Posted on 07/09/2010 2:39:17 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
Not necessarily. I love my Grand Marquis!!!
Not necessarily. I love my Grand Marquis!!!
Chrysler failed because they produced crap cars that nobody wanted to buy.
My Senior Drill Instructor drove a red Fiero.
I feel your pain. My first new car was a Neon sport coupe. I loved the car’s nimble handling and overall performance, but the build quality and long-term reliability were substandard. The air-conditioning died twice in four years, and I narrowly averted warping the heads when an engine fan quit working.
Add to the bad design the fact that American cars are put together by overpaid losers who couldn't care less if what they're making is actually any good or not and it's no wonder our cars suck, and have always sucked. (Yes, classic car fans, even those cool old rides with the tailfins and hood scoops sucked: they were kludged-together, inefficient deathtraps.)
For me, it's Toyota or nothing.
Bingo! When they introduced their life-time power-train warranty, I was willing to give them a look. Until I heard about one of my colleague's wives who had a PT Cruiser: sure it was all under warranty, but it was perpetually in the shop. No thanks.
I have a 2001 Chrysler 300M with just over 140k miles. I paid $185 for a new radio at about 60k and the air conditioning went out at about 138k. I need to fix that. Oh, and the brakes are only good for about 30k. Other than that, the car is still like new in feel and look except that it needs new shocks.
The brake thing is a Chrysler weakness and, until recently, so were their automatic transmissions. I say that as someone who has owned nothing but Chryslers since the early 1990’s.
I consider Chryslers to be very well made cars when compared to equally priced competition. Heck, I had the 300M up to it’s governor speed (140 MPH) on I-94 in eastern Montana and it stuck and handled very well.
Well, except for those new convertibles. I rented one in Hawaii and it made my 300M feel like it handles like a sports car. I was not at all impressed with that car.
PT cruiser was like the Pacer.
I always thought it would be a great car, with a V8 and burbling side pipes.
I think the 300/Magnum/chargers are a real winner. I did talk to some police in my area about the cars though and they do not like them. Most of their complaints are specific to how it works in their jobs (e.g. getting perps into the back seat), but the one relevant complaint was squeaking brakes.
What is it about Chryslers and brakes?
That's a common opinion, but only because the only thing people know about Detroit is its product. The truth is, Detroit could not produce a car of the same quality and sell it at the same price as, say, the Japanese. And that is because of enormous benefits demanded by the Unions. Where a certain measure of Detroit's benefits was $72, Toyota's was only $38. A Detroit worker had the right to retire after only 30 years of servive --- at age 48-50 with 95% of his last salary. Back in the early 1980s, I learned that Detroit conveyor belts were the slowest in the world, also by union demands. In late 1990s to early 2000s, health benefits added $1,500 to the price of each and every car Detroit sold. If you have to sell it at competitive price, something had to give. And it was quality that did give.
It was unions who destroyed Detroit. And they were further rewarded by Obama, who bankrupted the bondholders of Chrysler and formally transferred ownership to the unions.
Don't blame car-makers' management for the supposed inability to make a quality car: they could build it but, chained by the unions, could not sell it.
I’m not crazy about the PT Cruiser but it is MUCH better than the Chevy copycat. But my 2006 Scion xBox beats ‘em both.
It’s the first non-Chrysler I’ve bought for decades.
>>I first laid eyes on the PT CRuiser in a newspaper ad years ago...as a child of the 40’s and 50’s I was very impressed...until I saw one.
The ad offered no reference to it’s size, and I thought it was at least as large as say, a Chevy S10 Blazer...but it was, alas, just a Dodge Neon with different skin.<<
That was EXACTLY my take as well. If it was increased in size by, say, 20% I’d have been really tempted to get one. It surprised me that the size completely changed my opinion of the look. I guess some things look good big, and others look good small...
True. My brother in law bought a PT Cruiser when they first came out. He paid MSRP. Dealers were asking MSRP and the public was paying it.
He paid almost $27,000. That was in 2000.
Unreal, huh?
I rented a Ford Fusion with a four cyl. for the ten days we were in Kentucky. My wife and I liked the car so much that we are considering picking one up when we move down there to replace the Chrysler 300M. Lots of power, great gas mileage, lots of room. Actually the amount of room was amazing. It also handled extremely well and was very comfortable.
If we do get one, it will be my first ford EVER, and I’ve had 26 cars so far.
Incredible, I have a 15 yr old Ford F150 w/120k miles on it,, does not use a drop of oil in my 4000 mile oil change schedule. (I bumped it up from 3000 after the first 100k miles :_)
Of course, this is a cast iron engine,, not aluminum, which why I bought the truck new,, they were fazing out a great engine... 300CI six cly. (I have no idea how many coke bottles that is)
One of my project managers from a stint a couple of years ago was a Macho guy from Carlsbad that flew up to Seattle every week. He was a lifelong Harley guy (he was about 50). He had cruised one Harley or another on every southern California back road to the point that he was looking for something new.
His car was a PT Cruiser. :)
The Miata is wonderfully engineered and does what it is supposed to do perfectly. The Japanese basically took the MG concept and fixed everything that didn’t work with the MG.
The Fords are Taxis and Cop cars, a classic. The PT Cruiser was a gimmick.
Actually, the newer 300 (as in 300c) was disgustingly popular. Also, a friend of mine who has sold German cars most of his life (he’s in his mid-50’s) went with me to a car show after the new 300 came out and he was quite impressed. He said it was based on (I think) a two year old Mercede’s “D” platform. He considered it a steal. He also thought the new Cadillac was a joke.
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