Dodge Caliber completely SUV

well, and there are lots of Koreans to mop up those who place low cost above ability.

So Dodge, seeking to make an impression with the first of its proper right-hand-drive cars, is serving up an American take on he five-door hatch. It looks big, tall and SUV-ish and, in fact, on the road it has the outline of a Lexus RX.

And it’s as brash as Las Vegas, with its gulping grille, chunky lights, blocky wheelarches and black plastic fencing all around the roof. Definitely not a clone.

Inside, you have a tall, big-boss driving position, ideal for drivers who don’t want to be intimidated when sharing the highway with Kenworths and Chevy suburbans. The height also gives plenty of space for everyone else in the car.

There’s lots of tinsel – light plastics, bright colours, contrasting trims. And as it’s American, you don’t just get cup-holders but illuminated ones. And cooled bottle-holders.

The whole cabin is fairly tightly put together, an improvement on past US practice, but the plastics are the kind of thing you’d expect to find encasing a microwaveable apple pie.

To which dodge counters that the Caliber is cheap. It is too. You can get a 2.0 petrol with CVT auto, leather, cruise, alloys and air for £13,790. Oddly, a manual shifter is the same price, but that comes with just a 1.8 engine.

I tried the 2.0 CVT first. It’s a brand-new engine, a co-operative effort between Chrysler, Mitsubishi and Hyundai. It makes good output, VVT and a balance shaft, and good claimed economy. I had high hopes.

They were dashed. It’s noisy and completely devoid of charisma. The CVT isn’t a bad example of type, but it still makes a slow and noisy car. OK, let’s not despair, for there’s also the option of a diesel: VW’s modern 138bhp turbo unit, paired to a six-speed manual.

This is at least reasonably brisk, but it’s noisy and vibrates, and the clutch has an awful over-centre action – clearly the work of people entirely unused to both diesels and manuals. It’s also £1,500 more than a petrol.

There’s more. The steering has oddly inconsistent self-centring action and the ride seems soft but gets caught out by sharp bumps. But the fundamental handling and body control aren’t all that bad. The structure feels strong too.

Don’t think of it as a rival to a Focus, it’s far too coarse. But for people who own small SUVs, and therefore clearly don’t care about driving quality, the Caliber might make a weird kind of sense.