I knew this would happen...

[zelatore]

When Fiat bought Chrysler I was both hopeful and yet worried.

Hopeful that this might lead to some of the more interesting Fiats (and therefor Alfas) making it to the US.

Worried that they would 'americanize' them.

My fears seem to have been with merit.

Case in point - the new Dodge Dart.
Let's take a hugely well regarded car, the Alfa Romeo Giulietta, then turn it into a bigger, softer, uglier car called the Dart.

I'd be very interested in a Giulietta.

I have very little interest in the Dart.

Why do they always do this? Why can't they give us the good stuff? Is this some sort of revenge for us giving them McDonalds and the Big Gulp???

What the Italians (and the rest of the world) get:
http://www.autoweek.com/article/20110714/CARREVIEWS/110719944

What we get:
http://www.caranddriver.com/news/2013-dodge-dart-photos-and-info-news-1

The Dodge isn't terrible, but it's certainly not the looker that the Alfa is. (what Dodge ever was?) Bigger. Heavier. Softer. Uglier. (even less functional since it's not a hatch) <sigh>

[justleft]

Yep, I agree. The Dart will have the same engines as the Fiat 500 :bonk:
But doubled the size and allot heavier...

Viper is rumored to be spun off and loose the V10 for a 3 liter V8 :boggled:

"If you want a Ferrari buy a Ferrari" Luca di Montezemolo
This doesn't look good for future Dually sales !!! A Fiat pickup :smash:

[HOWARD O]

On the flip side, I think it's a complete disgrace placing the DART marque on a Fiat. Truly un-American IMHO!

I bet 90% of our membership has a fond memory of one of these somewhere in their past!

70060

Kidding aside, I still see plenty of old Darts on the road these days. So what if the driver happens to be wearing a "habit"? :boggled:

[BUIZILLA]

one of my dad's company cars was a '71 Dart, slant 6, auto, air, gold/white bench/white roof, I put thousands of miles on that car...

[zelatore]

Fond memories of a Dart? uh....well....er....

Now, if maybe the old man had say a Hemi Dart laying around, then I might have some fond memories!

FWIW, the Alfa that the new Dart is based on is also a name-stealer. The current Giulietta is a well regarded car, but it's certainly nothing like the original!


The original Giuliettas were Alfa's first real attempt at cars for the general public. Before the war, Alfa had built very high end exotics like the 6C1750 or 8C2900. The little Giuliettas were actually obtainable, if not exactly cheap.
A few examples of Giuliettas from the late 50s/early 60s for your viewing pleasure:

The Giulietta Spider Veloce
http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz85/zelatore/Alfa-Romeo-Giulietta-Spider-Veloce-lb-fa-lr.jpg

The Giulietta Sprint Veloce
http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz85/zelatore/1957-Alfa-Romeo-Giulietta-Sprint-pictures.jpg

The Giulietta SZ
http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz85/zelatore/1957-Alfa-Romeo-Giulietta-Sprint-front-side.jpg

And the Giulietta TZ2
http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz85/zelatore/1965_alfa_romeo_giulietta.jpg

[gcarter]

Don, Chrysler did build some interesting cars over the years. More recentlhy, in the early 2000's (I think), Dodge built the Neon based SRT4 that was little more than a thinly disguised race car and controlled it's class.
So, maybe in 2-3 years, maybe a more interesting version of the Dart will apear......

[zelatore]

I don't hate Chrysler. Heck, my current truck is a Dodge and I've been eyeing the new 3.6 Rubicons pretty hard. And I certainly remember the SRT4 Neon - it was a great little club racer.

Actually, I'd say there's a resonable chance of them doing a hotter version of the Dart given that Alfa has made noise about doing a hotter Autodelta (Autodelta is Alfa's equivelent of BMW's M group dating from the 60's) version of the Giulietta. That would give a good platform for the Dart upgrade, assuming the engine work could be certified for the US.

Still doesn't mean I wouldn't prefer the Alfa to the Dodge version though. ;)

[Fishermanjm]

Don, the new Dart is a spin on the new 200 same electronics same everything, except the engine choices, 1.4l turbo multi-air or the 2.0l, an2.4l world engine with the new dual dry clutch trans. the typical small car stuff,