Screw This Car: The 2013 Dodge Journey
So the readers who go through the Random Thoughts [Automotive] thread or hang around IRC already know that my Dart's GPS stopped working and I had to take it to the dealer yesterday. Well, the dealer kindly paid for my rental, on the condition the rental was a Dodge. The rental place they partner with only had two Dodges though, so my only choice was color. This stuck me with...
The worst car I have ever driven.
A 2013 Dodge Journey SXT, in white, with all wheel drive and the optional V6 with the six-speed shiftable automatic. This is going to be a very short review.
Just like all the dimensions of the rear window.
The thing was massive on the outside, far more than the inside would suggest. The hood was farther forward than I thought, and the rear was farther back than it looked. Front visibility is fine, the mirrors aren't remarkable, side blind spots are a bit larger than normal (but manageable), and rear visibility is atrocious even with the 3rd row seats folded down. Good luck seeing anything below the air intake on SUVs behind you.
At least the 2nd row looked fine, if slightly cramped.
3rd row is for those with less than average height only, and look like a bitch to get into.
This is just embarrassing.
The interior was almost entirely made of that hard textured plastic, except for the seats and armrests.
As bare as the driving experience.
This wasn't the base Journey, but even one trim up with some options, the dash was pretty bare and gimmicky. The center screen, tiny as it was, was a
touchscreen. But being so small, trying to touch anything while moving was inviting the slightest bump to make you jab the hard plastic around the screen rather than anything useful. Not that it much mattered, most of the important functions had hard keys.
Fuck you.
Because you hate yourself.
The dials were hard to read in the daytime; just had too many lines (The 10mph lines, 5mph lines, and 2mph lines, all white with silver surrounds). Though this was rectified with lighting at night. Not true for the center display. Those buttons were lit in
blue and somewhat too dim to be useful. Center display was strangely useful; it came with readouts for oil temp, oil pressure, coolant temp, transmission oil temp, tire pressure, and engine hours.
The worst part, though, was the driving.
Suspension feels similar to a stiffened compact car; kind of harsh in bumps without actually transmitting feedback on the road surface (that was weird) and yet still allowing inordinate amounts of body roll. Taking turns felt like a gamble every single time at any speed. Pedal travel on both gas and brake was awful. For the first half inch the pedals did absolutely nothing before immediately giving you a quarter of all available action. Backing into a tight space was like trying to back up a bucking bull. Just
clamp brakes, half throttle, clamp brakes, half throttle until I was out of the travel lane enough that I could shut it off and get out. Steering is light, but completely numb.
I hated every minute of driving the thing, and was never as glad as when I parked at the dealer and took back the keys to my Dart.
exactly what you expect from a Passat. There's enough go until about 200, after that it gets very sluggish but still composed and unexciting. On average I've used just under 6l/100km, or about 40mpgus/48mpguk, quite decent considering the speed 
on a shorter, mostly restricted stretch it easily shaved off a litre.
