First Drive Review
Chrysler must have a death wish, an inferiority complex, or a burning desire to stay third among the domestic Big Three. Thirty-odd years ago, Lee Iacocca begged Congress for loan guarantees to keep the Chrysler ship afloat. This company had another encounter with the Grim Reaper in the ’90s, followed by a full Chapter 11 reorganization three years ago. Ownership stints by Daimler-Benz, Cerberus, the U.S. and Canadian governments, and Fiat have left the pentastar brand feeling like a toxic orphan.
Yet Chrysler keeps bouncing back with breakthrough products that save its bacon: K-cars 30 years ago, the LH family in the ’90s, and the 300 sedans in the aughts. Now it’s the Dodge Dart’s turn to prove that Chrysler is back from the brink to make amends for the misbegotten Dodge Caliber.
Married with Child
The Dart is the first child of the Chrysler-Fiat marriage, a union still in the honeymoon phase. By achieving 40 mpg combined in EPA testing (unadjusted mileage figures, not the lower window-sticker numbers), the Dart singlehandedly earned Fiat an ownership increase of five percent, lifting its controlling interest to 58.5 percent. The Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association—operated by Chrysler’s long-suffering UAW workforce—owns the remaining 41.5-percent chunk.
Like this company’s previous savior cars, the Dart is charged with a mega mission. Phase one: Invade the hotly contested, fast-growing compact-sedan class where 20 or so Asian, German, and domestic models fight to survive. Phase two: Share its underpinnings with a broad range of future Dodges, Chryslers, and Jeeps. Phase three: Bring the SRT performance brand down from $100,000 Vipers and $50,000 Grand Cherokees and Chargers to the $30,000–$40,000 price range.
What makes these ambitious tasks doable is the warm, loving parent that took Chrysler in from the cold. To trim a year or more from the Dart’s gestation process, Chrysler-Fiat boss Sergio Marchionne shipped over one of the most admired platforms in the combine’s inventory—the Alfa Romeo Giulietta. Born two years ago with a classic name and fresh front-wheel-drive technology, the Giulietta has earned Alfa major kudos across Europe.
Well aware of the consequences of screwing up what could be their last shot at prosperity, Chrysler designers and engineers proceeded with caution. Style-wise, the Dart is a Charger with a pointy nose and less bad-boy attitude. Size-wise, it straddles the compact/mid-size boundary. Stretching the Giulietta’s 103.7-inch wheelbase to 106.4 inches, adding more than a foot to the overall length, and increasing width by 1.2 inches yielded what the Fiat-Chrysler alliance calls its Compact U.S. Wide platform, as well as 110.3 cubic feet of interior and trunk space. That gives the Dart more combined room than in the compact-class leaders—the Ford Focus, the Honda Civic, and the Toyota Corolla.
The Many Flavors of Dart
To intensify the invasion plan, the Dart will be a withering onslaught of five models, six powertrains, 14 color and trim combinations, and three wheel sizes scheduled to roll forth from May through the end of this year. The $16,790 base SE is powered by a new 2.0-liter DOHC 160-hp engine designed and manufactured in the U.S. Called the Tigershark in homage to the stillborn Northrop Grumman F-20 jet fighter, this aluminum-block-and-head, short-stroke, 16-valve four has variable valve timing and port injection.
