Overview & Reviews

One of America's most storied automotive brands, Dodge has been around since the early days of the auto industry. In the past couple of decades, it has revitalized itself to be a producer of aggressively styled and performance-oriented vehicles.

Two brothers, Horace and John Dodge, began the Dodge Brothers Motor Vehicle company in 1914, after having worked as manufacturers of bicycles and automotive parts. Their first vehicle was a touring car that proved a fast favorite with car buyers; it was soon joined by a roadster and a four-door sedan. By 1917, the company's model line had grown to include trucks. Dodge cars and trucks were used as staff vehicles and ambulances in World War I.

Dodge was briefly owned by a banking firm and subsequently sold by its new owner to the Chrysler Corporation in 1928. From there, the brand slowly evolved into the division responsible for trucks and performance-oriented cars. Post WWII, Dodge introduced vehicles like the military-inspired Power Wagon truck, Hemi-powered Coronet and the Royal Lancer; in addition, the manufacturer began offering dealer-installed air-conditioning.

Vehicles like the Dodge Dart and the Coronet kept the manufacturer in American driveways throughout the 1960s. That decade also saw the launch of one of Dodge's most iconic vehicles, the Charger. Dodge's muscle car was based on the Coronet platform, and featured a fastback roof line, hidden headlamps and a full-width taillamp panel. Best of all, the Charger could pack one heck of a wallop under the hood. A 318-cubic-inch V8 was standard, but buyers seeking maximum brawn could upgrade to a 426-cubic-inch, 425-hp Hemi V8. The company also introduced a Mustang-fighting pony car, called the Challenger, in 1970.

As with other American auto manufacturers, Dodge's fortunes started to slip in the '70s due to changing tastes and increased competition. The company was saved from extinction in the early '80s thanks to government loans and the sales success of its Omni and Aries economy cars (the former an attempted copy of the VW Rabbit). But 1984 was when Dodge made its mark in the history books with the introduction of the wildly popular Caravan. Ideal for families and able to seat up to seven, the space-efficient Caravan started a whole new vehicle segment -- the minivan.

The early '90s saw the company wow the public with the V10-powered Viper roadster and an all-new Ram pickup that set a new standard for big-rig-like styling. A few years later, Dodge came to be part of DaimlerChrysler, a result of the merger of the German company Daimler (owner of Mercedes-Benz) and Chrysler.

The merger never really worked, however, and Daimler sold Chrysler and Dodge to a private equity firm in 2007. Soon after, America's economy slid into recession. Due to poor sales and debt, Chrysler had to declare bankruptcy. The federal government intervened and eventually Dodge came under control of Fiat, a European automaker known for its small cars, an area where Dodge's entries had been roundly criticized for mediocre build quality and unrefined performance.

More recent years have seen Dodge concentrate on the more practical vehicles in its lineup, making notable improvements to the performance and overall quality of its midsize Avenger sedan and Journey SUV entries. Dodge also spun off its truck line, making it a separate Ram brand. But make no mistake; Dodge is still considered Chrysler's performance division thanks to cars like the Challenger and Charger. Time will tell how successful Dodge's latest makeover is.

User Reviews:

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  Lemon! - 2009 Dodge Journey
  By arudich - August 18 - 9:18 pm

  We have also had multiple problems with our Dodge Journey. 3 times it has shut down on me while driving down the road. When this happens I lose all control of steering, brakes etc. The dealer has not been able to identify the problem despite rewiring it and replacing the entire CPU. In addition we have had rotor problems, exhaust problems, lost power windows/locks/mirrors and wheel issues. I have tried dealing with Chrysler regarding it being a lemon. They will not replace it. We will be contacting a lawyer as I will not put my family in a car that stops randomly in traffic. The third time it happened, we were inches from a major accident. Please read other reviews before purchasing.

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  Terrible customer service - 2008 Dodge Caliber
  By mike c - August 18 - 7:00 pm

  I liked my Dodge for the first 18 months then started having problems first it needed a strut for the front end but that didnt fix problem now back shocks are making noise, so took to dealer and he said he cannot find problem, close to warranty ending, my last doge ever.

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  Lost power while driving! - 2010 Dodge Journey
  By bubofbuffs - August 17 - 7:06 pm

  I admit it, we were in love with our Journey. It is comfortable and fun to drive. We have room for the kids and all of their friends. This love affair was crushed today as we were driving down the road and suddenly lost all power (wipers, steering, brakes, lights)we couldnt restart the vehicle while in motion. Luckily we were able to coast off the the side, and could restart after a couple of minutes. We directly drove to the dealer and they seemed to think that I was over- reacting. We are awaiting a repair report. I see that this isnt the first report of this problem on Edmunds (See: Another Lemon by unhappy in NY). There clearly is something wrong. AAAAARRRGH!

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  Something to drive - 1997 Dodge Neon
  By DDaubenspeck - August 16 - 9:23 pm

  Honestly it was my second car after my first vehicle (1995 Honda Passport) died on me. I purchased this vehicle with around 144,XXX miles on it. Ran like a charm, but wasnt exactly my "type" of vehicle. Started experiencing odd behavior with the car so I sold it and purchased a Mustang Cobra. I was driving an Automatic and switched to Manual. I love the Mustang 1000x more than that little Neon.

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  You can have This One ! - 2009 Dodge Journey
  By chip - August 14 - 12:29 pm

  First of all, I traded from a grand Cherokee to this! I feared I was trading down even before I took delivery and continue to think this way after 30 months. I cannot wait until someone else is driving/paying for this vehicle. Brakes and 4 new tires all before 40k! ! And today at 53k told I need brakes again! I will say it was good in snow (have the awd) but so are many other cars. Hyundai is looking better and better! ! Had a Dakota in the 80s and had much better luck with that in the 104k miles I put on it. Very disappointed in this vehicle. I point and laugh at the others on the road and yell sucker but they probably love theirs. Not me! Cant wait until this one goes !

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  Nice Looking and um nice looking - 2009 Dodge Journey
  By EGH75 - August 13 - 12:06 am

  I loved this car when I first saw it. Nice looking car and test drove good. Since it was first year model, there was no history. I wish I didnt buy it. Rubber pieces on outside of door just by rear tires fallen off. Replaced rear brakes at 40k and fronts at 56k. Both visor mirror covers have broken off. Stained seats cant be cleaned. Pass. window motor is shot. Had my engine computer flashed twice. Ive had to change both inner and outer tie rods. Im getting poor gas mileage. No where close to the gas mileage youre supposed to get. Im already looking at trading it in. Too much plastic on the inside. Feels cheap. Although its a 7 seater you can only put children in the very back.

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  Computer - 2007 Dodge Charger
  By BethRodgers - August 12 - 3:04 pm

  Well I had my car, bought used the owner before paid got the extended warranty, part of the selling feature. When I driving the car sometimes starts to chug and I step on the gas and nothing happens, no rpm no speed, then the engine light flashes and the bell starts to ring. And then the car feels like its going to die. I pull over turn it off the then restart. And the car is fine. But this isnt really happening (more then 50 times) because the dealer cant find anything wrong with it. The computer say it didnt happen. Ya right. I will never buy another Dodge again. They have treated me like crap. I have never had this many problems before.

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  Fun for 20K miles, then get rid of it! - 2007 Dodge Caliber
  By David - August 11 - 3:28 pm

  I loved this car for the longest time and I still do love it. But since Ive gotten it, Ive had several MAJOR projects done it to fix issues. Here is a short list of some of the issues and costs that Ive had to endure: -Gas tank gauge overflowing and not shutting off gas pump immediately causing spill (covered under warranty) -Clock spring faulty in steering wheel and causing clicking noise whenever steering (covered under warranty) -Break squeak from worn joints (covered under -Trans Leak ($400 but tried to charge me $800) -Worn ball joints ($722) -Trans overheat causing vehicle to shut down (bringing in next week) The last 3 have happened within 4 months of each other. DO NOT BUY!

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  Looks good, but loads of trouble - 2007 Dodge Caliber
  By Tony - August 11 - 1:03 pm

  This little car has been trouble from the start. We have taken this to the dealer every year for the past 3 years in order to get it to pass emissions. Then just this past weekend the Transmission went out. The warranty is 3 yrs and 36 thou miles. This will cost us $4500 since the CVT transmission cannot be rebuilt. It may look good on the outside and have several good features, but is a load of crap. here are just a few of the things weve done to it, starting about a year after we bought it. Brakes (once a year), Tie rods (once), Emissions sensors (every year), lights (once). I would not buy one of these cars or any Dodge product ever again.

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  2.7 is expensive to maintain - 2002 Dodge Intrepid
  By mark f - August 5 - 6:36 am

  Bought ours used and we thought we got a great buy. Then the problems started to hit us. Thermostat went out was $160 to replace it because a normal man without a car hoist cant get to it, REALLY! Then 1 of the 2 ELECTRIC fans that cool the motor went out. Then it kept over heating anyway. Come to find out, its the water pump. It is made to leak a tiny amount of water as it starts to go out. Causing you to over heat. $600 minimum to replace as it is inside the motor. Since they have to take off the timing belt, might as well replace it too, another $125 in parts. My mechanic said to use 5w-20 synthetic oil only! Other oils cause build-up in side the motor causing them to blow!