Sure, I know...BMW and Merc have really fast wagons, but the look of thoese cars will forever keep me away.

You know, it's not that I only care about looks...cause I don't, but fast ugly is still ugly. I'd rather have quick pretty than fast ugly.

But like they always say, looks are subjective...

 

I agree with you about the looks vs power.....that is why I am not a huge fan of the EVO or STI. I respect the performance....but I hate the look. Although the V70R is really ugly IMO.....it is the ultimate sleeper. Not many people will think you have 300hp and AWD when you pull up in that FUGLY wagon. Volvo needs to give the V70 line-up a face-lift (or should I say *** lift) like the V50....then I may reconsider the sports-wagon.....for my wife cause my next ride is gonna be a Shelby GT500.....unless PTP finally builds a turbo kit worth keeping the 8 around.

 

looks like a rx8

if thats the engine thats going to be in the EVO X then id be very impressed... but i thought EVO has to be 2.0 liter to qualify for the rally races. or are they going to have 2 versions of the EVO X like the situation with the STI.

 

Exactly how I feel, I respect all those cars (SRT-4, EVO, and STI) for what they can do performance wise but considering how little I actually get to push my car (with traffic, cops, and that pesky thing called traffic laws...lol) I'm not the type that is sold by HP alone...I got to look at that thing and be seen in it...lol, so I do care about looks also.

Look at the EVO X concept, trust me if that was around when I was shopping around the RX8 would have had HUGE competition...or if the Camaro concept was around it also would have given the RX8 huge competition.

Not to disrespect my lovely 8, it beat out ALOT of other cars but I have to be honest.

 

Mitsu is out of WRC for now and WRC is adding a bunch of new limitations so I don't know if even the existing Evo IX would qualify anymore. Hopefully the Evo X will be able to add another 20 or so hp off of that block.

 

I've sat in the regular Caliber. It feels large fromm the driver's seat, much like a 3/4 scale Durango. The design of the instrument panel and doors and location of the windshield all contribute to the "small SUV" feel. Huge headroom, but low-mounted squishy seats. The SRT should get unique front seats, though.

I wouldn't expect sporty handling.

 

Bump because Moostafa is an inconsiderate noob that likes to waste bandwidth.

 

Haha, you're just mad cause you started the thread and nobody has posted in awhile. I'll delete mine.

 

Any idea what the pricing for the Caliber SRT-4 is going to be? When is it going on sale? Same for the MS3...

 

No pricing release from Chrysler yet. I'm going to guess 22-24k depending on options. Rumors of a release date range from Spring of '06 to early next year. I do know they're not even starting to build them yet so it's still at the very least a few months away, I'm guessing Fall.

 

Oh, I thought the thread was bumbed cuase they changed the looks....lol, oh well...

Come on....EVO X concept.....

 

C&D is estimating $22,000 for the Caliber, with an on-sale date starting around this time next year.

In case you hadn't seen it yet, the new C&D has a 7-car comparo of $15,000 compacts (which includes the Caliber) and also a featured article on the SRT-4 version. They did not like the base Caliber; it finished 6th out of 7th, beating only the Suzuki Reno and losing out to the Hyundai Accent, Toyota Yaris, Kia Rio5, Nissan Versa, and Honda Fit. Here are their closing remarks:

They have higher hopes for the SRT-4 version, mostly due to the high output turbo engine. However, they conclude that article with the following:

 

I saw a Caliber up close last weekend at a Dodge dealership. It was fugly. So was the Neon though and PVO managed to make the SRT-4 Neon an aggressive looking car IMHO. Hopefully the SRT-4 Caliber can pull it off too.

 

<sighs>