Dodge Dart Is Back After 36 Years

http://www.kansascity.com ^ | May 09, 2012 | ANN M. JOB

[BO Stinkss]

After 36 years, the Dodge Dart is back, and it's no retro model.

The 2013 Dart five-seat sedan is modern and stylish, with European handling and heritage, fun features, 10 air bags and fuel-thrifty engines, including two turbos. And smart design and attention to detail inside the Dart successfully groups the information from the gauges with the controls in the center of the dashboard better than any car — Dodge or otherwise.

The slew of features, standard on some models and optional on others, include denim material seat inserts, heated steering wheel and a 8.4-inch touch screen with touch screen buttons bigger than most finger tips.

All Darts also come with a uniquely spacious single glovebox with deep-into-the-dashboard depth. There's also a standard hiding place for small items under the front-passenger seat cushion. The cushion pulls up to reveal the hidden storage area.

And in its later-arriving Aero model, the new Dart is expected to garner a highway rating of at least 41 miles per gallon in federal government fuel economy tests.

Best of all, the Dart has a competitive starting retail price of $16,790 for a base SE with 160-horsepower, 2-liter, naturally aspirated, four-cylinder engine. This model, with six-speed manual transmission, is rated at 25/36 mpg, and doesn't have air conditioning.

A Dart with turbocharged, 1.4-liter, four-cylinder engine and air conditioning has a starting manufacturer's suggested retail price, including destination charge, of $19,295. By comparison, the 2012 Hyundai Elantra sedan starts at $16,120 with 148-horsepower, naturally aspirated four cylinder and manual transmission, while the base, 2012 Honda Civic sedan with 140-horsepower four cylinder and manual tranny starts at $16,785.

Neither the Elantra nor Civic sedans come with turbos for 2012.

More than 3.6 million Dodge Darts were sold...

[BikerJoe]

I liked my old one in the 70's with the indestructable slant 6 motor. black vinyl top...sexy.

My Dad bought a '74 based on the experience my gf's dad had with his '73. The '73 was awsome and indestructible. Our '74 was so bad my Dad ditched it before 30k miles. I could post a book about the problems we had with that car.

Additionally, boy am I old!

[Dr. Sivana]

Huh? I had to stop reading at that point.

Obviously, you can take a solid Dart and put in a bigger engine. But the VAST majority of those cars were the base package, not the dressed up versions. The Dart your brother had was great, but most at the time were getting Chargers, Challengers, Cudas and Road Runners.

I would think of your brother's car as a Dart, with a much more powerful engine. That's great, but it is not what made the Dart what it was. It moved whole families, little ol' ladies and later on high school students. I do hope your brother beefed up the front end. By the way, my other Chryslers were a '65 Chrylser 300 (383 with four barrel carb) and an '89 Chrysler Fifth Avenue (318 V-8, the LAST V-8 auto Chrysler would make for more than a decade). So, I have nothing against big engines.

[expat2]

What about its sister, the Plymouth Valiant?

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Back in 1968, the Iowa Highway Patrol bought a fleet of Chrysler Newport sedans set up for police duty. They were white four door sedans with the 440 motor. I was driving a ‘66 Chevy 396 rat motor and got to know the local patrolman (another story.)
I mentioned to the trooper than the 396 was fortunate to turn in 8 miles per gallon on leaded premium. He said the 440 was lucky to get 10...

[Ouderkirk]

It’s a FIAT Linea with some new panels. The wheelbase is the same as, is the engine.

[markman46]

I had one of the stripped down Darts, a 67 ran good drove like a tank, wish I still had it

[certrtwngnut]

How about the Hemi Dart.
Still terrorizing drag strips everywhere.
Wheels up.

[Revolting cat!]

[Lazamataz]

My parents had a Dodge Dart.

[Ouderkirk]

It’s a FIAT...Fix It Again Tony

http://www.fiat.com/cgi-bin/pbrand.dll/FIAT_COM/showroom/showroom.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1280301523.1336677695@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccceadfgihildfdcefecejgdfkhdfjh.0&contentOID=1074105099

[762X51]

D.I.N.O.

[Abathar]

Same thing, the Valiant was a cheap and affordable car that never lasted long, at least in Michigan winters with the salt spray but the drive train was dependable as hell.

We had the Dart, and also 2 Coronets. I always preferred the Coronets, had both with a 318, one automatic and one “three on the tree”, so simple and basic that even a major overhaul if needed was still simple to do.

The only thing I didn’t like was the torsion bars for the front suspension, I had two of them break at different times while driving and that isn’t fun, once it was at highway speeds.

[Beowulf9]

Looks like all the other cars out there. Are there no original car designers?

I so miss the older designs. Even the 70s were more creative. All the cars on the road today look like this thing.

ugh.

[technically right]

Yep, I saw the first ones at the 1968 NRHA Nationals in Indy. BAAAAD MF’s

What do you get if you cross a Valient with a Comet? A Vomit.

[tumblindice]

“denim material seat inserts”

Welcome to the 1971! http://www.arcticboy.com/Pages/arcticboysgremlin.html

[Beagle8U]

You are correct, most of the Darts were basic transportation.

But the super musslecar Darts were available and you could factory order one with all the goodies, right down to the roll bar.

BTW It ate Cudas and Chargers for breakfast.

[Beowulf9]

What do you get if you cross a Valient with a Comet? A Vomit.

Well then what do you get if the Comet is green? The Exorcist model?

[freedomlover]

As perhaps you are, I am an older model Mopar fan. I replaced a 273 with a 318 in a 64 Dart. However the body was just too far gone to justify any real restoration.

I do have a bare stock 64 Valiant/225 in storage for eventual resto. If you know someone that would like to buy a 70 Swinger/225 stock, no major lower body rust, I have one in a North Ga barn.

But IMHO the reason people love A-bodies (or show fondness) is not the car as much as the engine. The Slant 6 was so reliable you had to really work hard to kill it. If anything was weak it was the carbs but the damn things would still run pretty much no matter what you fed them.

In the eighties and even nineties you really could get a reliable Dart/Valiant for $500 esp if you knew anything about them. However my 64s will be fifty in a few years - thats gettin’ old! Also in Atlanta a car without A/C can only be used about half the year.

[fabian]

Yeah, they didn’t even make it look much like the old Dart. They have done a nice job with the challenger though.

[NY.SS-Bar9]

They forgot one statistic in the comparison:

Resale of a Civic after 10 years and 200,000 miles = 30%± of MSRP

Resale of a Chrysler after 200,000 miles = $.25 / lb.