Why (Not) the Dodge Nitro? Owner Reviews

Why the Dodge Nitro?

Exterior styling: Agressive styling.

Price or payments: Attractive price. Not too high.

Discounts & incentives: Most SUV's and Trucks have generous discounts/incentives at the moment.

Why the Chevrolet Equinox?

Exterior styling: Sporty attractive exterior styling.

Powertrain performance: The Sport models 264hp provides excellent power.

Ride smoothness: The Equinox rode more like a car than an SUV/Truck, very smooth.

Rear seat room & comfort: The rear seat can slide forward and back 8" providing generous leg room for rear passengers.

Driving position & visibility: The Equinox has a very comfortable seating position and visiblity is excellent.

Why Not the Dodge Nitro?

Fuel economy: Very low fuel ratings. And I personally never even get what the ratings state.

Ride smoothness: The Nitro has a very rough ride. You feel every bump in the road. And, while not part of the ride, the headlights were some of the worst I've ever seen in a vehicle. VERY dim, even on HIGH.

Quietness: Due to it's rough ride, the passenger cabin wasn't nearly as quiet as the Equinox.

Why the Mazda Mazda3?

Exterior styling: Sports like and aggressive, but not too overdone.

Insurance & depreciation: Low depreciation has kept the vehicle valuable even after 5 years of ownership. Around 45% of initial purchase price to resale value private party.

Reliability & durability: Very durable even in a off-road country environment. With many trips off-road including towing light recreation trailers (kayak/bike/motocross) no problems have risen from these expeditions.

Fuel economy: Consistent and decent city fuel economy.

Materials & workmanship: Solid materials - does not fade as much in the hot Texas sun. Paint job holds up extremely well to hail and gravel impacts.

Why Not the Dodge Nitro?

Reliability & durability: Small items break causes irritating repair work. Not expensive repairs but small repairs over and over.

Materials & workmanship: Plastics don't hold up well to fading and the fit/finish is a bit loose fitting. Not a big deal initially but as vehicle ages becomes bigger appearance problem.

Insurance & depreciation: Depreciates very quickly resulting in low resale value. A plus on the insurance side but negative for first time owners

Brand reputation & image: Lifetime powertrain warrant is valuable except that Chrysler as a business seems in doubt.

Driving position & visibility: Wife has difficult time seeing around side body columns, non-telescoping steering wheel makes difficult for her to reach pedals with a safe distance from steering column.

Why the Dodge Nitro?

Exterior styling: OK, this is my wife's car from her company. The biggest reason we chose it was the exterior. The Nitro looks like it is serious and lots of people have asked about it. We had other choices, but they were too "soft" for our (my wife's) liking.

Cargo capacity & towing: Tons of room. My wife has to carry lots of samples and there is more than enough room. It looks rather boxy, but that offers many advantages in terms of cargo capacity.

Past personal experience: We previously owned a Jeep YJ and the ride reminded us of that vehicle. It was one we enjoyed so the somewhat choppy ride does not bother us. If you are looking for a smooth cruiser the Nitro will not fit the bill.

Available features: The Nitro was the only SUV she could choose that had a V6. Case closed. It also was packaged with way more features and creature comforts (power seats, , heated mirrors, SIRRUS, among others). Available 4WD was also a huge deal as we live in Canada.

Driving position & visibility: Great sight lines. Easy to see and commanding view of the road. Kids like it in the back too. There is something to be said for being up high.

Why Not the Dodge Nitro?

Fuel economy: The Nitro's fuel economy is AWFUL. Worst of any vehicle we have ever owned and that includes minivans, other SUVs, a YJ, and a truck. About 15-16 MPG or 15l/100km. And that is with the ECO option that shuts down 2 cylinders. Might get better with time.

Why the Dodge Nitro?

Safety & braking: Good safety ratings, airbags front & side standard

Powertrain performance: Feels strong, powerful.

Audio & nav systems: Bluetooth headset compatible, MP3, great sound with addition of premium audio package, DVD player nice quality, too.

Exterior styling: I tend to like Dodge styling to start with so the look of the beefy Dodge car/SUV front and muscular style to this SUV appeals to me. I have the premium wheels which look great. The sunroof is a nice addition, too.

Dealership practices: The warranty on Dodge vehicles is attractive. Lifetime powertrain warranty. Nice.

Why Not the Dodge Nitro?

Ride smoothness: It's a rough ride. You can feel the bumps in the road for sure.

Quietness: You can hear the engine pick up clearly. Maybe it was meant to be that way. I know some people like to hear the power of the car working but I would prefer it have more sound insulation.

Why the Dodge Nitro?

Available features: There's so many to keep me busy. The U connect and Homelink features are creative. Like the stereo and the controls and the entire layout of them. Easy and in places that make sense to me. The rear gate pullout load feature is unique.

Exterior styling: Uniqueness, tough, daring, mini-Hummer-esque.

Safety & braking: 5 star frontal and side crash ratings... 2 front and 2 side airbags. Brakes are responsive and stopping distance is short.

Quietness: Never been in a more silent vehicle...can hardly hear a motorcycle right next to you. Able to carry on a conversation with literally no impediment from road noise/natural sound it almost inspires a nap.

Front seat comfort: Very supportive power seat that adjusts. Seems to fit my body very well... I'm 6 foot 210.

Why Not the Dodge Nitro?

Fuel economy: I'm a little hesitant saying too much having only owned one for one day... As with all vehicles you're not going to get the "estimated" mileage as they're always best case non-attainable numbers. City driving is 15, or so...Hwy is about 20.

Reliability & durability: All the reports I've read from major sites and publications say 1st year reliability has been very poor. It inspired me to buy a automaker backed extended warranty which is something I would usually NEVER give a thought to to protect against failures.

Insurance & depreciation: The insurance is actually about the same as my '05 Equinox. I don't know that the depreciation is any worse than any other vehicle... I just dislike depreciation in general. That is why I bought pre-owned with warranty. Saved thousands.

Why the Dodge Nitro?

Exterior styling: I bought mine in japan so it is the R/T package but with a 3.7L engine. I like the look of it which is the reason I bought it. It had a unique interior with the stow and go storage area and mine came with a side view camera.

Why Not the Dodge Nitro?

Powertrain performance: It is not geared well, I always have to slam on the gas to get it to go up a steep hill and from a stop it has a really torquey start, it never wants to accelerate smoothly. Its either always sluggish or the engine and transmission over compensate.

Fuel economy: It has some of the worst fuel economy out of any v6 out their with similar horse power.

Handling: It is very bumpy and drives like an older pickup truck.

Reliability & durability: I had this thing fixed 4 times in the first 6 months i owned it. 3 times for interior electronics and the other for brakes. Also the interior is very cheap plastic that vibrates to much when playing loud music. It deffenantly could have been built better.

Materials & workmanship: The transmission feels very cheap and kick often when letting of the gas when the transmission is about to shift gears.