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!

RB

ROFL

PL


Like you stated, all the manufacturers build for the city folk. In Alberta we
purchase a LOT of pickups for work. The roads we drive for work are terrible.
Logging and oil patch so they get beat up with the heavy trucks. The local
government motors dealer told us that when we use the 4 wheel drive we void
the warranty. When mud and gravel build up on the one cross member they take
out the seal on the front drive shaft yoke which then seizes or wears out
prematurely. They point to a sentence in the manual that states you need to
clean that area twice or three times a year. We need to clean that two or
three times a week! Brakes, shocks, tie rod ends in 40K. The Dodges had a
problem with the tie rod ends falling apart. Repair is the tie rod assembly
from the 5500 I believe.
The guys running Toyota and Nissan trucks just put normal service to theirs.
Shocks do fail due to the rough roads like they did prior to the '60's.
Manufacturers sell more trucks in NYC  and LA to the over paid to look cool.
Why would you have a jacked up Hummer on low profile tires in the city. URBAN
COWBOYS/RED NECKS.

Dale Davies