{"id":2090795,"date":"2026-08-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2090795"},"modified":"2026-08-13T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T21:00:00","slug":"a-plum-of-a-machine-no-the-dodge-nitro-was-not-a-good-car-and-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2090795","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;A plum of a machine&#8221;: no, the Dodge Nitro was not a good car, and here&#8217;s why"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-testid=\"HtmlContent\" class=\"MarkUpWrapper-sc-t20i90-0 hQwWlJ\">\n<p>Even the blindest optimist wasn\u2019t expecting the Nitro \u2013 launched in Britain in 2006 \u2013 to be a smash hit.<\/p>\n<p>Chrysler\u2019s UK offerings of the period had set the bar very low indeed. But, like a champion limbo dancer, the Nitro eyed that low, low bar&#8230; and somehow managed to dip lower still. Dodge claimed the mid-sized SUV was tailored to European tastes. Quite <em>which<\/em> mad European was unclear.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"HtmlContent\" class=\"MarkUpWrapper-sc-t20i90-0 hQwWlJ\">\n<p>The exterior styling was clearly targeting the \u2018Texas toddler\u2019 demographic, while the base engine was a 3.7-litre V6, which made a great deal of noise and almost no power.<\/p>\n<p>At least the Nitro\u2019s interior could have been described as impressive, provided the word \u201cimpressive\u201d was immediately followed by the words \u201cthat Dodge thought it could get away with something so cheap and shoddy in the 21st century\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"HtmlContent\" class=\"MarkUpWrapper-sc-t20i90-0 hQwWlJ\">\n<p>That shonkiness was matched in the handling department. To call the Nitro\u2019s road manners \u2018blancmange-like\u2019 would be libellous to the average blancmange. In corners, it heaved and tipped like a sailboat in a&#8230; yeah we\u2019ve just defamed sailboats there as well, haven\u2019t we?<\/p>\n<p>Things got marginally better when you left the tarmac, mostly because you were further away from other motorists mocking you for purchasing such a plum of a machine. After just a handful of years on sale in Britain, the Nitro was quietly euthanised. Even the lowest expectations are sometimes still too high.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Even the blindest optimist wasn\u2019t expecting the Nitro \u2013 launched in Britain in 2006 \u2013 to be a smash hit. Chrysler\u2019s UK offerings of the period had set the bar very low indeed. But, like a champion limbo dancer, the Nitro eyed that low, low bar&#8230; and somehow managed to dip lower still. Dodge claimed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,237],"class_list":["post-2090795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-topgear-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2090795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2090795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2090795\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2090795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2090795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2090795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}