Posted on 05/10/2012 11:51:39 AM PDT by 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...
(Excerpt) Read more at kansascity.com ...
And the model name is....
BTW, Have the Tappit brothers chimed in on this?
I had prayed that Chrysler would resist the temptation to bring out a new Dart. I know Dodge Darts. I owned six of them (not counting one donor car). That little weenie of a car ain’t no Dodge Dart.
There is nothing special about the looks of the vehicle, and it doesn’t look anything like the original.
Since Chrysler took those billions of dollars for the tax payers I will NEVER purchase another one of their vehicles again. I have owned one of their minivans since 1986 but no more.
- it’s not supposed to look like an old Dart.
- it’s based on an alpha romaeo car.
- it’s not as Fiat as you think. Only one drivetrain out of the three available is Fiat.
- the technology in the car is amazing. Programmable dashboard so you can customize it to show the controls you want. Or not.
- The aero version will get 40-41 mpg.
I’ll be buying a 2014 model after they work out any kinks. I’ve been driving Mopars all my life and I’m not stopping now.
If you don’t like it don’t buy one.
I won’t
“...with European handling and heritage,...”
Going off of a cliff?
Dodge dart with either the slant six or the 318, if the bodies hadn’t rusted out there would still be millions of them on the road.
Two of the most dependable engines Detroit ever built.
black vinyl top...sexy.
If it don’ have a 225 its not a Dart.
Well OK maybe a 318.
Like the taxpayers...it looks like it got hit in the rear.
All that electrical stuff burns out in the Phoenix heat.
The 318 and the Dart never got along so well. The 318 is reliable enough (outlasts the car), but really needs premium, and doesn’t give the performance you’d expect. Mopars were ALWAYS ball-joint challenged, and the heavy 318 doesn’t help. Also, if you have rust around the torsion bars, you might get a nasty surprise.
The Slant-six 225s varied from year to year, probably depending on the one-barrel Holley feeding it. Let’s not forget the small 8 cylinder 273 that was an option before the 318 was used. The bigger engines (360, 383, 413, 440 etc) save that for the c-bodies and the cudas, Challengers and Chargers (unless you really ARE racing).
“Real Darts: ■Seat six in base configuration ■Can be had stripped, no A/C no carpet ■Aren’t huge on horsepower...” Huh? I had to stop reading at that point. My brother bought a new Dodge Dart Swinger in 1969. 340 ‘six pack’. traction bars, the works, and it was ordered that way from the factory. Trust me, it was huge on HP! 140+ MPH and so fast out of the hole that it mashed you flat against the seat.
In high school, a buddy of mine had a 63 or 64 Dodge Dart, with (get this) PUSH-BUTTON GEARS located in upper left corner of the dashboard.
What about its sister, the Plymouth Valiant?
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...
It’s a FIAT Linea with some new panels. The wheelbase is the same as, is the engine.
I had one of the stripped down Darts, a 67 ran good drove like a tank, wish I still had it
How about the Hemi Dart.
Still terrorizing drag strips everywhere.
Wheels up.
My parents had a Dodge Dart.
It’s a FIAT...Fix It Again Tony
D.I.N.O.
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.
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.
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.
“denim material seat inserts”
Welcome to the 1971! http://www.arcticboy.com/Pages/arcticboysgremlin.html
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.
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?
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.
Yeah, they didn’t even make it look much like the old Dart. They have done a nice job with the challenger though.
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.
No, Vomit is the model. That would be the Exorcist option.
Best post of the lot...good job!
lol!
I’m 62, remember all this stuff very well, and almost feel 70 after reading this thread, BJ. LOL.
Drove it everyday...back in the late 70's. Of course that was in SoCal...nice weather. No need for A/C really....
“Looks like all the other cars out there. Are there no original car designers?”
The turd shape is the most aerodynamic/fuel effiecient design. That is why all cars look the same now.
I guess you are a drag racer (or were)& are still a fan of the old stuff.
Google 60s funny cars & get a chill up your leg similar to what SissyChrissie gets when he sees the won.
But for a different reason of course.
I had a ‘65, a ‘66, and a ‘67 Dodge Dart. Good memories!
I had a 67 Chevelle with a 396. Went thru the engine (bored, domed pistons, Crower cam, Holley 950 cfm double-pumper with manual secondaries, Hooker headers, etc) and it would get 14 mpg @ 65 mph. Once I went above 65 though, the secondaries opened up and I believe the mileage dropped to about 4 mpg! Loved that car... Oh, it also would turn high twelves in the quarter mile...
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