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:

• 

  GREAT CAR! - 2005 Dodge Neon
  By santoactueel - April 23 - 8:32 pm

  This car has been great to me. I bought it used at 60k miles and I am the 4th owner. I did everything youre suppose to do when buying a used car. Spent the money on the Carfax (a $30 Carfax VS. a costly mistake), test drove it and asked questions like crazy to see any faults in the sellers description. The maintenance on this car has been wonderful and it is great on gas. I found out the Neons have a Mitsubishi. I do all the repairs myself, I replaced the fender & bumper from an accident the dealer wanted $1500 to repair it, but I found a new fender on eBay for $15 & new bumper for $50. All in all the parts are very affordable & I would definitely buy another one if Dodge still made them.

• 

  Not your grandfathers Dodge! - 2012 Dodge Charger
  By 2_skoops - April 23 - 2:38 pm

  I was in the market for the Charger SRT8. I had arranged a test drive of an SRT8 at a local dealer only to find out that someone had put a deposit on it. The sales person told me that he had an idea … “How about an R/T with the Road and Track package”. Well, I was there anyway so … OK. First are the looks. In the Road & Track trim the grill is flat black w/ the heritage R/T badge in red. The rims are 20” retro chrome fitted with 245/45-20 Goodyear F1 Super Car tires. Inside there is an 8.4 inch infotainment system. It integrates with the iPod/Phone through the Bluetooth or USB interface. The usual GPS, Sirius, CD/MP3, AM/FM that you would expect from a full sized sedan. 10 Alpine speakers, w/ Sub powered by a 550 watt amp. The ride is very quiet and smooth.

• 

  WORST CAR EVER MADE - 2007 Dodge Caliber
  By slimlzbn - April 22 - 9:55 am

  Where do I start? I bought this piece of junk in 09 with 20k on it for 10k. Almost immediately I started to get problems with it. Now 2 years later with 55k, it keeps stopping in the midst of driving. 3 times in this past month, but only once did it start right back up. It left me stranded in the MIDDLE OF THE HIGHWAY once and in the MIDDLE OF AN INTERSECTION the other time. I took it to 2 shops..they dont know whats wrong with it because I have to take it there when it is not starting. One shop fixed what they "thought" could be the problem. Saying this often happens with Dodges so hopefully itll do the trick. Not at all..it continued to stop. Crazy. AVOID DODGES AT ALL COST!!

• 

  2012 SXT plus wSSG - 2012 Dodge Challenger
  By raceurx - April 20 - 8:13 pm

  I purchased my new Chally a few months ago and loved it! About 2 weeks into ownership I was rear ended.. the active head restriants worked as well as the emergency systems. The doors unlocked, the car shut off and the interior lights came on. I was hit pretty hard between 40 - 45mph and the interior was perfect, the car crumpled as it should and the hit was deflected from the interior. I pursauded the insurance company not to fix it even though it only had 10k worth of damage they totalled it and settled on a payout. I immediately went back and purchased the same car - I have kids and was very impressed with the way it handled a hit.

• 

  NEVER EVER BUY! - 2009 Dodge Journey
  By ccard3 - April 17 - 5:36 pm

  We have had our car for less then 2 years... We bought it in 2010 with less then 20,000 miles on it. In that time we have had to replace our brakes, Have our entire transmission rebuilt, our starter replaced, and now it wont start and the dealership does not know why. I am a stay at home mom and do not drive much at all, some days i do not even leave the house and this car is so un-reliable i can not even believe it! Its a 50/50 chance if the car will start or not, and if it does THEN i get my child ready and into the car, No point in getting him ready if we cant go anywhere. Cant wait to get rid of this car, Lemon, lemon, lemon!

• 

  not as happy as others seem to be - 2011 Dodge Nitro
  By soonerfanfl - April 16 - 8:28 am

  I bought my Nitro late in the year (Nov). Enjoyed the ride and handling. Reminded me of my 2000 Pathfinder that I miss tremendously. I put over 200k miles on that car in 7 years and never had any issues at all. So far with the Nitro I have 43k in 16 months (I drive 30k a year) and the check engine light comes on occassionally. Not sure why. A/C blower went out right at 36,500 when the warranty ran out. Fortunately the dealership I bought it at fixed it w/o question. At 14k the head gasket blew and was leaking oil like a faucet. Still under warranty the dealership fixed it. Im still undecided whether I like the car or not. Of course, the engine light is on again.

• 

  Love At First Sight! - 2005 Dodge Stratus
  By liber_jr - April 12 - 11:46 am

  I recently bought my first car, a 2005 Dodge Stratus R/T coupe (No Automatic Option On Website) with the 4 speed auto with the auto-stick option. When I bought it there were only 109,100 miles. The performance is great and you can even spin the tires in the manual mode. One minor flaw I noticed was that if you have long legs like I do, when you make a turn the cruse control setup hits your leg. Other than that it was the best possible car for me and havent had and issues with it besides a few burned out bulbs. I highly recommend this car to anyone.

• 

  SXT 2.0 Sell this car asap! - 2007 Dodge Caliber
  By dodge1021 - April 12 - 3:44 am

  Lets start with injectors that the dealer said was causing a hard start at 40000 miles, still doing it today at 78000 miles and has been ever since. Dealer woukd not back it. Lower control arms, oil pan leaking at 72000 miles. Then retuned it three times due to dealer in greenwood indiana tom ob had to do the alignment, three times. Niw the oil leak has returned at 78000 miles and the dealer is saying I have a new leak, frt eng cover even though the oil is coming from the exact place it did when they said oil pan. They blew it! JUNK!

• 

  A good reliable truck. - 2006 Dodge Dakota
  By 06dodgedakota - April 10 - 9:38 am

  I have 130K miles on my 4x4, V6, 6 speed, 2006 Dakota. So far, (knock on wood), no problems. On road it drives like a car. Off-road, it does its job well. It handles central Oregon snow great. It also crawls up central Oregon buttes with ease despite its lower ground clearance. Not sure where the 20 MPG comes into play, but mine gets more like 15-17MPG, city/hwy respectively. My V6 feels under powered while accelerating to hwy speeds. I could rev it up to or past 3K rpms, but that cost money in fuel.

• 

  I love my Durango - 2011 Dodge Durango
  By nightravyn - April 7 - 10:40 am

  I have a 2011 Durango RT V-8. It wasnt cheap but man am I spoiled! It is gorgeous! I love the interior space and quality...it has everything you could need and then some. I have 4 kids and there is space for them and friends even! I am always picking up extra kids. They love the satellite tv and dvd player. My only complaint is the gas milage..while I realize its a v8 and I expected as much, it feels like Im at the pump every day lol. I have put 10k on it and other than oil changes and a balance/rotation all has been great! Its very peppy and fun to drive...wouldnt trade it in for anything. I just love it and so does the rest of the family!!!!