Ownership Verified: An Italian from Illinois

Saw a Dart in the dark for the first time this morning. I was surprised that the rear end doesn't light up entirely like the Charger does. Or is that an optional extra?
 
If I recall correctly, it's an optional extra...which PelicanHazard got (his lights up entirely).

[EDIT]: It is available as an option on all Dart models except the SE and is (will be) standard on the R/T...

[EDIT 2]:
And no street racin', you two! :D

:evil:

I kid, I kid...but we are going to have to pit our two cars against each other sometime. :p
...how's about at the next Fast Track Pittsburgh? :D
 
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How'd I miss this thread?

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COME TO TEXAS! (And play with coco.)

Those look plenty fun.
 
How'd I miss this thread?

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COME TO TEXAS! (And play with coco.)

Those look plenty fun.

If that was a Caliber, i'd make a "long lost siblings" reference :p

I saw my first Dart close up a few days ago, striking car. :)
 
COME TO TEXAS! (And play with coco.)

Those look plenty fun.

The drive would be fun, the stay would (probably) be fun, the drive back would be fun...

Now to convince my girlfriend to go to Texas.

I saw my first Dart close up a few days ago, striking car. :)

I was running errands with my girlfriend around the holidays, and decided to let her wait by the mall entrance and fetch the car instead of having her walk to the end of the parking row on a wonky ankle. I pull up to the door and there's a man with his family going "Aw, man, that's one of them Darts! Sweet car!" :lol:


Some updates on the car:

1. I posted on the Random Thoughts [Automotive] thread that the GPS worked intermittently and podcasts through USB were buggered. Turns out it's just pickier than an Italian supermodel. The GPS fails to initialize if its startup is interrupted by having the engine start or turning on the backup camera. If it's left alone to start, it works fine. The podcasts playing at 2x speed through USB was a problem with my phone, not the car.

2. If I fill up on a weekday and then drive to work, I can usually average ~30mpg for my travels. If I fill up on the weekend and then shuttle my girlfriend around the city, it drops to ~27. Both are better than what my Sentra would get.

3. The dead pedal is awkward. It's just a bit over half as long as my foot, so I have my heel on the floor and my toes on the top of the dead pedal. Can get tiring after a while.

4. The size and positions of the brake and gas makes heel-and-toe damn near impossible. Doesn't bother me much because I don't intend to race, but an FYI.

5. Also an FYI, hill start assist holds the car if you have it in reverse and pointed down a hill. As I park on a slope, this feature has proven quite helpful.

Still enjoying the car greatly. :)
 
My local dealer has a very weird colored Dart put on a pedestal. It should be the Citrus Peel color, but it looks more green than yellow. It looks ghastly IMO.
 
2. If I fill up on a weekday and then drive to work, I can usually average ~30mpg for my travels. If I fill up on the weekend and then shuttle my girlfriend around the city, it drops to ~27. Both are better than what my Sentra would get.

~30MPG is what I'm averaging on my Focus as well. Dropped down to 28MPG last week because of horrid traffic (my average speed for the whole week was a little under 25MPH...yeah, it was bad).

On the plus side, it's a hell of a lot better than what I used to get on the Cavalier (barely in the 20s for the same commute).

4. The size and positions of the brake and gas makes heel-and-toe damn near impossible. Doesn't bother me much because I don't intend to race, but an FYI.

You're not alone. My car's the same story...

5. Also an FYI, hill start assist holds the car if you have it in reverse and pointed down a hill. As I park on a slope, this feature has proven quite helpful.

YOU'RE WEAK! :lol:

Secretly, I envy and hate you... :glare:

...though I've been managing pretty well with just the handbrake.
:p


Well, hopefully the temperamental GPS will be the only problem your car develops. :)
 
Short update on the car, I'm wondering if anyone else with touchscreen stereo/satnavs experiences something similar.

Most of the time I can turn the key and go with the stereo and nav turning right on with no pause or booting. After some dozens of cycles or so, the radio takes some seconds with "Updating channels" and the nav boots from the Garmin splash page with all the copyrights on it saying "Initializing..." or some such thing. It only lasts a few seconds before everything's working again with no loss of my preset stations or nav addresses or anything. Is the car simply rebooting every so often to keep stuff fresh or is it an issue?
 
Short update on the car, I'm wondering if anyone else with touchscreen stereo/satnavs experiences something similar.

Most of the time I can turn the key and go with the stereo and nav turning right on with no pause or booting. After some dozens of cycles or so, the radio takes some seconds with "Updating channels" and the nav boots from the Garmin splash page with all the copyrights on it saying "Initializing..." or some such thing. It only lasts a few seconds before everything's working again with no loss of my preset stations or nav addresses or anything. Is the car simply rebooting every so often to keep stuff fresh or is it an issue?
Does that occur regardless of the delay between starting the car?

For a non-scientific comparison, my chrysler fleet has 430N units (garmin hdd+nav) which power right up with no delays (that we have noticed so far, but our vehicles rarely go longer than 24 hours without being driven), and the Volts have a minor power-on delay (5-second initialization at power on).
 
Does that occur regardless of the delay between starting the car?

For a non-scientific comparison, my chrysler fleet has 430N units (garmin hdd+nav) which power right up with no delays (that we have noticed so far, but our vehicles rarely go longer than 24 hours without being driven), and the Volts have a minor power-on delay (5-second initialization at power on).

Yeah, no matter what the touchscreen initially displays a DODGE// wordmark splash page and then usually goes right to the last-used function (stereo, nav, etc), but every so often after the DODGE// wordmark it initializes the stereo and satnav.
 
Uconnect documents don't mention a power-savings mode(longer boot times).. perhaps your dealer or a dart-forum would have an answer for you.
 
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Update on the car:

The GPS failed and took the radio with it. Dealer has tried unsuccessfully to fix the issue multiple times, including replacement parts, enough to legally qualify my Dart for a lemon law case. I've contacted a lawyer about it and will shortly gather the requested paperwork and mail it back to them.

Hopefully it doesn't go to court and there's a settlement, but my Dart is a loss; I'm trying to get it legally recognized as a lemon and get my money back. I would be fine with purchasing another Dart, but about the time I expect my case to conclude, the Fiesta ST should be on sale, and I'm strongly considering buying it instead. Not because I think the Dart is bad, but because it's an opportunity to buy a Fiesta ST without doubling my car-related debt. I thoroughly enjoyed the time the Dart was working.
 
Any word of the (lawn) Dart?

Yes, the case has settled (or will be when the paperwork arrives for signing). I get some money, car does not get a lemon title. I had a chat with the lawyers when Chrysler offered a settlement, and had the court ruled in my favor Chrysler would have immediately appealed for a September 2014 hearing. If nothing else went wrong with the car, I likely would have lost and gotten nothing. Since there's been nothing wrong with the electronics since June, and there's still the option of starting another lemon case should things go wrong again, I took the settlement.

The money will be put towards a house down payment.

So nowdays the failure of a gps computer totals a car... interesting.

It still drove fine, I just couldn't use the touch screen. So tuning the radio blindly, no GPS, just pressing the hot/cold buttons until the temperature felt right, etc etc.
 
It still drove fine, I just couldn't use the touch screen. So tuning the radio blindly, no GPS, just pressing the hot/cold buttons until the temperature felt right, etc etc.

preposterous! that sounds like 20th century driving! :shakefist:

:D
 
Yes, the case has settled (or will be when the paperwork arrives for signing). I get some money, car does not get a lemon title. I had a chat with the lawyers when Chrysler offered a settlement, and had the court ruled in my favor Chrysler would have immediately appealed for a September 2014 hearing. If nothing else went wrong with the car, I likely would have lost and gotten nothing. Since there's been nothing wrong with the electronics since June, and there's still the option of starting another lemon case should things go wrong again, I took the settlement.

The money will be put towards a house down payment.

So...in the end you still have the same car, with a new touchscreen unit? Seems like an awful lot of unnecessary bickering over lemons and whatnot..
 
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