Dodge Dart Redux?

[Lowell]

Whaddya think?



2013 Dodge Dart to be unveiled at Detroit auto show, Chrysler says

Dodge will unveil the 2013 Dodge Dart at the North American International Auto Show in January, Chrysler announced Tuesday. The sedan will be built at Chrysler’s Belvidere Assembly Plant in Belvidere, Ill., and will feature three engine choices: the new Tigershark 16-valve 2.0-liter engine, a 16-valve 1.4-liter MultiAir Intercooled Turbo engine, and a new Tigershark 16-valve 2.4-liter MultiAir four cylinder engine.

Actual products aside I think Chrysler is doing a great job at marketing by picking up on vibes and catching our attention.

[Detroitnerd]

Will there be a Mopar kit?

[Jimaz]

2013 Dodge Dart to be unveiled at Detroit auto show, Chrysler says

[Pickford-Bentler]

Multi-Air is a technology that uses electro-mechanical actuators to enable valves to be individually controlled for both timing and lift profiles. In simpler terms, the system modulates ICE torque via valve timing, thus substantially reducing throttling losses. It will be interesting to see the power vs fuel economy numbers.

Multi-Air can be retrofitted to existing ICEs. For example, the Hemi already has electro-hydraulic actuators to enable displacement on demand [[DOD). It would not be too hard to build on that system for individual valve actuation.

I think this marriage of Fiat and Chrysler will do better than Damlier-Chrysler

[skyl4rk]

I'm not seeing a slant 6 option

*rage*

[Cincinnati_Kid]

Looks like a "mini" Charger from the back. Still can't compare to the original though. Especially a 340 Dart Swinger.

[Pickford-Bentler]

There will probably be slant-6 engines operable long after man goes extinct.

I had the pleasure of helping a man fix a slant 6 that had swallowed a screw and scored up a cylinder. Taken apart after 100,000 miles of hard use as an oil company car, the slant-6 looked new with the exception of the scoring.

When I took engineering courses at OU, the guidance counselor, an ex Chrysler engineer, told me that the slant-6 was overengineered because they skipped durability tests to take out metal to save cost.

We had a slant-6 in our Volare. The Volare succumbed to body rot long before the ICE was even in early adulthood.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

There will probably be slant-6 engines operable long after man goes extinct.

I had the pleasure of helping a man fix a slant 6 that had swallowed a screw and scored up a cylinder. Taken apart after 100,000 miles of hard use as an oil company car, the slant-6 looked new with the exception of the scoring.

When I took engineering courses at OU, the guidance counselor, an ex Chrysler engineer, told me that the slant-6 was overengineered because they skipped durability tests to take out metal to save cost.

We had a slant-6 in our Volare. The Volare succumbed to body rot long before the ICE was even in early adulthood.

The Chrysler slant six was one of the best engines ever made. Virtually indestructable.

[Hermod]

"The Dart is the first Chrysler vehicle based on Fiat architecture, and is adapted from the Alfa Romeo Guilietta."


I hope they didn't use the Alfa-Romeo electrical system. They are as bad as the Brit Lucas systems [[the light switches have three positions; off, dim, and flicker)

[Pickford-Bentler]

"The Dart is the first Chrysler vehicle based on Fiat architecture, and is adapted from the Alfa Romeo Guilietta."


I hope they didn't use the Alfa-Romeo electrical system. They are as bad as the Brit Lucas systems [[the light switches have three positions; off, dim, and flicker)

Let me guess the labels for the three positions:

On = off

Off = dim

Variable = flicker

Semantically speaking, they got one out of three right

[douglasm]

Reminds me of my old Austin.

I think Dart is a great name for the rig. The name association is proper, putting it on a small car, and at first blush, it looks like they've got a winner.

My dad, a heater design engineer for Chrysler, had plenty of bad words for Simca's heating and ventilation systems on the 1204, so I hope the Alfa based heater words well. And if it doesn't I hope Dad's ghost remembers that he has to haunt Auburn Hills, not Highland Park.

BTW, which slant 6, 170 or 225 ci?

[Pickford-Bentler]

Our Volare had the 225, I believe. The one I helped fix was also in a Volare four door. I also drove a auto parts delivery van with a slant-6 coupled to a three on the tree. Damn thing had such loose shift linkage that, by the time I could find third gear, I really should have been back down to first, so the thing would do the lug, lug, a lug when third engaged.

[Rock & Rye]

Have a lot of great 70's memories in a red dart slant six two door, Chysler has done a great job, I hope the new dart isnt just a reskinned 200!

[Gannon]

My mother had a '72 Dart, triple-black four door...the ONLY one I had ever seen in that combination.

I discovered that by turning on the emergency flashers and turn signal simultaneously, with the ignition locked without a key, enough voltage back-fed through the system to turn EVERYTHING on for the duration of the flash. Radio would play in bursts, windshield wipers would move a bit through their entire cycle...it was great fun for a 9-year-old, hacking before it was cool.


That car had the 225 slant six, which helped her through 200k miles of Stanley Home Product deliveries...the engine sprung leaks after she sold it, I'm SURE she had some relationship with that vehicle and it was merely sad she wasn't saying prayers for it to run safely daily.

As for the 'new' Dart...I cannot bring myself to care. Only cool vehicle to come out in the past five years is the renewed Fiat 500, yet another rehashed old design. There is nothing new under the sun, the car business is as played out as Hollywood.


Cheers!

[dbpix]

Whaddya think?



2013 Dodge Dart to be unveiled at Detroit auto show, Chrysler says



Actual products aside I think Chrysler is doing a great job at marketing by picking up on vibes and catching our attention.

I had a 63 with the push button shifting

[oladub]

I had a stick shift '67 Dart I bought used from a factory worker and a used Volare [[73?) both slant six. They were the essence of econobox devoid of fancy tailpipes and mag wheels. They both seated six and had large trunks relative to their size. Their engines were mechanically sound. Where they differed was the Dart gave me no problems but the Volare was a deathtrap. Mechanical problems with the Volare included a front wheel and the steering wheel coming off without the use of tools and a pedal to the floor brake failure in a construction zone.

[CountrySquire]

Building it in Belvedere eh? Nice move for Chrysler. It's a refreshing change from the outsource everything to Mexico directive from the Nardelli days.

[daft]

Thanks for the old pix. My first car was a '63 Dart [[bought used for $250 in 1970). The push-button transmission was great for rocking the car out of snow [[which i had to do a lot, since i was always driving on near-bald tires). I'm sure that trying the same thing on a modern car would just blow the trans... And note the size of that Dart -- which was considered a compact at the time.

[detlump]

The Alfa on which the Dart will be based is a good handling car so it should be a nice product. At least with Fiat the Chrysler guys have the funding to make good interiors, and quality is climbing.

I am glad to see a good name reused, the Dodge lineup sounds a lot like it did in the 60s.