Forgotten Cars: Dodge Nitro

"LJ909" (lj909)
06/10/2019 at 15:29 • Filed to: forgotten cars, Dodge Nitro

“The Dodge Nitro’s styling delivers something extra; that little something midsize buyers are still searching for - attitude,” - George Murphy, Senior Vice President - Global Marketing.

That’s how the Nitro was described to the press and the public on its debut at the 2005 Chicago Auto Show. Essentially a longer wider Liberty (they rode on the same platform KA) the Nitro was Dodge’s first foray into the midsize SUV game.

The Nitro was originally introduced as a near production ready concept. The main differences on the concept were the on the interior. It featured bright dash inlays that were supposed to spruce up the Black plastic trim that would eventually ordain the interior on the production version. It also had a 7 in screen with a dvd based navigation system.

The production version of the Nitro continued Chrysler’s tradition of bringing concept cars to production with the exterior design mostly unchanged. Built in Chrysler’s Toledo plant alongside the Liberty, the company had invested $600 million to expand the plant for the new models. It came in 3 trim levels shared between 2 engines, 2 transmissions and rear or 4wd.

Base SXT and mid level SLT trimmed Nitro’s came with a 3.7 liter 210 horse V6 and RWD.

The performance oriented R/T trim came with a 4.0 liter 255 horse V6. That got upped to 260 in ‘11. The R/T could also be had with 4WD and a performance suspension. What was interesting was that you could get a standard 5 speed manual paired to the standard 3.7. However, in typical fashion, you couldn’t get the manual on the larger 4 liter V6 or on the R/T trim. A 4 speed auto was available on the 3.7 along with the 5 speed manual; the 4.0 got a Mercedes sourced 5 speed auto.

Europe got the Nitro as well with a VM Motori 2.8 Liter diesel and a few exterior changes regulation wise.

Despite its “street cred” looks, the Nitro proved to be a letdown performance wise. For one, it was heavy, and no one could quite understand why. This resulted in poor gas mileage of 17 city/23 highway. Worse than even some minivans at the time (the Euro version with the diesel turned 22 city/32 highway with the manual). And it was slow with the 3.7 needing nearly 10 seconds to get to 60. The R/T of course was where it was at, doing the same sprint in 6.9 seconds. It performance suspension was a letdown as well with it having slow steering and unsettling body roll.

Most reviews though praised the styling, especially the big 20' wheels who many thought would never make it to production, the quiet ride and its interior storage. But the universal knocks against it were on the crappy ride and handling, especially on the R/T model which supposedly came with a performance tuned suspension, the bad fuel economy and the crappy interior quality. The last 2 could be considered products of the time. Keep in mind this thing came to market right as the recession was beginning. High gas prices and interior quality from a company that was just about to go Bankrupt weren’t a good look. But surprisingly the Nitro lasted from 2007-2011 with a total of 275,510 made over the 4 years. Dodge replaced the Nitro with the Journey, which is not only old but worse in every way except its one of the cheapest vehicles on the market you can get with a 3rd row.

DISCUSSION (27)

BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo > LJ909
06/10/2019 at 16:18

Forgotten for a reason.

wafflesnfalafel > LJ909
06/10/2019 at 16:32

worked with a lady that had one with the gas 6cyl - not horrible, but the brakes were already gindy when I rode in it....

KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time > LJ909
06/10/2019 at 16:38

Some vehicles should stay forgotten

LJ909 > wafflesnfalafel
06/10/2019 at 16:39

That good ole Penta star quality!

Snuze: Needs another Swede > LJ909
06/10/2019 at 16:40

I was having a discussion with another Oppo about these recently. I thought they looked really cool when new, and the fact that you can get a stick + RWD/4WD is pretty awesome. They’re also pretty cheap and I think it would make an excellent alternate vehicle for someone who has need of such a thing.

LJ909 > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
06/10/2019 at 16:45

Im just surprised they made that many over 4 years.

LJ909 > Snuze: Needs another Swede
06/10/2019 at 17:02

Right. It had over a 5k lb towing capacity . If you c ould put up with the bad mileage it could be a good second car for towing or getaway duties.

Deal Killer - Powered by Focus > LJ909
06/10/2019 at 17:02

I remember seeing these things, as well as the Liberty, parked by the hundreds in vacant parking lots near the Toledo Jeep plant in 2007 -2009. You could see the writing on the wall as far as the economy was concerned, I just wish I knew what “shorting a stock” was back then.

LJ909 > Deal Killer - Powered by Focus
06/10/2019 at 17:08

They probably all went to fleet too.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > LJ909
06/10/2019 at 17:11

TIL I learned there was such a thing as an R/T Nitro.

LJ909 > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
06/10/2019 at 17:30

Yeah Dodge had gotten to a certain point where R/T was just a top trim and meant nothing special. That’s where there were Intrepid R/Ts Caravan R/Ts and Stratus R/Ts.

KnowsAboutCars > LJ909
06/10/2019 at 17:37

The original Nitro concept.

Kinja'd!!!

LJ909 > KnowsAboutCars
06/10/2019 at 17:52

Really? I’ve never seen this anywhere.

KnowsAboutCars > LJ909
06/10/2019 at 18:02

I remember seeing it in a car magazine way back it was doing rounds in car shows.

I’m stupid, this is the Dodge Hornet concept. Somehow I remembered this was also named Nitro and got GIS results claiming the same.

and 100 more > LJ909
06/10/2019 at 18:11

I test-drove the platform-mate KK Liberty. It was okay. Not great. The very short dash is dis conc erting, for some reason. It had about as much room as the Jeep Patriot that I was driving at the time, yet weighed about 1,000 lbs m ore.

But the Nitro and Liberty were damn near twins; the Nitro had more cargo area, behind the rear seats, and that’s about the only difference.

bhtooefr > LJ909
06/10/2019 at 19:06

I forget who it was - I want to say Consumer Reports - but someone famously reviewed it, and in their summary, said that there were no good things about it.

When car reviewer s stretch to find good things about everything they review, and someone dropped *that*...

Dusty Ventures > LJ909
06/10/2019 at 19:56

I had one of these as a rental when chasing the Vegas to Reno desert race in 2009. I have three memories of the car; 1) unintentionally catching a sizable amount of air in a silt bed, 2) basically destroying the HVAC system to the point that every time you turn it on it blows dust for the first five seconds, and 3) if you activated 4WD it also locked all the differentials, even though the dial said nothing about locking the differentials. There was no way to have 4WD on without locked differentials, which made tight turns in rough terrain “interesting”

LJ909 > and 100 more
06/10/2019 at 20:33

Yea they were identical and badge engineered. The Nitro made sense in Dodge’s lineup since there wasn’t a midsize SUV before it. The Liberty could’ve been done without. To me a Wrangler made more sense.

LJ909 > Dusty Ventures
06/10/2019 at 20:37

Also the 4wd system didn’t have a low range either from what I read.

Dusty Ventures > LJ909
06/10/2019 at 21:15

That is correct, which was part of the reason I was so dismayed that it locked the diffs. Your options were just 2WD and 4WD

Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer > LJ909
06/10/2019 at 21:52

I’ve got one of the base spec rwd manuals. the manual is actually the 6 speed from the wrangler.

FREDERICK STALBAUM > LJ909
06/10/2019 at 22:07

I have a 2007 nitro rt with a 4 liter . Its blue with all the chr ome accessories. Its the greatest toy i have ever owned. I have worked for chrysler for 41 years now i have real fun with this thing. It handles better than that boat they call a charger . Its has 160 thousand miles on it and still runs great. I wish they made a full size one with a hemi. I would be the first one in line to buy it. What made it a real drive and perform is that i put Michelin tires on them 20 inch wheels instead of the factoy big tread tires. Them factory tires had no traction and just spin in the rain. The way it sounds like from other inputs on this site , i must have got lucky and bought a good one.

LJ909 > Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer
06/10/2019 at 23:15

Thats crazy. Do n’ t they both share the same 3.7 V6 from that era as well?

LJ909 > FREDERICK STALBAUM
06/10/2019 at 23:16

160k and still running strong? Thats pretty damn good. Its crazy though I dont think I have ever seen a Nitro R/T in person.

pip bip - choose Corrour > LJ909
06/11/2019 at 04:11

forgotten for a reason, they were crap

i86hotdogs > FREDERICK STALBAUM
06/11/2019 at 07:59

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

I’m sure you know, but they made the Commander, the Grand Cherokee, and the Durango with the Hemi. Unless you’re referring simply to the styling of it.

Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer > LJ909
06/11/2019 at 22:00

A ll from Toledo factory parts bin. Aside from the fuel economy and the general uncoolness, its been an excellent car.