Dodge Caliber
On sale July 2006

Chrysler and Jeep dealers will soon be amending their signage because a third marque is going to be shown outside the 88 showrooms. One of the biggest names in the U.S. market, Dodge, is hitting the UK and the rams head sign should soon become familiar. Their first release comes very soon and is in the form of the Caliber which is a rugged C segment vehicle. After doing all the focus groups they realised that customers wanted something different than the identikit vehicles around and bearing in mind it will be competing with the Ford Focus and the Peugeot 307, they have opted for something that suggests big, but is in reality a clever use of the space available for the compact sector. You will certainly stand out from the crowd in this, because it has the look of an SUV. There is a big bonnet with that prominently sited rams head and an aggressive looked quarted black coloured front grille. Bold headlights, a high drivers position (a good four inches higher than the driving seat in any of the competitor vehicles) and a black graphic that runs the length of the roof and melds into the integrated spoiler gives the impression of a coupe when viewed from the side, especially with a curved roofline and extra quarter windows, though the rear view does looks like a beefed up Audi A2.

Having thrown this around the countryside it certainly sticks like glue to the road, and if you look at the wheels you will see that there are big 17 inch steel jobs (18 inch alloys for the SXT) which add to that grunt factor.

Although it has that muscular feel about it there are no creature comforts skipped inside. In fact storage on this C segment car has been well thought out. The interior has cupholders, which illuminate when the headlights are operated. There is a large air conditioned glovebox which holds at least four bottles of water and of course chocolate which shouldn't melt, and there is flat load floor storage. Look out for a flip up mobile phone holder. The cabin is airy and we tried a six footer plus who reported plenty of headroom front and back, as well as knee room in the rear bench seat which will take three adults. The instrument dials are white with black numbers so are easy to read at a glance. The top of the dash does eem a tad on the large size, and I couldn't see the front of the nose. The Caliber has a nine speaker Boston Acoustics premium sound system with subwoofer and articulating speakers, two of which are in the tailgate and swing down to face rearward and play music. I was told that these are for 'soccer mums', though over here it is more likely to be used at car boots etc. That tailgate is light to lift and the sill sits low to the ground, giving good loading access. The boot will hold 524 litres with the seats in position and when the seats are lowered flat to the floor, the cargo capacity increases to 1340 litres.

The range starts with the S trim but Dodge suggests that the next trim up, the SE, will be more popular, as it includes air conditioning. The top of the range is the SXT sport.

The power comes from two petrol and one diesel engine. On the petrol side are a 1.8 and a 2 litre. The diesel is also a 2 litre version. This diesel has a direct turbo injection and four valves per cylinder. Use is made of the Chrysler world engine family which is a joint venture between DaimlerChrysler, Hyundai and Mitsubishi and the petrol engines used here are powerful and yet efficient. The 1.8 petrol engines take 12.2 seconds for the 0-60mph sprint with the 2 litre doing this in just 10.7. The diesel can do this in 8.8 seconds. Top speeds are 118 and 125 mph for the petrol versions and 115 mph for the diesel.

There are more than twenty advanced safety technologies available on the Caliber, which include side curtain air bags, standard driver and passenger front airbags, electronic stability programme, ABS and a tyre pressure monitoring system. There's a belt alert for the driver to remind them to buckle up, a child seat anchor system and an enhanced accident response system which turns on interior lights and unlocks doors after an airbag deployment. security comes in the form of remote keyless entry, and sentry key engine immobiliser.

The Dodge Caliber will appeal to those wanting something far removed from the bland offerings currently available and yet isn't that expensive, costing from £11,495, for the 1.8 litre S trim, rising to £15,430 for the 2 litre diesel sport. Although the research suggests that this will appeal to the testosterone side of the male psyche, I know several female drivers who like the looks, so it might yet grace the school run!

Dodge sells more cars than both Chrysler and Jeep put together in the USA, and the Dodge brothers made their name when they sold quality parts to Henry Ford, who even gave them a part of his company, and so comes with a guaranteed pedigree. We can look forward to seeing more of this brand too, as by 2007, the rams head will adorn a new SUV, the Nitro, a Caliber SRT4 and a larger saloon, unfortunately called the 'Avenger', which will compete with the Ford Mondeo and is aimed at fleet market customers.