CarComplaints.com Notes: The first year of the new Dodge Dart had a rough start, with owners reporting a disproportionate number of engine and transmission problems.
For transmission, the main complaints are transmission failure & rough shifting. So far, average mileage for transmission failure is 25,000 miles. Not good.
For engine problems, it usually starts with the engine light coming on for any number of reasons: bad sensors, ignition coil replacement, bad wiring, faulty gas cap ... dealers are replacing various components with varying degrees of success, or telling owners they can't duplicate the issue.
My 17 year-old-son got a great deal on the car from a friend. I was so happy for him and proud that he was able to purchase a car with his own money. Because it was a friend who sold it to us, I didn't think about getting it checked out first by a mechanic. I did think it was odd that there was no paperwork history given to us. Lesson learned: always get a CarFax and get it checked out by a mechanic no matter WHO sells it to you. Four months later it's acting up and took it into the shop today. Hard to believe at only 100K it's already slipping in 1st gear and needs a new transmission. So much for the good deal on the car! It will cost around $3300 to get it running smoothly again. Very disappointed and sad for my son.
I just purchased this car from a local dealership. I absolutely LOVE this car! Its comfy, smooth, hardly any road noise and overall I absolutely love it. My only concerns are that when I start to slow down, it seems to happen when the transmission goes down into first gear, there is a horrible jerk. When I test drove the vehicle I didnt feel anything, but the next day and every day since then I have felt it. Its worse when its cold outside. ANOTHER thing I didnt notice when I test drove the vehicle (Prob why the guy riding along from the dealership turned up the radio) is that when I turn the wheel it sounds like things are rubbing underneath. I looked through other Forums and apparently alot of the steering column has rubber in it so when it gets cold they rub. Either way im taking it back to the dealership today after work to get it looked at. I hope that everything gets fixed because like I previously said, I love this car and if it wernt for these minor problems it would be the perfect vehicle.
I had a grinding noise when switching gears 5 to 6 and 6 to 5. My car was in the shop for 30 days. The dealership at first tried repairing the tranny, but the repair didn't fix the issue so they ended up needing to replace it. The problem has not reoccurred since the replacement.
The transmission shifts roughly into drive or reverse roughly. It sounds like the gear in being slammed into and the car jerks into the gear. This seems to only happen when the engine is cold.
I bought the car 09/28/12 and have now have 12,104 miles on it. Over the past 4-5 months, the 6 sp-std is binding slightly when shifting gears. Right now, it is an annoyance and I will be taking it to the dealership along with a list of other complaints, in the near future. It feels like this car is slowly falling apart and needs to have someone go through and torque everything down.
- deejmaster,
Muskogee, OK, US
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Car runs sluggish. Seems almost like it does not know what gear to shift into. Also hear clicking noise when I put car into Drive. Tech. says this is normal ????? I have other Automatics car and don't seem to have this issue. Normal !!!! Not Happy !!!
Bought a Dodge Dart Rallye 2013. Car looks awesome But Drives like A Pile Of Sh*it. Transmission never knows when to shift. Bogs out at times and hi revs for a few secs at other times. Had in shop for flash for "bumping" in the tranny. didn't do much good and didn't fix anything. Now dealership says there are no codes coming up. its a lemon ill never be able to sell a car driving like this. But have been told its not a "problem". gettn ready to get a lawyer and take it to these as*s. I hope when im done with them they have to take all these cars back! They asked for it!
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
My 17 year-old-son got a great deal on the car from a friend. I was so happy for him and proud that he was able to purchase a car with his own money. Because it was a friend who sold it to us, I didn't think about getting it checked out first by a mechanic. I did think it was odd that there was no paperwork history given to us. Lesson learned: always get a CarFax and get it checked out by a mechanic no matter WHO sells it to you. Four months later it's acting up and took it into the shop today. Hard to believe at only 100K it's already slipping in 1st gear and needs a new transmission. So much for the good deal on the car! It will cost around $3300 to get it running smoothly again. Very disappointed and sad for my son.
- M P., Pleasanton, CA, US