Allow me to start by saying that this car is excellent. I absolutly love it. It drives great and it looks even better.
First Impressions Break down time!
Performance:
Well I'm still breaking in the engine, so I haven't gone out and just mashed the pedal. Since that would be bad and all. But I have rev'd it up a bit. Acceleration is smooth and constant thanks to the CVT. I wouldn't call it a race car acceleration wise, but it is not slow by any stretch of the imagination. If you mash the pedal, you're going somewhere for sure.
Engine:
The engine is very quiet and very smooth. Dodge did a great job with the world engine. No jittering or hesitation at any rpm.
Exhaust:
I would have really liked it if Dodge had given the R/T a tuned exhaust of some kind. As it sits it sounds about like the old neon did. Unimpressive. A little whiney.
Intake:
It's uhh.... very small. The air intake is literally 1"x3". Now call me crazy, but my old Echo had a 3" circular intake with a 1.5l engine. It only seems logical that a 2.4l would need a larger intake. Maybe I missed a secondary intake hole, I haven't exactly gone over the engine compartment with a fine tooth comb or anything, but as it is the intake is very very small. A CAI or at least a modified intake would potentially be beneficial.
Engine compartment layout:
Lots and lots of plastic. Everything is covered save the fluid reservoirs. There is a nice open space near the back with a conveniently placed heat shield. Seems like the logical place for a turbo charger.
Handling:
I must say I am pleased by how it handles the road. To put it simply, it grabs on. I haven't given it a proper handling test yet. But the little bit I have done, I've liked.
Brakes:
Here is where I am VERY impressed. This car stops on a DIME. The large front discs, moderate rear discs, ABS, and emergency brake assist thingy all mesh to make for a "omg where'd my face go" stopping experience. 35mph to 0mph was very very short. I basically waited until I couldn't see the limit line over the dash, and THEN hit the brakes. The car stopped before crossing the limit line.
Exterior styling:
As other have said on the forum, this car will grow on you. Now, I liked the styling of the car before I purchased it, and now that I've had some time to sit and look at it in person. I like it even MORE. The car looks good.
Interior:
I LOVE the interior. Everything is placed in such a way that it is easy and intuitive to get to. The audio controls on the back of the steering wheel are well within finger reach. The only control that I'm not 100% pleased about is the uconnect controls. Maybe I'm missing something with the controls, but the only place I know of to control it is via the rear view mirror. It's not bad, but it could be better if it was say... on the front of the wheel. The color matched center console is disgustingly gorgeous. What a teriffic contrast, I highly recommend EVERYONE to get the color keyed interior. The seats are very comfortable, and the seat heaters... Wow those were $250 well spent.
Uconnect:
If you have a phone with bluetooth, you NEED uconnect. It is an excellent system. My only gripe is that it cannot use the phone book in the phone itself. However it does recognize phone numbers when speak, and has a 32 entry phone book. Connecting the phone and the uconnect system is 100% painless and will take you less than a minute. The voice recognition is very good, not quite great, but very good nonetheless.
Music Gate sound system:
The sound system is incredible. Crystal clear at ALL volume levels, even full blast. At high volume the high's are not painfull, and speaker response is excellent all around. The only thing I wish it had was a more punchy woofer. It does fill in the low end just fine, however it doesn't quite have the punch in the gut feeling that I'd come to love about my Elemental Designs 13kv.2. I might swap out the BA woofer for an 8" 9kv.2 from Elemental Designs.
Here are some crappy camera phone pictures to sate your appetites until I get home and get the real camera.
First Impressions Break down time!
Performance:
Well I'm still breaking in the engine, so I haven't gone out and just mashed the pedal. Since that would be bad and all. But I have rev'd it up a bit. Acceleration is smooth and constant thanks to the CVT. I wouldn't call it a race car acceleration wise, but it is not slow by any stretch of the imagination. If you mash the pedal, you're going somewhere for sure.
Engine:
The engine is very quiet and very smooth. Dodge did a great job with the world engine. No jittering or hesitation at any rpm.
Exhaust:
I would have really liked it if Dodge had given the R/T a tuned exhaust of some kind. As it sits it sounds about like the old neon did. Unimpressive. A little whiney.
Intake:
It's uhh.... very small. The air intake is literally 1"x3". Now call me crazy, but my old Echo had a 3" circular intake with a 1.5l engine. It only seems logical that a 2.4l would need a larger intake. Maybe I missed a secondary intake hole, I haven't exactly gone over the engine compartment with a fine tooth comb or anything, but as it is the intake is very very small. A CAI or at least a modified intake would potentially be beneficial.
Engine compartment layout:
Lots and lots of plastic. Everything is covered save the fluid reservoirs. There is a nice open space near the back with a conveniently placed heat shield. Seems like the logical place for a turbo charger.
Handling:
I must say I am pleased by how it handles the road. To put it simply, it grabs on. I haven't given it a proper handling test yet. But the little bit I have done, I've liked.
Brakes:
Here is where I am VERY impressed. This car stops on a DIME. The large front discs, moderate rear discs, ABS, and emergency brake assist thingy all mesh to make for a "omg where'd my face go" stopping experience. 35mph to 0mph was very very short. I basically waited until I couldn't see the limit line over the dash, and THEN hit the brakes. The car stopped before crossing the limit line.
Exterior styling:
As other have said on the forum, this car will grow on you. Now, I liked the styling of the car before I purchased it, and now that I've had some time to sit and look at it in person. I like it even MORE. The car looks good.
Interior:
I LOVE the interior. Everything is placed in such a way that it is easy and intuitive to get to. The audio controls on the back of the steering wheel are well within finger reach. The only control that I'm not 100% pleased about is the uconnect controls. Maybe I'm missing something with the controls, but the only place I know of to control it is via the rear view mirror. It's not bad, but it could be better if it was say... on the front of the wheel. The color matched center console is disgustingly gorgeous. What a teriffic contrast, I highly recommend EVERYONE to get the color keyed interior. The seats are very comfortable, and the seat heaters... Wow those were $250 well spent.
Uconnect:
If you have a phone with bluetooth, you NEED uconnect. It is an excellent system. My only gripe is that it cannot use the phone book in the phone itself. However it does recognize phone numbers when speak, and has a 32 entry phone book. Connecting the phone and the uconnect system is 100% painless and will take you less than a minute. The voice recognition is very good, not quite great, but very good nonetheless.
Music Gate sound system:
The sound system is incredible. Crystal clear at ALL volume levels, even full blast. At high volume the high's are not painfull, and speaker response is excellent all around. The only thing I wish it had was a more punchy woofer. It does fill in the low end just fine, however it doesn't quite have the punch in the gut feeling that I'd come to love about my Elemental Designs 13kv.2. I might swap out the BA woofer for an 8" 9kv.2 from Elemental Designs.
Here are some crappy camera phone pictures to sate your appetites until I get home and get the real camera.
