Dodge Reviews & Ratings

2008 Dodge Durango Limited Review

By Mike Solowiow
March 24, 2008 - 27,119 Views

I drink Espolon tequila. It's not a matter of taste, smoothness or snobbery. Veteran drinkers-- like car buyers-- know it's always better to buy top shelf hooch to minimize the inevitable after-effects. Get drunk on the cheap and you pay the price (the old "I have to get better so I can die" routine). By the same token, buy a Dodge Durango and it will burn all the way down to the pit of your automotive soul, leaving you with a hangover that will last years. Where's the fun in that?

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2008 Dodge Durango Limited rating summary and performance review

Posted in Dodge | Car Reviews | 50 comments

2009 Dodge Journey Review

By Michael Karesh
February 22, 2008 - 73,789 Views

Back in 2004, Chrysler thought it had a segment-busting winner with the Pacifica. Neither car, minivan, nor SUV, the luxurious large "crossover" was supposed to play a key role in Chrysler's planned move upscale. Buyers lined-up none deep for Chrysler's bloated station wagon. The automaker was forced to de-content, discount and discontinue the disastrous distraction. Stunned by the Pacfica-shaped sales sinkhole, it took Chrysler another five years to field another three-row crossover. The 2009 Dodge Journey is in many ways the anti-Pacifica. Will it be any more successful?

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2009 Dodge Journey rating summary and performance review

Posted in Dodge | Car Reviews | 68 comments

Dodge Caliber SRT4 Review

By P.J. McCombs
December 5, 2007 - 54,738 Views

Pity the poor engineers charged with turning Dodge’s “anything-but-cute,” anything-but-clever Caliber into a proper hot hatch. Transforming the Caliber into a desirable piece of sporting kit seems about as likely as landing Michael Jackson a job as a mall Santa. But here it is, for 2008: the Caliber SRT4. So Dodge’s gone and done the deed anyway. Or have they?

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Dodge Caliber SRT4 rating summary and performance review

Posted in Dodge | Car Reviews | 53 comments

Dodge Charger Police Vehicle Review

By Michael Martineck
September 19, 2007 - 58,713 Views

The cop spec Dodge Charger is a high-mileage mule for first responders who take that “first” bit seriously. As any pre-pubescent male will tell you, this “race to the scene of the crime and/or chase the bad guy in my bad ass American sedan” bit sits right at the top of the list of “why I want to be a cop when I grow up.” In fact, it’s so deeply grained in the male psyche that starting-up the cop spec Dodge Charger forced me to fight an overwhelming urge to crank, stomp and spin the beast. I swear I didn’t.

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Dodge Charger Police Vehicle rating summary and performance review

Posted in Dodge | Car Reviews | 59 comments

Dodge Grand Caravan Review

By Michael Karesh
September 14, 2007 - 59,373 Views

My initial reaction to the 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan: “What were you guys thinking?” The new minivan’s boxy, big-nosed exterior flies in the face of two decades of design evolution. The equally artless interior is awash in plastic that looks as hard as it feels and feels as hard as it looks. But then, while driving one, it hit me: Chrysler is targeting men. Not metrosexuals. Not pistonheads. They’re looking to lure manly men: the kind of guys who buy pickup trucks (real pickups, not the ones with fancy trimmings). Aesthetically as well as functionally, the new Grand Caravan is the work truck of minivans.

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Dodge Grand Caravan rating summary and performance review

Posted in Dodge | Car Reviews | 69 comments

Dodge Charger SRT8 Super Bee Review

By Justin Berkowitz
September 12, 2007 - 76,263 Views

If you time-traveled back to 1964 and told a muscle car buyer that his ride would be a respected classic 40 years hence, he’d call you crazier than Khrushchev. Muscle cars were fun on the cheap. You got what you didn’t pay for:  nonexistent handling, pathetic drum brakes, two and three speed automatic transmissions and efficiency measured in gallons per mile (which was no biggie at the time). Thirty years later, Chrysler and Dodge are leading the charge down muscle car memory lane. Until the Chevrolet Camaro appears, the Dodge Charger SRT8 Super Bee could well be the post-modern muscle car mascot. Which is what, exactly?

Dodge Charger SRT8 Super Bee Review continued »

Dodge Charger SRT8 Super Bee rating summary and performance review

Posted in Dodge | Car Reviews | 92 comments

Dodge Ram 1500 Review

By Samir Syed
August 6, 2007 - 49,639 Views

The American pickup truck wars have become a series of increasingly pitched battles. Even as the pickup market tanks, the main players have regrouped, refreshed and rejoined the fight. As we await the new Dodge Ram pickup, a major candidate for the "I coulda been a contender" award, questions must be asked. Does the current Ram have what it takes to hold the fort against the [ostensibly] reliable Toyota Tundra, the built-like-a-rock Chevy Silverado and the tough luxury Ford F-150? What battles will the new Dodge Ram have to win?

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Dodge Ram 1500 rating summary and performance review

Posted in Dodge | Car Reviews | 41 comments

Dodge Avenger Review

By William C Montgomery
March 30, 2007 - 104,031 Views

Riding in a golf cart to the nether regions of a dealership lot, an aging salesman explained his selling strategy. “Chryslers appeal to either male or female buyers,” he declared through nicotine-stained teeth. “Take the Compass. That’s for the ladies. The Wrangler? Boys’ toy.” As our EV reaches the 2008 Avenger, it's clear that the latest entry in The Dodge Boys' lineup is no purple Barbie Sport Convertible. But does The Avenger deliver the goods, or is “he” an impotent superhero look alike?

Dodge Avenger Review continued »

Posted in Dodge | Car Reviews | 87 comments

Dodge Caliber Review

By Adrian Imonti
February 23, 2007 - 94,129 Views

The Big 2.5 have always struggled with vehicles of the four-cylinder persuasion. A series of broken nameplates dating back to Omni, Vega, and Pinto highlights Detroit’s longstanding fear and loathing of Thinking Small. Now the 0.5 is attempting to renew its ardor with the Caliber, branding it a “world car” and exporting it to Europe. Unfortunately, the Caliber shows that bad Detroit habits are hard to break, firing blanks in this latest battle of the econobox wars.

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Dodge Caliber rating summary and performance review

Posted in Dodge | Car Reviews | 93 comments

Dodge Nitro Review

By William C Montgomery
October 30, 2006 - 79,359 Views

Before Magnum became a Hemi-powered station wagon (or a mustachioed P.I.) the term referred to elongated bullet casings with extra gun powder. Before the Caliber became synonymous with cheap, underpowered, poor-handling cars, it was the measure of a bullet’s diameter. Once again, The Dodge Boys have raided the Shooter’s Bible, naming their new entry level SUV after Nitro Express elephant gun cartridges (double entendre to NOX fuel a bonus). Does the Nitro deliver the rhino stopping power of Teddy Roosevelt’s big stick, or represent another damp squib for DCX?

Dodge Nitro Review continued »

Dodge Nitro rating summary and performance review

Posted in Dodge | Car Reviews | 64 comments