2012 Detroit Auto Show: 2013 Dodge DART teased

Looks good. I wonder, of course, what the Frankensteinian combo of Chrysler, Fiat/Alfa will produce.

@robert4380: That's like saying, "I had a Zenith TV in the 60s, so I think I will buy a new one now."

Dart is a great name to bring back. They were simply some of the most rugged and dependable cars ever built....especially with the Slant Six. I am still looking for a 72 Swinger to play with.

Nothing beats a myspace angle pic!

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=myspace%20angle

Here is a cool site about the new Dart (hosted by Allpar)

http://www.dart-mouth.com/

I had a 1986 turbo-charged 4-banger Chrysler New Yorker; the problem is the turbo lag. I really don't understand why auto companies don't use superchargers more often--superchargers are positive displacement and so there is no lag.

I love the Dart name (and it is a real name, not some boring alpha-numeric gibberish) and unlike others I like the crosshair grill too. As much as I love the racetrack rear lights on the Charger, I just don't see them working well on a small application like this. Everything else sounds promising. I'm hoping the 3 transmissions include a true manual and a DCT of some sort. Count me as interested. And I also bet we won't see 50 different concepts before the real thing.

@sniperruff, I read jalop too. It is mind boggling how word like "rebadging" are tossed around there in the midst of a circle jerk about the toyobaru. This car shares a platform and nothing else with the alfa.

I've yet to see anything bad from these pictures, but its nice that people assume the worst regardless of the significant improvements made in the last 2 years.

Remember this will be the one of the quickest developed vehicles from any brand and Sergio has said he won't let it release until it is ready. So I am excited to see what this partnership can produce as this is the first true partnership vehicle.

@transpower do you not think that turbo technology has changed in 25 years? Superchargers have parasitic loss while turbos recapture wasted energy.

@transpower: Turbos have improved at least just a bit in the quarter century that has passed since 1986. Since superchargers are belt driven that would add load to the engine, lowering fuel economy potential but notably Audi supercharges their 3.0L (though they still designate it with a "T" oddly enough) in the S4 so it does seem there is respect for the supercharger even beyond American V8 applications.

When I was in high school in the early '80s, a staff member had a brown 2-door Dart, with tiny wheels, a slant-six, three-on-the-tree and one of those glue-on plastic film on the backlight replacing a defroster. Never crossed my mind that I would see that name come back on an Alfa platform, but I'm all for it. "TigerShark" engines? Really, sounds like a JDM edition or something.

I like the Crosshair grill as well. It is about the oldest styling cue on American cars now(early 80s) but still looks sharp and nice...even in melted form on my Stratus. The corporate face of Dodge was supposed to be the horizontal slats that came out on the Mirada first then the Aries but then they went to the crosshair.

robert4380, that was one of my favorite episodes of MWC. Dodge almost gave Al a new Viper!

The engine name reminded me of this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_F-20_Tigershark

Front end looks pretty good, gotta see all of it though before judging completely. I LOVE THOSE TAIL LIGHTS! Thats should be on all dodges going forward, that can be their stylistic rear end, because they are AMAZING ON the CHARGER!!! Looks good but I was born in late 80's and i only had heard negative things about the DART. And honestly, i don't really care for the name either way, NEON would have been much better. Cant wait to see more!

@mazdamike17, no kidding I love being behind a charger in the morning on the way to work, that back end is a sight to behold.

I was born in the 60s and the Dart and Valiant had reputations for durability that were second to none. Some models were boring (slant six base models) and some were fast as anything on the road at the time (Dart/Duster 340s) but the damn things just ran forever.

Oh and think the Charger/Challenger tail lights look awesome. The best part about the Challenger and Charger is that the headlights dont wrap up into the fenders like every other freaking car on the road...

Not a fan of the cheap looking grill and the rear looks like a bubble butt.

Cheap looking? How so?

For a compact, this looks pretty promising.

If you're under 40, probably no harm done, unless you mention "Dart" to your parents. Over 40... Alfa reliability with Dart rust.... no thanks. I think Hornet or perhaps an Italian derivative like Allegre' might have been options.

@wjtinatl, do you buy all your cars based on 25 year old resentment based on things that have nothing to do with current information? Do you still buy an impala thinking it's going to be rwd?

Unless your parents are complete automotive morons, they will immediately remember the sterling rep of old Darts and Valiants. Hell they still sold well in their last model year of 76 when they were sold side by side with their replacements the Aspen/Volare....many at Chrysler thought they still should have kept them even into the 77 model year....they were that loved. Even the Aspen/Volare were pretty solid cars after the first year rusting fender issue was fixed....they were based on the Dart/Valiant anyway. But a rep is made off of the bad things a lot of the time and they came away with the "rustbucket" rep. If you like rust, take a lood at any early 70s Japanese car...if you can find one still in one piece that is.

@bodyblue

You are so right about the sterling reputation of the Dart. They weren't always so flashy or sporty or fast, but they were certainly dependable and reliable. One of Dodge's advertising taglines of the '60's was: "Dodge. The dependables." Even living in the so-called rust-belt, they were not rust-prone, not any more than any other car of the era.

There were a few sporty, performance model Darts. There was a Dart GT and also a Dart GTS. Back in the day, when I had a paper route, one unusual Dart I'd see at a customer's house was a B5 blue, 2-door 1969 Dart that had a stance to it that told me it was a little different and something special or out-of-the-ordinary. It had "440" in small chrome-plated badging on the hood. It was a small production run not done at the factory, IIRC. And the year was 1970. There was also a Dodge salesman that lived not too many streets away from my parents who would daily drive home a 1969 1/2 Dodge Charger Daytona which was Hemi orange with a black rear spoiler and bumblebee stripe on the rear quarters.

Dart Swinger 340s and Duster/Demon/Dart Sport 340s-360 were as fast as anything on the market in the same class.....anybody that thinks Darts did not have the rep that I talked about is talking out of their ass. Using the Dart name was smart as hell. For those old enough to remember them it harks back to a time when MOPAR made some quality cars.....for those too young it is just a name, but a name is so much better than the number crap that so many cars are using now days.