Caliber CVT Stupidity, Diesel Tease

I was reading over the Dodge Caliber press release, and playing with Chrysler's vehicle configurator, when I saw this, and had to stop myself from slapping my forehead:

Chrysler Group's CVT has been calibrated to delight customers with pleasing engine response, precise ratio control and an AutoStick® feature that allows
for manual control and the simulation of six stepped gears, said Ridenour.

The whole point of a CVT is to optimize engine performance, smooth out torque delivery, and save gas by removing discrete gear ratios.

If people really want to shift their own gears, they will buy the Caliber withavailablee manual transmission. Manu-matic type shifting makes a little bit of sense (not much) on a traditional geared automatic transmission, because you are just taking over the job of the ECU. On a CVT, it is just silly.

The Caliber Configurator seemed to be offering a 2.0L Turbodiesel engine option for the Caliber, at an eye-popping $5400 premium, but the press release makes it clear that this engine is only going to be offered (initially) outside of the U.S. Chrysler may have been fishing to see how many people would bite on the diesel option, and the large price may include the estimated cost of Tier II emissions control equipment.

At the moment, diesel fuel costs about 30% more than gasoline, so the economics of the diesel option for an American consumer would not work out. 229FT-LBs of torque does sound like it might be fun, though.