RE: This could be loosely related another post here
 

No kidding. Honestly the way they needed to do things is give the styling that is currently used on the Avenger for a compact, economy car to compete against the Civic in fuel mileage, mid-level power comparable to the Mazda 3, and offering performance that would compete against the Evo. The Caliber should have offered the same line from this using conventional automatics (6-speed automatics and 6-speed manuals). Meanwhile, they should have styled the Avenger as they styled the original Avenger, while offering only 6-speed autos and manuals (no more 4-speeds), offered the 3.5L low output with much taller gearing on the SXT, then offer a H.O. version of the 4.0L in the R/T, then added an extra tuned SRT-4 at the top level. Sorry for ranting again, just had to say while we were on the topic.