Faults:

Suspension bushings went out three times in a span of 4 years until the neoprene replacement.

Hose blew out twice.

Steering rack bushings completely deteriorated after 5 years.

Water pump failed twice.

Paint job cracked, peeled and faded after 5 years of maintained care.

Seats and interior feel cheap and do not have good longevity.

Radiator needed to be replaced after 4 years.

General Comments:

I'm the original owner of a '96 Concorde LX-i and it's been nothing but a money pit since. Replaced the bushings 3 times in a span of 4 years... the third time, my mechanic recommended neoprene bushings and I thought my problems were over for awhile... until the steering rack went to crap in the same month. 900 dollars later, the water pump decides to break 6 months after. Overheating has been a main issue with this thing, whether it be the hose, pump or radiator. My eyes are glued to the temp gauge more so than the fuel.

I also STRONGLY agree with the factory paint being a big joke, considering the car has been garaged and properly cared for and it still manages to peel and fade... (I live in Washington BTW, not Arizona or Cali) I can still go on and on... grocery list style, but you get the idea. On the bright side, I haven't experienced the notorious tranny issues associated with these vehicles but then again, the car has only racked up 80k worth of miles in the 12-13 years owning it.

As for the positives, the 3.5 V6 engine has been very reliable all around. When the car wants to work, it's actually a pleasure to drive. The ride is smooth and buttery as it should be, and the 3.5 packs enough power to provide great acceleration for the city as well as being quiet enough to accommodate comfortable highway driving. It has great leg room, decent sized trunk space, and for its yacht like size, I've managed to get a decent 20/28 mpg. So, had the car not been such a royal pain the ass, I'd definitely keep her. However, I can no longer justify pouring in absurd amounts of money to maintain a severely depreciated entry level "luxury" sedan. Just when you think you've fixed everything, something else has to break and test your patience.

Faults:

Bushings have gone bad, front end work, fuel filter has been changed, problems with the trans. Also the sensors need to be changed.

General Comments:

This is a great car that I will never give up for nothing in the world.

Faults:

Overall, this car is great. But like any car it did have a few problems, but they were never anything out of the ordinary.

1.) We never replaced the fuel filter, so, we were traveling once and the car just quit. Unfortunately, due to not replacing the filter, the pump was ruined. - $659.00 OUCH!

2.) Transmission seemed to shift kinda rough. Always did this from the day we got it. Apparently this is a common thing and is just a design flaw. Transmission always worked well. Never quit.

3.) Subframe bushings went out. That's why we sold it. We just didn't have the money to put into it. The part was cheap, but labor was going to be the hard part. I think in the end it would've ended up costing us around 900 dollars. One more dent in the wallet. Although, we drove it on a detour route for construction for almost 2 years. I would imaging that this has something to do with what caused it.

General Comments:

We've owned this car since 2001. We bought it for 6000 dollars and we put 90000 miles on it from the day we bought it to the day we sold it. We always perfectly maintained the car by the book and had the typical 3000 mile oil change. And in return, the car gave us many miles of good driving with no problems. But like every car, it did break, and that always was a bit of a buger. The part itself was always cheap it seemed, but the labor was always killer.

On the ride - The car was an excellent ride. It had just the right balance between being smooth (but not buttery like the Buick LeSabre) and feeling tight like a small car. On trips the car was amazing, very smooth and very quiet. And boy that stock infinity sound system sounded GREAT!!! You could really get the bass pumping in that thing. =)

On Performance - In mine, we had the 3.5L V6. That motor had ample power. Infact, I could get that thing from 0-60 in just under nine seconds. Pretty good I'd say for a full size family sedan weighing in at just over 4000 pounds. The motor was equipped with 214 stock horsepower and I wanna say something around 225 ft - lbs. of torque. Very quick. It also was great in the steering department. It was quite literally a dream to park. Heck, I learned to parallel park with it and it was a piece of cake. Very nice! The only complaint I could have with it is that in town gas mileage was right around 21-22 mpg's. But on the highway, I could get right around 27-28. Very nice.

On Reliabilty - The car itself, I conisder very reliable. We never had any trouble with it ever. It's been all over the US. It's been to Colorado numerous times, it's been to Washington, Illinois, Wyoming, etc. It was our get around car and our travel car, and I would say that it did a good job at both. It had right around 184000 miles on it when we sold it I believe and it still was running as good and as strong as the day we bought it.

I know these other people may not have had what they call a great car. But obviousely something was up. Maybe they just didn't take good care of it. We took good care of it and maintained it regularly and the car ran like a dream.