The Dodge Caliber wasn’t an especially good car. Crudely finished, generally unrefined, and frequently hobbled by a continuously variable transmission of questionable reliability, it often finished at or near the bottom of comparison tests back in 2007. A Honda Fit offered better space utilization and fuel economy, a Volkswagen Rabbit boasted far nicer materials, and the original Nissan Versa was way better than people remember. What the Caliber did have, however, was gimmicks galore. We’ve already touched on its can cooler and iPod dock, but it’s about time I wrote about the gimmick everyone remembers: Swing-down liftgate speakers that let you be a little obnoxious.
To understand Dodge’s motivation, we need to take a look back at the tech landscape of the time. Although Bluetooth did support music streaming in 2007, the sort of Bluetooth audio we know today hadn’t been out for long. While early versions of Bluetooth supported mono audio transfer, the A2DP stereo audio streaming profile itself didn’t launch until 2003, and it took companies a while to integrate it into products. Niche audio company Thodio claims to be the first to offer a portable stereo Bluetooth speaker back in 2007, right around the time the Caliber debuted. Needless to say, you probably weren’t bringing one of those to a bush party or tailgating event.
However, sometimes you still want to get the tunes pumping, and many battery-powered portable speakers of the 2000s kinda sucked. They frequently employed tiny drivers with limited bass, offered short rechargeable battery life or required a supply of alkaline batteries, and boomboxes offering decent sound quality were fairly heavy and bulky. Wouldn’t it be nice if something like that were already built into the back of a car?
Indeed, that’s what Dodge’s liftgate speakers promised. Officially called MusicGate, this swing-down assembly included two amplified 3.5-inch speakers augmented by a subwoofer in the cargo area. It was all part of a nine-speaker Boston Acoustics sound system claiming a nominal 458 watts. The theory was you’d roll up to wherever tunes were needed, flick the key into accessory mode, pop the hatch, and the liftgate speakers would provide directional sound towards the main party area.
The Caliber wasn’t the only Chrysler product to offer the MusicGate, with its Jeep Patriot and Jeep Compass platform-mates also adopting the optional swing-down speakers. Spreading a feature across multiple model lines is a solid way of keeping costs reasonably low, and no matter what vehicle the system was installed in, the MusicGate was a often highlight of reviews. As Motor Trend wrote:
The gigantic subwoofer in the cargo area is cool, but it takes up lots of cargo space and doesn’t sound all that impressive. The very large speakers in the rear doors and the dropdown speakers in the liftgate are pretty cool, too, even if they are typical Chrysler gimmicks.
Dodge’s swing-down speakers worked as a concept, but the technology wasn’t quite there to give it legs yet. See, outside of a bush party or a tailgating event, not being able to take the speakers with you was a limitation. In hindsight, this was a good thing because nobody would park their Caliber, Patriot or Compass in the middle of a public park and subject everyone to Mack Maine’s morally objectionable verse on Young Money posse cut “Every Girl,” but it meant the feature was less useful than it could’ve been. At the same time, portable Bluetooth speakers were really starting to take off in the 2010s. Better units used built-in digital signal processing and passive radiators to get the most out of relatively small drivers, and the result was often sufficient thump in an object the size of a small submarine sandwich.
But it’s not like automakers completely gave up on letting you bring your tunes slightly outside your car. General Motors offers an option in half-ton trucks for a Kicker boombox built into the tailgate, for cranking out some Bob Seger on the job site or annoying everyone at your local sports team’s tailgating party with the worst of Florida Georgia Line. Audio quality isn’t great, but it’s something.
The real leap forward came near the turn of the 2020s, when automakers started letting you take your tunes from the car to wherever. In 2019, Jeep launched the Gladiator with an available Bluetooth speaker that stows and charges behind the rear seat. It was a slightly pricey option, but for those looking to get outdoors, it sure beat having to pack and charge a separate Bluetooth speaker. Then, in 2024, Toyota took things a step further with the new Tacoma’s available JBL audio system. The center channel speaker in the dashboard is a removable Bluetooth speaker all on its own, adding a useful feature without wasting space.
Some 14 years after the last Caliber rolled off the production line in Belvidere, Illinois, it’s time we finally admit without guilt or shame that the MusicGate was pretty neat. Could it contribute to antisociality? Sure. Did it offer objectively great sound quality? Not quite. But it was a fun gimmick, and in an age of cookie-cutter features, it’s nice to have a gimmick every now and then.
Top graphic images: Dodge
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