New Cars 2013: Dodge Dart

Small cars come and go. Dodge's history with pint-sized motoring has been somewhat lukewarm; first the Omni, and its successor the Neon, and along came the Caliber. All earned a reputation as a "terrible car" for some reason or another. The Omni wasn't a terrible car aside from rust issues-- my grandma had one, and they were quite common when I was a child. Neons, too, proved to be too-little, too-late. Yes, the car was hailed as a wonderful car, even byTiff Nidell, but once age set in, Neons started to fall apart. Leaking headgaskets, dying transmissions, and paint so thin you could scrape it off with your own fingernails (I tried on a junkyard victim), Dodge's 1994 entry into the small car world came up short.
In 2007, the aging Neon was replaced by a funky hatchback intending to do battle with the GM-Toyota collaboration Pontiac Vibe and Toyota Matrix, as well as the Ford Focus ZX5 and Mazda 3. Unforunately for Chrysler, all of these alternatives proved to be better built, more fuel efficient cars. Competition, 1, Dodge 0.
Come 2013 model year, Dodge has a new--and very different outlook. Gone are the psuedo-crossover vibes that the Caliber was digraced with. Out with the cheap, Maisto-like build quality, too. The new Dodge Dart looks amazing in pictures, and in person it looks no different. Taking its name from yesteryear, it's clear Dodge is quite happy with the original nameplate. Fitted to a small car produced from 1960 to 1976, its clear the the first incarnation of the Dart was a success. After all, it spawned variations including station wagons, convertibles, and even muscle car versions; it was offered in a variety of colors ranging from mundane to wild, as well, and offered a bevy of interior choices to boot. Can the new one do the same?
Yes. Yes it can. For starters, the new car is available in a wide variety of wild colors; shades of oranges and bright blues and greens let customers know that Dodge (or should I say Fiat?) is looking after younger buyers? Like the car that first bore its namesake, the new Dart will have a good selection of performance parts from Mopar available quite soon. And here's one more thing--as with its 1960s muscle car forebear, the GTS trimline returns on a hotted up Dart.
Inside, interior materials are vastly better than anything ever turned out in the past ten year by Chrysler; the dash is soft-touch, the seats and steering wheel feel catered to the cars' occupants, and from my quick seat-time in one, not a cheap plastic surface mars the whole interior. Job well done, here.
With fuel efficiency in the high 20s in city driving and about 40 on the highway, the Dart isn't quite the fuel economy leader Chrysler was hoping for, nor does it fall to the back of the pack. Instead, the 29/38 rating is just about in line with other compact cars. To aid in the fuel-efficiency, a small turbo four is offered to boost driving fun; a normally aspirated four is also available, but I would skip it if you're any sort of enthusiast. I would also skip the chintzy (and very 2000s-era-like) hubcaps, and go straight for the alloy or aluminum wheels instead.
After playing second fiddle for more than a decade, Dodge has quite a bit of catching up to do--and with the Dart, they should be able to catch up just fine.