Intrepid Recommend or Not?

Hi all. I am considering purchasing a 98 - 2001 intrepid. I drive alot and I
need to make cetain that I have as reliable a car as I can get. I personally
like the styling, room and performance of the car. But can it be reliable
enough to drive it 200k +? Pros and Cons are appreciated.

Thanks

 

There is some luck in it, But I have 162,000+ miles on my '98 Intrepid and
other than the CD Player everything works and it does not burn a drop of
oil. Make sure you use 5-30W.
Bob

 

Just avoid the 2.7L engine - there are reports of catastrophic failures
due to sludge accumulations.

I'm at 105k miles now on my '99 Concorde (even with the 2.7L), and I
fully expect to get 200k+ out of it.

Bill Putney
(to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with "x")

 

Also, this question has been asked periodically, and fairly recently,
and answered in some detail - try a google search on this ng.

Bill Putney
(to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with "x")

 

Intrepid is about to be discontinued. Negotiate a good price.

 

Ummmmmmmm, the original poster is considering a 98 - 2001 which, in my book,
means a used vehicle. Being discontinued won't really affect the value of a
used vehicle that has been in production for as many years as the Intrepid.

 

Intrepid.

One of our local Chrysler dealers still has some brand new 2002 inventory.
The cars are horribly equipped and aren't priced to clear.

 

Intrepid.

On that we disagree.

 

I have a 2000 3.2l it has been an excellent car. The only complaint I have
with it is the crappy brake rotors that warp long before your brake pads
need replacement.

 

I'll put my 2 cents worth in...
I have a 00ES w/ 3.2L engine, leather, autostick, CD changer and sunroof.
IMHO...I'd put this car up against anything.
That said, now some specifics.
Have 58K miles on it. Many of the miles are highway, very little metro city
miles. Don't use the autostick much...no need. Wife has lead foot so city
mileage isn't great but will get 28-32 MPG on the highway at 72 MPH.
Maintenance issues...factory radio/cassette went out after warranty. Bought
a used one on Ebay for $75 now all is well. There is what I think is a VERY
slight seepage from a "weep hole" on the differential. I will have it
looked at when I have the drive belts changed at 60 K for preventive
maintenance. Understand there is a TSB on this. 1 recall (seat bolt) that
I'm aware of.
Livability issues. None. We have 2 young kids and the trunk swallows up
everything.
Bottom line: If the car was totaled tomorrow, I'd get another one or a 300M
(don't need to pack as much now that the kids are out of cribs )
For a more complete picture/opinion, visit www.dodgeintrepid.net You'll
find some "unfortunate luck" with some folks and their 2.7L engine. Have
yet to hear any complaints about the 3.2L or 3.5L engine.
HTH

 

He's looking at an 01 at the newest. You might be able to "negotiate a
good price" on the remaining '03 models, but that's not going to have
*ANY* effect on the sale price for older models.

 

We disagree on that.

 

I have a 1998 chrysler intrepid.

It is the best looking and confortable car I got in my life.
But it is the worst reliable car also.
It as only 47 000 milles on it and I got many reliability problems that
never occur in 12 years with my 1992 ford tempo.

Just to mention some

1-On day it refuse to go out of park and it cost me a fortune at the
dealer to repair it
2-Fan blower resitor block has a one shut thermistor (The thermistor
worth less than 1$) but the dealer will change the resistor block and it
will cost you arround 100$ (a women said that a dealer charged her
around 600$ for the repair)
3-My suspension is to be changed
4-Today I just lost my brake suddenly, like in James Bond movies, I was
lucky to survive and more lucky not to kill any one. It was a chance
that my emergency brake was brand new ( I had to change it 3 months ago)

I am not the only one to have problems you can look at:
http://www.mychryslersucks.com
http://www.wam.umd.edu/~gluckman/Chrysler/

After around 3000$ of repair in the last 12 month, I could not say that
it is a reliable car.

But it is a nice looking and confortable car

Regards,

J.-F. Delorme

 

Read thru most of Mychrylsersucks. Windows were indeed a problem on
the 1999 300M. So was road noise if you kept the Goodyear tires.
Chrysler had mine replaced at 10k miles for vibration problems. When
the new ones started vibrating again after another 10K I bought
Michelins. Most of the rest of it looked like a lousy dealer too
lazy to look for a bad ground connection.


I looked at a few posts at the gluckman site but with no dates of
postings that I could see the complaint page did not seem particularly
worthwhile. The poor guy with the rust spots on his 2 cars probably
should be looking at a factory he parks his car near instead of
Chrysler for the problem. There are tons of white Chryslers in my
area with no paint issues. If he has 2 separated by many model years
I would look in his neighborhood and not the paint job.

 

When a dealer engages in fraudulent charges, you can't blame the car.

Probably a misdiagnosis. My personal experience says that shops will
*ALWAYS* tell a customer that they need new struts when they get a
complaint of *ANY* suspension behavior or noise at anything over 50k
miles, when 19 times out of 20, the particular cause of the complaint is
something much simpler and cheaper (worn sway bar bushing, simple
alignment problem that is easily fixed with an inexpensive kit to extend
camber adjustment range, etc.). I see it all the time. The alignment
shop told me I needed new struts when I complained of a thumping noise
going over bumps - glad I didn't believe them - turns out I needed $20
worth of sway bar bushings (took 30 minutes to replace).

So what caused it - doubtful it was a manufacturing defect. What are
you not telling us about the history of your brakes? With a dual
circuit brake system like cars are required to have, it would be very
unusual to totally lose brakes (i.e., would require two failures - very
unlikely on a properly maintained vehicle).

Bill Putney
(to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with "x")

 

I have a 1999 Intrepid ES with 48,000 miles.

New air conditioning evaporator - $1,800 Cdn
New fuel pump assembly because fuel sensor quit working - $675 Cdn

Other than those repairs, nothing too major and not much to complain about.
I find the car reliable and comfortable. However, I think in a little
while, it's going to turn into a money pit. Time will tell.

 

Was that due to the bad Shell gas in Canada that was reported to have
ruined sending units? I may be wrong, but if the time frame and
location was right, you may be able to get reimbursed by Shell.

Bill Putney
(to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with "x")

 

I looked into the 'Shell Gas' situation. Seems there is a class action suit
pending in the Province of Quebec where the problem originated. I live in
Ontario. I will be looking into it further. Thanks for your comments.

 

It was the brake booster that failed. Like you are, I am very surprised
that when this piece fail you can loose suddendly all brake power. I
don't know if it is the same on other cars, but this is totaly against
the fail safe principle.
Any way it is very scarry when it append to you.

 

You don't lose brakes at all when the booster fails, and its exactly the
same on all cars with power brakes. Pedal effort does increase
significantly, but this is a fact that any driver should be aware of.
Read your owners manual. In fact, the same thing can happen if you
simply run out of gas and use the brake pedal 3-4 times while coasting
to a stop, using up all the vacuum reserve in the booster. Again, read
the owners manual. I suppose you're equally unaware of the fact that
steering effort gets much higher if you run out of gas, too? I hope to
God you're not on the road anywhere near me! All drivers should be able
to understand common side-effects and failures and how to deal with them
or they should tear up their drivers license and buy good walking shoes.