2013 Dodge Dart. The Technology Review.

Posted by: Lennie J. on Sunday, February 17, 2013 in Car, Dart, Dodge, Review 0

Beautiful, elegant, sophisticated, yeah I know they pretty much mean the same thing, but those are the words that come to mind when I think of the 2013 Dodge Dart. I was fortunate enough to spend a couple days with this sexy machine, and here is a quick review of the technology packed inside it.

The Car

Before I get to the amazing technology found inside the vehicle, I will first begin with the car its-self.  The 2013 Dart has 6 different Trims to choose from with a standard 2.0-liter inline 4 cylinder engine.  The optional 1.4-liter turbo charged inline 4 cylinder (not available on the SE trim) costs about $1,300 extra.  While both engines produce 160 horsepower the turbo produces 185 lb-ft of torque versus 148 lb-ft of torque produced from the standard version.  In addition to 2 engine options, Dodge also has 3 different transmissions for the Dart; a standard 6-speed manual transmission, an optional 6-speed Powertech Automatic Transmission, and an available 6-speed Dual Dry Clutch Automatic Transmission.  The Powertech and the Dual Clutch trannies cost about $1,100 extra.  Another model, the Dart GT was made available early this year.  The Dart GT comes standard with a 6-speed manual transmission and a 2.4-liter 4 cylinder engine producing 184 horsepower and 171 lb-ft of torque.  The vehicle that I tested was the Limited trim with the 2.0-liter engine equipped with the Powertech transmission.

The Tech

Enough about the specs of the vehicle (this isn't Car and Driver you know), lets jump inside the vehicle and take a look at the technology behind this beautifully crafted beast.

Uconnect

The Dart I tested came equipped with Dodge's Uconnect infotainment system.  The class leading 8.4 inch high resolution resistive touchscreen display flawlessly registered my touches and never washed out due to sun glare (no tinted windows).  Uconnect is the name of the Dart's infotainment system and features everything from radio controls to movie listings (yes movie listings).  I must note that weather, movie listings, up to the minute sports info, and fuel prices all require a SiriusXM subscription with Travel Link.  The Dart also acts like a portable DVR (but without the video), while listening to SiriusXM you can rewind, and pause the current station.  I also noticed that when  switching to AM or FM from the satellite radio, the Dart will continue to buffer the satellite radio station in the background, and upon switching back to satellite mode, you can rewind back to when you first tuned to the station.  Uconnect also supports Voice commands for the radio, navigation, Bluetooth, and other aspects of the car, just press the voice command button on the steering wheel.  The Dart comes equipped with a CD player standard as well (really what car doesn't), but the unique feature about this is that it is hidden away.  Where as on most cars the CD player is on the center stack, this one is tucked away under the armrest.  If you want to play a joke on someone just hop in the car and tell them to find the CD player, I bet it will take them a few minutes.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth on the Dodge Dart is extremely easy to set up and is a very functional tool to use when trying to make calls or answer text messages while driving.  My personal phone is a Nokia Lumia 920, if you have never heard of it before stay connected to Tech Nation. When connecting a phone just touch the phone icon on the screen and a prompt will come up asking to pair a phone or not. From there, make sure the phones Bluetooth is on and discoverable and then type in the password that the car displays and just like that, the phone is connected.  Another prompt will be displayed asking to make the newly connected phone the favorite.  Making a phone the favorite will auto connect the phone to the vehicle upon start-up, as long as the phones Bluetooth is already on.  Streaming audio through Bluetooth is also easy to do, just click the player icon on the screen and hit play.  The music will begin allowing you to pause, skip, and replay songs.  Streaming through iheartradio, Pandora, Songza, and many other radio platforms also worked simply because the audio was coming through the phone.  Voice command functions also worked from my phone through the stereo system.  When I received a text message, my Windows Phone voice commands would begin asking me if I would like to ignore or hear the message.

Navigation

Navigation is provided by Garmin, a very well known name for after market navigation systems.  Since I use a Garmin on a daily basis, I had absolutely no problems adjusting to the navigation functions of the Dart (it is exactly the same).  I ran into problems with the voice command system though.  While trying to say the name of an address, the car could not register what I was saying correctly.  Thinking that I could not speak English correctly, I asked others to also say the address, but the vehicle still did not register.  It was not until about the 10th try it finally picked up on what I wanted.  After that little fiasco, I made sure to just type everything in from that point on.  The navigation also gave me a little trouble on a recent trip.  I prompted a restaurant search for Chick-fil-A (don't judge me, it's just too good) and yielded no results.  Confused, I then searched for all restaurants and the first item that came up was, you guessed it, a Chick-fil-A.  I then set it as my destination and carefully followed the instructions.  I was then instructed that my destination was on the right; I looked to my right only to find a Mexican restaurant and a Chuck E. Cheese's.  Extremely confused I just pulled over and searched for a Chick-fil-A on my phone and entered the address into the navigation. Other than my Chick-fil-A madness, the Darts Garmin Navigation System worked quite well.

Other Features

The 2013 Dodge Dart I tested was so heavily equipped I am writing this paragraph just for the extra features not listed above.  The TFT cluster display.  The 7inch TFT, Thin Film Transistor, cluster display is said by Dodge to be a one of a kind for the Darts class.  The display shows the speedometer, gas mileage, time, miles, current temperature, and is reconfigureable to show navigation imformation, current radio station, and trip information that can be used to calculate the current miles per gallon.  The car also came equipped with heated front seats, a heated steering wheel, which is controlled through the Uconnect display, and an extra storage compartment found under the bottom of the passenger seat.  The standard sound system features 6 speakers.  2 tweeters in the front and a mid-range/woofer found in every door.  The sound quality is pretty good; however, I found the treble to be a little harsh on certain songs.  The mid-range was about average sounding, but the bass was a completely different story.  The system produces a huge amount of mid-bass but lacks the same presence in sub-bass frequencies.  I also found the bass not as strong in the back seats as it is in the front.   The Dodge Dart has an optional 506-watt Alpine Surround Sound system with 9 speakers and a Subwoofer. 

The Conclusion

The Dodge Dart is one amazing vehicle.  Starting at just $15,995 you can't go wrong with this machine.  The Limited, 2.0-liter 4 cylinder, Powertech Transmission, that I tested would cost about 23 to 24 thousand dollars with the extra options.  The car is strikingly beautiful inside and out, and after spending a couple days with it, I am convinced this is my next car, well until I review the next best thing, that is.  More pictures are below.

Movie Listings

SiriusXM Replay Feature

Hidden CD player