Do you know this performance version with almost 300 hp?
Patrick Mulder from Hellevoetsluis has his own car taste and purchased a Dodge Caliber 1.8. “A nice, special model that you don’t come across very often,” he says. But Patrick soon decided it wasn’t fast enough and switched to a muscular SRT4. We are looking for the horsepower, this unknown performance version has a power of 295 hp according to the books!
Patrick (24) was an active outdoor karter until three years ago. Behind his then Dodge 1.8 he hung a trailer with his kart in it. “I went to Eindhoven, Assen, Genk, everywhere actually,” he says. So far nothing happened, except that a bus came in from the side at a bad moment. Then something was going on. “I broke a number of ribs, which were secured with steel plates. I was done with karting for a while, because I needed time to recover and that took quite a long time.” Karting with a revised rib cage does not seem very wise to us. How did he even end up with that Dodge? “I was looking for space, but I didn’t want a car that was very obvious. You don’t see the Caliber much, but on paper it has quite a lot to offer. And I think it looks robust and cool.” That was the preliminary phase for the 1.8. The serious accident was a good opportunity to switch to a faster model. “I already had my eye on an SRT4. Because that is a Caliber with an extra dimension: a 2.4-liter turbo engine. That makes you even more surprising.”
Two tons on the clock of the Caliber SRT4
Patrick went looking and found a red rascal, with two tons already on the clock. Wait a minute, two tons for a sportsman with 295 hp, isn’t that a bit crazy? “I did some research beforehand and actually came across quite a lot of positive messages. I read about one in Canada with 300,000 miles on the clock. I dared to do it.” Patrick regularly kicks his SRT on the tail, but with the boosted 2.4-liter four-cylinder he still achieves a decent average consumption of 1 in 12. “The best thing is that no one expects you to be that fast. The Caliber is a bit higher than other hatchbacks and is also a really practical family car, which makes it a great choice. Many GTI drivers are amazed by this.” It is also funny that the Caliber is classified as an MPV. We don’t really see it that way!
SRT4 already had seven owners
What Patrick did encounter was the maintenance history of the car he had in mind: the intended SRT had already worn through seven owners… “The person before me had bought the Caliber for his wife, but she thought the car was too sporty, so away again, haha! She only had it for about three months.” The Dodge Caliber is a front-wheel drive that can put its power on the road reasonably well. We’ll see how that works out on the chassis dynamometer. According to the factory specifications, the torque already peaks at 2,000 rpm, and that is exactly what we see in the measurement. The American scores even better than stated by the factory and the Dodge also performs better in terms of power than stated by the factory. In short: a cheerful Patrick: “Glad that it turned out well, and also that it all sounds healthy with these efforts.”
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl