Like that one week your best friend miraculously started for the high school football team, the Dodge Hornet is having a tough time out there. And in the car industry, one rule holds true—when the going gets tough, the prices get going.
Dodge has sold just 1,045 Hornets over the last 45 days. Almost 15,000 remain in dealer lots right now. Right now, that means there is a full 646 days worth of supply just sitting around. As a guide, a popular car, like the Toyota Camry, might only have 30 days supply at best.
What does that mean? It means a bunch of dealers are sick of that Dodge compact SUV sitting on their lot. They want it gone to make space for cars that are actually gonna move, so they’re slashing prices. They’re going so hard, in fact, that you can now get a turbo AWD SUV for Nissan Versa money.
Git ‘Er Gone
Of the Dodge Hornets currently out there, plenty are 2024 models, but a ton of 2023 models are still sitting around too. These are the ones that dealers are most keen to shift. The nuttiest deal I could find was over at David Stanley Dodge in Oklahoma City, OK. As per Cars.com, the dealership is selling a 2023 Dodge Hornet GT Plus AWD for just $26,225. That’s a full $11,600 below MSRP!
For that money, you’re getting a compact SUV with a 2.0-liter turbocharged engine good for 268 horsepower. And you can tell all your friends it’s really an Alfa Romeo underneath! That’s pretty cool, right?
That’s a particularly good deal if you like the Hornet, but it’s not the only one out there. Cook Chrysler Dodge Ram over in Maryland has a 2023 Dodge Hornet GT for $26,500, a full $7,170 under MSRP. There’s a black one in Central Florida for $5,000 off, too, and another in North Carolina for $7,812 under sticker.
2024 models aren’t immune, either. David Stanley Dodge has a 2024 model too, and they’re keen to get rid of it. You can have their 2024 Hornet GT for $10,100 under sticker, because it’s currently listed at just $22,230. As promised, that’s Nissan Versa money right there. Interestingly, the model had cash on the hood from the outset. It was listed at $1,500 under MSRP when it first hit Cars.com in November last year. If you want a higher-end model, you can get a 2024 Hornet GT Plus for $6,470 off if you’re shopping in Virginia. 
I’ve saved the best for last, though. So far, we’ve looked at the GT models, which have the turbocharged 2.0-liter engine. The 2024 model year introduced the hybrid models, which pair a 1.3-liter turbo engine with an electric motor and a 15.5 kWh battery pack. Total combined output is a healthy 285 hp, which will send the Hornet R/T sprinting to 60 mph in around 5.5 seconds.
If you want the peachiest deal, head down to Diehl of Moon down in Pennsylvania. They’ve listed a 2024 Dodge Hornet R/T for just $26,455—a full $15,843 under MSRP. They’ve been trying to shift this thing all year, and they’re clearly getting sick of it. Maybe they just really hate the Blue Bayou finish. Who knows?
Oh wait, it can’t be that, because they’ve got another one in Acapulco Gold at almost $17,000 off. That’s truly bonkers for a car with only delivery mileage on the clock. It looks sharp in that color, no? I just wish they’d offered some flat colors, too. I reckon it would pop more than the metallics.
It’s not just Diehl, though. I’m spotting these things all over the country. Missouri, California, Connecticut – take your pick.
Whoa, Nelly
What you’re seeing is supply and demand in action. Dealers have a ton of supply. So much so, that if Dodge stopped making Hornets right now, they’d have enough cars to last for almost two years of sales at current rates.
The Hornet simply isn’t finding a customer base. Early technical issues haven’t helped its reputation. This may have scared a lot of people off, particularly if they also heard that it was based on an Alfa Romeo. Discovering the new compact Dodge is really an Italian car at heart doesn’t do a lot to inspire confidence.
I think it’s a little sad, in some respects. I’m driving an Alfa Romeo Tonale this week, the car that Dodge so lazily rebadged for itself. It’s kinda neat, and feels really nice inside. But it also doesn’t really feel Italian in the way I’d hoped it would, given this is my first Alfa. You’ll hear more about that later. In any case, if you told me this was a Dodge from the outset, I’d be pretty blown away at how smooth and sophisticated it feels. Plus, I wouldn’t be sorry it didn’t have a screaming V6 that sang like Ariana Grande.
https://www.instagram.com/p/C6wFdPMuCD7/?hl=en
Can Dodge turn this one around? Boy, I don’t know. Price cuts aren’t really shifting these things. Look at the pricing history on Cars.com and you’ll see dealers have tried time and again to shave a few thousand off to get these moving.
Dodge needs to pull a rabbit out of the hat to make these things irresistible. What that looks like, I don’t know. But until it figures something out, you can score a hell of a deal on a Hornet pretty much anywhere in the United States right now. Happy hunting.
Image credits: Dodge, Stellantis, Cars.com via screenshot
“ it’s really an Alfa Romeo underneath”
That’s the problem here.
Well, they waited to release this thing the same year they were dropping the LX cars, and people hated Dodge for doing so. So slap on the fact that Stellantis owners Exor, the Agnelli family, and the French government want more profit per unit rather than more units for similar if not less profit, and you’ll see why they weren’t going to sell well anyways.
I’ve said my peace on ownership.
I was STUNNED to see that you can build a Dodge Hornet up to $71,500+ in Canada, which is right around the same price as a fully loaded BMW X1 M35i XDrive!!!
Get yours today, pre-depreciated.
When I saw the Hornet would be available as a PHEV when they first announced, I was intrigued. I’d been looking at the new (at the time) Kia Niro.
Then they came out and the numbers were disappointing. The range, the non-electric EPA mileage, and especially the price.
There were other, better options that were more efficient for less money.
I’m not sure who this vehicle is for? Not me. ????♂️
That was me, except that I already had the (first-gen) Niro PHEV when they announced the Hornet. I really wanted to like the Hornet, but all of those disappointing aspects just make it hard to justify.
How has the Niro PHEV been?
It’s a good appliance, but it’s pretty boring. My biggest complaints have been with the local Kia service department, the sometimes clunky switch to gas power, and the low overall power. I can’t maintain 85 mph going up White Bird Pass with the pedal to the floor (grades as high as 12.7%).
But it gets better gas mileage than advertised and most of the little things are done well enough. The ventilated seats, for example, aren’t as good as those in a Chrysler 300, but are better than those in a Subaru Outback or several other vehicles. And it has physical controls for HVAC, stereo, etc.
“I can’t maintain 85 mph going up White Bird Pass with the pedal to the floor (grades as high as 12.7%).”
Are you talking about the White Bird hill summit in Idaho? A two lane road with no physical divider and portions with a 55 mph speed limit?
https://visitidaho.org/things-to-do/natural-attractions/whitebird-hill-summit/
Shoot, I definitely misremembered which hill it is up there, because I’m thinking of one with separated lanes, multiple lanes each direction. I get passed with the pedal to the floor because my little car just can’t keep up with the traffic (that’s all speeding, but not 30+ over). I haven’t gone up that way in a bit. Sorry for spreading misinformation. Thanks for catching it.
“There were other, better options that were more efficient for less money.”
Such as the Prius.
The Prius in my view is the #1 hybrid that I would pick over the Hornet. Better efficiency, likely better reliability/durability and it costs over $10,000 less.
It’s almost like Stellantis has no idea of who Dodge’s competition REALLY is.
I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a vehicle more transformed by simply changing wheels than these things. The R/T with the bigger, blacked out wheels isn’t too bad looking, not great, but not terrible in my opinion.
But the GT with those smaller wheels? Holy rental cars Batman! Quick, get this back to Hertz before they report is as stolen.
Insane that a $32k car has wheels like that from the factory. The abysmal offset is hilarious, too.
Like, how the fuck can you NOT sell a small CUV in this country? Americans are stepping over each other to grab them.
Because it’s a $40,000+ small CUV with Dodge (read, extremely non-premium) badges. 2020 was the final model year in the US for both the Journey and Caravan, and they started at $25,000 and $29,000, respectively – I feel like that’s what prospective buyers’ frame of reference is going to be when they go to check out a new family wagon-like thing from Dodge.
Not to mention this is too small to pick up Journey sales, which dealers absolutely loved. Easiest car to get a family who needed 3 rows but had subpar credit into.
Americans are not risk-takers with their car purchasing, though. They want established nameplates from brands they can trust, which is why you see legions of Rav4, CR-Vs, and Equinoxes. The Hornet has been poorly marketed, isn’t exactly cheap, and it’s no secret that it’s based entirely on an Alfa Romeo. It was doomed from the start.
“Americans are not risk-takers with their car purchasing, though”
Then how do you explain all the Americans who bought Yugos in the past?
Or how do you explain all the people who bought BEVs from Rivian and Tesla, long before having the level of fast electric car charging that we have today?
Yugos were dirt cheap. There was less at risk. Neither Tesla nor Rivian have ever had the kind of market share that legacy OEMs need.
“Neither Tesla nor Rivian have ever had the kind of market share that legacy OEMs need.”
Which OEM do you speak of? Maybe Mazda or Subaru perhaps?
Well Tesla has more overall market share than either of those two in the USA and other places:
https://www.goodcarbadcar.net/2023-us-auto-sales-figures-by-manufacturer/
Need I remind you that the Tesla Model Y is now the top selling vehicle globally?
Yeah I should have expected someone to push back on that one. Tesla has the scale now… In one car – the 3 and Y are the same. They did not have it until that last few years, though, since we’re talking about “long before having the level of fast electric car charging that we have today”.
Anyway I don’t even know where I’m going with this. My point was that Yugo was never more than a bit player. Tesla is now I suppose, with about 4% market share, but by the time they got there, I’d say it’s arguable whether you could call the purchase a risk. When Tesla sales were at Yugo levels, yeah I’d say the outlook was much less certain.
“Like, how the fuck can you NOT sell a small CUV in this country? “
Simple… by grossly overpricing it and only offering it in ‘loaded’ form with a lot of features a lot of people don’t care about… but are used as an excuse to disproportionally jack up the MSRP.
If they added a 10 year/100,000 mile bumper-to-bumper warranty, I’d consider it. What’s it got? 3 year/36,000?
Yes, Dodge needs to accept that they are not known for quality. Having the same warranty as Toyota is not going to cut it.
But if you really, REALLY want one, just wait a year when you can buy a used one with 5k miles on it for like $10,000.
I’m one of the
potential customersidiots actually thinking along these lines. What will likely keep from pulling the trigger is the license plate fees in my state. If the MSRP is $47K, even if I could buy it for $7K, I’ve got to pay $470 per year for plates until 2034. I’m too used to paying $50/year (per car – I’m currently pay about $800/yr, but at least it’s for a fleet).Gross! What state is this?
Iowa… corn, corn, corn, corn, corn, what’s that smell?, corn, corn, corn…
Wow. I had no idea. I thought the annual ‘property tax’ Virginia imposes on vehicles was terrible, but that is on value stated at the DMV. My 911 (bought in Virginia) is far less than my Triumph Scrambler (brought from out West) to register.
We don’t have emissions testing, so that evens things out a little bit, but that 1% of MSRP yearly license plate fee does have an effect on what I’m looking at if it’s a newer-used car.
Is there a cap? Like 1% of MSRP for X years?
Yes, thankfully. It’s 1% the first 7 years, then .75% for a couple of years, then .5% for a couple of years and finally it bottoms out at $50. I miss the old days when it was some combo of weight and age and my Karmann Ghia was $12.00/year.
Please tell me if you’re willing to go through all that you’ll at least get the Tonale version.
As long as it’s as cheap of cheaper – I like to swing for the kneecaps on pricing.
If a manufacturer has to slash $10K to $16K off the price then the vehicle is/was overpriced from the get go! Same thing is happening with GM and their pickup trucks!
Exactly. I was intrigued when I first heard about the Hornet and laughed out loud at the price tag. Over $40K for a Dodge CUV. LOL no.
Yes, the discounted prices feel more like what the MSRP should have been in the first place
Or Maserati:
https://www.theautopian.com/a-dealer-is-selling-a-new-maserati-levante-for-31000-off-and-its-not-a-fluke/
If I had to choose between the Maserati and the Corolla-I’d take the Corolla. A GR Corolla to be exact!lol
I’ve only seen a handful of Hornets in real life, as to this articles point they are not big sellers, but I must say the styling doesn’t really work. The Tonale looks decent, but with Dodge restyling the design is not cohesive and the thing simply looks awkward.
But the price has always been insane on these things. Add the reliability woes into the mix and I can see why they have been rotting away on dealer lots. Sadly, I don’t believe a single price listed above, as I’ve yet to meet a Dodge dealer who doesn’t stack fake rebates and incentives to get the advertised price down to get people in their stores only to remove those rebates to get prices back up once there’s a butt in the seat.
It looks like a 3/4 size Charger that swallowed an air hose. I had one barreling down on me recently and I couldn’t stop laughing at how ridiculous it looked being hooned. A Charger or Challenger creeping up on you looks menacing. A Hornet creeping up on you looks like Karen is running late for her nail appointment…or Kyle just heard that whey protein and Monster are on sale.
Yeah, the Charger-aping design of the front end has all the wrong proportions and just doesn’t work with the rest of the body.
I’ve not actually had one come up behind me yet, but I’m sure I’ll laugh about your comment when it does happen!
ON SALE?!? BRUH WHERE
If there were one of these deals near me, I’d be tempted to give the thing a chance at these prices. But none of the local dealers have any of the PHEV, and I don’t really want to travel that far for a test drive.
The efficiency is disappointing, the cargo space is lacking, and the reported problems make me nervous, but those prices for vehicles with actual colors are tempting.
Well US$15,000 is roughly the amount I considered it to be overpriced by.
When releasing the Hornet, Dodge/Stellantis seemed to be still living in the fantasy that pandemic-shortage-pricing would last forever and they could get away with only selling loaded AWD version as the ‘base’ and MORE LOADED AWD versions as options… for fantasy-level MSRPs that would give them margins that they never could get on a vehicle like this in the past.
And now it’s blowing up in their faces and they have to offer cash on the hood to bring the selling price down to reality.
With this huge discount, to me it just brings the price down to where it should have been in the first place.
“Dodge needs to pull a rabbit out of the hat to make these things irresistible.”
Make a version with the 4XE hybrid powertrain and sell it for $35K and a FWD hybrid version of that powertrain for $30K
I predict either of those would be an irresistable spec at those price points.
There are plenty of people out there who would happily trade some power for way better fuel economy.
Exactly. Which is why, if I needed a compact SUV, I’d be cross-shopping the Hornet with the Chevy Trax.
Stellantis needs to recognize the Dodge brand for what it is, not what they wish it were.
It will be a very long time before ‘Dodge’ and ‘Premium’ are anywhere near linked in the minds of consumers.
“It will be a very long time before ‘Dodge’ and ‘Premium’ are anywhere near linked in the minds of consumers.”
Yup. That’s the other delusional fantasy they have… that Dodge now competes in any way with ‘premium’ brands when in reality, people like us see them as competing with Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Ford, Chevy, etc.
In my estimation, the time when consumers see Dodge as ‘premium’ will be somewhere between ‘not in my lifetime’ to ‘never’.
Making Dodge ‘premium’ is about as hopeless as when VAG tried to make the VW brand ‘luxury’… which was also complete nonsense.
“They want it gone to make space for cars that are actually gonna move”
Like what, Durangos? Dodge only sells two cars now, Hornets and Durangos. The Charger and Challenger assembly line shut down and they’re being moved from Brampton to Windsor for the next generation which isn’t on sale yet.
And that pisses me off… shutting down production of an existing vehicle before the replacement is ready. Fucking stupid.
Yeah, I don’t understand it either, especially since they’re being built in different plants. Why couldn’t they have a seamless transition from one generation to the next.
That’s FCA/Stellantis’ business model. There was a 6-7 month gap between the Caliber and Dart, a crazy 2-year gap between the 2nd and 3rd generation Durango, over two years between the 2nd and 3rd generation Viper, and, of course, the Journey, Nitro, Avenger, Dart, and 200 were all dropped without replacements of any sort (and the Journey and 200 were both actually selling pretty well)
Don’t forget that they killed the Chrysler 300 and Jeep Renegade and Cherokee. The Cherokee is an especially odd vehicle to kill off without a replacement, since it competed in such a hot segment along with the Journey.
We don’t talk about the Nitro
About 31k units of Challenger Charger still on lots vs Hornets ~15k on lot/in transit. They got plenty to sell
31K of inventory won’t be that much if that inventory needs to carry them for over a year.
They have so much inventory of their whole lineup – they’re not concerned about an outgoing model carrying any sales.
The bigger problem is Jeep and Ram sales shitting the bed. April 2024 retail sales of Jeep were down 29% YoY and Ram was down 44%. Ram 1500 just posted its lowest month of sales in 10 years…they need to focus on current sales of current products/current investments.
Avg Days to sell a Stellantis vehicle is 124 Days, Ford 98, GM 76, Toyota 36
They can easily fix their inventory problem by getting rid of their fantasy-level MSRPs
Amen to that brother. They got high on inflated Covid margins and cant kick the habit – till they do, they are sinking their own ship.
I’m pretty sure they intentionally built up a stockpile of those to try to tide dealers over until the new Charger arrives. They sold 80,000 Chargers and 55,000 Challengers in 2022, the last ” normal” calendar year of production (and 76,000 and 45,000; respectively, in the run-out year of 2023). Really, Stellantis should have started January with something like 130,000 Chargers and Challengers in inventory if they were really serious about maintaining volume and market share during the 12-month gap before the new cars are available.
Dodge is going to use their dealer lots to store Toyotas?
If I had ANY use for one, I’d be test driving them now. Even the worst of modern cars are pretty OK. If it’s truly bad enough, lemon laws offer protection of last resort.
I’d be willing to take a chance on either powertrain based on the spec sheet stats. I’m not sure these are a better deal than a new Chevy Trax for even less money, but I’d find out.
There has to be some decent content to arrive at that MSRP, and discounting like this doesn’t happen very often.
It’s cheap enough that I could see buying one and driving it for a few years, then dumping it the very minute that the warranty expires.
I imagine the resale value would make you regert this decision. Leasing is your friend, in this case.
This seems like the kind of car you lease, not buy…
Or neither, as Americans are demonstrating
I don’t remember Dodge dealers slicing 5 figures off the cost of a Charger. Maybe they shoulda stuck with what works?
Not exactly a Charger, but last month I saw leftover ’23 Chrysler 300S’s with the V8 listed for well over $10k off. Actually tempting. That’s the last V8 sedan we’re ever going to see, $200,000 Mercs notwithstanding. For ’24 it’s V6 only.
Cadillac would like a word
As much as I would love a Blackwing, they fall in the same unobtanium category.
Wow, that is very tempting. You would think that by 2023, after cranking the thing out at Brampton for almost 20 years, all the bugs have been thoroughly worked out.
My thoughts exactly. It helps that V8 cars get a German-manufactured ZF gearbox, too.
I do not even remember seeing a 300 in the past year or two. I seriously thought they discontinued it years ago.
Challenge R/Ts can be had in the mid-30’s right now.
Goofy propositions aside, I’m going to drive a car that big I want it to have four doors. I also want it to have a manual gearbox, which is why I currently don’t own one of the boys from Brampton.
It’s too late to edit, but that was supposed to say “goofy proportions”, not “goofy propositions”.
“I don’t remember Dodge dealers slicing 5 figures off the cost of a Charger. “
I do. I recall pre-pandemic, you could easily find V6 Dodge Chargers for CAD$25K… which was at least $10K-$15K off the official MSRP. And you could find lower end Hemi versions in the low $30K range.
The only ones that didn’t have the big discounts pre-pandemic were the SRT Hellcat models.
Commenters: “Give us cheap cars”
Dodge: “$22,000 for a reasonably practical and powerful crossover?”
Commenters: “NOT LIKE THAT”
I think the part you’re missing is that people want affordable and reliable cars. These have had many issues, probably more than any other new car from a mainstream brand in several years, and are often in the shop more than on the road. Spending $22k to have a non functioning car doesn’t seem like the right play here.
Hmm… I think there will be at least one or two folks who have that much on their project cars….that don’t function yet….
I feel attacked. No need to get personal with it!
People here have mourned the loss of such paragons of reliability as the Ford Fiesta, Kia Rio, Subaru Impreza, and Mitsubishi Mirage, so I don’t think reliability concerns are the only reason this is getting shit on.
There were mournful voices yesterday pining for the return of a Daihatsu!
More likely it’s just “crossover = bad” with no further thought beyond that.
All of those had issues, but far less than this. But I concede that many just automatically hate crossovers so that’s fair. Regardless of the body style, and even the price though, if I can’t drive it, why would I buy it?
For the last… oh… many many many…. years, people went to Dodge to get that powah. (P.S., never been in a Charger/Challenger personally).
The Hornet…. the complete opposite of powah. Not a 2/4 door “sedan”, but a small CUV, with, basically, zero Dodge DNA in it.
Personally, as an expat-Aussie, living in central Illinois, driving my
Holden Commodore SS-V RedlineChevy SS, I am not adverse to foreign/rebadged vehicles. But com’on, the Hornet… is just not a fit for the Dodge we’ve all come to love (??) over the last 20 odd years.(Ohh… first time I get to interact with V10! Woot! Do I get a gift bag?)
I don’t disagree with this. The Hornet was and is a somewhat weird fit with the direction of the Dodge brand over the last decade.
But it wasn’t that long ago that you could buy Journeys, Nitros, Calibers, Darts, Grand Caravans, and such with Dodge nameplates. You can still buy a V6 Durango. The “brotherhood of muscle” or whatever nonsense and focus on only the Charger/Challenger is actually pretty recent.
If they wanted Dodge to survive, they had to do *something*. The Hornet at its MSRP was clearly not it. But the idea of putting out a small CUV with performance aspirations was not the worst thing they could have done.
You do get a gift bag, only because your own taste in vehicles is impeccable (says this fellow Commodore owner).
Didn’t know you had one also! GTO/G8/SS ?
Also, I think you and I probably have a “hero” in common. All praise Mr Lutz
My first new car was a G8 GT; I have a 2016 SS now.
I think that’s what’s so paradoxical about it. They want Dodge to survive, but then hard pivot away from volume selling models and put out something that doesn’t match up to volume sellers, in a segment they’ve never really competed in. Performance-oriented crossovers without an upscale badge are pretty niche. I get the sense it was more about finding a way to build and ship more Tonales than it is about getting Dodge product, the 7400 Hornets they moved in Q1 is several times more than the entire Alfa brand sales.
It’s not like the Hornet is an anomaly in a full CDJR showroom either. I went to the website for that first dealer in OK and they have Compasses listed at $8100 off. Same 2.0T just less power, but a bit more practical overall for being similarly sized. I don’t disagree that there’s probably some commenter dogpiling contributing here, but the same happens with most Jeeps too and seems like the $19,990 Compass would still get a kinder response.
Only if you tell him the Viper V10 is either a tractor or Lamborghini engine
That gift bag would have poop in it.
I mean some people are into that sort of thing, I’m not here to shame anyone
A gift colostomy bag.
The Fiesta with a stick was fine, the Rio and Impreza both have an “above average” reliability rating on Consumer Reports, the Mirage has an “average” on reliability. Not sure the point you’re making here.
Consumer Reports also predicts the Hornet to have average reliability.
The point is none of those cars are Toyotas (comparing to the Fiesta with a manual is especially laughable when the vast majority are Powershifts). I continue to feel that the reason people hate this is the price (now fixed apparently) and the fact that it’s a CUV, not simply the reliability.
I’ve never seen them advertised, but they’ve sold at least a few near me that run. I’ve seen three different colors on my commute this week. I expect I’ll see more if these prices continue.
Interesting. I have never seen one outside of the dealer lots. And I see a lot on the lots!
To me, they look oddly wide when in motion, on the highway. Sort of how a Porsche Macan looks.
Yeah they’re weird looking on the lots too. Just a poor rebadge, I think the Tonale looks good, but the Dodge redesign relied to heavily on the ugly stick.
Once the Tonale starts crashing like this, I might start shopping. If I’m gonna own an SUV that’s guaranteed to be in the shop more than my driveway, it’s at least gonna have the excuse that it has an Alfa Romeo badge and those sweet phone-dial wheels.
There’s three things that’s killing the Hornet right now:
People trying to save money don’t want to be uncomfortable and get 18mpg. Moreover, they especially don’t want to do that in an odd-looking package.
Turbo 4s only do well on the highway. When it comes to real world city driving they’re as bad as anything else. I’ve owned two spicy 4s in a row…both of them exceeded their highway MPG estimates pretty significantly but fell comically below their city estimates. If I manage 18 in my Kona N during rush hour it’s a good day. My lifetime league in my GTI was a little under 22 MPG and my lifetime MPG in my Kona N is an abysmal 20.4.
Yep, turbo engines are efficient if you’re cruising in top gear.
Low speed stop-and-go? Nope. WOT? Absolutely not. Older engine, but I remember being able to directly compare the fuel efficiency of my Lancer Evolution VIII MR with a 24 foot boat. Yeah, I could get low 20s highway, but if I was ripping up a backroad, it was legitimately only about 5mpg.
I am not in the market for a compact crossover. A hope to never again be in the market for a compact crossover.
But yeah, these are intriguing. I know they are probably shit, but I’m an idiot, and I often make questionable choices. 25ish-k for a 2.0T crossover is pretty awesome. 30k for a plug-in? Outstanding. You’re taking a bit of a risk, but there’s always a good chance you end up with a solid one. New car warranty, if it ends up being a nightmare, dump it before it’s over.
The value of this car at the insanely inflated Stellantian MSRPs was never there, and would automatically be a horrible choice. Just get a Mazda if you’re going to spend 40k on a quick crossover. But at 25-30k?
I have a similar weakness, partially because I bought a first-year Jeep Renegade turbo in 2015, which everyone thought would be a horrible choice, and it’s been one of the best vehicles I’ve ever owned. If the Hornet was offered with a manual I probably would have at least test driven one by now.
This is like someone offering half price ass-kickings. Why would I pay for something that I wouldn’t want for free?
Even turbo hybrid ass kickings?
Two systems for twice the failure rate! Weren’t folks seeing literally hundreds of fault codes in damn near new vehicles?
Couple that with being yet another bland crossover, I’ll pass.
Half price ass-kickings?! I wish I hadn’t just spent all my money at the poke-in-the-eye store!
They’re half price because they’re administered by a man who lost a leg in a freak accident.
Didn’t the Journey this thing replaced sell for like $15-20k? That’s the target. Those the the buyers sitting on the sidelines that need to be convinced.
Did this replace the journey? The Journey had a third row, I think it was at least mid sized if not full sized vs this is a compact, so I don’t think anything really replaced the journey. Having said that, I do not think they were under $20k, but it’s a car so forgettable that I honestly have no idea.
I actually just assumed THIS had a third row, since cramming one in to shift more units is what you do these days. The Journey did sell VERY cheap in the real world, though. At the end, it wasn’t unusual to hear about those who bothered to look at them taking home loaded examples with the 300ish horsepower V6 for under $20k. It was definitely the cheapest way to get a third row.
Fair enough. Given that this is a rebadged Alfa I am guessing it’s aimed more upmarket than the Journey could ever dream to be. The Journey was an NPC car in every way.
The Journey was in my opinion, more or less a replacement for the short wheelbase Caravan of yore. Cheap as shit 3-row vehicle.
Dodge has never attempted to sell anything like the Hornet before. I would consider it’s primary competitor(s) to be the Mazda CX-5/50. But for anyone to trust such a thing from Dodge, they’re going to need to undercut the Mazda by a fair amount.
A bad deal at any price