—better than even the best EVs today, but likely impossible with the battery tech at the time.
The Lotus Europa-bodied Dodge Circuit EV was aiming for between 150 and 200 miles of range. At the time, they were reportedly on the lookout for battery suppliers to provide lithium-ion units that could meet their optimistic needs. It talks a big game in this press release, which laid out its hopes of putting half a million EVs on the road by 2013 and how the ENVI team “has access to the vast resources within Chrysler to allow the rapid proliferation of electric-drive vehicles.”
Unfortunately, that lineup never happened; today, the ENVI cars are written off as part of a play for bailout money, back when the U.S. automakers were being trashed left and right for not being as “green” as the Japanese or Koreans. V8-powered Chevy Tahoe Hybrid, anyone?
I’d be very curious to talk to someone behind the ENVI project. The engineers disbanded once the Chrysler brand was absorbed in the Fiat merger, which leaves me wondering how they calculated that 400 miles of range was feasible back then. (Editor’s Note: Get in touch if you know anything! -PG)
But the point is, the Chrysler Bailout era was better than you may think. Initially a bargain lineup that was critically panned in the industry, these models would serve as stalemates as they oversaw the company transfer once again to new ownership.
Although the critical feedback was almost unanimously panned, consumers had rosier experiences. Presumably, they bought into the fact that the Dodge Avenger and Chrysler 200 twins scored consistently well in IIHS crash testing, with the latter notching a Top Safety Pick-plus nod in 2013.
Even today, Consumer Reports doesn’t have a lot of love for these cars, ranking them too low to be “recommended” even into the 2010s. On the other hand, owner testimonials show there is a lot of love for these despite issues that may arise, such as these Edmunds reviews that detailed the overall ownership experience of a 2013 200. Diving in a rabbit hole of consumer reviews between all the models and noting the ones that kept theirs for years, the majority rate their cars between 4 and 5 out of 5.
You’ll know they’re genuine when they detail the breakdowns at how many miles and the cost to fix, along with internet guidance of where to find the parts needed. This and taking into account that a lot of the critiques came around when they were new, means when they lose their shine, suddenly they’re pre-owned darlings.
Not Bad Today If You Need A Ride
Look, the average transaction price to purchase new rose to a shade under $50,000 by year’s end in 2022. On the used side, the average per state was at least $31,000. This far into 2023, prices are mellowing but only slightly. So you may have to get creative in order to place you in the right car that wasn’t your first choice. What I present to you is an entire lineup of solutions to keep you on the road.
Scour the classifieds and you will find low-mileage examples of each of the Bailout cars if you look hard enough.
There are examples littered like this on the internet. Take this 2016 Compass equipped with a six-speed manual for sale in California. It’s a clean-title car with just 58k miles. I doubt it will pop up in Mercedes’ Marketplace Madness so I’ll give it an honorable mention here. 
Here’s a 2013 Dodge Avenger with 72,000 miles that’s listed for $8,995, also in California. To ensure it’s not a fluke, here’s another example.
The odds of finding a compact Chrysler product with less than 100,000 miles for less than five figures are high. Parts are available since the compact lineup shares powertrain components. You should have no problem sourcing, especially for a Dodge Journey. Production lasted 11 years until 2020.
Ah yes, the question that the average reader will ask here, why shouldn’t I get something from Honda or Toyota lines with that legendary reliability for the same money? Well, the answer I have for you, good reader, is that your Japanese compact will likely have 200,000 miles. Any lower miles and you’re looking at a 2009 hubcapped Corolla that’ll command 5 figures on Craigslist.
So yes, the Chrysler Bailout cars we once reviled were witnesses to a turning point in what was the company’s lowest moment, and are now acceptable to society, almost to the point of goodness. And while they didn’t come to fruition, Chrysler’s plans from that era showed it wanted to be more than it was at the time. And that EV lineup alone feels almost exactly like what the automakers want to do today, just 15 years or so premature.
If you need one more convincing argument, my dad’s still driving around in the 2006 Ram Super Duty he bought all those years ago, getting ready to tick over 200,000 miles.
Tyler is a customer service professional whose life has been upended by cars somehow. When he didn’t write about them, he sold them. When he didn’t sell them, he read about them. Automotive lore discussion, anyone? If nothing else, he’s the owner of two Mazdas near and dear to his heart (including a Miata RF, of course). Support his website @ tygermind.com and socials at @tygermind.
Had a Jeep Liberty when my ’06 Legacy wagon was getting a new bumper after getting rear ended. Considering that it lacked any serious off-road chops, it was a major downgrade in every possible way. Comfort, interior quality, size (had less space than the Subie), handling, acceleration. The idea that people bought these things seriously baffles me to this day.
Hey man, it’s an SUV! Noone with any self respect wants to be seen in some pussy wagon. Or, even worse, a minivan (wretch)!
If nothing else, Chrysler was inadvertently predicted where the small car market was going with the Caliber (borderline compact crossover, even available with AWD), and replacing it with the Dart was an idiotic move.
Now, I rented a post-refresh Avenger, and really wanted to like it, but the 2.4 was both gutless and thirsty (there’s probably literally no downside to getting the Pentastar), the seats were weirdly lumpy, the dead petal stuck out too far, the c-pillar was enormous and yet it still had tiny mirrors.
When the Pentastar is far and away the best engine option………. jeez.
So, what happened to that Chrysler 300 / Dodge Magnum combination down in one of the Chrysler photos near the top? Was that a Europe-only thing, or did it ever see the light of day?
Europe only, instead of the Magnum they got a wagon variant of the 300.
Hmm. Interesting take. My brother-in-law had a Sebring (forget what year) up until a few years ago. What a pile. Interior was garbage, it ate headlights with a concerning frequency, and as I recall it also had at least one or two radiators that my FIL wound up replacing in the middle of winter in a parking lot. Somehow he did manage to get it to 200k miles before trading it in, but the salesman only gave him $200 for it.
I’ve mentioned it before, but my dad has an ‘08 Liberty, which though not part of the GS platform family, was very much indicative of its era. It’s a Limited which I think was the top feature tier in ‘08. Even with leather, powered, heated seats, and a leather steering wheel, the interior is absolutely terrible. Cheap, hard plastic as far as the eye can see. It’s wildly underpowered, and the ride is somehow both floaty and nervous. The trans cooler and radiator both failed on it within a month of each other, and the AC hasn’t worked in the 4 years he’s had it, but otherwise it’s escaped any serious repairs so far. Though a thoroughly unpleasant vehicle to drive, it too somehow made it to 200k miles, and is used daily as a farm beater to move cows and chickens. When something big goes it’ll probably be scrapped.
So, to sum up…my experience with bailout-eta Chrysler is, “you’re gonna hate the car you drive…for a while.” Cheap, nasty, weirdly rugged.
Never… never… never.
I’ve owned a Chrysler of this era, a pre facelift minivan with the 3.8l, for about 2 and a half years now and it’s been fine. Never stranded me anywhere though it does have a misfire that comes and go. I got it with 130k miles on it and it’s at 163k now. In that time frame I’ve had to replace just about every wear and tear item; sparkplugs, wires, coil pack, brakes on both axels, all 4 tires, inner and outer tie rods, and trans cooler lines. Cruise control is broken cause chrysler cheaped out on the switch gear for it, even post facelift vans run into the same issue. Am/fm has no sound, which is a mildy common issue on non touch screen uconnects of the era. Interior is full of hard plastic. No speakers for the second row of seats. Stow n go is used more than I thought it would be. All and all it’s reliable enough and surprisingly durable. A tree fell on it once and didn’t even leave a scratch.
I plan on wringing every last mile out of this van but I don’t think I’ll replace it with another Fca/Stellantis product. If they can’t make a regular old radio work, I highly doubt they can make a new touch screen one work. And from what I hear, they can’t.
Had a similar experience trading in an old Celica for a new car years ago where the dealer was going to offer me ~$400 for it. They eventually said F it right at the end (when we’d already agreed on pricing) and told me to keep the car and still gave me the $400 trade-in value. Ended up selling it for ~$600 a few weeks later.
I had a rental Caliber for a few weeks while my 99 Legacy GT got a new engine (thanks to the previous owner replacing the timing belt, but not the tensioner).
The only good things I can say is we fit a recliner in it and the Sirius preview was still active. On the other hand, the steering wheel had excess flashing right next where your hands rested, which I discovered when I cut myself on it.
The Compass mentioned is gone. I’m curious about what how much they were asking for it. A small, cheap SUV with a manual? Interested. These will be on my list of things to check out when I do my fly out/drive back trip to California.
Bailout Chryslers weren’t bad at all as long as you got the Pentastar option. Sort on used car listings for highest mileage to lowest, and you’ll find a lot of Pentastars high in that list, with frequent claims of “runs like new”.
“Ah yes, the question that the average reader will ask here, why shouldn’t I get something from Honda or Toyota lines with that legendary reliability for the same money? Well, the answer I have for you, good reader, is that your Japanese compact will likely have 200,000 miles. Any lower miles and you’re looking at a 2009 hubcapped Corolla that’ll command 5 figures on Craigslist.”
Maybe on your local CL. Mine (SFBA and Sac) has a few clean titled 2008+ rust free Toyota and Honda compacts with under 100k and under $10k to choose from:
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/cto/d/san-jose-honda-civic-lx-2010/7631509790.html
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/cto/d/fremont-2008-honda-civic-hybrid-80k/7637113829.html
(kinda wondering about that towel over the passenger airbag though)
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/cto/d/saratoga-2009-honda-civic-lx-4d-sedan/7634522334.html
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/cto/d/hayward-2008-honda-civic-ex-99-one-owner/7638243927.html
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/cto/d/fremont-2009-honda-civic-low-miles/7630869641.html
https://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/d/sacramento-2013-toyota-yaris-le/7637018531.html
Also a few Accords and Camrys which are as “compact” as that 72k $8,995 2013 Avenger preceding this challenge:
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/cto/d/fremont-honda-accord-97k-miles-well/7638531767.html
https://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/d/rio-linda-2012-honda-accord/7630567146.html
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/cto/d/campbell-toyota-2010-camry-for-sale/7636432460.html
I know a guy who got downsized from a decent job, found out his wife was cheating on him and had his dog die. He ended up selling cars at a Chrysler dealership for a bit. He still says the Calibre he leased on the company discount was the worst part of this period in his life.
Ok, I made the part up about the dog.
Sounds like he needs to write a country song
> these models would serve as stalemates as they oversaw the company transfer once again to new ownership.
What does that mean?
I think the word was meant to be “stablemates”.
Oh duh
I think the only good ones are the Pentastar V6 ones, and even then you have to be careful to find a later iteration as I believe there were teething issues as any new engine family is prone to. It’s a real shame as pre-Daimler Chrysler was really onto something, the ’90s LH cars and the gen1 Neon were seriously fresh and decently well-built, and the 300M is still a guilty curiosity to me. I think it would have been worth not having the LX platform if it meant a high-achieving FWD-based Chrysler (i.e. sans Daimler), but having read several books about Chrysler during that era the circumstances forced their hand.
There will always be a need for cheap beaters that you expect little from, and are happy if it lasts a couple of years. Chrysler got ahead of the game and started cranking them out from the factory.
They really were of an era.
A very plastic era.
I got my drivers license in 1974. Definitely the lowest point for automobiles in the US, both performance and quality wise. I know crappy vehicles. The Chrysler bailout mobiles weren’t crap. Class leading? No. But not everyone wants or needs that. Ok, so if you wanted more you weren’t going to buy a Chrysler product. But they were for the “Festivus” crowd.
I have experienced as rentals all six of the bailout cars listed, most of them several times and for thousands of miles. All were crap. Total, utter crap. The least crap was the pre-CVT Patriot, but that’s hardly praise and a lot more like trying to pick the best venereal disease – no matter the answer, it isn’t anything anyone would want.
Now, the second-gen 200 wasn’t a bad car, especially with the Pentastar, but it was an odd, in-between size and rear seat headroom wasn’t good for the taller amongst us. The Dart was similar, and while not really bad cars, they weren’t good enough to really compare to their contemporary competitors.
Ditto.
Every Chryco rental I was stuck with was garbage and threw a CEL (except the Neons).
Best/worst: the 2014 T&C that wouldn’t start while full of our most important belongings while moving from NYC to FL.
Without any question I will never buy any Stellantis products.
I’ve left out my Fiat horror stories.
I did seriously love renting the first gen Neons though.
I had a friend with a first-gen Neon ACR. While not necessarily a nice car, it was silly fun to drive. It didn’t feel as well-built as some of the Japanese competitors, but it was solid and much cheaper. If Chrysler had stayed on the path set by the Neon, it would have done much better in the 2000s.
The Caliber wasn’t just bad, it was laughably terrible. My mom, unbeknownst to me, bought one for my brother and sister-in-law. Everything broke, and it was just a sad joke of a vehicle even when it was running. Which pretty much sums up all of the Chrysler products of that era that weren’t RWD or a minivan.
I’d trust a 200K Corolla that has had decent maintenance more than a new Caliber.
Unquestionably.
I remember being at the Detroit Auto Show the first year the Caliber came out. Working for a competitor at the time (GM), I had to sit in it to see if it was competitive. I cut my hand on the armrest padding because the supplier didn’t trim the mold flash off it. Not a good first impression, but at least it had an armrest.
On the other hand, when I needed a second car, and was poor, the Caliber was a great deal. I could get one a few years old, with about 5k miles of factory warranty left on it, for about $12k! It had more space than the comparable CUVs, and was exactly what I needed for my new family. (My 10 year old Saturn SL was too small.) So my wife got the Caliber. Was it a joy to drive with its anemic CVT and sloppy handling? No. It was an effective appliance that did what we needed, and it was reliable. I crashed one, and bought another slightly newer Caliber as a replacement. Anything of similar size was WAY more expensive. In 8 years of Caliber ownership, I had one crankshaft position sensor go bad, which was easy to repair myself. So for me, they were very reliable.
Although I can afford more now, I really lament that car companies are not selling cheap/affordable cars anymore for the “other half” of the population. Not everyone can, or should have to, afford a new > $40k car.
PS. There was nothing sharp on mine, and I never cut myself on the interior.
TL;DR: Everyone else thinks these are such garbage that they are cheap enough to be worth it for basic transportation.
And those sad folks who buy them anyway find out everyone else was right.
I had a Patriot beater second vehicle I used for LA commuting. It was terrible. Random red light stalling problem, noisy awful CVT, air conditioner compressor blew up, power windows on one side died. My Tacoma from the same year has been flawless except my radio turns off sometimes and it needed a $30 brake pedal sensor.
I can live with a janky interior and slow. They deserve the reputation they have. Only thing is it fit a lot of stuff and was sub-20k when they were released.
They are not bad, they pass all the safety requirements etc.. just commodity appliances?
Speaking of Mitsubishi, I am really impressed that their Outlander PHEV is doing so well.
Aside from the lightning in a bottle muscle cars and of course Jeep, pretty much.
A ton of people bought K-cars back in the day for that reason; like washing machines, they’re about the outcome, not the process for their buyers. Nothing wrong with that, if that’s one’s thing.
Calibers were trash. I rented one when my old LeSabre was in the shop. A 12 year old LeSabre was preferable to younger me than a less than year old Caliber.
The 200 had questionable ergonomics for me. The rear view mirror seemed to be in the middle of the windshield. The fuel economy for the 4 cylinder was about 23 mpg too. I gladly hopped back into my Cruze once it was back from deer strike #iforget.
Why yes, I do wear a bow tie at automotive gatherings, why do you ask?
I borrowed someone’s Caliber once. There was, no shit, a three quarter second delay between when you pressed the throttle and when the transmission/engine actually responded with forward movement. You put your foot to the floor and then let off entirely and if you had a passenger they would never even tell that you pressed the throttle at all.
Growing up with a first generation Neon R/T in our household and having a high school friend who had a PT Cruiser automatic, it was laughably bad.
The JS 200 had the same thing. I had one for a loaner for a recall being done on one of my Jeeps. I pulled out into traffic from the dealer lot and thought the gas pedal had somehow broken. The car only had 300 miles on it, and I could not have been happier to turn that car back in.
The success of the Challenger and Charger aside — which is the Porsche 911 of American cars, in which there is a trim available at every conceivable price point — discovering the disdain with some models just takes a talk with an experienced independent mechanic that works on most cars.
It’s not even so much a reliability or build quality issues per se, it’s that there’s huge variation of reliability and build quality within their lineup. Yes, there are problematic engines, transmissions, electrical, etc. but they’re thankfully not across every model. The reality is it always feels like there’s possibly a real “A-Team/B-Team” thing going on within the organization, and you can quickly tell what model might’ve been a B-Teamer.
Where I think most people will give Chrysler the credit they’re due is with interior packaging solutions, particularly for storage. They’re often one of the most innovative in the entire industry, which at the price point they cater to gets people coming back.
Well put. To me, it’s also a function of the car maker’s overall philosophy. And in this case, Chrysler’s lack of one.
I own a that-era Ford Focus, and a lot of the criticisms of Chrysler’s stuff applies to it – the interior isn’t luxurious or even nice, a ton of plastic that’s simultaneously hard and cheap, it’s not fast, and build quality is middling. But it benefits hugely from Ford’s ethos of create a model and then slowly but surely work out the kinks out over the years, marginally improving all the time.
Chrysler always seems to swing for the fences and then often loses interest if it’s not a home run right away.
And you’re totally right on the interior assessment. Chrysler is one of the few firms that has consistently gotten our biggest compliant, the touchscreen, right. That’s impressive.
Crossfire was never bad. Just ugly and already outdated when it debuted. So it got a bad rap.
Avenger was never bad, either, just not particularly good or anything remarkable. It was a car. I always kind of liked the baby Charger look.
Caliber was terrible. No two ways about it. Take a PT Cruiser (which I liked in 5MT form) and add a few hundred pounds and then make it look like a Stegosaurus that just finished chemo. Objectively one of the worst cars I’ve ever driven, hands down.
I’ll disagree with you on the looks of the Crossfire. While I don’t think it was beautiful, I did find them attractive – a nice blend of retro and modern styling cues.
I agree with you 100% on the Caliber, and include the Journey as well. They were both such utter garbage that I think 80% of them wound up in rental fleets and the other 20% were sold to people with new car dreams and bad credit scores.
Maybe ugly is too strong a word. I get what they were going for, but I just never thought the Art Deco styling ever really worked. Chrysler in that era definitely made a lot of bold choices, and I applaud them for that.
I liked the Crossfire and almost bought one. Then investigation showed it needed a Mercedes mechanic $, mercedes parts $, and parts stored in Germany so mercedes wait. The $$$ translated into ×××.
I remember riding in a brand new Caliber back when I was in middle school. I remember it because the interior was so absolutely dreadful that it seared itself into my mind forever. Even 15 year old me knew how bad it was. Somehow there wasn’t enough headroom in the backseat, and I kept hitting my head on the area above the door. I’m all of 5’8″ and was that height back then too.
To me this is a very weird flex. I could explain why I think so, but you know,
“Never try to teach a pig to sing; it just wastes your time and annoys the pig”