Used Dodge Dart for Sale in Arlington, VA

Got a chance to rent one of these, and since my daughter will be looking for something used soonish for a first car, I thought why not try it? Nut shell summary -some stand out features, but would not buy or rent again. Cars should be made to be driven as job 1, not just looked at or sat in. The good? Appearance was nice in my eyes. And, the interior was not low rent by any means. Soft touch material and mostly decent switch gear feel? Check. Logical control layout? Check. Seats were okay, but not great. Still, given the price point? Color me impressed. A few quirks to note here which kept the rating being higher in these areas. 1) Front seats needs to go lower. While I can fit... I have to recline the seat and doing so blocks the speedometer. So I can either fit comfortably, or not see my speedometer between 50 and maybe around 80. Tilting/telescoping wheel hopefully is an option, so check if you are a all torso kind of guy like me. 2) Glare off gauge panel. Given the rest of the interior quality, the lack of a (more?) reduced glare gauge cluster covering seems a noticeable omission. Not 'can't read it' bad, but still quite annoying when the light glare hits it. And, the mostly not so good. With the exception of steering, which really does hit the mark for this sort of car, driving dynamics were pretty bad. So the steering first. Somewhat lose on center but with good, but not too much road feel. Tracks well, not too much effort at any speed. Pretty much exactly what the doctor order for daily driver sort of car and maybe more. However, the engine was buzzy and lacked any ommph over 45 for the first few days Had to hammer it to even get up to passing speed in any reasonable time. After a few days the TCU and engine eventually 'learned' that when I applied gas I truly madly deeply did want it at least _try_ to move faster than a dodering great grandma. Still even then, it remained rather poor, but at least not almost dangerously so, as was my experience the first few days with it. Engine noise and vibration were a constant unwelcome companion, especially at idle. Even the dash liner would visibly vibrate at times. If Dodge had not put so much effort into the interior it would have been buzzing like my old '78 Malibu did when it was cold. This is the lowest level of NVH refinement of any other car I have driven or ridden in in the last decade, or possibly two, which is quite a few cars from all price points. Brakes may have had a warping issue on this car so read as such, and not as directly critical of the car model. The rears gave a distinctive 'whrrr whhrr' when backing down my driveway. I had to stop quickly once, and they actually clunked and the car lurched a bit while stopping fast. I assume this is not normal for a Dart, and did let the rental agency know. I would however worry about a car that did have brake issues as early as this, even for a rental. My adivce? Try some emergency stops and braking while backing down a hill to be sure if you are test driving one. Suspension. On smooth even pavement it was fine, and even a good ride. However, anything else gave varying degrees of jittery and busy. Absolutely no confidence in trying anything beyond '20% pushing it' in this car. Given the brakes, and lack of oomph, that was probably for the better. Still a suspension should not communicate that it wants to take the car in all sorts of directions you are not steering in on anything but good pavement. If you live in an area of crappy roads like I do, make sure to try it out first and see for yourself if it suits. Fairly obviously, I have no idea if it corners fairly flat / has body roll, was not even tempted to try it. In short? VW, Mazda, Ford, Nissan, Honda, Subaru, Hyundai, GM... All seem to have better cars in this price range/category from a driving perspective.