The R/T ($19,425) comes standard with the 2.4-liter engine, the CVT, and all-wheel drive. Standard features include the SXT features, the Sport Appearance Interior Group, cruise control, leather-clad steering wheel with audio controls, cargo cover, a sport suspension with performance steering and P215/55R18 all-season performance tires on aluminum wheels. Options include those above with adjustments necessary to accommodate features standard on the R/T; for example, the Leather Interior Group price ($910) reflects the fact the leather-wrapped steering wheel is among the features included in the Sport Appearance Interior Group. An option unique to the R/T is a set of chrome 18-inch wheels ($700). A front-wheel-drive R/T is expected later in the model year.

An SRT4 version will be added late in the model year with a turbocharged version of the 2.4-liter engine pumping out 300 horsepower through a Getrag, six-speed manual transmission and a limited slip differential. Suspension, brakes and steering will be beefed up to handle the increased performance, and cast aluminum wheels will wear W-rated, P225/45R19 tires. Much of the interior trim will track the Sport Appearance Interior Group, but unique body trim pieces will visually set the SRT4 apart from lesser Calibers.

Safety features that come standard include multi-stage front airbags, inflatable driver knee blocker, and full-coverage side curtain airbags. Front seat-mounted side airbags aren't available on early models, but will be optional across the line. An electronic stability program with traction control will be offered on the SXT and R/T, but not on early models. Antilock brakes come standard with the CVT but are optional with the manual transmission on the SE and SXT ($400); Brake Assist will be optional on the SXT and R/T

Walkaround

Picture a Dodge Magnum as it might appear in a theme park's House of Mirrors, and you'll have a good idea of what the Dodge Caliber looks like. Yes, it's shorter and narrower and therefore appears taller (which it is, surprisingly, by two inches), but it's still a station wagon with four doors, five counting the rear liftgate, and it wears all the styling cues of the Magnum.

The trademark crosshair grille dominates the front end; depending on model, this is either body color or trimmed in chrome. Massive headlights are notched into the leading corners of the front fenders. A pouting lower lip-like bumper separates the grille and headlights from a slimmer, lower air intake and (uplevel) fog lamps.

The side view shows strongly blistered fenders front and rear beneath a wedge-shaped beltline. Tires mostly fill the wheel wells, but we expect aftermarket hardware will be popular amongst younger buyers. The lower portions of the doors wear longitudinal moldings, again, body color or chrome highlighted, that look like a bi-level rocker panel but aren't, but that nevertheless minimize the Caliber's height. Full-round door handles, either chrome-trimmed or body color, bridge scooped-out grip spaces.

The roofline arcs cleanly from its junction with the hood just aft of the front wheel well over the side door windows to pinch off at the tail end of the rear quarter glass. Topping this arc but stopping at the top of the backlight (rear windscreen) is an unbroken, thick strip of black molding the Caliber's designers say is supposed to work with the arc and the truncated back end to impart a coupe look. We're not sure why that was important or that it necessarily succeeds, but it does buff up the Caliber's side aspect.

The back end pulls from the Magnum, too, with a steeply raked backlight beneath a roof-mounted spoiler and above a mostly upright lower liftgate, employing a hatchback style arguing against any comparisons with a traditional station wagon. A relatively short rear overhang and oversize taillight housings add credence to the argument.

Interior Features

Step inside the Caliber and the Dodge legacy is loud and clear. If function tops your list of must-haves, this is good. If glitz is your thing, this is less good.

The instrument cluster and center stack are the picture of efficiency. Gauges are large, round and gleefully legible. The center stack presents the stereo face and climate control panel in stark relief with functional knobs, buttons and switches and trimmed in matte metallic plastic or not-very-convincing wood grain.

The shift lever extends from the base of the stack; the notched gate on the CVT makes ratio selections intuitive, the manual gearbox less so, but not bad for a front-wheel-drive. The power point serves neither the cell phone holder nor a radar detector well; located at the extreme base of the center stack, it leaves cords either draped over the center console's cup holders or dangling down the dash between the instrument cluster and the center stack.