by "LJ909" (lj909)
Published 12/12/2017 at 12:01
by "LJ909" (lj909)
Published 12/12/2017 at 12:01
No Tags
STARS: 2
Debuting at the New York auto show way back in’06 and being made through ‘09, the Caliber SRT-4 was Chrysler’s foray into the hot hatch field. Positioned to compete with the MazadSpeed3 and VW GTi (lofty ass goals for pre bk Chrysler if you ask me) it had a turbocharged 2.4L I4 pushing 285 horses through the front wheels. We all know this thing should have come with awd out the gate, but rumor has it that a combination of the packaging not working out for that and a big price increase made awd a no go. But even then it was still putting out some serious power. Edmond’s dynoed an SRT-4 when it debuted and got 281 horses and 261 ft/lbs of torque and called Chrysler’s power rating “conservative”.
Having never driven one, apparently it was pretty good to drive, with some calling it autocross worthy. Getrag made things even better by providing the 6 speed manual, which had been described as crisp to shift. The Caliber had relatively big brakes as well, utilizing 13.4 in front discs and 11.9 in rear supposedly lifted from the Charger Police Package. Despite this, the Caliber had long stopping distances with Car&Driver measuring a horrible 175 ft from 70 mph.
Aside from the typical crap Chrysler interior quality from the time, it had good looking beefy SRT seats and a reconfigurable instrument cluster that gave performance pages that gave things like lateral g’s and braking distances. The rest was forgettable. It was a bargain as well at $22,995. Sadly nothing like it exists now for cheap performance from FCA outside of the too small 500 Abarth and Abarth 124 Spider.
"Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap" (ddadragon)
12/12/2017 at 12:08, STARS: 2
I have this weird desire for the SRT4 cars. I don’t understand it.
"LJ909" (lj909)
12/12/2017 at 12:09, STARS: 0
Same here. The Neon SRT-4 was a little beast. I love this one too, but that pre BK Chrysler quality...We could’ve had a Dart SRT-4, but everyone jumped on the Dart/200 are crap bandwagon.
"Roadster Man" (roadsterman)
12/12/2017 at 12:13, STARS: 1
A couple years ago there was an SRT-4 Caliber gang running around the strip at H2O. Seriously, they had the loudest cars I saw all weekend. Apparently they can be damn quick too.
"Cash Rewards" (cashrewards)
12/12/2017 at 12:13, STARS: 1
The neon srt4 with the acr handling package was downright fast. Not “fast for a neon”, but just plain fast.
"dropthatclutch" (dropthatclutch)
12/12/2017 at 12:14, STARS: 1
You name a performance car under $50k (maybe even 100) and someone I know or have met has owned it. Except this. I’ve never met a Caliber SRT4 owner.
"LJ909" (lj909)
12/12/2017 at 12:14, STARS: 0
Yea for those that arent in the know, they are almost sleepers. But I bet those things had straight pipes on them or something.
"Roadster Man" (roadsterman)
12/12/2017 at 12:17, STARS: 0
Yeah, most of them had the whole nine yards- straight piped, big turbo, external screamer wastegates, all the fun obnoxious go-fast stuff. But you can squeeze a ton of power out of that funky 2.3L four cyl, I was surprised.
"Ash78, voting early and often" (ash78)
12/12/2017 at 12:21, STARS: 1
Wow! I see the Neon SRT-4 about once a month, but I have never seen one of these. Or maybe I have, they’re just visually lost in all the rental-spec versions.
I’ve never seen a mass produced car disappear from the roads as quickly as the Caliber.
"LJ909" (lj909)
12/12/2017 at 12:22, STARS: 0
You know what, thats true. Ive met Caliber owners, but never SRT-4 owners personally. That isnt to say Ive never seen them running around. They seem to be the same type of bro car people that would drive a FoST,FiST or any other hot hatch/JDM car thats hot right now.
"itschrome" (itschrome)
12/12/2017 at 12:22, STARS: 2
I dont think we forgot about them, we just choose not to care. The neon SRT4 was amazing! so why do we ignore this? because in the 90's the neon was a fun little car. yeah it had just as bad or worse quality issues as the Caliber but that was ok. in the 90's and hold over to early 2000's. But by the time the caliber hit the show rooms there was no excuse for this type of shit. Kia/Hyundia were on the rise. GM and ford where trying harder, maybe ford more than GM and Japan was holding steady (maybe too steady) on what they did best. The poor quality of the over all build of the caliber was not excusable, 285hp or not. Not to mention they just couldn’t handle the power as well as they should have. the SRT4 neon was a monster for its day 208hp to 250ish by the end of the line. sure they took it just fine, but no tweaks were really made to the caliber to deal with all that power and it just made for a shitty ride.
"If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent" (essextee)
12/12/2017 at 12:22, STARS: 1
It’s not forgotten, it’s ignored.
"LJ909" (lj909)
12/12/2017 at 12:23, STARS: 0
I bet they sounded great. But yea you can get a lot out of them surprisingly. Ive often seen over 300 with simple tunes, some have claimed over 500 though I doubt that.
"LJ909" (lj909)
12/12/2017 at 12:24, STARS: 1
They disappeared because they all went to junk yards and stopped working. It is weird though, I see more Neon SRT-4's than Caliber SRT-4's.
"HammerheadFistpunch" (hammerheadfistpunch)
12/12/2017 at 12:25, STARS: 2
The SRT Caliber was the definition of throwing good money after bad. The poor engineers did the best they could with the turd they were given but they aren’t magicians. This is the factory equivalent of the guy selling his 2005 120,000 mile WRX with $5000 of mods for $20,000.
"LJ909" (lj909)
12/12/2017 at 12:27, STARS: 0
Everything you said is why I have never wanted or even thought about really owning one. I acknowledge how cool they were and they power they had, but the quality from them at the time was inexcusable, and aside from the performance bits, it was still a shitty car. Its pretty much ignored I think because people in the know, I.e. us, see Caliber first, SRT second, and that Caliber and its problems are too big to ignore.
"LJ909" (lj909)
12/12/2017 at 12:29, STARS: 0
This is the factory equivalent of the guy selling his 2005 120,000 mile WRX with $5000 of mods for $20,000.
This. Like I said to someone else, we see Caliber first, SRT second. And the stuff that was needed to make it great would have necessitated a whole new car basically. It really needed AWD to handle the power, but that would have make it cost way more than it was really worth. To me its like if Ford had give us here in the US a FoRS based on the first gen Focus.
"Nothing" (nothingatalluseful)
12/12/2017 at 12:30, STARS: 2
I had a buddy that had one. He traded his MS3 for one, and was out of it in about a year, moving on to an STi. He bought it because it was different, then got out if it because it was crap.
"random001" (random001)
12/12/2017 at 12:31, STARS: 0
What do you mean too small!?
"HammerheadFistpunch" (hammerheadfistpunch)
12/12/2017 at 12:33, STARS: 1
I think the AWD thing is just a red herring. it was just a bad base platform. Truthfully though, an abarth 500x would be pretty great place to start.
"cluelessk" (cluelessk)
12/12/2017 at 12:35, STARS: 2
You don’t need awd. You need at a LSD and Dodge couldn’t even add that.
"cluelessk" (cluelessk)
12/12/2017 at 12:38, STARS: 2
Because young people bought them for cheap barely used and destroyed them.
The same thing is happening to the turbo Cobalt SS right now. They’re dirt cheap and you get a ton of performance for the price.
"Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap" (ddadragon)
12/12/2017 at 12:39, STARS: 2
Now the hard part is finding a not destroyed one
"LJ909" (lj909)
12/12/2017 at 12:39, STARS: 0
Yea thats what I mentioned to someone else, the buyer for these were the same car bros that go for FiST/FoST,WRX etc. They went into these things thinking they had a JDM/hot hatch competitor that was American. But they are used to dealing with quirks, not outright shitty quality. I wouldnt touch one even though they are powerful.
"LJ909" (lj909)
12/12/2017 at 12:40, STARS: 0
I take it you’re a 500 Abarth owner?
"LJ909" (lj909)
12/12/2017 at 12:41, STARS: 0
Yea but that design though, it doesnt scream sporty. It screams grandmother that has bumper stickers about how much she loves her grandchildren and weekday runs to Panera Bread for butternut squash soup.
"LJ909" (lj909)
12/12/2017 at 12:41, STARS: 1
Or like someone else mentioned, an entirely different car or base platform.
"itschrome" (itschrome)
12/12/2017 at 12:43, STARS: 1
I believe 500hp, sure. But the question is what would take longer: a bowl of rice crispies to go soggy or that engine to crack the block or separate from the heads.. my money is on the bowl or rice crispies staying crispy longer..
"LJ909" (lj909)
12/12/2017 at 12:45, STARS: 0
I wouldn’t chance it. Honestly, if I wanted something that could handle crazy power that was cheap from that era of Chrysler, I would go with any of the LX SRT-8's, specifically the 300. If you can deal with over 100k on the odo, you can find one under 15 grand easily.
"random001" (random001)
12/12/2017 at 12:47, STARS: 0
Loud and proud, baby!
"punkgoose17" (punkgoose17)
12/12/2017 at 12:48, STARS: 0
Swapping the parts from a wreck is probably your best bet.
I have an acquaintance that swaps all the SRT-4 parts from wrecked cars into regular Neons. Him and all his friends drive Neons that are SRT-4s underneath.
"LJ909" (lj909)
12/12/2017 at 12:48, STARS: 0
Yea its too small. I always wanted one, specifically the convertible, but my girl wouldnt go for it.
"random001" (random001)
12/12/2017 at 12:57, STARS: 0
I have the 500c Abarth. I also have two kids. Go figure that one out...
"MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig" (MR2_FTW)
12/12/2017 at 12:58, STARS: 1
I think it’s not so much been “forgotten”, more like “deliberately erased from memory to preserve sanity”
"LJ909" (lj909)
12/12/2017 at 12:58, STARS: 0
Its still a no go unless it was a second car. And I only have one 6 year old thats growing fast. And I already have my Mustang Convertible so I’m good.
"random001" (random001)
12/12/2017 at 13:02, STARS: 2
I am sad for you. That car is just too much fun.
"Ash78, voting early and often" (ash78)
12/12/2017 at 13:03, STARS: 0
Cobalt? Pssshh.
HHR SS all the way :D
"cluelessk" (cluelessk)
12/12/2017 at 13:06, STARS: 1
I’m a fan too. Couldn’t find a manual trans HHR SS when I was car shopping. Ended up with a Cobalt SS.
"Ash78, voting early and often" (ash78)
12/12/2017 at 13:07, STARS: 0
A solid car and a definite sleeper among sport compacts.
"Takuro Spirit" (takurospirit)
12/12/2017 at 13:30, STARS: 1
No one bought Caliber SRT-4s, and those that did befell the same issue regular ones did of shoddy suspension, and electronic modules.
"LJ909" (lj909)
12/12/2017 at 13:36, STARS: 0
From my research, it looks like the car either didnt sell like they thought it would, or not at all. Chrysler has been mum on actually production numbers and almost no info is around to say how many were actually made.
There was an email that had been going around sent to Chrysler Sweden saying total production numbers were 482 for 2008 and 222 for 2009 for a total of 704 vehicles. But that has to be wrong, or just talking about European numbers.
Allpar said that the SRT-4 was dropped in ‘09 because fewer than 1,000 were sold in ‘08 and ‘09 combined, especially when you consider that the Neon SRT-4 sold over 25 thousand in 3 years. But it looks like 5,562 were made based on the info and this article which goes into detail and over everything I said before.
!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!
"Milky" (jordanmielke)
12/12/2017 at 13:57, STARS: 1
I’d like to respond to all of the “forgotten” “gone” “where’d they go” comments. They’re in metro Detroit.
There is a whole squad running around with no exhaust, lame stickers, etc. Its what the broke American only buying kids got after their supercharged w-bodies finally broke.
"Under_Score" (tomtheatum)
12/12/2017 at 14:13, STARS: 0
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/36208959/overview/
Calibers?
"LJ909" (lj909)
12/12/2017 at 14:22, STARS: 0
I hope you arent thinking about buying that
"Under_Score" (tomtheatum)
12/12/2017 at 14:25, STARS: 0
I’m shook at how many low-mileage ones there are. And I’m too picky; a car needs to have features like smart key/push button start and a backup camera to catch my attention. So please don’t worry!
"LJ909" (lj909)
12/12/2017 at 14:27, STARS: 0
With these you dont have to be picky, just smart and able to realize that they are in actuality, shitty vehicles.
"Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies" (jordanwphillips)
12/12/2017 at 18:53, STARS: 0
People run that kind of power out of Neon SRT4’s all of the time, fairly reliably even.
"itschrome" (itschrome)
12/12/2017 at 21:03, STARS: 0
Not the same engine. The neon srt4 was a cast iron block dinosaur that loved boost. The Caliber is aluminium and a fair sight weaker. From my understanding. Let’s not be to hastily to whip it. I mean they dyno close to their advertised hp, they are still basically 300 hp 4 bangers, from the darkest of Chrysler days of quality issues. I’m sure a tune and some more boost would yield reliable numbers above 300 to 350 even, whp. I’d get real skeptical above that.
"HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles" (hondasfordsvolvo)
12/12/2017 at 21:53, STARS: 1
I never forgot about them. I’ve driving one once, and loved it, and would love to own one. I also spent a few hours in a base model Caliber, and honestly it wasn’t horrible. But that’s coming from a guy who adores a 2010 Honda Fit and considers it the perfect economy car. However, for some reason they are stupid expensive for what they are. A clean one win less than 100,000 miles will go for 10-12 Grand. For a 8-9 year old Dodge hatchback. It’s not exactly a performance bargain. On if a good one was like 7,000 I could do that
"jdrgoat - Ponticrack?" (jdrgoat)
12/12/2017 at 22:55, STARS: 1
(lofty ass goals for pre bk Daimler-robbed/cheapened Chrysler if you ask me)
FTFY, and I’m not a Chrysler guy.