The new Caliber, Dodge's first ever 'world car' goes on sale in Britain this summer offering distinctive American looks with a spacious, flexible interior and real value-for-money. The next iteration of the Caliber made its debut at the Geneva Show, promising to offer benchmark performance at a low price. This is the Caliber SRT4.
SRT stands for Street and Racing Technology and is usually a lot more than just a marketing exercise. In the case of the SRT4, the Caliber has been given a turbocharged version of the 2.4-litre 'world engine' developed in conjunction with Hyundai, DaimlerChrysler and Mitsubishi. Under the Caliber's vented bonnet, this unit pushes out an impressive 300bhp, with peak torque of 352Nm.
Those headline grabbing numbers will probably be enough to sway buyers when the SRT4 hits UK shores in 2007. Prices have not yet been announced, but it is entirely possible that the hot version of the Caliber will be priced to compete with the current crop of hot hatches such as the Ford Focus ST and Golf GTi. However, its horsepower advantage will be immense.
Time for some bad news; the Caliber SRT4 is front-wheel drive only. Sure, it employs a limited slip differential to help reduce spinning the ample power away while cornering, but we can't help but think that the engine is more than the chassis can handle. This is despite significant suspension modification including stiffer anti-roll bars and lower springs. I could be wrong of course, as Dodge has paid attention to the important bits, including upgrading the brakes. We'll see.
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