Five-Point Inspection: 2013 Dodge Dart Rallye
The compact car segment is a hotly contested battleground, so is the Dodge Dart the secret weapon that the American automaker needs it to be, or does it miss the bulls-eye?
With a starting price of $15,995, the Dart is poised to sting the competition in value and affordability. Our tester was outfitted in Rallye trim, along with a manual transmission, Uconnect infotainment system and the 1.4L Turbocharged Multi-Air engine which rings up at the register for $20,635.
Interiors of compact cars today are long separated from their plastic-y predecessors, and the Dart is a perfect example of that. While the interior isn’t full of leather and suede, Dodge manages to put a selection of soft-touch materials at all the important touch-points.
It gives the cabin a premium feel, and with 14 combined cabin and dash configurations available, the Dart has a bespoke interior quality to it. Additionally, the Dart’s impressive digital dash add-on is fantastic, and easily rivals the latest tech from other premium automakers.
Uconnect is the little talked about competitor to MyFord Touch and Chevy MyLink, and that’s for a good reason; most of the time those other two get mentions for being problematic. Conversely, Uconnect works remarkably well. There’s little to fault with the function and speed of Dodge’s infotainment system, with its wonderfully responsive touch and voice commands. While the graphics and icons look a little cartoony, it helps to make it stand out without distracting you.
For a small car, the Dart feels quite big inside, and on the road. In terms of passenger space, it tops the new Nissan Sentra in rear head room, and trumps the Ford Focus and Hyundai Elantra in rear leg room. The Dart stacks up pretty well with other compact competitors in terms of front head and legroom as well.
On the road, the Dart feels very substantial, and weight wise, it is. The only other compact that weighs more than the Dart is the Chevrolet Cruze, and like the Chevy, the Dart feels sturdy during high-winds, highway cruising or just driving on sketchy roads.
Continuing its theme of refinement, the Dart is very quiet on the road. The only noise that penetrates into the cabin is the wonderful sounding bark of the 1.4L Turbo, the same engine that you’d find in the Fiat 500 Abarth. This means that during a leisurely drive, your passengers will appreciate the calm and cool interior acoustics, but once you step on it, the Dart lives up to its European underpinnings and gets feisty.
Despite the Dart’s weight, the car manages to be engaging to drive, though only once the turbo has spooled. Responsive when driven hard, it defines turbo lag during daily commuting and nothing exciting happens for about the first half of the rev-range. This helps the Dart get an as tested 33 mpg in combined driving, although the requirement of premium fuel negates the Dart’s fuel-friendliness.
Other parts of the drive feel smooth and refined. The manual transmission allows for smooth gear shifts, which is in contrast to the sharp transmission in the Mazda3 and Honda Civic, while other manual transmissions offered in the segment feel a bit sloppier. What this means is that the Dart has a bit of character and a very different one for a compact, which is a trait that’s hard to find for under $20,000, and something that is appreciable to both the enthusiast and everyman.
Interested in buying a new Dodge Dart? Then head on over to AutoGuide.com’s new car buying page. You can look at the rest of the Dodge lineup, or jump straight to the Dart.
If you’re looking at buying a compact car, but not interested in the Dart, check out the competition from Hyundai, Chevrolet and Nissan.
Discuss this story at Dodge Dart Central
Sami has an unquenchable thirst for car knowledge and has been at AutoGuide for the past six years. He has a degree in journalism and media studies from the University of Guelph-Humber in Toronto and has won multiple journalism awards from the Automotive Journalist Association of Canada. Sami is also on the jury for the World Car Awards.
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You must be joking! $20,000 for a POSmobile! Buy a 10 to 20 year old Chrysler that was fun then and cheap fun now and put more than $20,000 into your 401K or an IRA. You can buy a better, used, old car than the cost of the first year's depreciation on this ****. Fiat engine my A**. I gave up on POS Fiat cars in the 70s.
Wow it sucks to be Canadian if you're in the market for a domestic car - Same Rallye here is $28,800 in USD! I'll stick to imports, thanks...