By Robert Emslie
Autoblog reports that Chrysler is recalling 85,000 2007 Dodge Nitro sport utilities due to an issue with the windshield wipers.
Normally we wouldn’t find this newsworthy here on the Hoon – that’s what Autoblog is for – save for one little bit of information contained in the story – 85,000 people bought Nitros in 2007! Who does that?
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Jeff Glucker
The wipers aren't up to the task of clearing goo from the windshield?
No. They have "Hi" "Lo" and "Delay", but not "Fap".
So they will install additional wipers on the inside.
According to urban legend, PT Barnum said, "There's a sucker born every minute." Now, this has been debated and it is unlikely he said that. However, the message is still valid even if the story is fabricated.
Since it wasn't a leap year, the year in question had 525,600 minutes. So, there are plenty of suckers to buy Nitros. And all of the other vehicles Chrysler sold in 2007.
So, that'd be one Nitro sucker every 6 minutes. Did ChryCo sell enough cars in '07 to cover the other 50 minutes per hour?
I think they sold a couple million cars. Take out the "real" Jeeps, and they have no problem covering the hour.
I guess 85,000 people couldn’t get the loan to buy a Hummer.
If you think that's nasty, imagine one in stock form.
<img src="http://bdtonline.autoconx.com/photos/527/501103527_1_B.jpg">
Yep.
The terms of the Geneva Conventions prohibit me from showing the grille.
Why? Why would you do that? You're a cruel, heartless bastard!
Wow, definitely not the good angle. The press shot really shortens the vehicle doesn't it?
It looks like a Chinese knock-off of a Chinese knock-off.
Paint it white with a snorkel and UN stickers and it would look good blown up on the side of a Rwandan highway.
Why? Why would you do that? You're a cruel, heartless bastard!
This doesn't surprise me one bit (the recall).
My dad told me about back in the '80s a man sue'd Chrysler over the patent on their intermittant wipers. Well that just open'd the flood gates for that and people were suing for the pattent on their intermittant windows, their intermittant steering and their intermittant engines. It was messy to say the least.
Chrysler's intermittent engines were their only feature that worked right.
I suppose 85,000 couldn't swing the loan on a Hummer.
Swallowing costs extra… (I see what you did there)
Ha, ha, ha! Multiple entendre!
I didn't actually see what I did there, but I'll claim it was intentional.
Two words: FLEET SALES
I would guess than a double digit percentage of these were clogging up rental lots at airports around the country.
Exactly what I came to say – I was going to say 'Two words – Rental Car'.
My wife and I rented an '09 Compass last summer, and frankly it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. We hated the CVT, and that 2.4l engine is as noisy as everybody says it is, and it sho' is ugly! But overall, not nearly as bad a driving experience as I was expecting. I might even consider a MT version as a beater in a number of years, when they are really cheap.
On the other hand, my experience with the Dodge Nitro? Oh, Lawd, what a pile of poo! Hated it—at least as bad as I had been led to believe…and I didn't even DRIVE it, I just SAT in it!
If I had to buy a Compass, I'd buy a Patriot with a stick shift.
Of course, if those are Jeeps, I already own a Jeep, what with the live-axle/Dana 30 combo, considerable ground clearance, and sturdy bumpers on my daily driver.
I drove a friend's Nitro R/T about 20 miles as my penance for being the least drunk member of the bowling team that night, and was pleasantly surprised. Not enough to get one instead of a Subaru if I needed an AWD station wagon, but enough that I'd get the Nitro before a 1st-gen Equinox (a car that makes my '05 Dakota's interior plastics look good.)
2 Options here.
1) The "recall" applies to 85,000 vehicles, it doesn't say that 84,995 are still sitting on dealer lots.
2) Chrysler really didn't sell that many, they just inflated the number in the announcement to make it look like they were selling these things.
Golf Clap
2 possibilities here:
1) Sure, 85,000 vehicles are subject to the repair, but 84,995 are still sitting on dealer lots.
and
2) They are not really recalling that many vehicles, they artificially inflated that number, to make it look like they are actually selling some of these.