I have an Army friend who bought one of these things to daily drive. She absolutely and utterly adored the car, painted blue, named “Scooter”. Yeah, it was named. I once semi-jokingly threatened to tow it away with my rust-riddled yet plenty violent 1973 Chevelle and sent that picture to her while she was off on some kind of training event. A few years later, she asked if I was willing to help fix this thing. If you haven’t had the joy of working under the hood of a Chrysler PT Cruiser, I’ll spare you the pain: DON’T. A normal human being’s hand does not fit. Sasquatch’s hand damn sure doesn’t fit. Simple jobs start with “drop the cradle”, it seems.
But I can knock the car all I want for being a bitch to work on, or being so sappily cute it was dorky, or being a Neon with a fashion sense. Truth be told, Chrysler sold the hell out of these things. Originally supposed to be a Plymouth before that nameplate was shoved off of a cliff and into the sea, the PT Cruiser was one of a string of Chrysler concept cars that got majicked into production, hot on the heels of cars like the Viper and the Prowler, machines that were so jaw-droppingly different from the normal (and about as far away from a Dodge Aries as you could get) that the public ate them up. The PT Cruiser was the most practical and relatively affordable example, and was supposed to appeal to a youth demographic. Funny, every one I’ve seen driven seems to be owned by a walking, talking “Karen” meme with the tiny little hand-held dog.
You have to give Chrysler kudos for having the nuts to bring this car to market at all. Love or hate the little machine, it did look different from everything else out there, it did offer practicality, and it was loved by it’s fans. And you have to wonder, even with this car’s problems, how Chrysler managed to go from this to the Dart, the 200 and a 300 so emasculated from it’s original form that it’s almost unrecognizable.
I have had one for 15 years now. It\’s a plain Jane with a manual transmission. I bought it for its hauling capacity (with the back seats removed) and have put nearly 200,000 miles on it. Maintenance costs have been a little bit high and it uses a little oil (always has), but it is fun to drive and LOVES to run. Gas mileage is good, at least for its vintage; much better than the automatics. I could drive it forever.
I had a 2003 that I put 325,000 miles on had it for 11 years and in that time 2 water pumps 1 trans module, 4 sets of tires, breaks was a wonderful car so much so i recently found 2004 with 51,000 miles I have performed all 90K routine maintenance. Drives just as nice as the old one. These cars really get a bad rap. I\’ll let you know 10 years from now.
2005 turbo; 167k miles; drove from Los Angeles to Sarasota, Florida. About $5k in repairs over the 15 years. Still kicks ass. My ptc cost $23k new. Ltd edition, leather, chrome treatments including wheels,6 cd changer,sun roof, etc. All the bells and whistles you could cram in the little guy.
I’ve always wondered where the hate for various cars come from. That would make a neat documentary for the origins of the hate for each model. Especially when it turns out to be herd mentality and very few actually dislike a certain car. My girlfriend had one of these. She wasn’t a fan of it but it wasn’t a bad car. Asside from maintenence and her wrecking it once, it was a solid vehicle.
I’m sure they’re fine cars if you want to look like a homo
F you, queer.
Found the homo (it’s harry)
We had one that we put over a 100k miles on. 2003 Turbo. The only big issue was finding out the hard way that changing timing belts at 80,000 miles is mandatory. Certain maintenance items were a real pain. I had the headlamp bulbs replaced when the front end was apart to replace the head, for example, as opposed to dedicating a weekend to that project. It took me two full hours to replace the battery, and lower ball joints had the lifespan of fruit fly.
However, it was a great road tripper, hampered only by a too-small gas tank. There was not a highway grade in the West that wasn’t a high gear proposition. Hit the biggest Utah grade on I-15 at 80-85 mph, and it would just roll on up without even kicking down, on cruise. Want to pass two long semis, going 75, on US 93? Just punch it, and you’re going a buck-fifteen when you pass the second tractor. Great seating position, fairly quiet, very stable handling, and reasonably quick, they had a lot to like.
I never thought those were great looking cars but my sister bought a first year model new. She drove it EVERY day for the next 12 years. She put new tires on it once and at 80K I suggested she replace the timing belt and while they already had things apart to get the water pump done and new plugs and wires too.
Cost $320 for the tires and $340 for the other jobs including labor. That was the ONLY money she spent on that car the entire time she owned it. The thing didn’t have a speck of rust on it, the leather interior was like new, and it ran like a top. Still had the original clutch in it at 127K when she traded it in on her dream car…a Volvo wagon(don’t ask). She often regrets getting rid of it.
For a daily driver..it ran every day, no weather would stop it, and it basically cost her nothing to own it. What more could you ask for? But I guess since it’s not a Phord or Chebby it automatically gotta be put on the opinions crap pile. Whatever.
Omg! How can this many people say .. \” What a great car! Duh! \” Probably Chrysler employees. Let me share my ongoing experience w/ this car. I aquired this migrain car 3 yrs ago as payment for work i did. Lol. 1st mistake. Anyway, immediatly had to replace alternator. But not until i had to remove everything in the right front wheel well (i mean everything) in order to get the alternator out. Not even a month later, had to replace both front lower control arms. While im doing these repairs, damn car kept going into \”limp in mode\”. Yep.. only had 2nd gear. Next, was the sunroof tracks had broken, so i replaced. Not 1 month after that, came the fan malfunction which caused an overheat, & radiator cracked. Sooo.. new fan & radiator. 3 mos later.. TIPM failed. Replaced. I also had to find & buy used PCM! Every yr except mine 06 you could send in PCM & get it repaired. NOT 06! I finally found on ebay. Now i just gotta take the POS to dealer for programming the PCM. I know there\’s some stuff I\’ve forgotten about. This car is not only theee biggest POS ever made, its the most cramped car to work on. NEVER WILL I EVEN THINK OF BUYING A CHRYSLER. ESPECIALLY A PT. LOSER.
Sounds like your frustration is justified, but it\’s unfair to judge all PTs, or Chrysler products as a whole, on this one bad ownership experience.
I\’m not much of a Chrysler these days, because there\’s not much left of the Chrysler that created the minivan, normalized turbos and front wheel drive in regular passenger vehicles, revived the market for convertibles, created the iconic 1990s Dodge Ram, pushed the envelope on cab forward design, introduced the world\’s first \”affordable\” supercar, and led the American charge, with the Plymouth Prowler and PT, of the retro design trend that has inspired the aesthetics of a dozen cars since. If you liked the last gen Ford Thunderbird, or you like the current Chevy Camaro, you can thank Chrysler for having the balls to do it first. And when it comes to innovative space utilization, do you really think there would be a Honda Fit today without the example of the Plymouth PT Cruiser before it? Probably not.
Although I\’m enjoying my 2015 Hyundai Sonata right now, I enjoyed my 1995 Plymouth Neon for 300,000 miles before I sold it. My family has experienced several Dodge minivans that has gone well over 250,000 miles before they were replaced. My dad currently has a 2001 Dodge Ram with over 300,000 miles on it, and my brother has a \’96 Dodge Ram pickup with over 400,000 miles on the original powertrain.
Chrysler certainly has had its durability issues in the last 30 years, starting with its front-wheel drive transmissions, and that awful 2.7 L V6 from late \’90s and early Aughts. Honda and Toyota have had similar issues, but, of course, that gets no press, because everybody knows Hondas and Toyotas last forever, right? Right!
It might be an irredeemable mess at this point, but at its height, Chrysler was bringing it to the table.
You sound like a fucking nerd. I\’d like to see you make a more successful vehicle. I\’m sure \”Blondell\” would be a huge success.
I also was stupid enough to purchase a 2006 for the dealer. Just about everything on this P.O.S. has been replaced so far and I\’ve only had time to put a few thousand miles on it. I\’m afraid to drive it any distance from home. There are no roadside fixes you can do on it at all.Call a tow truck to deliver it to an open field so you may have the joy of setting it on fire… This is what happens when you wanted to try an HHR but clicked on a PT after 6 or 7 Whiskey beverages.These things will never stop digging into your wallet.Lesson learned!
I bought a 2008 regular manual PT in 2009 it had 36000 miles on it. It drove good for 10 years with no major problems. Only tires and oil changes. And the pressure sensor. Which I never fixed.
Then in 2018 the AC went bad. The radiator fan and radiator needed replacing. Cost 1800.00
Now it has 140000 miles still driving it.
However turning radius is crap. And who makes a car with no cruise control?? Probably have went through 6 thermostats. Overheating issues with a bad thermostat. But that is cheap when you have a motor head friend to help.
I paid 11500 for it when I bought it used with the warranty on it. It has paid for it self.
Will I buy one again. Probably not. Perhaps a renegade or Camry next time if it last another 5 years.
I had a 2002 that I put 1.5 inch lowering springs in along with +2 17” Bridgestone performance tires on it. It handled like a 4-door go-kart and I had so much fun driving it. It would cruise at 80 mph all day and go around corners like on rails. Drove it for about 5 years before trading it on a SUV. I still miss it. And it had the best heater of any car I have owned.
I have just paid my 07 Touring off in March, bought in 2015 when i was in the Navy. It was salvaged as is. The interior is original, and in good shape. It was fine the 1st year, but after i drove it coast to coast to come home to California it was a pain! I ended up putting a total of 5g worth the work in the engine (well, exterior repaint and bumper included). I was about to give up, until about a year ago. The car hasnt caused me any money since then, thank God! My driving habits have changed with that car, also. I only use it for work and nothing else, whereas before the breakdown i used it for everything lolol