This is the second Chrysler product we bought and our last.
We had a Caravan with nothing but problems
and now Robin's PT Cruiser is starting. The starter
just went out. The shift lever has stiffened up.
She bought it on looks :)

Chrysler should have been left to go bankrupt but instead
we spent billions bailing them out.

Paul Lamar


Chrysler has had quality control problem issues periodically over the years.
Things get bad, consumers go elsewhere and they go on a QC program. Cycle
repeats over and over. This has been a long stretch of bad. I think they have
gotten into the "more new model releases" thought pattern and have not
realized the problem. Look at Toyota and Honda; some of the best selling cars
globally. They do not introduce many new models. Just update and refine the
existing products. I worked at the local Chrysler dealer for a while and they
have nothing to interest me. Look at Consumer Reports and Car and Driver. They
both have magazines out right now with ratings. The ONLY Chrysler product they
recommend is the Ram 1500 pickup. They are pretty good but I have reservations
there as well. For pickups, the new Ford Ranger/Mazda BT50 seem to be very
good. Truck Trends did a test on the Ranger and describe it as a great truck
with one problem, they are not bringing it to North America. In Russia the
BT50 four door loaded is $35762CAD. 2.5 diesel gets 29 MPG US highway. The
Ford is the same. Size and look is more like the discontinued Ford Explorer
Sport Trac.
Might be good idea to take Robin to look at the new Mazda 3 Skyactiv. 2.0L
with 155HP is advertized to get 40 MPG US. These are rated very good with 4.5
stars out of 5. Typical Japanese quality.

Dale Davies

When it comes to piston engine IMHO it is hard to beat Honda.
I love the 2004 Odyssey we have. Once I took out 300 pounds
of rear seats that 3.5 L V6 MOVES!!!!

Paul Lamar


I've owned many Mopars, last two pickups have been RAM2500s with the
Cummins diesel. 2001 was a great truck, wish I still had it. The 2006
is half-the-truck. Poorer suspension, sucks a lot more fuel, re-designed
cab no longer has much frame under the cab-doors (no threshold any
more). Mud and road-grime gets thrown up right under the doors ; what a
mess. I custom-order my trucks with std tranny, cranks on the windows
(see next paragraph), rubber floormats ... much less stuff to maintain.

Problem for me, who happens to live in God's Country, is that almost all
manufacturers now design vehicles for city/freeway driving and forget
that many people drive in very cold weather and in less than optimal
conditions. My son and I both drove Hondas, and has has been stated,
they have GREAT engines. However, both my son and I landed up breaking
every spring on both vehicles while we owned them. Stupidest thing Honda
(an others) did years ago was the automatic seatbelt retractor. One
quite cool morning (~-20F) I reached the end of my 1/2 mile long
driveway, and when attempting to make a right-turn onto the highway I
could not see out the driver's side window due to frost. As per most
winter days, the power windows would not open so I was forced to open
the door a few inches and peek my head out to look for oncoming traffic.
The Honda, thinking that I was exiting the vehicle, retracted the
seatbelt. It wrapped the seatbelt around my neck, pulled my head
forward and attempted to push my head through the spokes of the steering
wheel. At that point I was ready to buy a plane-ticket to Japan and go
pound the snot out of somebody!


ROFL

PL
RB



My son's '03 Chrysler Sebring losing coolant somewhere. Needs a new water
pump per local repair shop. Motor is a 2.7 liter DOHC V-6. I told my son
replacement should not be that big a deal and we'll replace it some evening.
Well, it's not going to be that easy. First the crank pulley must be
removed, followed by the cam drive chain cover which doubles as the right
engine mount. The camshaft covers must also be removed as cam sprockets as
well as all cam chain tensioners must be removed to slacken chain on cam
chain driven water pump which is buried within. The diagnosis of leaking
water pump seems far-fetched as leaking coolant would have to stay within
the motor making its presence obvious in a very short time. Oh, and the
repair shop said the cam chain would need to replaced at this time. My son
was quoted about $700 parts and labor. This follows the failure of the
Powertrain Control Module this past summer per trouble code download. My
brother had a similar model car with a bad crank so swapped that car's PCM
as part numbers were identical. Well, the anti-theft system in my son's car
recognized that PCM as a foreign body and shut the car down complete! Turns
out replacement PCM must be "re-flashed" to fit the car. $1,600 plus towing
charges and it was running again. What a rip. Also the in-tank fuel pump had
to be replaced last winter too. He's since found out these cars are
considered to have a  100,000 mile lifespan and should be tossed after that.
His car has around 128,000. And while on this rant, I should mention those
grossly swept back "A" pillars on Dodge trucks like Robin Berglund's making
it hard for tall people like me to enter.


Al K