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Chrysler has some great looking cars. They got AWD and RWD sedans with some HP and good fuel economy. The Ram is 10x better looking in and out than Chevy and Ford, plus it will get the 8 speed automatic very soon and get a boost in fuel economy.
The Caliber is dead and will be replaced by a Fiat designed car. The Patriot and Compass will be replaced by a Fiat designed car. The Jeep Wagoneer is going to return. The Viper (SRT10) is back.
In other words, Chrysler had no place to go but up.
Personally, I think the Patriot and Compass should never have been built in their current form. The Compass, to me, is useless. It's small, looks cheap, is FWD and has constantly gotten bashed in reviews for being underpowered with a bleh transmission. It's not a Jeep. The Patriot would have done better if they had made it RWD with real 4x4 or AWD and put a 6cyl in it (ala Cherokee). I think Jeep needs to go back to having 3, maybe 4 vehicles in their lineup. The Wrangler, a decent cheap-ish 4 door (which the Liberty is not, cost wise) and the Grand Cherokee for those of us who want some comfort combined with utility.
Personally, I think the Patriot and Compass should never have been built in their current form. The Compass, to me, is useless. It's small, looks cheap, is FWD and has constantly gotten bashed in reviews for being underpowered with a bleh transmission. It's not a Jeep. The Patriot would have done better if they had made it RWD with real 4x4 or AWD and put a 6cyl in it (ala Cherokee). I think Jeep needs to go back to having 3, maybe 4 vehicles in their lineup. The Wrangler, a decent cheap-ish 4 door (which the Liberty is not, cost wise) and the Grand Cherokee for those of us who want some comfort combined with utility.
I would be okay with that. However, I am not sure that they could make a small 4 door that would under cut the Grand Cherokee which is actually pretty cheap if you don't opt for the power seat package. From memory it can be had for 27,000 or so. So, realistically, it should start at 23,000? Not even the Xterra is that cheap anymore. I would also be fine if Jeep made a legit large SUV to compete with the Suburban, Tahoe, Expedition, etc.
Personally, I think the Patriot and Compass should never have been built in their current form. The Compass, to me, is useless. It's small, looks cheap, is FWD and has constantly gotten bashed in reviews for being underpowered with a bleh transmission. It's not a Jeep. The Patriot would have done better if they had made it RWD with real 4x4 or AWD and put a 6cyl in it (ala Cherokee). I think Jeep needs to go back to having 3, maybe 4 vehicles in their lineup. The Wrangler, a decent cheap-ish 4 door (which the Liberty is not, cost wise) and the Grand Cherokee for those of us who want some comfort combined with utility.
Rented a compass a year or two ago. It gets my vote for the worst vehicle of the mellinium. There is just nothing good about it.
Chrysler makes some of the best looking cars on the market. The Challenger and Charger are probably the best looking cars of their type. Most people seem to think the RAM is the best looking pick up available. The caravan has the best ideas of any minivan. If they have licked their quality problems, it will do well.
All of their cars perform well. The Devils 6 (Pentstar) and the Hemi that is not a hemi are good solid engines with execellent performance and decent economy and are available in almost all of their cars. I do not know about their other engines. I know they have some 4s, but no idea how they perform.
Jeeps are really in a class of their own. Except the Cherokee, it has competitors, but it competes with them very well.
Viper of course is awesome as well, but it is really more of a showpiece for the dealers than something really practical to buy and drive.
I think Chrysler really has their act together. If they keep it up and if they do not repeat their qulaity disasters of the 1980s - 2008, they have a pretty good chance of staying at the top of the heap.
They had a really awesome electric car in the works, but they scrapped it.
Last edited by Coldjensens; 09-06-2012 at 01:12 PM..
Yes, but they don't have anything in the fast growing compact segment that competes with the Cruze, Focus, or Civic. Perhaps they should just throw in the towel with the Dodge and Chrysler brands and just focus on the Jeep Line.
The 2013 Dodge Dart is Chrysler's new entry into the compact class. It's a solid car and I predict they are going to sell a lot of them. FWIW I'd much rather drive the new Dart than a Cruze or Civic or Corolla. Only reason I'd take a Focus over the Dart is because it's offered as a hatchback
I love the Challengers, and think they did do a respectable job on the Charger refresh.
That said, having recently driven a Pentastar Charger, I was grossly unimpressed. It looks terrific at 20 feet. From behind the wheel, it felt chintzy to me. More of a rental car quality. Not because of the powertrain either (it was quick, although not a hemi). Seats were flat, dash and doors seemed hollow. Way too much black. The interior reminded me of being in a Pontiac G6 (which is no compliment).
All of their cars perform well. The Devils 6 (Pentstar) and the Hemi that is not a hemi are good solid engines with execellent performance and decent economy and are available in almost all of their cars. I do not know about their other engines. I know they have some 4s, but no idea how they perform.
I'm only familiar with the GEMA 2.4. In an Avenger/200 it performs like the Duratec 2.5 or Ecotec 2.4. They're all decent workhorses. As far as high-RPM harshness from best to worst I'd rank them Ecotec, GEMA, Duratec but it's still a close call. In regular driving they're pretty equivalent. But none of the big 3 are as refined as Honda's or Toyota's large 4 cylinders. The GEMA 2.4 also doesn't have any documented problems I can find, should be a solid motor. Anyway, aren't those built to be turbocharged??
I think the Dart is moving in the right direction, but I haven't driven one yet. The band-aids for the Charger/300 and Journey definitely make them competitive now. The latest Durango seems nice, we'll see how well it holds up. The midsize sedan offerings should've been done last year though. The 200 looks like a nice car with good band-aids, but driving it is another story altogether. The Avenger has the exact same problems -- cramped, poor driving position, doesn't handle its weight well at all. And the Avenger is just one ugly car IMO.
I don't think Chrysler has a very good future. In the car realm, the most common thing you will hear about Chrysler products is that "they're OK, but not as good as (fill in the blank)." Then, too, their sales are often skewed by sales to non-retail customers. Example: the Charger. It has become the de facto replacement vehicle for the discontinued Ford Crown Victoria in police vehicle fleets around the country. It would be interesting to know how many Chargers are sold to law enforcement as a percentage of total Charger production. That also used to be true in trucks. For years, the federal government was a huge buyer of Dodge (Ram) trucks. From what I can see now, though, it appears that GM (maybe because of the government bailout?) holds sway in pickup sales to the Feds. When it comes to fleet sales of trucks to private businesses--the people who use trucks to keep their business running--Ram ranks dead last among the domestic auto companies. It is true that Dodge pickup sales probably saved Chrysler in the 1980's and early 1990's, but the only reason was that the otherwise substandard Dodge pickup had the outstanding option of the Cummins ISB diesel engine. GM carved out a big chunk of Dodge's diesel pickup market when GM came out with the Duramax in 2002, and when Ford finally ended a decade or horror stories with the 6.0 and 6.4 Navistar diesel engines with the introduction of Ford's brand new and very good 6.7 diesel engine in 2011, Ford poised themselves to carve their own chunk out of the Ram market.
The people who get all glassy-eyed over the muscle car and specialty car segment need to realize that those vehicles make up only a small percentage of total vehicle sales. The dustbin of history is loaded with car companies that made some really cool sports, muscle, or specialty cars, but went belly-up because they couldn't produce a decent mainstream vehicle at a price people could afford. The car company that survives and prospers is not the company that produces a gas guzzling Viper or Challenger that has little real utility, but the company that produces efficient, affordable, utilitarian vehicles like a Camry or Prius.
I would be okay with that. However, I am not sure that they could make a small 4 door that would under cut the Grand Cherokee which is actually pretty cheap if you don't opt for the power seat package. From memory it can be had for 27,000 or so. So, realistically, it should start at 23,000? Not even the Xterra is that cheap anymore. I would also be fine if Jeep made a legit large SUV to compete with the Suburban, Tahoe, Expedition, etc.
IMO I would have the Dodge Durango go after Suburban, Tahoe, Expedition in the large 9 pasenger SUV Market and keep the Jeep Wrangler and Jeep GC the way they are now.
I'm only familiar with the GEMA 2.4. In an Avenger/200 it performs like the Duratec 2.5 or Ecotec 2.4. They're all decent workhorses. As far as high-RPM harshness from best to worst I'd rank them Ecotec, GEMA, Duratec but it's still a close call. In regular driving they're pretty equivalent. But none of the big 3 are as refined as Honda's or Toyota's large 4 cylinders. The GEMA 2.4 also doesn't have any documented problems I can find, should be a solid motor. Anyway, aren't those built to be turbocharged??
I think the Dart is moving in the right direction, but I haven't driven one yet. The band-aids for the Charger/300 and Journey definitely make them competitive now. The latest Durango seems nice, we'll see how well it holds up. The midsize sedan offerings should've been done last year though. The 200 looks like a nice car with good band-aids, but driving it is another story altogether. The Avenger has the exact same problems -- cramped, poor driving position, doesn't handle its weight well at all. And the Avenger is just one ugly car IMO.
I have the Pentastar in my GC - I'm a big fan. My last Cherokee had the I6 and don't get me wrong, it was solid...but it didn't have power like the Penta does. I put 1100lbs behind it when I brought my last motorcycle home and it accelerated like there was nothing back there. That said, I've driven cars with the GEMA, it wasn't bad, but not the best 4 banger I've driven.
Last edited by ReblTeen84; 09-06-2012 at 06:45 PM..
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