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2016 new model brochure

6K views 43 replies 19 participants last post by  FriggenChiggen 
#1 ·
New Dart packaging? What happened?

Anyone know what is going on with the latest Darts? FCA announced new package and model combos months ago and so far there has been nothing about them at dealers or on the Dodge's website. Have they changed their mind again?
 
#3 ·
Understand that...I am ready to give my Dart Limited to my daughter who is getting her license and am looking at a replacement. I am anxious to see how the new Dart GT sport that was announced compares to the Limited packaging. Unfortunately if they don't have anything soon I may be looking at another car.
 
#7 ·
Hmm curious as to what the performance steering is on the GT. I remember reading that the M13s were programmed to have a sportier steering and I'm wondering if they reimplemented it into the GT.

Also can you no longer get leather seats on the GT?
 
#8 ·
well wouldnt ya know it... the one car, the turbo, that actually can benefit from a sport hood with FUNCTIONAL ram air and heat extraction, is going to get the hood??? hmmm... it makes too much sense for dodge to do something this simple and right.... but i will believe the next dart when i see it on dealer lots :)
 
#9 ·
Somebody must be forcing them to use up extra 1.4T engines or something, because the Dart Turbo is a pretty bare-bones car with zero options. And the GT Sport is automatic only with no leather seating available? It's almost like they were planning on just cancelling the Dart or something and just can't be bothered to care. :saint:
 
#11 ·
The Dart has been on life support for a couple of years now. Just look at all the posts we've seen where Darts have ended up being laid up for weeks on end simply because dealers don't have any parts available and everything is on perpetual backorder from the factory. I began to realize this the first time I decided to buy an OEM oil filter and the dealer I went to didn't even keep any on hand for the Dart.
 
#16 ·
Wow, they did away with the 18" 5 spoke GT wheels? That was the most noticeable exterior feature on the GTs (besides the sport hood on the 16s)... And no leather seats??

Seems to me like they're just using up the remaining materials they have and slapping them together to make these new frankensteinish trim levels. Sure glad I got the early year 2016 GT instead of this crap.

Nice to see the sport hood on the turbo though.

And SXT 'Sport'? Really?
 
#44 ·
Wow, they did away with the 18" 5 spoke GT wheels? That was the most noticeable exterior feature on the GTs (besides the sport hood on the 16s)... And no leather seats??

Seems to me like they're just using up the remaining materials they have and slapping them together to make these new frankensteinish trim levels. Sure glad I got the early year 2016 GT instead of this crap.
Right? I love my 5 spokes and the way the aluminum matches my grey racing stripes is perfect. I just wish I had gone with the sport hood instead of opting for the normal hood...
 
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#22 ·
Yeah, the new Dart Turbo model is seriously bare-bones. Apparently it's not even possible to be a turbo enthusiast and enjoy things like navigation, sunroofs, premium sound, or automatic transmissions. Note that my Dart has all those things and a turbo and somehow the universe has managed no collapse in on itself as I enjoy the heck out of my car.
 
#36 · (Edited)
Last night I was doing some Google searching for the Dart's Chinese cousin, the Fiat Viaggio. Apparently it was a huge sales dud over there as well, selling about 1/10 the number they had hoped when they rolled it out. I guess they'll also stop making that one soon. It really perplexes me why so many people think the Dart is such a good-looking car when they see one, yet nobody wanted to buy one. I suspect it has more to do with both Fiat and Chrysler and their bad reputation for small cars than with any real shortcomings in the Dart's design. Kinda like a would-be mentor saying "you're a good kid and you've got potential, but I know who your parents are".
 
#37 ·
im sticking with my theory of people being disappointed about a mopar brand delivering less than 200HP. IMHO, consumers expect the economy sedan asian brands to deliver low HP and high MPG, but not the mopar cars. just my 2 cents. 2.0T would have been perfect at 220HP, but sergio wanted to use existing engine technology. oh well whats done is done.
 
#38 · (Edited)
Well, it looks like they sold a whopping 3305 Darts last month... the worst month since August 2012 when the car was still just being rolled out. FCA just reported its best June in 11 years, mostly buoyed by the Jeep brand, but the Darts are apparently being relegated to the back lots and nobody is even bothering to look at them.

We're down to the last nail in the coffin.
 
#39 ·
Well, it looks like they sold a whopping 3305 Darts last month... the worst month since August 2012 when the car was still just being rolled out.

The last nail is in the coffin.
I never understood why car company's would go public with a "kill order" for a model before that models EOL. It just begs for reduced sales.
 
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#41 ·
Not just different names, but different nameplates on their cars as well. Liberty, Intrepid, Sebring, Avenger, Neon, Caliber, Dart... all vehicles that lasted only a few years on the market before being discontinued or replaced and their names retired. And yet Toyota and Honda have kept the same nameplates on their cars for decades and still sell a boatload of them each month. Even Ford and Chevy will at least allow a complete refresh or two before discontinuing models, and when they do there's a already suitable replacement in their lineup. The only thing FCA is doing right is selling Jeeps (which is ironic give how crappy they are nowadays), and that is mostly due to the name recognition (everybody thinks a Jeep is off-road tough, even though most of the new ones aren't).
 
#43 ·
Yup. My friend's friend used to have a Jeep Liberty, and I told her how hers wasn't a "real" Jeep like my old XJ. Of course she was pissed off at me, until I showed her articles on how the Liberty had a problem with broken ball joints (just from hitting pot holes) and also how virtually nobody in the 4x4 enthusiast's world bothers to trick up a Liberty for serious off-roading. Same goes for the Compass, Patriot, et al. They're all merely gravel-road-with-ruts vehicles, something a Subaru Forester or Toyota Rav4 can handle just as easily. But of course FCA continues to sell, sell, sell these fake Jeeps, because for all his other mistakes ol' Sergio was right about the American consumer. The Jeep name stands for a tough off-roader, yet the new ones are so domesticated and highway-friendly most folks won't even notice or care that they can't take theirs too far off the dirt road.

The Dart on the other hand is good at what it was meant to do... be a sporty-looking, economical people-mover. Unfortunately its image has hurt it as well because people expect their Dodges to be fast just like they expect their Jeeps to go off-road. Most people will never discover that their fake Jeep can't actually cross a creek bed, but enough people sure noticed the Dart can't scorch the pavement.
 
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