Poetic justice perhaps after starting this thread that we are away for 2 weeks and rent a car (from a Company that usually rents Fords - I now know how Chrysler kept sales levels up). All they have in a Compact is a Caliber (SXT version, 2.0 L CVT). Some general feedback:
From a basic prior dislike of the Caliber, after 2 weeks I half liked it for some unexpected reasons. First of all, the number and design of the numerous inside storage areas is about the best I've seen. However my wife skinned her knuckles on rough/sharp plastic when removing something from inside one of them. Second, visibility isn't bad, especially rearward. The A pillar is too thick though, as mentioned in most road tests. Braking feel is very nice and progressive, steering feels OK too and the car feels pretty stable in all conditions.
I didn't like the CTV even after an "adjustment period" to it. Going up steep hills on highways would start at 2,300 RPM or so and end up at 3,400 RPM without fully maintaining speed, sort of a sick feeling + sound in a way. The auto shifter knob has a left-right option to simulate manual gear change, however its not gated so its possible to touch the shifter while in Drive and find yourself unexpectedly stuck in one gear, quite "inconvenient" especially when accelerating off a light with someone behind you! Finally highway mileage of around 37 MPG was the same as my 240 HP 6 speed manual Accord coupe, not impressive at all but expected because of the weight and poor aerodynamics of the Caliber.