Wedding gift of car

On Dodge sign you can register for people to buy parts of Dodge Dart as a wedding present.Until you have a whole car.

If someone gave me that as a wedding gift I’d never want to see them again. That’s a terrible gift.

Have you seen/driven the new Dart? Neat little car.

But would you want someone else tying you to it as a future purchase? And if you had three kids by the time you finally bought the last part, would it still be a neat little car… or unusable for your needs?

Forget the registry set up a crowd funding campaign see how much you get then pick the car in budget, could also be cool to set up for other large things like a down payment on a house

It might be cheaper to buy the Dart and scale the size of the wedding party down instead. Just my 2 cents, but I never expected the Dart to be a rousing success from the get-go. The local Chrysler/Dodge dealer here has a small fleet of them on the lot that are not moving.

From the other day a cut and paste from AutoBlog…

Hidden amidst the overall very positive sales figures that Chrysler released earlier this week were a few disappointments, the biggest of which may be the Dodge Dart. While Dodge sales in general were down 11 percent from a year ago, the Dart’s poor figures stood out from the rest – with 4,888 units sold, the Dart was down 37 percent in February.

It comes as little surprise, then, that the automaker has announced layoffs at its assembly plant in Belvidere, IL. According to The Daily Herald, Dodge will temporarily lay off 325 workers “to balance vehicle supply with current sales demand.” Put more simply, there are more Darts than buyers at the moment…

I guess I’m confused TSM, are you objecting to a wedding gift that consists of a car given piecemeal, or specifically a Dodge Dart.

I see your point of the car perhaps taking many years to “pay off” but I assume it’s not an open ended program, and even if your “wedding gift” only gets you 20% of a car, that’s still a down payment for one. Not a bad gift, especially when I remember the parade of rice cookers, picture frames, and other crap that came at my wedding.

As for the Dart specifically, they’re still awfully new so I don’t know how they will age but they seem like a neat beginner-level sedan.

It might work for some people. After all, Dodge sold 71,453 Darts in 2013 through October. Don’t assume that because it doesn’t work for you that it wouldn’t be welcomed by anyone. I think it is clever marketing. It may not result in many additional sales, but someone is trying to be creative to generate extra sales.

I’m objecting to the piece of a car given as a wedding gift. I have nothing at all against the Dart.
I’d rather get CD than a piece of a car that I had no hand in choosing and might not even get to have for many moons. Or even a toaster.

Jt, I agree that it’s a clever and creative marketing idea. I just think it’s a terrible wedding gift.

I wouldn’t be happy with it for myself, either, but a few of my college friends were big Chrysler fans and probably would have liked it. I’m a thousand years past that point in my life and my kids aren’t quite there yet. The world is a big place and there is probably room for someone getting married to need a car and like the idea.

What’s the chance that the couple BOTH wants a Dart AND gets enough money to make it attractive to buy now? Pretty low, to me.

But if a couple planned to get one anyway, then sure, fine.

There is also the “it’s the thought that counts” effect. Many people may take that into account when they buy a car. There seems to be a thriving business in investment funds with a social conscience, for instance.

Personally, I think it’s a lousy idea

You’re buying part of the car, but won’t have anything to show for it, until the damn thing’s paid off

Glorified name for a layaway plan

The advantage of getting a pop-up toaster is that the wedded couple would be reasonably assured of still having toast 5 years on down the road… :slight_smile:

Oh gee, this is one of the stupidest ideas I’ve heard in a long time. People should not buy other people cars or dogs. Give them money, then they can buy the car or dog they want.

I haven’t seen the Dart yet but we rented a Chrysler 200 with the 2.4. If the Dart is anything close, I would not want it. Cheap interior, poor instrument layout, etc. and even had an analog clock instead of a digital. It looked like the dash from 1968.

200 was olllllld Chrysler, Dart is new Fiat/Chrysler. No relationship. That said, it’s gotten ‘ok’ reviews. But way better than the old 200. New 200 coming this year.

I still think its off my list. The last time I drove a Fiat was in high school delivering chicken in 1965.

The best job I ever had in my life was ended because the dealer took on a Fiat franchise so my view is biased a bit…

The collective groan from the mechanics at the meeting and one of them aping the old Bugs Bunny cartoon where Bugs says, “You’ll be sorrrrrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyy…” just bounced off of management.

Of course they’re not around now to be able to hear “I told you so” after lecturing everyone in the shop about their “negative attitudes towards a brighter future”…

Guess it could have been worse. They were also considering merging with an Alfa Romeo franchise.

A partial cut and paste from Consumer Reports . . .

Dodge’s compact sedan falls short. We tested both the 1.4-liter turbo and 2.0-liter four-cylinder engines. The 1.4-liter has enough power but sounds thrashy, and the optional automated manual transmission is unrefined and stumbles at low speeds. The base 2.0-liter feels underpowered, but its six-speed automatic shifts smoothly. For 2014 most versions get the 2.4 liter. Handling is taut and agile, and the ride is composed. Inside, the cabin is roomy up front but the rear seat is tight. The Uconnect touchscreen is one of the best on the market. First year reliability of the 2.0-liter has been well above average, but it scored too low to recommend; the turbo is below average.

Road TestSXT 4-cyl
For the first all-new model to emerge from the Fiat-Chrysler alliance, Dodge has resurrected an old nameplate and put it on a car with an Italian heritage. The new Dart, which replaces the subpar Caliber, is the first decent small car from Dodge in decades. It’s appealing in many ways, but frustrating in others. Overall, it can’t measure up to the best in class. And for a car that needed to be an all-star, the Dart is a position player at best.

Even of the part that was gifted to me was from a Bentley, I’d still rather have a toaster.