Dodge Nitro

What is it?? Looks like an overgrown Scion breadbox with a Dakota
grille.

 

It's essentially a Jeep Liberty with new body panels. So at least we're
talking about a serious offroad-capable breadbox with 260 hp.

 

Not only that, the styling will almost certainly be a hit. I would have to
say the breadbox look has sold pretty well, although I think it looks pretty
silly. To me the Nitro is the best of the milktrucks so far.

Oh, dang it - I can't believe I'm posting in a Desert bob thread! Gaaaaa!

 

Gets a ho-hum write-up in today's Sunday Times, the UK's largest-selling
quality Sunday paper:

http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,12929-2424687,00.html

(Text at bottom for convenience.)

DAS

--
For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling
---

[...]

Dodge Nitro
Redneck looks for a place in the sun






Take a long look at this, the new Dodge Nitro. Whatever you may
think of its looks - and I find it rather fetching - it is a car that people
will at least notice. Except they won't yet, as the Nitro doesn't go on sale
here until next summer and hasn't yet made its debut even in its native
America.
How is it, then, that I've just driven one through southern
California from San Diego to Palm Springs and didn't get so much as a second
glance? That's because in America the bestselling "car" is a vast pick-up
truck, so if your set of wheels isn't the size of a mobile home, you're
always going to struggle with road presence. SUVs are to the American
car-buying public what the Toyota Corolla is to the rest of the world: so
common and unremarkable that none of us can remember when we last saw one.

But in Britain, or so its importers are hoping, things will be
different. Here the Nitro will sell against cars like the Hyundai Santa Fe
and Kia Sorento. In a market where one Ford hatchback or another has been
the staple seller for at least two decades, I suspect the Nitro is going to
be as conspicuous here as it is ignored at home.



Just don't go thinking that those looks and the promising name
mean there's huge power at your disposal. The car I drove was fitted with a
3.7 litre V6 engine, and while that might sound impressive on paper, in
reality it doesn't live up to expectations. Dodge Nitro? Flaccid more like.
It comes with an old and horrid four-speed automatic gearbox and is the
first six-cylinder motor I can recall since the last Ford Cortina's that
sounds as if it's in pain when you rev it.

The good news is that the majority of Nitros sold in the UK will
be powered by a common-rail 2.8 litre diesel working in greater harmony with
a five-speed auto. The bad news is that because Americans only understand
the word "Diesel" when it is preceded by the name "Vin" they didn't have one
for me to try.

Of even greater concern to me than the asthmatic engine was the
Nitro's ride and handling which, frankly, made me feel ill. The suspension
was so soft and incapable of controlling the car's natural desire to heave,
pitch and roll that it provided one more reason to add to the regrets I had
about watching the movie Poseidon on the flight over. But worry not, says
Daimler-Chrysler, the suspension settings had been configured to reflect the
fact that there are no corners in America. Cars destined for Europe will
apparently have settings similar to the "Performance" suspension that I also
tried. With these the car is transformed: the stiffer springs and dampers
not only made it handle properly, the ride was also improved almost beyond
recognition.

Not that I enjoyed driving the Nitro even with proper
suspension, but then I never enjoyed driving the Hyundai Santa Fe with which
the Nitro will go head to head. I expect customers will feel the same way
about the Nitro in nine months or so. It lacks the Hyundai's third row of
seats and its second row won't slide, recline or remove, but there is
excellent headroom and legroom all round, and a vast boot.


Model Dodge Nitro 3.7

Engine type 3700cc, six cylinders

Power/Torque 210bhp @ 5200rpm
235 lb ft @ 4000rpm

Transmission Four-speed automatic

Fuel/CO² Figures not available

Performance -60mph: 10sec
Top speed: 121mph

Price Less than £20,000

Verdict Cool looking, poor driving, but interesting

Rating

Release Date Summer 2007






The car's interior reveals smart, simple instruments, sensibly
arranged controls and some sense of design cohesion. I just hope the awful
fit and finish of much of the trim reflect the fact that I was driving
pre-production prototypes.

Driving it so long before it goes on sale means there is much
about the Nitro we still don't know - most notably the extent to which the
diesel engine will improve it. Nor do we know what equipment it will carry
or even how much it will cost. All I can tell you is that Dodge plans to put
the car on sale "with a decent level of standard equipment for less than
£20,000".

At that level, which is less than the cheapest of the
forthcoming Land Rover Freelanders, it should find a space. It certainly
offers a lot of metal for your money and an all-American authenticity with
which to combat the imageless Korean brands at which it's aimed.

THE OPPOSITION

Model Hyundai Santa Fe £20,995
For Three rows of seats, refined, good performance
Against Ride quality, interior appearance, lack of image


Model Kia Sorento £19,995
For Spacious, recently updated, good value
Against No third row seating, not a coveted marque

 

Another ugly monster from Chrysler!
Surprisingly (I'm a conservative senior) when I went into my dealer's
show room last week to look at the new Sebring, the salesman insisted I
get in a Nitro first. Perhaps he thought being a box it would suite my
conservative taste.
It's a high step in and out (I'm 5'-11"), the seating position is good,
but this truck probably can't handle two sets of golf clubs across the
back. The Sebring has adequate trunk for me.

When I got out of the thing and looked at it from the front side the
salesman wanted my opinion my first reaction was: "too high for me and
it looks funny".

Trying to interest me, who said I'm interested in the new Sebring,
illustrates the problem they are having getting buyers for their
monsters. Of course it is Halloween!

I don't expect it will interest the same buyers who buy the similar
looking Honda Element- middle aged and older women, much to Honda's
surprise.

 

No, that means they had a "spiff" running on Nitro sales that day.

They think they're "safe" in such things as SUVs, although data from
NHTSB paints a completely different picture. If you examine Honda's
marketing, they're targeting middle aged divorced women with such
puffery as more cup holders and other inconsequential features that
these broads seem to think are more important than a good drive train,
safety or durability.

A recent multi-car pileup on a freeway near here illustrates this
alarming misconception well. Cars involved were a 300M, a Chevy
Malibu sedan and a newish Suburban. No one was seriously injured in
the two cars, but there were serious injuries and one fatality in the
Suburban, which rolled. Of course, truck-based SUVs aren't bound by
the same safety or emissions requirements as are cars....that's why
the Big 3 loves them so much.

The "boxiest" box of them all, the Scion whateveritis, has a strange
demographic trend, as well. Older men seem to be buying them now,
when the original buyers were almost exclusively males aged 18-24.
Personally, I think they're laughable...as aerodynamic as a brick, I'm
sure their highway mileage isn't all that great in reality, either,
despite Toyota's hype.