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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  Terrible transmission - 1999 Dodge Stratus
  By Laura Furko - January 2 - 2:00 am

  Tie rod failure at 51,000 miles. Almost got killed. Transmission failure at 56,000 miles. What is up with that?

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  Intrepid - 2002 Dodge Intrepid
  By nao - January 2 - 2:00 am

  I bought this car because it had some nice features for the money, but after a year I have to sell it because I cant stand the seats on this car. I went to a dealer to try a new one and found that the seats are exactly the same...very uncomfortable.

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  Biggest Mistake - 1997 Dodge Stratus
  By Ameena - January 1 - 2:00 am

  After buying this vehicle I had problems almost immediately. Hoses, alternators, ect. finally leading up to the damn thing catching on fire over an hour after being parked. My biggest mistake was not carrying full coverage on this piece of junk! Come to find out from a co-worker she had the same thing happen to her Stratus as well. Beware!

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  American Cars - Do They Compare Yet? - 1998 Dodge Grand Caravan
  By dirk pitt - December 30 - 2:00 am

  We had owned a couple of older cars for a number of years and we decided we needed the room of a minivan, so we bought our Grand Caravan with 52,000 miles on it. While we have not had any mechanical problems with it so far, it is so difficult to perform preventative maintenance on it except oil changes. I do my own work, but I could not change all of the spark plugs, belts, fuel filter, etc. Its fuel economy was disappointing, and its build quality is not as good as my Toyota Corolla that is eight years older and has four times as many miles on it (235,000).

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  1990 Dodge Spirit ES - 1990 Dodge Spirit
  By robertd25 - December 29 - 2:00 am

  I too purchased this car new. Back in 1990 there wasnt much to choose from for that price with a 6 cylinder. It was well taken care of & garaged but had too many problems. The engine was pulled to replace a freeze plug, transmission was weak from day one, ignition tumbler broke (had to be towed) the battery imploded (towed again), head gasket went, high beams failed, radio worked intermittently, heater stop working, finally the main seal and cam seal went at the same time. The body is still perfect and it has the original exhaust system. This car has 121000 miles.

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  my junk car - 1996 Dodge Stratus
  By lokie - December 25 - 2:00 am

  I bought this car used with 112,000 miles on it, I had only driven it 3,000 miles when the trans went on it. and then serious of other problems with the engine, and service lights that would come on and off followed. I was really disappointed in this car for being a dodge I expected more.

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  Mechanical Challenges - 1996 Dodge Caravan
  By dcbeckster - December 23 - 2:00 am

  While the Dodge Caravan is a very popular vehicle the experience by many has been less than adequate. The same problem seems to frequently appear at about 100K miles. The first is usually with the air conditioning not functioning correctly. Equally, the automatic transmission many times will need major repairs. This seems to be fairly consistent with this model.

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  Dodge Dart 2013 - 2013 Dodge Dart
  By Peter G - December 18 - 9:34 pm

  Bought new... Never drove like new. The car has lag, and it is a six speed. Without master craft glacier grip II tires in the snow the traction and handling is horrible. The car has only 48,000 miles on it and already have had to replace cooling hose and alternator. The head lights are very poor and the car was made extremely cheap. In comparison to other economy cars like the ford fiesta and Subaru impreza the dart has a ton of work to do. The gear ratio is too close to be a fast car. Gears one, two, and three are very close. I would not recommend this car to anyone and it is a shame that my family and I have had such a bad experience (we were dodge fans). Dodge needs to adapt to the change in technology and defiantly performance.

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  Tranny issue down the line, stay away... - 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan
  By vincent - December 14 - 12:46 am

  Bought the car new with the wife using it mostly for work and around town plus family vacations. Right about 44k miles the tranny went south on us. Dodge wont cover cause its out of warranty. Replaced it with a used tranny & 1500 miles into it the tranny died. This time got a brand new tranny from Dodge and it ran fine until 115k miles later. Tranny shot again. I shouldve read about all these Chrysler tranny issue before buying it. Theres a site online dedicated to Chrysler tranny time bomb. They make decent looking car but interior and mechanical flaws are all over. Never will I buy another Chrysler product.

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  ^@!%&! Ugh!!! - 1998 Dodge Durango
  By ANTIDURANGO - December 12 - 2:00 am

  If I could curse here I would! Where do I start! How is it this piece of S... has less than 80k miles and the transmission goes? How about the window motor? Fuel Pump, power steering, A/C? These are not typical wear and tear items! If you are reviewing this, please take my advice, NEVER EVER BUY THIS SUV! OK, so I was like you too, I really liked this SUV. My sister had one and ran into the same Window and tranny problem. I was stupid and didnt take her advice. NEVER EVER AGAIN!!!