What is the best year for the Dodge Daytona?
No official dataset can support one universal best year. Use the table to compare complaint patterns and EPA figures, then open the shortlisted years for recall campaigns and exact specifications.
Model-year matrix
Dodge Daytona
which year?
Compare every Dodge Daytona model year the EPA recorded, 1984 to 1993. See complaint patterns, fuel economy and configurations side by side, then open any year for recall campaigns and the full dossier. Confirm against the official NHTSA recall search.
Evidence-led answer
Looking for the best Dodge Daytona year—or years to avoid?
The official records cannot honestly name a best, worst or most reliable year. Complaint totals have no sales, mileage or age denominator. They can show where more reports were filed and which components were named, giving you years to investigate more closely before checking the exact car and its VIN.
Which Dodge Daytona years should you avoid?
The records cannot justify a blanket avoid label. Years with more reports are surfaced below as research priorities, not predictions about every car from that year.
01 · More reports to inspect1989
34 indexed complaint reports; engine and engine cooling is the most-reported component label.
Open the 1989 dossier →02 · More reports to inspect199026 indexed complaint reports; engine and engine cooling is the most-reported component label.
Open the 1990 dossier →03 · More reports to inspect199217 indexed complaint reports; structure is the most-reported component label.
Open the 1992 dossier →Do not read this as an avoid list. Older and higher-selling model years usually accumulate more reports. A low count can also mean a newer, rarer or poorly matched vehicle—not a safer one.
Complaint totals are counts of owner-submitted allegations, not confirmed defects, and they carry no denominator: they are not adjusted for how many cars were sold, how old they are, how far they are driven, or how much publicity a fault received. A high-volume or older year will usually show more reports than a rare or recent one. The site does not convert these into a reliability score, because the data needed to do that honestly is not in the public record.
Direct comparison
Compare two Dodge Daytona model years.
Choose any two years. The URL keeps the pair so you can return to the same comparison. Every figure below is an observed official record or EPA estimate—not a reliability score.
1992 Dodge Daytona
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 17
- Combined EPA economy
- 18–23 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 7
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $2,650–4,200
- Fuel labels
- Premium Gasoline · Regular Gasoline
Most-reported component labelsstructure 7engine and engine cooling 2seats 2
Open the 1992 evidence dossier →1993 Dodge Daytona
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 15
- Combined EPA economy
- 20–25 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 5
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $2,450–3,800
- Fuel labels
- Premium Gasoline · Regular Gasoline
Most-reported component labelspower train 5engine and engine cooling 2seat belts 2
Open the 1993 evidence dossier →Observed complaint-record difference
1993 has 2 fewer indexed complaint allegations than 1992.
This is not a rate or reliability finding. The counts have no sales, mileage, age or exposure denominator, and newer years have had less time to accumulate reports.Side by side
Dodge Daytona by year.
Complaint bars are scaled against this model’s own highest year, so they compare years with each other and with nothing else.
| Year | Complaints | Most-reported components | Combined MPG | EPA configs | Annual fuel cost | Dossier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | 15 | power train 5engine and engine cooling 2seat belts 2 | 20–25 | 5 | $2,450–3,800 | Dossier → |
| 1992 | 17 | structure 7engine and engine cooling 2seats 2 | 18–23 | 7 | $2,650–4,200 | Dossier → |
| 1991 | 13 | seats 6engine and engine cooling 2latches/locks/linkages 2 | 19–25 | 6 | $2,450–4,000 | Dossier → |
| 1990 | 26 | engine and engine cooling 5power train 4electrical system 3 | 18–24 | 7 | $2,550–4,200 | Dossier → |
| 1989 | 34 | engine and engine cooling 10air bags 8electrical system 5 | 18–24 | 5 | $2,550–4,200 | Dossier → |
| 1988 | 11 | engine and engine cooling 4power train 3seat belts 3 | 20–23 | 4 | $2,650–3,800 | Dossier → |
| 1987 | 8 | electrical system 3engine and engine cooling 2seats 2 | 19–23 | 4 | $2,650–4,000 | Dossier → |
| 1986 | 4 | fuel system, gasoline 2electrical system 1latches/locks/linkages 1 | 19–26 | 6 | $2,350–4,000 | Dossier → |
| 1985 | 4 | engine and engine cooling 3fuel system, gasoline 1fuel system, other 1 | 19–24 | 7 | $2,550–4,000 | Dossier → |
| 1984 | 2 | seats 1unknown or other 1 | 19–23 | 8 | $2,650–3,250 | Dossier → |
Evidence snapshot generated . “Not indexed” means NHTSA holds no complaint record matching this exact year, make and model — not that no fault occurred. Recall campaigns are not summarised here: NHTSA publishes no bulk recall dataset, and fetching them per year would take longer than the page should. Each year’s dossier shows its recalls in full, live from NHTSA.