"Nowhere near the best in class" is a very generous way to put it. The Caliber is one of the worst small cars on the market. It's not particularly cheap, not particularly well designed, not well built at all, and not even particularly small. It has just enough height to make it dynamically useless, but not even enough to delude soccer moms into thinking they bought a crossover.
The SRT-4 version is even more mind numbing, IMO. Why a car company would think a car like the Caliber should have 285hp is utterly beyond me. I can see a child thinking that, but not an adult.
I'm not going to tell you to steer clear of the car just because it's a leftover and is cheap. There are definitely some gems to be found that way. But trust me, a Caliber ain't one of them.
Now, if you were looking at a Neon-based SRT-4, that would be different. That was a very good car for what it was. If you want a domestic econobox with way too much power, that's the one (although you'll need some luck to find one in good shape).