Normally, I like to leave the summaries for the end of the review but I'm going to do this one backwards. The Dodge Journey is a well-executed, well-thought out car that has huge potential to kick the Qashqai+2's arse but it's badly let down by its fit, finish and refinement. I'm telling you this now because I'm afraid that if I leave it to the end, you'll have already turned the page, assuming that the Journey's just another lacklustre American product completely unsuited to European tastes. You'd be partially right, of course, but to dismiss the Journey completely would be wrong. It has huge potential. Dodge simply didn't have the money to realise it fully and has launched a car onto the market that I'm sure, in its heart, it knows isn't good enough.
Let's look at what's good, first. The basic shape and size of the Dodge Journey is sound, the seating format is well executed and the basic ergonomics are solid, too. The Journey has a decent engine in the form of VW's 140hp 2.0 TDI unit (it scrapes into VRT Band D, too); the suspension and platform is shared with everything from the Peugeot 4008 to the Mitsubishi Evo, so we know that's pretty good and it's positively dripping with equipment – ESC, cruise control, hill-start assist, six airbags (including a full-length curtain 'bag), tyre pressure monitors, 17-inch alloys, Flip 'n' Stow seating, electric driver's seat, three-zone climate control, a six-disc CD/Audio DVD changer and an iPod kit, all for just €28,000!
Now the bad stuff, stuff that really wouldn't be an issue if Dodge had some moolah to invest. Refinement, for example, is sadly lacking in the Journey but it would have been an easy fix if Dodge had invested more time and money into cutting noise. It feels as if Dodge simply didn't do anything to prepare the car for life in Europe, where refinement is a real bugbear. In VW cars, for example, the older, non common-rail 2.0 TDI is barely audible but in the Journey it sounds like you've got a tractor with the engine running in the boot. A few layers of sound deadening would do the trick, as would some acoustic engineering around the engine bay, bulkhead and engine mounts.
The handling also has a distinctly American feel to it, which isn't really a good thing, but it wouldn't be so depressing were this not the same basic chassis as the Evo X! If cars like the top-selling Ford S-Max prove anything it's that Europeans will sacrifice a little comfort for handling precision. Cabin quality is the Journey's real problem area, however. Not only does the dash look like a 1980s boom box, it also makes the same hollow sound when you tap the silvery plastics. The buttons and displays are mis-matched and clumsy, even if the basic layout is sound, and there's so much storage space you could get lost in there. The worst aspect of the cabin, though, is the driving environment. The clunky steering wheel feels like one of the first airbag steering wheels from the early ’90s and the dials remind me of the instrument cluster on the Rover SD1 – boxy, ugly and nailed to the top of the dash.
Chrysler's proposed tie-up with Fiat will solve none of these issues, though. Fiats aren't known for their refinement, handling prowess or cabin quality either so it could be a case of the blind leading the blind. Or it could be the case that with economies of scale on their side, both companies will finally get the lead out and start making cars we can all believe in.
