Oh, boy. Here we go. I want to say right off the bat, this is my first car and also commute to college and work. IF THERE WAS AN ALL OF THE ABOVE FOR THE "WHATS WRONG" CATEGORY I WOULD HAVE USED IT.

With that out of the way. I hate this car, do not think this is a car you can get for 2000$ and expect it to last. Good ing luck. We (as in my parents) unfortunately paid that 2000$ for a 2008 dodge caliber with the base trim. No power locks or windows, nope. That's cool, it got me to high school and back so I was happy.

this is when s gets bad*

As soon as we got the car, we did oil, brakes and all the struts. HOWEVER, we noticed that quite literally the whole front part of the K Frame of the car was rusted out. That was a little bit of a nasty repair, but after that the steering felt more responsive so I was kinda okay with it.The car was honestly okay,for like 1000 miles then I noticed all of my tires were bald on the inside, so, being the responsible new car owner I was I got some new tires before the snow storm that was gonna pass through the next day. car is terrible in New England snow btw fast forward 4 months now my ABS light is on and now, guess what, I need more tires again! Another set of four! GREAT! I had to buy alongside the tires, a camber adjustment piece for each rear tire then the fire that was my caliber was tame except for the ABS light when that light was in you better hope you have more gas money because the engine would Rev up to 4500 during regular accelerating situations! That fix was simple thank God, just wiring issues.

Now, as for the engine and transmission, good lord. The motor ever since may of 2020 is making these horrid weedwhacker type noises whenever I have to pull into traffic or god forbid speed up to i93 speeds in Massachusetts, paired with the weedwhacker motor is a transmission that whines 100% of the time if it's over 85 degrees and you're at engine operating temperature. On the highway it sounds like a twin scroll super charger, and after digging for why this happens? It's overheating. I changed the fluid of the transmission at least 6 months ago. Pair the engine and transmission together you get a giant cluster** noise of dodge's engineering coming together all at once. Quite a spectacle to hear actually, I recommend it.

Well, aside from also needing a new oil pan AND power steering rack after the car ruined our driveway with both power steering fluid and oil all over the place, that was a pain in the ass to figure out many cardboard boxes sacrificed their lives to figure out where the leaks were.

Anyway, great car. If you have a good job to pay for it. >:-(

auto transmission making grinding /sanding (as in sanding with sand paper) noise and vibration in steering at around 45 mph and gets worse at higher speeds as well as the noise. At first you might put the noise off as a rubbing brake pad but likely will get worse if its the transmission. I replaced the driver side cv axle 2X within 3 days thinking that was the vibration and noise concern, but on the second cv axle the vibration was still there. So I took hold of the cv axle hub going into the transmission and found abnormal slack, at this point I looked up a diagram of the transmission and after looking over the daigram determined that the taper bearing on the planetary gear set has failed. Still under warranty I took the vehicle to Legacy dodge in Natchitoches Louisiana where their inspection showed what I suspected. Their findings "Taper Bearings On Planetary Gear Set Has Failed Drivers Side".

Installed R8000676AE: Trans Pkg:with Torque Cor80 Qty:1

Installed 5191184AA: Fluid : Automatic Transmission Qty:6

This repair was covered under warranty. However while replacing the transmission the repair person(s) dammaged the rubber boot on the new cv axle I had put in, I found this the evening I got the vehicle home and was rotating the tires. I informed the dealership of the damage and was giving a appointment, after their inspection they claimed that there was a pin hole in the rubber boot/bearing cover and they didn't cause it and the damage could have been done anywhere. No need to argue with them just bid them a good day and go on about my day. After I got the vehicle back home I jacked it up and inspected it myself , My findings are the damage was a crush damage and not punchure damage.

Damage you would expect by removing a farily heavy object (like a transmission) where the cv axle wasn't mover away from the work area or from under the transmission jack. Anyway I believe I am right and their wrong on the matter, Oh well just another expected way of life when dealing with dealerships. I am suprised they covered the transmission warranty with such ease .

Good Luck, williamlouisiana

I bought a 2008 caliber for my wife that year. i hated the car but she loves it to death. About a mnth ago she told me it started makeing a noise in the front end. i had completely forgot about it. i drove the car a few days ago for the first time since then and the noise is completely annoying. the noise isn't there when it is just idleing but when you step on the gas a whinning noise gets louder and louder as it gets faster. i work at a dodge garage and had one of the mechanics diagnose the vehicle to find out what was wrong. I was hopeing it was a wheelbearing or something like that. well neadless to say it is the damn tranny. i found out that it has a CVT tranny which is a sealed unit and is completely a piece of sh*t. i was a fan of the older dodges but now i dont care what kind of dodge it is their all a piece of sh*t. i want to drive it off a cliff and forget about it. i found out a new tranny is right around 3800 without the installation.

I purchased my Dodge Calbre from Coquitlam Chrysler/Dodge last June 2009. It was a used car with approx. 22,000k's on it. After a few months the transmission started to make a grinding noise at a low speed, i.e. coasting to a stop sign. The dealer test drove the car, and acknowledged the noise, but claimed it was nothing to worry about and since it was a sealed unit, the engineers back at the factory had to advise them on the next course of action. After months of fighting they finally replaced the transmission last October 2009, at this time it had 38,000k's. Six months later, with only 11,000k's on the replacement transmission it's making the same noises again. This time the dealer is not replacing it and claims the transmission will not fail, and is under the 100,000k warranty. With other words it will do the job, but put up with the agonizing noise. I cannot believe how Dodge can put such a transmission on the market, no wonder they're in trouble. The remainder of the car is ok, just annoying squeaks. Obviously, I'll never buy another Dodge/Chrysler product and will inform as many of my dilemma.

I found out when I took my car in to be fixed that the transmission in the Caliber has many problems, none of which consumers are told about. At least part of the reason the transmission malfunctioned is due to a glitch in the computer system...which Chrysler is aware of, but failes to tell people. They are continually selling vehicles which will fall apart in no time. Of course, the problem does not occur until after the warranty period. What's even worse is the mechanic told me that if it wasn't for Chrysler, he wouldn't be in business. Chrysler needs stopped from making defective cars. I am a single mother of 3 kids. I do a lot of driving and I can't afford to replace major parts of a vehicle. I will never buy another Chrysler/Dodge product again.