Ummm, really looking for the R/T vs SS. Stock form. Stock GT 'stang OK. Not a SRT, not a GT500, or any 40,000 plus cars. Figured the 1st post would be of that sort. Next, somebody will post a 7 second dragster and say "yeah, compete with this"
Dragster? Really?
They are not "stock" OEM. Our mustang is a bone stock 2011 which was the first year for the aluminum block and 550 HP stock. Ford offers two blower upgrades that can get it up to 650 and 750 HP and if a Ford dealer installs them, have a 1 year warranty to boot. We're waiting until we have one year left on the warranty. I have all the extended warranty and maintenance packages where I don't have to worry about it for 7 years and 70K miles. They cover all oil changes and wiper blades. So we will consider the blower upgrade between 2017 & 2018 so we don't shorten any of the warranties.
The new mustang GT500's are now up to 662 HP.
Chevy has a package for the Camaro that is near 650 HP also.
This is what Chrysler has to compete with. If they can't compete with what Ford and GM are making, then f*ck them.
Back in the 80's Chrysler tried to market the turbos to compete with the V-8 mustangs and camaros. I had an 85 Laser XT and had many problems with the transmission. I kept blowing snychros and shift forks. The dealer could not fix it right. After going through 3 sets of synchros and 3 shift forks, they replaced my trans with another one at 16,500 miles. I had that blown by 22,500. I knew what these should shift like as my dad had an 84 Laser XE with a 4 speed also. I took my driver's test for my license in that car and wasn't even nervous taking the test as I had so many miles on it, I was comfortable. I kept telling them after they fixed it that it wasn't right, and they kept saying that it was fine.
At 22,500 miles when I went to the dealer to get it fixed AGAIN, they set me up. They had a guy from the zone office there who had went to the Mopar Nats that year and had a picture of me driving it down the track and said that that it wasn't covered under warranty anymore because of my taking it to the track... WTF??? They accused me of driving it too hard. I told him that they are marketing it to compete with the v-8 mustangs and camaros, if you can't run in that class, get out of it. If I wanted to drive like a grandma, I would not have gotten the turbo. Yes, I'm gonna drive my turbo a little hard....
I even asked the dealer to install the "performance clutch" that was supposed to improve the shift. He told me that if I paid for the part, that they would install it without charging labor with the new trans when it was at 16,500 and I did. It helped a little, but didn't fix the problem.
I asked the zone guy how many runs did I make. He replied that he was only there for 1/2 hour. So, basically, they sent him there to take pictures of all of the new cars under warranty going down the track so they could deny them warranty.... Really, you went to Mopar Nationals on the company dime and didn't stick around to enjoy it???? Not a "car guy" if you know what I mean.
My dad called a dealer that he bought many cars from back in his college town on the other side of this state. The guy told him that if we didn't get a written letter in writing that our warranty was cancelled, it should be good. We never got one. We took our car to Bettenhausen Dodge, and they fixed it (under warranty) and it lasted until 86,000 miles before needing replacement again. That tells me that my original dealer didn't know how to fix it right as I was saying all along. Very chicken **** of Chrysler to tell me that I didn't have a warranty, when in fact I did.
Then when I was married, bought my wife a new 95 Neon in Lapis Blue. After a few years, the factory paint job started peeling. I took it back to show them and they refused to repaint the whole car, only saying that they would only paint the panels that had peeled. I pointed out that the car was painted with the same process, if one panel peels, it's only a matter of time until the rest of them start. They said that I only had one shot at a warranty claim and they would only paint what was peeled already only....
I worked at the Dodge truck plant with the tape stripes. My partner arranged for us to go for a tour of the paint shop with a paint engineer. He walked us through the whole process and told us how they troubleshoot paint problems. His info supported that if one panel peels, the rest will eventually...
Then at 51k, the Neon developed the common blown head gasket. I then worked at the engine plant where the engine was made and was keeping up with the engineer on the 4 cylinder line on the whole head gasket blowing issue. It was a 70% failure rate... They changed the gasket from the composite to the MLS (multi layered steel), but found out that the MLS wasn't as good at sealing tool marks from machining the head and block faces. they had to then tighten the tolerance to get them to work properly.
The dealer tried to tell me that the Neon was out of its 50k warranty and I would have to pay for the repair myself. I said, "I don't think so".
So i called the warranty number in the back of the owners manual and explained to them that my car is just out of the factory warranty, but I KNOW YOU HAVE A 70% FAILURE ON THIS PART, I don't think that I should have to pay for your problems. I also told the guy that I work in the engine plant that makes these and I have been keeping up with this issue with the engineer in my group that covered the 4 cylinder engine. I KNOW MORE ABOUT THIS PROBLEM THAN YOU DO!!! I then asked him how they were planning to fix it. He replied that they would put a MLS gasket on it....
I then pointed out the issue with the head deck surface finish needing to be tighter when the new gasket was implemented and asked him, "If my engine is at the limits for head deck surface finish, how do you know that the MLS gasket will work?" My engine was made under the wider surface finish tolerances and may be at the limits for the composite gasket, but outside the limit for the MLS gasket. He was silent...
He informed me that I only get one chance at getting it fixed and it would not be covered again. This is after they made a special exception for me "because I was one of them, who worked for the company." But they would have to charge me a $50 deductable/copay... I agreed.
So I then explained, "So you are going to throw the "hail Mary" pass to the end zone and hope it works by throwing the MLS gasket on. He agreed.
I had no choice but to let them fix it. Luckily it worked.
I have many more horror stories of dealing with Chrysler and their warranty issues, but will stop here.
My dad and I used to be die hard Chrysler fans. Owned and drove nothing but. However finding out that they were not as dedicated to us as we were to them, I am no longer "Chrysler only" on my vehicles. I did start out that way, but they drove me away with their management style, especially being on the inside for a while.
And the fact that Chryslers tend break alot when they get close to 100k, and I have some GM daily drivers that have gone way past that into the 225K or more... I know what goes on behind closed doors there....
