Newer Dodge Darts: Are they really that bad?

Spinoff of the "let's sell my about-to-be-repo'ed Dodge Dart" thread...

I hear people complain about the newer Dodge Darts all the time. When they came out a few years ago, they looked pretty good on paper: proven European Alfa chassis, optional 1.4L MultiAir Turbo/6MT drivetrain from the Abarth, nice interior, and more. I think it's a great looking small car as well. The Turbo Dodge guys were pumped for this one at the time.

Then, I hear that the 1.4 is gutless and the car sucks.

So, what gives? Why are these cars hated? People LOVE that drivetrain in the Abarth. Why not in the Dodge? I have heard that the thing is gutless around town. Can't a simple reflash help that out?

Not looking to buy one or anything like that, but I'm curious to see why they are reviled.

I am interested in this also.

The gutless comment comes from the weight of the car. They are HEAVY for their size

The seats are horridly uncomfortable and awkwardly positioned

I haven't driven one but I did see a prototype of an Alfa that had been cut down the middle and widened at a Tier 1 supplier before they came out that was interesting. I also have a friend who travels for business often and although a Ford guy really has a lot of good things to say about getting a rental Dart for normal driving and he can be quite picky. Lastly I ran on Mid Ohio with a guy who was running a fairly stock looking Dart with Conti slicks or R comps and some coil overs he said and it held it owns with decent pace and no reliability issues.

icaneat50eggs wrote: The seats are horridly uncomfortable and awkwardly positioned

This is the most common thing I hear from people I know that have test driven them.

I've had a 2.0 Dart as a rental once, and it was okay for a large compact car, but the problem is pretty much any other manufacturer's competition is probably better.

I do like how they look, and if they'd come out with an SRT-4 version, I would have been interested.

My sister in law has a 2L / manual one for that last number of years. Seems to be treating her ok. No major issues.

Unfortunately they stopped production on these, but I really think that they should have made an SRT version. It was so obvious that they should have made it possibly could have helped sales, but FCA for what ever reason dropped the ball.

icaneat50eggs wrote: The seats are horridly uncomfortable and awkwardly positioned

So you're saying the seat layout and design is pure Fiat right?

They sure look good. That is all I know.

Yeah, considering the Forte that is the same size weighs 2800lbs, is available with the 201hp turbo 1.6 compared to the 3200lbs of the dart and it's 184hp 1.4. I would imagine it does feel pretty gutless.

I worked at Chrysler when these came out, and I actually have a decent amount of seat time in one of the sectioned mule cars. The one I spend time in had machined from solid prototype subframes.

I always thought the Dart felt faster than a non-SI civic, though the comparable Cruz, Elantra, and Focus all seemed to feel lighter. The 2.0 tigershark engine is the one that I would avoid. Yeah, it has more displacement than the 1.4, but it's pretty characterless even with a manual. Auto makes it even worse.

1.4 feels much better just because the torque curve isn't as flat and it has more midrange verve. They also sound pretty good, but no, they are not fast cars, and are particularly gutless off the bottom.

The 2.4 feels pretty good in these, and also sounds good. The 1.4 and 2.4 Darts in general sound much more aggressive with the stock exhaust than competitive vehicles. Interiors were okay in my opinion, but the seats weren't great. I think they were updated after the first year of production to alleviate some of the complaints. Some of the cars had denim covered seats that were more of a novelty than a practicality - I would avoid these for longevity concerns. I never was a huge fan of the infotainment on these or other new FCA products - they basically took parts of the Fiat vehicle network and Chrysler electronics and tried to make them talk to each other, so it can be a lethargic system.

They handle like a heavy front wheel drive car. Generally 'sporty' chassis tuning, but they push as you would expect. Oddly, the rear end feels a little disconnected from the road driving aggressively at higher speeds, before it finally takes a set. Almost like they came with worn out subframe bushings from the factory. Not sure if they ever fixed that.

I like the styling, but that's subjective. Overall, I don't think they're bad cars, but I don't know how they hold up long term. I'd probably take a 2.4 Dart over the competition, with the exception of the Elantra/Forte. Of course, this is based on limited research.

This car was just begging for an SRT-4 model with a turbo 2 liter, 6 speed MT, big sway bars, and decent Recaro-ish seats. It would have been a legitimate competitor to the FoST and a fun rivalry. What the Berkeley were the FCA marketing people thinking for failing to do this???

I've heard that the 1.4/6-speed combo is a very poor match to the Dart's weight, meaning you have to drive the living hell out of them to keep up with traffic from a stop. Apparently the clutch feel is quite poor too which exacerbates the problem of them having virtually no low-end torque.

SilverFleet wrote: So, what gives? Why are these cars hated? People LOVE that drivetrain in the Abarth. Why not in the Dodge? I have heard that the thing is gutless around town. Can't a simple reflash help that out? Not looking to buy one or anything like that, but I'm curious to see why they are reviled.

This is GRM. We armchair quarterback and hate on new cars until they're fully depreciated, then we love them.

WildScotsRacing wrote: This car was just begging for an SRT-4 model with a turbo 2 liter, 6 speed MT, big sway bars, and decent Recaro-ish seats. It would have been a legitimate competitor to the FoST and a fun rivalry. What the Berkeley were the FCA marketing people thinking for failing to do this???

That's what I'm saying. They want to make all their RWD cars 700 horsepower, but they can barely squeeze power out of their FWD compacts.

The 200 unfortunately had the same fate. I think both the 200 and Dart were good looking cars, but they just could not compete with the competition.