bigtsr

I picked up the 7 seater mainly because of quick delivery with the options I was looking for in a DJ. Having said that I think the only reason not to go for the 7 is the additional cost, However the plus side is the dual ac/heat and the fact that it will have a higher trade in value. I just keep the rear seats folded down til I need to the seating.

Your right-higher speed limits don't help and similarly the habit of the person behind you wanting to exceed it causes poor mpg. Here in Ontario legal hiway is 100 km/h (62 mph US) and average legal urban street is 50km/h (31 mph US). I live in an area with quite a few hills (2-6% grades) at the southwestern end of Lake Ontario and my hiway driving is limited to abt 100 km a month. Again traffic,geography and personal driving habits play a major role in mpg.

I would have thought diesel would be better mpg. My fwd Pentastar is averaging 21 mpg US/25 mpg CAN(imperial) after only 5 wks on the road in the city. I use the fill and hand calculate method.

A number of owners of the Caliber had strut braces installed and there are 2-3 different availaible one of those is adjustable in length. I would suggest visiting Caliber/Caliber SRT4 websites for info, one source that comes to mind is Modern Performance Products. Traded my Caliber in on the DJ.

Love the deep cherry red glad I made that choice also. I have had mine on the road for abt 5 weeks now and city it gets 21 mpg US, of course I am not hauling around the AWD gear. It's not a drag car be prepared for less mpg if your enjoying the acceleration of the Pentastar v6 and try to stay away from the manual shift mode. I plan to switch to Mobile 1 synthetic first oil change and that should improve mpg also.

My DJ is only a month old so would not expect this but when my '07 Dodge Caliber went thru the first winter the drivers side nozzle failed. I would say with it being '09 it's a minor annoyance and one of those things that happens considering how many times the hood has been open and closed with normal wear and tear.

I guess possibly 2011 DJ model radio swaps haven't been anticipated or projected yet even by Crutchfield. I supposed that seeing the 4.3 uconnect system has hard keys on dash for AC/Heat you would be limted to using those for control.

In Canada thr "RT/AWD" is the top model offered and the "Crew" designation implies how dressed up the model lines are ie accessories. The models offered in the US or at least their designated such as "LUX" don't appear here. If your looking for a reference with regards to price goto "DODGE.CA" and build the model you want with the accessories you want to gain an idea of what MRSP is as far as Dodge is concerned. Dealers typically price units to sell them by bundling with goodies and giving local discounts + manufacturers discounts,dpends how hard nosed you are when bargaining and how that dealers sales are going.

Google "Crutchfield Radio". When I had my Dodge Caliber fellows on the forumz used them almost exclusively putting double din gps/video systems in their cars. They have all the adapters and from what they said excellent help for installs.

I have driven both the 2011 CREW and the SXT that I bought at 130km/h and experienced no outstanding wind noise in either,both extremely quiet. Possibly your missing a piece of weather stripping on a front door. One thing to remember is the "REAR" fan setting for AC/heat if it's on high you will hear it as the vents for second row are right behind your heads.

Possibly I am really old school when it comes to breaking in a new vehicle. Every new one I have had (usually every 3-5 yrs) I do what it is commonly referred to as "bedding the brakes". Find a piece of road that's quiet run the car up to 80 km/h and brake it hard to a full stop,do it twice then let it cool down. I have never had to replace pads/linings prematurely in any car I have owned. Just my 2 cents.

Burlington,Ontario,Canada at the southwest end of Lake Ontario.

I haven't been on th hiway much as of this date but the EVIC shows first full tank at 11.1 L/100 after 3 weeks of 99% city driving. It's a Pentastar 3.6.

I think the rear bumper just looks like it has a cover especially with the DJ being black,that's the way the 2011's look stock,

I only have about 800 kms on my DJ and all of it city driving,the brakes are dusting but it's minimal so far.

It would appear that they have changed the stems to rubber. I checked my June built 2011 and it has rubber NOT metal stems and the tires are inflated with nitrogen.

My previous car for the last 5 yrs has been a Dodge Caliber and I was a active member of a forum for it. One of the discoveries we made was that anytime something electrical quit working it was in all likelyhood the TIPM (totally intergrated power module) that for whatever reason had shut the particular device down. Most times the fault was resettable by disconnecting the battery cables and holding them together for 5-10 minutes. From looking at my DJ I can see this is probably a little more difficult but if it works it may save a trip to the dealer.

I assume this is straight line stopping with no steering involved. If it only happens with brakes applied I would think that they are the source.You no doubt have had the pads/rotors checked for wear and warping at the dealer and/or independent brake shop. Try using the transmission to slow (gearing down) to eliminate the drive train from the suspected source. If it's a '09-'10 a complete brake job may be your only alternative to resolving.

I checked the lighting/dimmers on my June built SXT,the left most dimmer (when headlights are ON) controls brightness of all dash lights including the cupholders. The right most dimmer controls only the door map pocket lights again ONLY when the headlights are ON,and they are quite quite bright when on full. I have footwell lighting,having said that it must be noted that it is provided by the same source as the courtesy door under the door lighting source,mine have large plastic lenses under the door sill that direct light into the footwell albeit more to door than to the center of the footwell. Checked it all this am in the dark of my garage.

I originally looked at buying a DJ in early 2010 and test drove 2.4/auto the performance was so disappointing with regards to getting out of bad situations requiring acceleration that I could not see trading at that time. This year I drove the the Pentastar/6spd auto and bought one,man what a difference with regard to power on demand. Regarding the feeling the tranny shift that comes with the standard design of the automatics since day one,I traded my'07 Dodge Caliber 2.0L/CVT and admit it's going to take rethinking with regards feeling the tranny shifting.

I bought my June '11 built DJ SXT 2 weeks ago and for what it's worth my 4.3 has BT and VC,I wonder if it's just the dealers are missing the option when ordering stock units.

The oil filter on the Pentastar V6 is basically on top of the engine. You access it thru the engine covers left rear corner.

Quite honestly I never inquired about the silver one as I preferred the black one. I was in Hamilton ON this am and checked with "ACTION CAR AND TRUCK ACCESSORIES" on Lake Ave N. and they have the large format similar to the one I had on my Caliber for $36.00 so I ordered one of those,it's sold under the brand name of "POWERFLOW". I should have Friday or Saturday.

All my lighting is LED on the inside and tails. I like the fact that all the lights have the capability of being aimed. Mine also has the new front fascia and came with a license plate holder.

Yes I know about the the autoexclusive/Sherwood link but on the phone and later a confirming email they say that the black one does not fit the 2011 DJ and they are waiting on their supplier to spec it out and start production.