cars-trend: 2010 Dodge Caliber

Thursday, 28 July 2011

2010 Dodge Caliber

The Dodge Caliber is often panned for the uninspired design and cheap materials of its interior. Three years of complaints later, Chrysler is doing something about it by giving the Caliber's cockpit a major refresh.
While the Caliber's interior has been thoroughly revised, don't expect an all-new look. The basic shape and layout of the dash remains the same and Chrysler aficionados will note that most of the new bits and pieces, such as the climate controls and the navigation system, have come straight out of the Chrysler parts bin.
That said, the changes go a long way toward moving the Caliber's interior up the scale. Gone are the cheap-looking white-faced gauges, replaced with more contemporary blue-on-black meters with red needles and thin chrome trim rings. The hood over the gauges has been altered as well, forming a more boxy enclosure that mimics the ones found in other Chrysler products.
Chrysler may well have done its best work over on the center stack. The acres of shiny, faux-aluminum plastic have been trimmed back to simple accent rings around the center stack and the shifter, which appears to have been borrowed from Mercedes-Benz. New climate controls and a navigation system reside below reshaped air vents and a new storage cubby has been added between the shifter and center stack. A new steering wheel completes the interior package.
Chrysler has made a few changes under the hood as well. World markets get a new 2.2L common-rail diesel engine producing 163 hp and 236 lb-ft. Along with the increase in power over the outgoing unit, Chrysler says the new mill brings with it a 5% increase in fuel economy and 3% reduction in emissions. It will only be available with a six-speed manual transmission.
If you prefer gasoline, Chrysler has replaced the old 1.8L engine with a new 2.0L four-cylinder that makes 156 hp and 140 lb-ft. The 170-hp 2.4L engine carries over from 2009, but the high-performance SRT4 model is dead.