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2015 Dodge Dart

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2015 Dodge Dart Blacktop

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2015 Dodge Dart GT

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2015 Dodge Dart

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Ever since our first experience driving the new Dodge Dart a couple of years ago out in Denver, we have had soft spot in our hearts for this exceptional midsized sedan. The fact that the Dart can be loaded up with technology, comfort and convenience items, and all for under $26,000 might have had a lot to do with our opinion on the vehicle also.

We were not disappointed with the 2015 version of the Dart GT that landed in our driveway for a week. Of course we always find it hard to not like a deep red color car, “Redline two coat pearl” according to Dodge, with a jet black leather interior and red accents, wouldn’t everyone? We did admit that it was a great looking vehicle and we were proud to have around for the neighbors to see for the week.

That being said, we were more than excited to get our hands on the Dart GT for a week, so that we could fully experience the vehicle that has taken America by storm! The Dart is loaded with style both inside and out, being in the same class as the Honda Civic, Chevy Cruise and the Toyota Corolla.

Being the first vehicle that has been built from the ground up, coming from the new marriage of Fiat and Chrysler, the designers knew that had to hit a home run with this one or start looking for other directions to take the brand.

Did they ever, we are both convinced that for the money you can’t go wrong with the new Dart. Being built on an Alfa Romeo frame, although somewhat stretched and enlarged to fit us Americans and our love with the open road, there were many things we genuinely liked about the Dart.

First off was the interior of the GT, it was extremely consumer conscious and designed with the driver in mind. The engineers have put an 8.4 inch by 8.4 inch touch screen set into flat dash that pretty much runs the car, doing everything from entertainment control to lighting control.

It leads the class, as an option of this caliber is not available in any of the competition. Designers have also included a 7- inch LED screen that falls between the tachometer and fuel gauge, has multiple ways to change it’s look that you will spend the first hours just getting the feel for all the ‘video’ options that this little guy has. The 2015 features a very nice sleek black inlay that surrounds the touch screen and the other dash gauges, with a beautiful red illuminated accent line surrounding the whole cluster, thus giving a very luxurious appearance to the Dart.

The interior of the GT included leather heated seats and a heated steering wheel, which by the way was heated in the complete circumference of the steering wheel, unlike the Lexus who only heats two spots on the wheel. Other nice playful options included a red stitched leather covered dash with soft touch materials throughout the interior of the car. The seats were also treated with red stitching and other red accents, with the designers adding in a nice red line on the door pull, altogether it added up to mate the interior and exterior in perfect harmony.

The new Dart handles like a dream in traffic, coming with a couple of options in the motor department, standard in the GT is a 2.4 liter four-cylinder engine that produces 184 horsepower, with this motor you get from 0 to 60 in 8.2 seconds, which does make it one of the slowest in its class. ON the other hand, one can get a 1.4 liter turbo version that also gets 160 horsepower, but moves the torque needle from 174 ft-lbs to 184 ft-lbs, pushing the Dart to 60 in 8.3 seconds. The rumor mill has it that Dodge will introduce a Dart with a SRT4 categorization, which could prove interesting from the folks that make a SUV SRT8 that will get to 60 in 4.9 seconds!

Steering is quick and very well weighted, with a new sophisticated suspension system that does an excellent job of taking corners with a great enthusiasm, handles the bumps with a well damped athleticism. There are a couple of competitors that are more nimble, but with the Dart’s larger dimensions it seems much more substantial when cursing down the open road!

From the outside the new Dart looks even better, looking from the rear Dodge has a unique version of its signature racetrack-shaped taillight array, made up in this case of 152 individual LED bulbs. It’s a fantastic effect and gives the Dart ‘angry eyes’ at night. They have even included dual tailpipes to round out the rear of the vehicle.

Swooping towards the front end the lines are sleek, giving the Dart more of a muscle look among smaller sedans. The front is rounded out with the signature Dodge cross grill in hyper black. Fog lights are included as a standard feature along with heated power mirrors.

Our one and only complaint with the Dart was that it has a hesitation when accelerating, seeming to work best once the motor had wrapped itself up to 2500 rpm’s. Since ours had an automatic transmission it was much more noticeable. The standard transmission is a manual which would make this easier to control.

On the flip side with all the other include options it was hard let this one little complaint hamper our drive. Standard on the Dart GT were things like Bluetooth connectivity, SiriusXM for a year, dual zone climate control, power driver seat, cruise control and LED interior lighting. These are the kind of additions that we would expect for much more money indeed.

There were not many additions to the GT we received apart from the navigation, 6 speed automatic transmission that also included a remote start function. We really thought the $395 18-inch hyper black aluminum wheels rounded out the whole vehicle very well.

On the gas mileage side we did pretty well with the 29.2 average for the week that included 2 trips to Salt Lake City along with a lot of city driving. The EPA estimates that the Dart should come in with a 26 mpg average, so we were doing better than most.

Needless to say the Dodge Dart gets both our votes for a vehicle that give you the best value for your dollar, which is not always the case in the current car maker lineup. With all the options and ways to build your Dart, it has to be on anyone’s list looking for a new family car, or even just your first new car purchase. See one today at Doug Smith Dodge 523 West Main Street in American Fork, 801-492-1110, Doug Smith Dodge at 1339 North Main in Spanish Fork, 877-629-6450 or Larry H. Miller Dodge 1825 N University Pkwy, Provo, (888) 245-3833.

Base Price: $21,195

Price as Driven: $24,680