Yahoo Autos Top 10 most-improved cars from the past 15 years
If you read our series on the business of redesigns, you know that reimagining a car from the ground up can be a billion-dollar feat to implement the industry's latest technology, keep up with ever-improving competition and ultimately (hopefully) increase sales. They usually do just that: In Cars.com's analysis of 61 redesigns from 2009 to 2012, sales for the average remake saw an increase of 32.6% in the months following.
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Why? Just look at their predecessors. Some undertakings replace a onetime star that lingered well past its freshness date (see the Volkswagen New Beetle), while others are the successor to a product doomed from the get-go (see the Dodge Caliber). Whatever you call it, the most improved overhauls can sometimes create butterflies out of automotive caterpillars. An important note: Sometimes the changes go beyond just interiors and drivetrains, and sometimes the car being replaced was so poor that the automaker gave the new version an all-new name.
The last time we named the most-improved cars, we considered models that showed progress through successive generations in the 2000s. This time, our editors nominated the most improved single redesigns from the past 15 years.
1. 2013 Dodge Dart
Chrysler's Dodge division resurrected a decades-old nameplate in the Dart, and that choice was probably a good one. The Caliber, a hatchback whose homely styling, crude interior and clumsy road manners served as a snapshot of Chrysler's quality woes of the time, needed banishing in every way. Redemption came via this svelte compact. It looked better, and it drove better. Comparing their interior quality is like comparing the beaches in Cancun to the beaches in Hades. With its new turbo four-cylinder, the Dart beat any Caliber by 4 to 8 mpg in EPA combined ratings. While transmission issues and a competitive sales environment have been issues for it, in almost every regard the Dart is light-years ahead of its low-Caliber predecessor.
2. 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee
When Chrysler redesigned the popular Grand Cherokee, the results showcased the potential for Detroit's smallest automaker. It wasn't that the 2005-2010 Grand Cherokee was terrible; its mid-teens EPA gas mileage compared to truck-based SUVs of its day, and its off-road chops did the Jeep badge proud. But this redesign blew the doors off. A handsome cabin replaced truck-like confines, and ride quality charted night-versus-day improvement over the outgoing SUV's solid-axle clumsiness. Sales ballooned: Chrysler sold more than twice as many Grand Cherokees in the first half of 2011 than it did over the same period in 2010. And the 2014 Grand Cherokee won Cars.com's $38,000 Midsize SUV Challenge.
3. 2011 Chevrolet Cruze
GM's product renaissance tackled compact cars with the global Chevrolet Cruze, which got impressive quietness, a roomy cabin and nimble steering, all qualities lacked by its predecessor, the 2005-2010 Chevy Cobalt. When it came to small cars, the Cobalt extended GM's butt-of-all-jokes status past the Cavalier, a car of equal ineptitude. The Cobalt was barely competitive in 2005; its successor is still compelling, more than three years after it arrived. Not since its now-shuttered Saturn division has GM made competitive small cars, and that was in the early 1990s.
