Anybody drive one yet? They look amazing.

http://www.dodge.com/en/2013/dart/

Posted by budda Anybody drive one yet? They look amazing. http://www.dodge.com/en/2013/dart/

yes i have... my review of it was in my "bought a new car " thread or something like that.
quoted from my July 6th, 2012 post:

Oh, I almost forgot... I drove a 2013 Dodge Dart Rallye yesterday afternoon. The Chevrolet dealer my brother works is owned by the same guy that owns a Dodge dealership down the road. The salesman work at both stores, so the car got mentioned and a test drive was arranged. Overall, the workmanship of the Dart is LIGHT YEARS ahead of the Neon and Caliber. Car felt tight, solid, quick. BUT, it did feel heavier than the Cruze or Fiesta. The Rallye package I drove was the 1.4L Turbo/6 speed Multiair engine. I could definitely tell that it was more an economy car than the R/T that was coming down the pike. Oddly enough, though, my mom has a Cruze Eco with a 1.4L turbo/6speed automatic and that engine felt gutsier than the Dodge did. Still, the styling, interior and instrument panel is what is going to sell the Dart. If they had an R/T model on the floor and let me drive it, I might've come home with one. One thing that's funny is that I was not aware that the Dart was built on an Alfa Romeo chassis? (i didn't know A-R was part of Fiat either until this morning). So anyways, try out the Dart if you get a chance to.

I'll just leave this here.

Posted by bandi I'll just leave this here. http://www.autocom..._Escort/1997FE.jpg

Lol. Still, I had a zx2 and loved it. I'm weird.

I don't think anybody could successfully make the case that the Escort was a bad car. There's still tons of those fuckers on the road, even square bodies.

_{Same with the Tempo. Will they ever go away? I miss good Fords. The 88-94 model years had some of the best looking cars of any era.}

Drove one just the other day, it rides like my Charger, handles like my Fiero, and has some of the best car seats I've ever sat in! The two liter isn't impressive but I kind of expected that (all the 1.4 turbos were manual, and the 2.4 R/T should be out by now or soon), but the interior quality is fantastic! Massive improvement over the Caliber!

Posted by budda I don't think anybody could successfully make the case that the Escort was a bad car. There's still tons of those fuckers on the road, even square bodies. Same with the Tempo. Will they ever go away? I miss good Fords. The 88-94 model years had some of the best looking cars of any era.

the escort was a great car, ugly, but reliable as hell. The Tempo, on the other hand, was a shit car here. They rotted fast, had cold start issues and were generally thrown away.

There's still Tempos everywhere here. I ran one in a demolition derby about 12 years ago and then the thing went on to be raced at the local speedway for a few 250 lap enduros.

I haven't seen an Escort from that generation around here in at least 10 years, save for the odd ZX2.

Seems like a nice car, I just wish they weren't calling it a Dart. Also the 3200 pound curb weight is disappointing; that's more than my '91 Volvo 740 tank.

Posted by arntzville Seems like a nice car, I just wish they weren't calling it a Dart. Also the 3200 pound curb weight is disappointing; that's more than my '91 Volvo 740 tank.

the one i drove definitely did not feel light on it's feet... my older Cobalt SS tips the scale at 2680lbs without me in it (this was at the wood gate scales where I work), so definitely I was expecting the Dart to be lighter.

Probably weighed down by those nifty power seats, dual exhaust, and all that interior padding.

I love some build quality as opposed to the feel of a soapbox derby car, even at the expense of 400 pounds or so. Probably not hard to get some more power out of that 1.4 with amanual boost controller anyway, assuming that doesn't completely fuck the computer system.

I drove one with the smaller turboed engine and a 6spd and was not impressed. We owned a neon and it was a PIECE OF SHIT. I kinda got the same feel from the Dart but it is built better than the neons were. Couldnt get out of its own way though. I drove a lot of the new models and settled on a Kia Optima. Been in it for 2 months now with 0 complaints and nothing but good to say.

Actually looks like a 21st century car! Much better looking that a corvette.

Posted by cavemonkey I drove one with the smaller turboed engine and a 6spd and was not impressed. We owned a neon and it was a PIECE OF SHIT. I kinda got the same feel from the Dart but it is built better than the neons were. Couldnt get out of its own way though. I drove a lot of the new models and settled on a Kia Optima. Been in it for 2 months now with 0 complaints and nothing but good to say.

el oh el.

Posted by arntzville Also the 3200 pound curb weight is disappointing

Wow, I think that's right around the weight of my 01 GrandAm. The Dart's a pretty heavy car for it's class. But I do like the look of it. I should go test drive one for the hell of it.

Can I come? I don't have the credit for such an endeavor.

You are going to see heavier sedans out there due to both European and US safety standards wanting better crash protection. Even the smart car is getting heavy!

Am I the only one shocked it took dodge this long to bring back the Dart name? It's a pretty good name ya know. Here's hoping for the resurrection of Diplomat.

Posted by jeepdave Am I the only one shocked it took dodge this long to bring back the Dart name? It's a pretty good name ya know. Here's hoping for the resurrection of Diplomat.

Fiat is looking at moving its HQ that holds both FIAT and Chrysler and everything else to Detriot and one of the names they might need to incorporate as to keep the trademark is....American Motors.

Please bring back the Gremlin!