Stronger, faster, but not necessarily better

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Under the Hood

The SE and SXT Calibers come standard with a 148-horsepower 1.8-liter four-cylinder; for an additional $150 a 2.0-liter power plant cranking out 158 hp is available. The 1.8-liter engine's fuel economy is expected to average 24 mpg city and 29 mpg highway, while the 2.0-liter is estimated at 23/27 mpg. Either configuration comes mated to a five-speed manual transmission or a Continuously Variable Transaxle II (CVT 2) for $1,000.

The Caliber R/T comes with a 2.4-liter engine pumping out 172 hp connected to a five speed manual gearbox . The CVT2 is an option in the front wheel drive model and is the only transmission available in the all wheel drive version. Mileage is estimated at 23 mpg city and 29 mpg hwy in the FWD five-speed version, 21/25 mpg in the FWD with CVT2 and 21/24 mpg in the AWD with CVT2.

The 2008 Caliber SRT4 comes with a turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine that cranks out 285 hp at 5700 rpm and 265 lb.-ft. of torque at 2000 rpm, with mileage estimated at 21 mpg city and 26 mpg highway.However, during our test we were only able to achieve a combined average economy of 18.6 mpg. The 285 horses are routed through a six-speed manual transmission and an electronically tuned differential.

Suspension for the Caliber SRT4 is made up of independent MacPherson Struts in the front and independent multilink suspension with upper and lower lateral links in the rear. Front and rear damping is handled by ZF Sachs twin-tube dampers and bringing everything to a halt when the light turns red are beefed up 4-wheel disc brakes with ABS.

All other Calibers come with four wheel independent suspension consisting of front MacPherson struts and coil spring over gas-charged shock absorbers and a rear multi link coil setup.

In the SE and SXT versions, momentum is halted with front disc and rear drum brakes, but disc brakes at all four corners is available as a package in the SXT with the CVT2 transmission. Braking in the R/T is handled by four-wheel disc with ABS.