2013 Dodge Dart

[OrioleBeagle]

The 2013 Dodge Dart was revealed in Detroit today http://www.dodge.com/en/2013/dart/

[FunnyBut]

It looks quite similar to the Ford Focus, but I like it too. All that red trim around the dash is going to look dated in a few years.

[NeilJLeonard]

Thanks for the warning. I once owned a Dart. It was the worst car I've ever owned. It met the 20th Century standard for MOPAR: junk. Hopefully the purchase by FIAT will improve things. I think it is impossible for them to build the horrors they used to build. At least I hope so.

NJL

[Aceon6]

The mid-70s Dart with the slant 6 was a warhorse of a car. Ours rusted out before it gave us any mechanical trouble.

[LynnW]

Hopefully the purchase by FIAT will improve things.

NJL

My parents used to own a Fiat. It had an electrical malfunction and caught on fire while my mother was driving it. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but the car was a complete loss.

[NeilJLeonard]

The mid-70s Dart with the slant 6 was a warhorse of a car. Ours rusted out before it gave us any mechanical trouble.

Mine was also a mid-70s Dart (1976?). It rusted out before 60K was reached, starting with the dash. If it rained I had to have a poncho over my feet & legs to stay dry. Eventually nothing in the dash worked. Then the floorboard rusted through.

It had a slant 6 that, for reasons know to itself, would stop running whenever it felt like it. It often did this to me while driving to work at midnight on I-95. After I'd let it coast to the side of the road it would restart, eventually. I had a 45 minute commute. I'd always leave home 2 hours early to make sure I'd get to work on time (My father once had a DeSoto. it did the same thing. Chrysler family DNA?).

The interior disintegrated. Eventually I had to remove the headliner because it sagged so bad that my rear view mirror was useless. The cloth on the seats fell apart.

By 60K miles I junked it. It is the only car I was glad to get rid of. By far one of the worst vehicles ever made. It was even worse than the early Hyundai Accent I owned for awhile. The Accent's saving grace was it got over 35 MPG. The Dart was nowhere near that.

NJL

[rjblue]

The mid-70s Dart with the slant 6 was a warhorse of a car. Ours rusted out before it gave us any mechanical trouble.

Ours was 12 years old, with only one door that opened, and an engine that always started. Warhorse indeed. I learned to drive in a Dodge Dart, and I'll always have a soft spot for a car of that make.

[Mayra]

Is it wrong that I like the look of the vintage Dart more than the new one?

They should have gone the route of the Dodge Charger or what Chevy did with the Camaro. Keep the retro/vintage feel of the old car and update it with a more modern design. The new Camaro is . It's one of those cars you have to stop and stare at when you see it go by. Killer design!

[FigureSpins]

We love car shows and the new Charger and Camaro were both at the one we attended over the summer. I don't remember seeing a Dart prototype, but it wasn't a really big show.

It's sportier than I expected for a "Dart." I thought it would be boxier, but they're going for fuel efficiency, so it's lots of curves. They could have called this car anything they wanted - it doesn't have any visual tie to the original Dart, imo. It looks nice enough and hopefully, it's reliable.

[overedge]

I had three Dodge Darts and loved each and every one of them. It was only when they started becoming, er, um, "vintage" cars that it became harder to get parts for them, and I reluctantly switched to other models. Going from a Dodge Dart to a Chevette was a bit of an adjustment