[DodgeGirlKathy]

Yes, it's finally here!!!

It's in my possession, and it's BEAUTIFUL!! I really love the blue inserts on the inside. Fun to drive, feels HUGE, even though its not. Same shoulder room as my Stratus, and more headroom. Great driving position. Very nimble in parking lots and tight parking spaces.

I do feel sad saying goodbye to the Stratus, though. (The lease was up.) It's fast (I had the R/T), good looking, the AutoStick was a blast -- and I had had all intentions of keeping it until a bunch of "stoopid" stuff went wrong with it a couple of years ago. Plus it was smashed (t-boned) in an accident. While stolen. Nope, it had to go. hey, but just in time for the Caliber!!!

I wanna say THANKS to the folks at Belvidere, both for doing a great job with these cars AND for the few of you who are here on this forum. And thanks to Dodge and SRT engineers too, for also being active on the forum. It makes at least ME feel like the company actually CARES.

Tonight I'm going across town and will experience "real" freeway driving in the Caliber for more than just a test drive. I'll let ya know my impressions.

 

[Xtreme Thunder]

AWESOME!!! We want pics!!!

Let us know how the drive went too.

 

[nygiantzz1]

You got it already! Awesome! I ordered mine on 03/04, it shouldn't be too long now. Enjoy it and please post pics when you get a chance.

 

[caliber4whoosh]

Pics!! Congrats on the purchase Kathy!

 

[superbang]

hey congradulations! i'm really jealous!! but happy for you too!! yay! take pics and drive safe... no one wants you to have this one stolen on you like your strat!

 

[BLAZETIGER]

So how was the drive. Hopefully you are still out testing it now as I'm typing this or going cross country. Better not come back and tell us it broke down as you redlined it continuously...

Congrats by the way. Almost the same color choice with insert that I got, but changed my mind last minute.

 

[suzq044]

pics so i can make u a sig lol

 

[Silverfox]

And the pack grows behind me. Congrats!

 

[TechMan]

Great fun checking this forum. "First" posts followed by "Ordered Mine" and then the joy of "It's Heeeerre". Picts are also part of the ritual.....? Big Congrats!

 

[Harley]

Yep, I agree with the others.

PICTURES!

You DO know how to take a picture now, DON'T you Kathy?

OOPS! - I forgot...

Uh...disregard...

 

[DodgeGirlKathy]

The "it's heeeere" ritual continues...

The requisite exterior shots (click for bigger images):


Color-keyed dash and rear seats:


Lit up at night (front and rear) and detail of front headlamp:


Several threads ago there was talk of how bright (or not) the dash lights are. Really, they are not annoying or overly bright at all. Here are pics of the dash and console lights with the interior lights off and on.


And, here are the lighted cupholder rings. Very subtle. And they dial up or down in brightness along with the console lights.



Some observations so far:

• The interior rearview mirror is really far away from the driving position! I had to lean forward more than in other cars to reach it. Kind of nice though, because it's up out of the way.
• Yes, a lip on the grab handles for the rear hatch would be nice. It's too slippery, especially with fleece gloves on.
• The headliner backing behind the map lights has some obvious "give" when turning on the map lights. Would be nice if it felt a bit more sturdy.
• Heat. Nice! heats up fairly quickly. Most smaller cars have an anemic fan which takes forever to heat the cabin up. Nope, not here.
• The ride height seems closer to a small truck than a car. When in a Neon or other compacts, it feels like your rear drags on the ground, you're sitting so low. This is up higher. It's a nice commanding feel.
• Accelerating at freeway speeds is nice and quick! I'm used to driving bigger vehicles (Stratus 2.7L 200 hp, before that an Intrepid ES, before that a Grand Cherokee V6) so to "come down" to a 2.0L 150~ hp, I was worried it would be wimpy. It is SO NOT wimpy.
• A very sporty ride overall.

I.
LOVE.
IT.
!!!!!

 

[nPAT]

nice pics!
i like the interior lighting....much better than green
nice to know that it accelerates good....i was also wondering if it did

 

[Xtreme Thunder]

Hey Kathy, great looking Caliber!!!!

You took some really nice shots especially in the third group of pics, the center one.

I am jealous!!

 

[superbang]

wonderful pics my dear!

 

[Germaneon]

Nice car!
The only thing I dislike is the bright illumination of the gauges. I´d prefer the way they did with the 2nd gen Neon:

 

[DodgeGirlKathy]

thanks, thanks.

I took a few more pics today (which I will post later. It's bad enough I'm online at work, so I don't want to play with personal photos on my work pc):

• Tonneau cover. I recall some questions in other posts about what it looked like and how much it covered.
• Rear subwoofer, because with the 9-speaker system, the subwoofer goes into the storage cubby in the rear cargo area. Thought some people might want to see that.

 

[preludepunk27]

Nice car!
The only thing I dislike is the bright illumination of the gauges. I´d prefer the way they did with the 2nd gen Neon:

I love the way the dials are. Dodge is like the only car company that still has their dials like this. My dad's Lexus GS400 was like that and I loooooooved how it looked and so that makes me love the dials on the caliber.

 

[suzq044]

here you go not quite as requested, but i think you'll like it

 

[Xtreme Thunder]

here you go not quite as requested, but i think you'll like it

Damn Suz!!! Actually I would have used the same pic!! I seriously hope you are putting those skills to work for some serious money for a job!

 

[DodgeGirlKathy]

here you go not quite as requested, but i think you'll like it

awwww thats awesome! I like it! thank you very much!!!