Looking for opinions about PT Cruiser

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swedefish

swedefish

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Considering to trade the wifes Suzuki for a -03 Chrysler PT Cruiser with a auto transmission.
Any of you guys who has any experience, good or bad, of -03 PT:s with the auto tranny and PT:s in general?
Many thanks in advance
Lenny
 
I have not owned one. I seriously considered one during my last "a to b" purchase. They obtain reportedly terrible fuel economy (for what they are), and I dismissed it as a choice purely on that basis.
 
I have one, and they are what they are. Economical transportation that you can fit a ton of stuff into. Its got 160000 kms and has a slight head gasket leak.
 
Didnt some of them get turbocharged 4 bangers,or am I dreaming? 25 psi on a 4 banger would be fun...
 
"Run,Forrest, Run" like hell from this vehicle! I worked in a repair shop & saw worlds of problems from head gasket, overheating issues to them being literally terrible to work on. Try replacing a timing belt. Makes you want to quit the profession! But then again that's "my" experience.
 
I never had a cruiser, but I had an '04 SRT-4. The PT was based almost entirely on a Neon platform (SRT-4 was basically a turbo'd neon). I even ran the bigger PT Cruiser convertible sway bars on my SRT-4, bolted right on.

Some of them did get turbo's, they all had the same 2.4L engine as the SRT (although all the SRT's had turbo's). But if the one you're looking at isn't turbo equipped it wouldn't exactly be a bolt on to convert it. And 25 PSI of boost would require A LOT of new parts, including the turbo. The stock turbo was good for 15 psi in stock trim, a little more with some fuel tweaks. The 2.4L is a solid engine, I know of guys that ran over 400 hp through the stock bottom end. But yeah, fuel economy wasn't its strong point. I also saw quite few really high mileage engines, the 2.4 is a good engine. I know the 2.0's had some head gasket issues, that wasn't as bad with the 2.4's. And the head gasket isn't a big deal anyway. The engine compartment is tight, especially if you're used to an A-body. A lot of work has to be done from below, which is a little problematic if you're doing your own work without a lift.

I know zilch about the auto. The 5 speed in the SRT was great. Not super smooth, but bombproof.

The thing about the PT, and the Neon, and the SRT for that matter, is that they were economy based cars. So some of the "fit and finish" type stuff is a little cheap. Lots of plastic, etc. I always had wind whistles in my SRT at 70 mph +, not really a big deal, but kinda annoying considering it was a new car at the time.
 
I don't like them for the reason srduster mentioned plus I don't like the styling but my daughter has an 03 GT Turbo and so far, it runs pretty decent and she has been getting an average of 20 over all and she drives kinda brisk. I also have a used car dealer buddy that likes them because they sell well and buyers don't come back complaining and he hates modern Mopars for the most part lol.
 
I've hand pinstriped probably 40 of them and everyone whose owned one said they liked them. I personally cannot live me life under what others may think of whatever vehicle or whatever engine and driveline because what works for one doesn't necessarily work for everyone, but I say, if your wife likes it, then go for it
 
swedefish said:
Considering to trade the wifes Suzuki for a -03 Chrysler PT Cruiser with a auto transmission.
Any of you guys who has any experience, good or bad, of -03 PT:s with the auto tranny and PT:s in general?
Many thanks in advance
Lenny
Click to expand...
I bought one brand new back in 2001 when they first came out for my wife, my ex wife. We had it for 3 years and traded it in on a minivan. It was a great car, didnt have any issues whatsoever. It had the 2.4 with the four speed automatic.
 
Great around town car or short day trips. Drove my 2004 900 miles one day only stopping for fuel and food. It was all I could do to walk the next two days. Seats leave alot to be desired. Traded mine off before the next vacation the following year.
 
srduster340 said:
"Run,Forrest, Run" like hell from this vehicle! I worked in a repair shop & saw worlds of problems from head gasket, overheating issues to them being literally terrible to work on. Try replacing a timing belt. Makes you want to quit the profession! But then again that's "my" experience.
Click to expand...
This must be the reason all early examples are all $2,500 or less where I live. Tempting, but you get what you pay for.
 
I like em. If you want more performance get a gt cruiser with the turbo.
I drive a neon 2.0 auto as a daily driver and the 2.4 would be nice. A big step up in torque/horsepower. All of the 03 and up models are great. They worked all the bugs out by then.

The timing belt gets replaced every 90,000 miles and its a pain but no worse than plenty of other front drivers.
 
We have one, it's the wife's car. 2004 GT with auto.

Car has over 170,000 miles, just got done replacing the turbo, and did the timing belt while I was at. Not an easy job by any means.

Car has been pretty reliable, and it's fun with the turbo. We do seem to have an issue with wheel bearings, though. Needs another one now.

Economy isn't what I hoped. We had a Stratus with the 2.4 and it averaged us around 30. I figured if we stayed out of the boost, we could get similar results (works with my T2 LeBaron), but we haven't seen even 24 mpg on the highway yet.

BTW, I think the GT got better seats than the base. I could drive ours all day with little or no discomfort, but I've heard of people in rentals that were sore after half an hour.
 
Driven gently, the turbo gets more mpg than the NA.
I do remember driving a new one in 2000 (rental), and thought it handled well and was fun to drive.
 
My son flipped one, rear over front, after the car slipped on oil and gravel in the rain. He wasn't going that fast and the car slid to the curb and then flipped. It was a big scare. A friend has one and is not thrilled with it. It is built on the Neon chassis. My second son had a Neon that I bought him. An old couple sideswiped him and the car was toast. Just my .02 cents worth.
 
In 04 we looked at PT Cruiser, Rav4, Murano , and Cherokee.
When fuel prices jumped to 4.00 plus per gallon we were very happy we chose economy.
I don't really enjoy driving the RAV4 . I have enjoyed not needing to work on it and every other aspect of owning it.
A used car is what it is.
Happiness is putting the first 60 thousand miles on a new one. :)
 
I have an 02 and love it. Although I have only 15,000 miles on it It has been trouble free. A Chrysler dealer tech said you don't see many of them being worked on and there are a million of them out there. I get 25 mpg highway. They are not built on a Neon chassis either. They are also comfortable to drive, easy to get in and out of , and can haul a lot. Back seats are comfortable for the adults. Due to the shorter wheelbase, they are a bit choppy on the highway on long trips. I have driven mine across the state non-stop and was able to walk when I got out of the car. LOL toolman
 

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friend of mine had an 03 with auto trans and had constant problems with the transmission. maybe he just got a lemon but based on his experience I would not buy one. I also think they look kind of dorky but that is just my opinion.
 
They should have made a 2 door (besides the 'vert), because the four door looks like, well, a four door. Also, they should have been rear wheel drive (front wheel drive is weird). A V6 or V8 wouldn't have hurt any, either.
Car makers have always tried to sell us what they want to build (front wheel drive, for an example), instead of what sells. As soon as they give in, and build a rear wheel drive, V8 powered car, they sell the heck out of them.
Sorry, off on a bit of a tangent.
 
I'd go for a coupe or a sedan delivery. They would sell a bunch of those for utility vehicles. I've heard that the designer of the PT Cruiser was hired by GM to design the Chev HHR.
 

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I have an 03 GT which has the 220 HP turbo, ours is an autostick. We have about 85K miles on it now it has not been trouble free but the issues have been easy to fix;

Intake manifold gasket started leaking at 45k miles, the dealer covered it under the emissions warranty.

Both front wheel bearings have been replaced, they were getting nosiy. I did this my self and wasn't a bad job but you need a way to press them out and in. This happened around 60k miles.

The back lower control arm bushings needed to be replaced. This is common on these cars (my sons stocks them at his tire store) and I did my brothers too. It a simple job and you can do both sides in about an hour. The bushings are cheap about $15 each. I also replaced the sway bar bushings at the same time. This was done in the last 10k miles.

Where the rubber hose is crimped to the metal tube on one of the AC lines started leaking around 60k miles and need to be replaced. An easy but nuisance fix because the you can't get at the AC compressor connection without removing the top core support & grill, then rock the radiator, condensor, tranny cooler forward to gain access.

The LED display for mileage went dead in the dash cluster. Luckly there are places that fix these but the car sat in the driveway for four days waiting for it to be fixed.

The last time I changed the tranny fluid the auto tranny developed a very hard down shift from 4 to 3rd that required taking it to the dealer to have the tranny controller reflashed. They did it while I waited an only charged $30 but I never expected to have a problem because I was doing maintainence.

All that being said my wife loves the car. It gets about 22 mpg around town and 26-27 on the hiway, but you can drop the around town mileage down into the teens very easily if you keep spining the turbo up. It's quick and will easily out run the majority of cars on the road. My brothers 06 non turbo PT gets about the same mileage. There is a fair amount of road noise (especially if you are driving on concrete). The GT has 17" 50 series tires, 4whl disk brakes and a sport suspension, it handles well and stops very well.

I would not have expected the issues I have had to occur with less than 100k miles but those aggravations have been more than made up by the fact the car is a hoot to drive and my wife loves the attention she gets (electric blue with silver flames), plus she has really enjoyed adding all the little chrome do dads you buy for these cars.
 
We looked at one before we bought my wife an 04 Ford Escape. I gotta say, I am glad we made the decision we did. The Escape had the original battery go bad two weeks after we bought it. Ford place came to the house, got it, put battery in it and brought it back. It's had one recall done for some revised throttle cables and tailgate latch. Done at the same time. Other than, it's not had one single blip on the radar. Got 75K on it now. Wife loves it cause it'll flat haul ***. Best little car we've had. If ya just gotta have a PT Cruiser.....you could always put a HEMI in it.

http://www.moparmusclemagazine.com/.../mopp_0110_pt_cruiser_hemi_upgrade/index.html
 
Thanks guys :thumbup:
Interesting reading, going to have a look at it tomorrow. I´m afraid it wont be an easy decision :-k. Guess I´ll just have to trust the stomach, I usually say that, if it feels okay in your stomach, then go for it..
Keep the opinions coming.
Thanks
Lenny
 
When I worked at a dealership we had more PT Cruisers in for repair than any other car. VW's came in a close second.

I would never own one unless it was under warranty.
 
I have 2 of them. 2004 180hp Turbo and 2005 GT convertible, that was the test car for Car and Driver. They ran a 15.4 quarter with it. No problems with either car. Fun to drive.
 

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