The IT Nerd

It used to be that compact cars were full of underpowered cars that were not good looking and that had few creature comforts. That’s no longer the case. Now a lot of compact cars have to have “premium” features and be stylish and well designed to just have a chance in the marketplace.

Dodge has a new entry in this market called the Dart that is a great example of this. The Dart borrows its name from a very successful model from the 1960’s and 70’s. But that’s all it has in common with that car. The 2013 Dart has more in common with the Alfa Romeo Giulietta (Alfa Romeo like Dodge is owned by FIAT) upon which it is based and comes with a lot of unique and interesting features, especially in the Limited trim level that I have this week. The mission for the Dart is simple: Take sales away from the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, and Ford Focus among others.

Here’s what I’ll be covering in the days to come:

• Interior
• UConnect and other technology in the vehicle.
• Engine and Fuel Economy
• Drive quality
• Wrap Up

Before I get to my first impressions, let me do something different and show some things that caught my attention:

Doesn’t that front end look aggressive?

The tail lights are impressive looking. The back end of this car looks like nothing else on the road.

My initial thoughts?

• It handles well and accelerates well. 
• The sight lines are good.
• The audio system has excellent sound quality.
• Headroom with the sunroof installed is at a bit of a premium for a six foot tall guy like me.
• It’s quiet for the most part with very little road noise, wind noise, or engine noise (unless you really floor it).

Tomorrow, I’ll talk about the engine and transmission and let you know what my thoughts are.

This entry was posted on January 22, 2013 at 9:00 am and is filed under Products with tags Dodge. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.