The Dodge Hornet has seen a rough existence so far. Owners have reported a multitude of issues, the public hasn’t exactly been receptive to the rebadged Alfa Romeo Tonale crossover, and supply has just piled on up. As a result, some dealers have been slashing prices, to the point where you can get into a 268-horsepower Hornet for the price of a compact sedan like a Hyundai Elantra or Toyota Corolla.
While we’ve previously reported about some big Dodge Hornet price cuts, the big news now is that these things can now consistently be picked up for less than $25,000 brand new, and that’s gonna make things interesting.
Mind you, there is a bit of a catch to some of these dirt-cheap Dodge Hornets. Because these crossovers have been so oversupplied, some of the cheapest delivery mileage examples sitting on dealership lots across America are still 2023 model year cars. Yes, we’re nearly in October of 2024.
Take this brand new 2023 Hornet GT Plus. It’s got ventilated seats, it’s got navigation, it’s got a power liftgate, and it’s listed for sale at a Dodge dealer in Oklahoma for $23,725 despite carrying a manufacturer suggested retail price of $37,825. That’s a $14,100 discount.
The crazy part? We wrote about this exact same Hornet back in May, when it was listed for $26,225. It’s still on the same lot four months later. Wild. Oh, and it was originally listed 314 days ago, which means if it sticks around until Nov. 11, it’ll have been on the same lot for an entire year.
Want something that hasn’t been sitting on the lot so long? No worries. Here’s a 2024 Hornet GT up for sale in Virginia for $23,777, despite carrying an MSRP of $33,490. That’s $9,713 off MSRP on a brand new compact crossover. Hot damn.
Alright, so maybe you aren’t near Virginia or Oklahoma. Maybe you’re on the west coast, for example. Well, here’s a brand new 2023 Hornet GT Plus up for sale in California for $24,495. That’s $19,070 off MSRP, an absolutely insane discount for a compact crossover with delivery mileage.
Oh, and let’s say you want something flashier than what you’ve seen so far. Well, a dealer in Indiana is selling a brand new gold Hornet GT optioned to $40,320 for $24,996. It’s safe to say that color makes one hell of a statement, and the optional wheels aren’t bad either.
On the face of things, even a heavily marked-down Dodge Hornet seems like it might be a questionable buy for most people. Given that owners have reported grievances like alarms going off for seemingly no reason, odd electrical issues, and adaptive cruise control problems, this probably isn’t a vehicle you can just hop into and drive with minimal maintenance like a RAV4.
However, if you think about a discounted Hornet as a $25,000 Alfa Romeo with a factory warranty, it might make some sense from an enthusiast perspective. Sure, it probably won’t be faultless, but service loaners might be available and hey, at least the warranty should cover any issues that arise. At MSRP, the Hornet is likely a tough pill to swallow for many people, but for a brave few, it could be the slightly sporty, heavily discounted compact crossover they’re looking for.
So, at what point does an oft-maligned vehicle become tempting due to sheer discounting alone? Keep in mind that discounts when new will likely lead to a knock-on effect when it comes to resale value, so it might all just depend on how long you plan on keeping a vehicle. More importantly, what’s the over/under on a brand new 2023 Dodge Hornet still sitting somewhere on a dealer lot in 2025? Let’s make some educated guesses.
(Photo credits: Dodge, Cars.com sellers)
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Ripoff city…..
Prices do not include tax, tag, title, registration, any dealer-installed accessories, or dealer-provided benefits. Additional fees include a pre-delivery service fee of $1,198, a Private Tag Agency Fee of $189, and an Electronic Registration Filing Fee of $559.55, which charges represent costs and profits to the dealer for items such as inspecting, cleaning, and adjusting vehicles, and preparing documents related to the sale. The price for new vehicles excludes the $2,899 CDJR of Leesburg Advantage package. The price for pre-owned vehicles excludes the $2,899 CDJR of Leesburg Advantage package. We strive to update our inventory regularly, but there may be a
The problem is every dealer adds a$2995 special advantage package and $1899 dealer fees plus plus plus
Reading the fine print it looks like these have a stupid number of dealer incentives almost nobody qualifies for. Reminds me when I was just out of college – dealer around the corner had GTI’s advertised for $19,999. Had money from my first professional job and went in only to find out I needed to be a ex-military firefighter currently enrolled full time as a student that previously owned a VW to quality for the multitude of stacked rebates they hid on the back of the ad. Walked out and kept driving my slug base model Civic D-series.
They coukd not pay me enough money to take on this rolling nightmare.
I was in Detroit this past weekend for RADwood and saw a few of these on the road. The only place I’ve seen them where I live in Kentucky is languishing on the Stellantis dealer’s lot.
On paper, the Tonale/Hornet was appealing: a sensible size, decent looking, and it seems to have sporty pretensions. However, I don’t think I’ve watched or read even a single review that expresses anything other than worry about the integrity of the car’s systems. It seems to possess the potential for most of the stereotypical Italian build quality issues. I’m not sure I’d even buy one for half the price of $12,500… well, I probably would but that’s because I’m foolish and would consider myself ahead if it managed to run for five years without some sort of major failure.
Y’all all should know by now to always check the fine print. The price for the California 2023 GT Plus includes (per cars.com and the dealer’s site) $2,000 in trade-in assistance and a $6,500 Federal EV tax credit, which would be great if this were the hybrid R/T and not the gas-only GT Plus, and it would only apply to a leased R/T anyway because it’s built in Italy. The notes for the Indiana car’s cars.com entry include the disclaimer “All New Vehicle pricing includes Rebate,Owner Loyalty Bonus Cash,Credit Union Bonus Cash and Great Lakes Bonus Cash zip code must be verified. (sic)” It also includes dealer add-ons nominally price at $946 and probably actually worth $9.46, and the lower price on the dealer’s site excludes “does not include Tax, Title, License, Destination Fee and $229 Documentation Fee (sic)” but includes a $2,000 guaranteed trade in as well. It is a 2024, though, like the Virginia car, but the cars.com notes include the disclaimer “All new vehicle prices exclude freight ($1495- $2000) Tax, tags, and processing fee of $999,” although it looks like the MSRP provided includes $1,495 freight.
The dealers delayed and maybe killed that truth-in-pricing regulation that was supposed to take effect a few months ago, so dealers are still gonna deal.
I wondered about that. I even point-blank asked my salesman if I qualified for all the incentives they were pricing into my truck, and he lied (or was mistaken, depending on how charitable I’m feeling at the moment) to my face when he said I did. It turned out there were thousands of dollars I didn’t qualify for.
List prices for cars are just a ballpark estimate, and some of the ballparks are bigger than others.
When Thomas mentioned one of these was in Virginia I thought to check, because the last cheap Hornet post had one from a local dealer that has always seemed to be the worst about this – including college graduate, military, loyalty, conquest, and captive finance incentives, among others, some of which contradict the others.
I figure Thomas doesn’t look any deeper because such things are not done in le royaume populaire du Canada, where everyone is biologically incapable of lying or even surliness and they go through life singing songs and using the hospital emergency room as an inexpensive option for date night.
Either that, or David is the cruel and demanding taskmaster that we all suspect him to be.
Lying sleazebag dealer- Whoops I guess this one doesn’t qualify for those rebates I promised!
Lying sleazebag dealer after you leave- Why won’t anyone buy these cars!?
Because they believe they can talk you into anything. The super amazing deal only qualifies on that one vehicle on the lot, but we’re going to Joe Verde them into something else with a bunch of yes questions and bullshit
Well now they are getting to be the price they should’ve launched at…
I know I’m old and my perspective on what a $30K car should look like is skewed, but that never looked like a $30+K car.
At least they should have had one that was priced this way for the bait an switch sales tactics. not having one when you get the build your car page for anywhere near 25K is a lot of the problem.
I think they would need to pay me to get into one of those
Not prepared to get stung by Stellantis. Pass.
This is also how I feel. Car problems stress me out too much, warranty or not. I guess that’s why I have stayed with the Japanese cars.
Wow! look at all of the comments! there certainly is a lot of Buzz on these Hornets 😉
They are the modern Day Aztek, I am surprised DT is not getting one for a press car.
So, can we can get David to sleep in one for a week? 😉
Why would anyone touch a 2023 model when it’s apparent Dodge needs another 5 years just to correct all the issues in production to make the Hornet more reliable than the Cybertruck.
No…. no. Some things are crack pipes at any price.
I would live in perpetual fear of being stranded by Stellantis, and to go even deeper I don’t trust Tavares not to bullshit dealers and shops by starving suppliers such that there aren’t parts to fix things even if the dealers wanted to, like a Fisker-lite.
Pass pass pass.
With the Kia Sportage starting around $27,000, this is probably a lot closer to what the Hornet should have been priced at from the start, or, really, slightly lower.
It should never have been a $33,000+ vehicle in that segment, under the Dodge brand
Any brand new crossover with AWD and plenty of features for under $25K is a deal. I mean, there are recalls everywhere on vehicles costing twice or more. And if you are worried about resale, just think about how much cheaper this was to begin with.
If you get this for $24K I think you should have no problem getting $16K to $18K in 4 or 5 years. That’s not bad at all
If these vehicles are selling for a fair price at $25k and are worth $16-18k in 5 years, that would be exceptionally low depreciation. An unpopular car with a reputation for unreliability will not have Honda/Toyota levels of depreciation.
$10 to $12k seems more realistic.
The only way that these end up being worth 10-12k after 4-5 years, is if Stellantis kills Dodge/Chrysler etc. Now, this is a distinct possibility. But you can’t find a lightly used compact crossover for 12k today, no matter how craptacular it is. A quick search shows a 5 year old Outlander will run around 16k. That’s probably more realistic.
I’m going to have to respectfully disagree. There are a lot of undesirable 2019 model year small and midsize SUVs listed on Autotempest for $9,000 to $13,000. These vehicles have clean titles, no damage, and less than 60,000 miles (the list gets a lot longer if you increase the miles to 75,000, which still isn’t particularly high for a 5 year old vehicle).
Many of these are wretched shitboxes (Chevrolet Trax or Ford Ecosport), but several are adequate transportation appliances (Ford Escape, Hyundai Kona, Chevrolet Equinox, Dodge Journey, Buick Encore, etc.). A Dodge Hornet is presumably more fun to drive than any of these options, but it has a terrible reputation and most reviews highlight mediocre fuel economy and limited cargo/passenger capacity.
$10 to $12 might be on the lower end for a 5 year old Hornet, but I would be shocked if these $25k Hornets were selling for over $16k in 5 years.
I think $16K is possible for an AWD fairly loaded specimen. And if those are between $23K and $25K, losing between $7K and $9K doesn’t sound that bad anymore. Remember car depreciation is calculated on MSRP and $16K is about 60% depreciation for the crazy $40K MSRP average on these. That’s Maserati or Jaguar (absolute worst) levels of depreciation, how much worse than that you can get, honestly?
A CR-V or Rav4 would likely depreciate less than $9K in the same timeframe, but they are much more expensive to begin with and not everyone is fond of those. Some people just can’t afford that entry fee, which can make this a quite interesting proposition (initial reliability rep notwithstanding).
My take: there are worse and much more boring ways to spend $25K on a new vehicle and much more expensive ways to get into a fun, unreliable car or crossover.
I agree $16k is possible for a nice, high-spec example. It is worth noting that all Hornets are AWD and GT is the base model, so two of the cars shown above aren’t particularly well optioned.
I’m also skeptical about the advertised MSRPs. Using Dodge’s website, I’m having trouble getting these vehicles up to the listed MSRPs by adding options. It appears they may be including transportation costs and dealer installed junk options to increase the advertised MSRP. Depreciation will be calculated based on the actual MSRP as opposed to the advertised MSRP.
I know this is Jaguar/Maserati levels of depreciation, but I could see low-spec examples selling for under $12k in five years. They are rebadged Italian CUVs sold primarily based on performance in a segment that primarily sells due to practicality. Based on reviews, they appear to sacrifice a lot of utility compared to competitors. Given this, the Hornet has a limited market. If you add in a reputation for catastrophic reliability (whether it is true or not), I could see these having fairly extreme depreciation.
I presumably will forget this conversation in 5 years, but it would be interesting to know who ends up being right.
Okay I’m not a Dodge fan but at that price how could it not be worth a look
I’m betting a bunch still around in 2025. These are rolling dumpster fires. No amount of discounting will move a cost cut disaster of a car.
It’s almost like the original price on those things was a friggin joke.
I wonder how the Chinese-made Trumpchi rebadge that Dodge sells in Mexico as the Journey is doing in comparison to this Italian rebadge disaster? Maybe Autopian could do a comparison test of the two…”Which non-Dodge is better?” (worse?)
Notably, it isn’t really any cheaper, the Journey still starts at just over $30k in Mexico
A friend who lives 10 miles south of El Centro owns one. To be honest it looks and feels ok with plenty of stitching and screens. It’s also as roomy as the outgoing Journey and quite comfortable. At a closer look, though, you’ll notice all that vinyl is not even comparable to a Dodge. But she was coming from a Kia Rio so it was quite the upgrade for her.
Unfortunately, the fuel economy is atrocious. She spends twice the amount of fuel with the “Journey” than she did with the Rio despite being a 1.5T engine.
I knew a small displacement engine powering a 3900 lbs vehicle was far from ideal, but I didn’t know it would be that bad. Such fuel economy is not much different from my F150 4×4 with the 2.7.
And at the price the Journey sells for, you could get one of these Hornets and still pocket $3K – $5K
Boy with Consumer Reports comments like this how can you lose?
Highs: Quick acceleration
Lows:
Stiff ride
Loud cabin
Unintuitive controls
Awkward driving position
Cheap interior
Hampered visibility
I enjoy that this is pretty much word for word CR’s assessment of my ’02 Mustang back when she was new.
The Hornet’s best attribute is that it will get you there quickly, thus reducing the amount of time you have to spend inside it.
Unless it breaks down, in which you’ll be left saying you were stung by a Hornet.
CR has such double standards I haven’t trusted them for years. Cheap interior compared to what? It’s better finished than let’s say a Rav4, Equinox, Tiguan or Escape and at least as good feeling as a CR-V
The only time this looks like a good option is in comparison to a Fisker Ocean.