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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  LOOK OUT!!!! - 1997 Dodge Grand Caravan
  By i hate this car - February 3 - 2:00 am

  This vehicle is a disaster on wheels! Ive had the transmission re-done twice, the air-conditioning unit re- charged countless times (I gave up trying to fix it), of course the phantom wiper issue, the rear power windows broke, speakers blown, and this vehicle was not abused. Consider anything else before looking at a Dodge. I also had a 1999 Chrysler Sebring which was also a mechanical nightmare. Steer clear of Daimler- Chrysler products!

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  Never Again!!! - 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan
  By sarahnichole975 - February 2 - 5:40 am

  We purchased this van used in 2005 as a demo. The first year was fine, downhill quickly from there. AC compressor is out and before it went out we replaced the switch 3 times, both tail light covers fell off, power locks and windows work when they want to, pieces on inside break easily, not enough power to push this tank. Passenger sliding door hard to open. Back liftgate is testy. Mine doesnt have stow and go and moving those seats around and/or out is tough!!! 100 other little issues with it. But all the little things add up to one big piece of junk!!! You could not pay me to own another one. Upgrading to a Sienna!

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  Horrible product - 2011 Dodge Grand Caravan
  By rosaliny2 - January 23 - 6:29 pm

  I purchased this van with about 25,000 miles on it in 2012. Within the first month there was a clunking when shifting out of park or from reverse to drive. It was loose motor mounts. Less than a month after it started clunking again. This time it actually broke the motor mount and the new part took a week to come in. This happened every 2 months. 10 months into ownership, the rear calibers stuck. 1 week after the brakes were replaced and calipers cleaned ($400) 1 caliper stuck again. New calipers from a dealership were already sticking and my mechanic had to replace them before he even got them on. I ended up putting $1500 into a new rear brake system with less than 50,000 miles on the van.

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  Enormously disappointed in 2012 Dodge Caravan - 2012 Dodge Grand Caravan
  By dogleg1 - December 6 - 11:20 pm

  I bought a new caravan about a month ago. Previously I have owned four Dodge Caravans and liked them. This one has power to burn but the overall quality and design features are very poor in my experience. The accelerator pedal is hard to control and evidently cant be adjusted. The ride is hard and you feel every little bump in the road. The seats are hard too ,I would call them cheap, cheap. When the front seats are pushed back the support frame sticks out and you hit your legs on it. It doesnt come with fender splash guards and the tires throw dirt on the car. I put them on the first few days I had it. The motor and road noise is very bad. Poor sound proofing. More to be said later.

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  Brakes - 2005 Dodge Neon
  By Neon - November 14 - 11:53 am

  The brakes make such a noise - dealership and others say that this is way Neons are. Cannot be changed. Seems to me that if they can design other cars not to have this problem why they could not use the same technology to the Neon. Very unhappy with the car and such noisy brakes - and unhappy that the dealership and unhappy that Dodge/Chrysler seems ok with that. Also - know that the tank is only 10 gallons - always filling up.

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  would not buy a dodge again - 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan
  By tracietam - October 18 - 9:30 am

  I have had a lot of problems with this car. The emergency brake fell off and damaged the rotors, the sliding doors broke two times, and the gas gauge was not accurate and needed to be replaced. I have had it three years and have decided to trade it in and get something more reliable like a toyota sienna.

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  Dodge This Rental! - 2016 Dodge Dart
  By JRWKilleen - October 12 - 8:49 am

  I cant recall ever renting such a piece of junk! How Enterprise can consider this a full sized car is beyond my understanding. It is horribly underpowered. What amazed me was that this so-called modern car had no USB ports! I thought I was looking in the wrong place, so I went online for the info. Sure enough, this bare bones heap had none. The interior was absolutely cheesy!

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  Infuriating Garbage - 2016 Dodge Charger
  By DANIEL DALY - October 9 - 12:44 pm

  Where to start? So I bought this car (2016 Charger SXT 3.6 V6 Rallye fully loaded) based on expert reviews. Do not trust them. This car is the prime example of what is wrong with the American auto industry. Great ideas that are poorly executed. The styling is kinda boring. The interior is a plastic sea of bland styling and afterthought peices. Poor quality plastic at that. Its as if they couldnt think of anything to fill in the blandness so they just tried to rely on the gizmos to impress you. Speaking of gizmos, lets start with the instrument cluster. It is a great looking instrument cluster. Very impressive actually. Reminds me of offerings from the German brands. It is also easy to navigate. There is hardly any reason for your hands to leave the steering wheel. It is clear they want your attention on driving. It probably also helps to keep your eyes out of the cockpit so you dont notice how bad the interior really is. The seats are very comfortable and have many adjustments. You cannot change the color of the interior lighting like you can on the Ford system. The infotainment system is okay. Much better than the Ford Sync system. It is responsive and easy to navigate. I have also had to reset it nearly every time I drive it. The Uconnect system is honestly not worth the hassle. Trying to get my Samsung S5 and this system to cooperate is a pain. The app is straight up garbage. Wifi in the car is a joke. They also charge $40 per month for this "feature". It just stops working after using it for any amount of time. The voice commands especially for the navigation is abysmal. It was bad in the Ford but so much worse in the Dodge. Dont even bother to use the voice feature with the navigation. The navigation itself is okay. Seems to work as advertised. It is a superior system to Fords in this regard. The voice system is half baked at best. Seriously the worst system in the cars I have owned. Even Hyundai has a better system. Its a complete waste. Now, lets chat about the nuts and bolts. Power is supremely lacking for a supposed 300 hp V6. I live in Colorado and have 650 miles on the car and can tell you it is absolutely terrible on the power. My buddies 2008 Toyota Camery has better power. As a matter of fact the Audi A4 has a better feel to the power with an 80 hp deficit. I should have bought the Audi. Lessons learned. The AWD is infuriating. You wouldnt think it would be as most cars with AWD just kinda leave it on. This car is rediculous. The AWD stays off and leaves the car in RWD normally. If the temperature is 40° or lower the AWD comes on. If you run the wipers for an amount of time the AWD activates (thats true). If you activate sports mode the AWD activates so now you can burn more gas with no real benefits at all. You dont get more power. You dont get better handling it just revs longer before shifting. Seriously, thats it. If you turn off the traction control the AWD activates. If you use the paddle shifters the AWD activates. In manual mode the AWD activates. It is so stupid to leave the driver no control over the system. For instance, if I want to downshift going down a hill the car will throw on the AWD and then I can burn more gas for no reason. Or if its cold and dry out I am killing my MPG with the AWD for literally no reason at all because it is 39° outside. This car allows no fun at all because of the half baked idea with the traction control and "sport" mode. What is wrong with the ding dongs at Dodge? This system makes no sense. Dont even try to drive it agressively, it will kill your fun quick. It handles like a grandpa boat. Thats all I can say about that. Oh and when I tried to take this terrible car back I had discovered it depriciated $10,000.00!!!! All within 250 miles of driving it. I expected $5000 or even $8000 and frankly would have paid it just to be rid of this awful car. But $10,000? Seriously!?! Best I can do is warn others to stay away. Please learn from my stupidity. Do not even consider this car. It is the worst possible decision to purchase this car and I regret it immensely. For this much money you can do way better.

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  BEWARE OF THE DODGE CARAVAN - 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan
  By tickpilot - September 11 - 10:00 am

  I bought this van brand new from a dealer, hoping to have a reliable vehicle for a few years, but boy was I suprised! I have had nothing but trouble from this van including, but not limited to: 1. The head gasket needed to be replaced 2. The master cylinder has been replaced 3 times 3. The front and rear brakes, including calipers, wheel bearings, rotors, pads, shoes have been replaced multiple times 4. The transmission has needed major work, and multiple sensors needed to be replaced as well. 5. The main computer module needed to be replaced. 6. Last week, the engine blew.(65K miles)

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  Caravan 1996 - 1996 Dodge Grand Caravan
  By PWC - August 23 - 10:00 am

  Every problem that could be experienced has been experienced. Chrysler would not correct a sinlge defect post 36,000 miles no matter the severitiy (transmission, etc.)