DAIMLERCHRYSLER consistently follows the red-blooded American looks of its dazzlingly successful 300C with the Dodge Caliber – the first time the ram-headed brand has been seen here since the Valiant-based Dodge ute expired 30 years ago.

It’s a welcome return too, but how the brand has changed since the 1970s. Where Dodges, like everything else under the star-spangled banner, once epitomised a hopelessly out-of-touch car-making ethos, the new four-cylinder hatchback brazenly adopts themes established by the Europeans and Japanese and masks them behind a bold, in-your-face styling job. But while the looks might tug the same emotional strings as the Chrysler 300C, the on-road experience is far from being what you expect of an American brand. Still, the packaging of the Caliber is very good, the pricing competitive and the quality generally without fault. As a saying less familiar today than it was 40 years or so ago enigmatically suggests: “If you can’t afford a Ford, dodge a Dodge.”