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Dodge Challenger outsold Mustang, Camaro in third quarter of 2019

The Dodge Challenger is nearly old enough to start driver's ed in some states, and it doesn't have a firm grasp on the increasingly crucial concept of downsizing, yet it beat the odds to become the most popular American two-door model during the third quarter of 2019. Its ballooning sales figures suggest buyers don't always want the latest, most advanced car they can get their hands on. Dodge sold 18,031 examples of the Challenger during the third quarter of 2019, a shocking 21% increase over the same period in 2018. It's a true muscle car, normally sardined in the same can as the Chevrolet Camaro and the Ford Mustang, a pair of smaller, nimbler two-doors that are much closer to the historic definition of a pony car. Semantics aside, the Mustang finished on the second spot of the sales podium with 16,823 sales, a 12.3% drop compared to the third quarter of 2018, and the Camaro took third with 12,275 sales, a 15% dip that alarmingly comes in the wake of two redesigns. More specific sales figures aren't available. We don't know what percentage of the sales mix V8s represent, or whether buyers prefer manual or automatic transmissions. The scoreboard looks different when we examine 2019's year-to-date figures. The Mustang takes first place with 55,365 sales, followed by the Challenger at 46,699, and the Camaro at 36,791. While the Challenger's recent ascent is encouraging, it can't mask the fact that two-door models no longer enjoy a favorable tailwind, and the entire segment — not just the American entries — is declining. The aforementioned year-to-date figures are down by 10.1, 11, and 7.6 percent, respectively. The third-quarter statistics revealed a handful of other surprises unrelated to the world of performance. Dodge notably sold three examples of the Dart, a sedan it hasn't built since 2016. That's a 93% drop compared to the 45 units that found a home during the third quarter of 2018.

Junkyard Gem: 2007 Dodge Caliber SXT with 5-speed manual transmission

When DaimlerChrysler unleashed the Caliber as a Neon replacement for the 2007 model year, the American car-buying world was put on notice that cute transportation appliances would be kicked to the side by the hobnailed boots of a new generation of angry, brutish, truck-influenced transportation appliances. The Caliber sold well enough at first, but eventually blurred into the fleet-car background noise and got shoved aside by the Alfa-derived Dart after 2012. Since I'm always on the lookout for super-rare three-pedal cars while I'm poking around in junkyards, I check out discarded Calibers in the hope of spying such a machine. This work paid off when I spotted this first-model-year '07 in a Northern California yard last month. In fact, the 5-speed manual transmission came as standard equipment on the non-R/T Calibers in 2007, but nearly every Caliber buyer opted to get the continuously variable automatic instead. That odd-looking horizontal shifter rod reminds me of the one in the early-1970s Honda 600. One reason I check out junkyard Calibers is that I'm trying to find a Boston Acoustics "MusicGate" speaker box, an optional rig that went on the inside of the hatch, to use in my next car-parts boombox project. I haven't managed to find one yet, but I'm not giving up. This car is a luxurious SXT, the trim level that squeezed between the bare-bones SE and the high-zoot R/T. When you bought the SXT, you got the pimp-grade Chill Zone™ (a beverage compartment with internal air-conditioner ducts) as standard equipment. Now this rare Caliber sits among the discarded PT Cruisers and Avengers of the yard's Chrysler section, on the flight path of the big C-5s heading into Travis Air Force Base. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Dodge's marketers tried hard to make the Caliber look tough, even murderous, the kind of car that would use an old Polara bumper jack to beat cuddly cartoon characters to death in a spray of flying teeth and blood-spattered fur. If all Calibers had come with manual transmissions, perhaps this macho image would have stuck better than it did. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Silly little fairy!

IIHS says these are the safest cars of 2013

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has revealed its annual list of Top Safety Picks, an award that highlights automobiles it says offer "superior crash protection." A new and still more significant award, the Top Safety Pick+ honor, is given to those vehicles that earn good ratings for occupant protection in four out of five areas of measure. And while some 117 vehicles were given the TSP seal of approval for 2013, just 13 passed muster for TSP+.
To be fair, IIHS only evaluated 29 vehicles with its new testing procedures for TSP+ (we'd expect that the number of qualified cars will rise substantially for 2014). Luxury and Near Luxury midsize cars were the first groups evaluated, followed by midsizers in the Moderately Priced Cars category - unsurprisingly, it's only midsize cars that you'll find among the class this year.
Only two luxury sedans made the list of 13 for 2013: the Acura TL and Volvo S60. The other 11 cars on the list included entries from domestic, Japanese and German car makers: Dodge Avenger, Chrysler 200, Ford Fusion, Honda Accord (sedan and coupe), Kia Optima (but not its close kin, the Hyundai Sonata, strangely), Nissan Altima, Subaru Legacy and Outback, Suzuki Kizashi and the Volkswagen Passat all made the grade.