Once in Monticello, they made their way to the Monticello Motor Club, a luxury automotive lifestyle resort and track located 90 minutes from Manhattan. This 4.1 mile track with race-grade asphalt is set on 175 wooded acres of undulating terrain and includes:
• Grand corners reminiscent of great European tracks
• Over 1.5 miles of straights, some of the longest in North America
• 450 feet of thrilling elevation changes
• A total of 22 turns including hairpins, increasing, and decreasing radius
This was the site that Dodge had selected to present the all-new 2013 Dodge Dart to over 200 of its north east dealers.
After getting a chance to lis
ten to key Chrysler employees explain the attributes of the new Dart, dealers were treated to lunch and then given the chance to take their dealership’s first Dodge Dart out for a quick run around the racetrack. Of course there were rules, no passing, no tailgating … No such luck as being the first out for team Midstate, at position 198 Mitchell reported that the straightway meant top speeds around 50 mph, but reported the car handled great in the corners. With only a few seconds between each car as they went out on the track, the no passing rule limited the fun and probably insured every Dodge Dart came of the track with no trips out into the infield.
Midstate’s first Dodge Dart and 200 other dealers came in red and where equipped with the all-new 1.4 liter turbo delivering a reported 39 miles per gallon on the highway. Driving back from New York over a combination of route roads and interstate driving, on a brand new engine that was still being broke in, a reported 36 miles per gallon was shown on the Dart’s trip computer. We can only assume this will improve once the engine is broke in and we don’t have the owner with his notorious lead foot on the throttle. Not only was the drive back reported to be “great fun”, features like the giant 8 inch touch screen multi-media center made the trip even easier. Satellite Radio stations were easy to pull up on and 8 inch screen and the navigation system is really great to see on a screen this big.
The best way to experience the all-new 2013 Dodge Dart is to stop by Midstate Dodge and view it in person. Midstate is located half way between Barre and Montpelier on U.S. Route 302. In addition to Dodge, Midstate carries the Chrysler, Ram, Jeep and Hyundai brands. Midstate also carries one of the most diversified used car inventories in central Vermont and can be found on the web at www.midstatedodge.com.
