DODGE CALIBER Part 1 - Canada

Two steps down from the Charger recently reviewed here at GCBC, $14,900 will buy you a very basic Dodge Caliber in the United States. About $1900 fewer dollars nets you a basic Dodge Caliber in Canada. Meanwhile, UK consumers can't get into a Caliber until they fork over £12,505. This proves a couple things: firstly, don't use XE.com to figure out the future price of a British-market vehicle. It don't work. Secondly, Chrysler LLC is treating Canadian customers very favourably.

Just how favourably? Though it's very true that the Caliber is somewhat uncategorizable - priced like a Toyota Yaris but sized like a Corolla or Matrix - a fairly direct competitor such as Canada's best selling car, the Honda Civic, costs many thousands of dollars more. Worst kept secrets don't come any worse than the fact that GoodCarBadCar.net has plenty of kind words for the Civic. "Good car" is a mightily apt description of Honda's almost-iconic small car. But....

But what? The Good Car Guy has already written about Chrysler's success in Canada and the Caliber's role in that growth. Then again, Honda isn't exactly swimming in debt and few would deny the emphasis that the term 'best-selling' has in describing a company's achievements. Nevertheless, GoodCarBadCar.net considers it an open-minded, enthusiast-driven website's responsibility to consider the options. Here's the Caliber's Canadian story, by the Numbers.

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5 - total Dodge Caliber trim lines available north of the border, plus the R/T with all-wheel drive, one fewer than that of Dodge in the USA which sticks the SE Plus between the SE and the SXT

2,073 - average price difference, measured with an assumed equivalent dollar, between equivalently named Caliber models in Canada and the USA, with the American car being more expensive every time, most notably with the $2,040 cheaper high-horsepower SRT4

36 - converted mpg rating from the Canadian goverment fuel economy testing for a Caliber SXT with the CVTransmission, 7mpg better than the U.S. government labels the same car

59 - estimated extra monthly cost, in CDN dollars, to buy basic Honda Civic in Canada, over and above a base Dodge Caliber, using as many similar terms as possible using the manufacturer's own websites

17 - estimated extra monthly cost, in CDN dollars, to buy a basic Honda Fit in Canada, over and above a basic Dodge Caliber, using as many similar terms as possible from the manufacturer's own websites

35 - estimated monthly fuel savings for either the basic manual-trans Civic or Fit compared with the basic manual-trans Caliber, using a fuel cost of $1.40/L and 2000 kilometres a month and the vehicles' combined fuel economy ratings

Check back soon for a detailed Driven article on the Caliber SXT and perhaps even more