Faults:

Electrical/computer problems at 50,000 miles.

Front power/control arms wore out at 50,000. Needed new mounts. engine, and front end of car shakes, rattles, vibrates, shifts when accelerating heavy.

Original stock mopar battery died 60,000 miles.

17" stock chrome rims very porous and constantly leaked air. Replaced rims with 16" stock Chrysler rims.

Engine oil light, and check engine light occasionally come on for no reason.

General Comments:

I like this car very much as it is reasonably fast quick and versatile. I raced a Volkswagen Jetta 1.8L Turbo, and had it up to 135 M.P.H. The electronic governor or restriction is at about 136 M.P.H. stock. I raced a 1993 Ford Mustang GT 5.0L V8, and won. This car hits 100 M.P.H. With great ease in 4th gear. The acceleration is very gradual with this car. You cannot just punch it to the floor, and expect it to take off. You have to gradually accelerate, and let the turbo spool up and the R.P.M.s increase gradually to get the best results.

The best gas mileage I got was 400 miles on a full tank of gas, 12.5 gallons, driving back from Florida.

Having the turbo somewhat makes this car a "Sleeper". Most people think, "Oh that's just a cheezy looking Poon Tang Cruiser, I'll smoke with my Honda Civic, or Dodge Ram Hemi. Who in their right mind would drive one of those?" Not so! You will feel stupid when some crazy guy in an Electric Blue PT Cruiser passes you at 120 M.P.H.

The newer GT Turbo models are a bit more powerful, and faster than the 2003, 2004 models. I installed a cool air intake, a performance catalytic converter, a performance muffler, and a JET Chip and saw big results. The car is not as fast as a newer WRX, or Lancer Evolution, but will keep up with them.

The reliability and quality of this car is not exactly great, but half decent. I put over 40,000 miles on this car, and it is still running strong. I think I am going to install a bigger turbo, and see what happens. The exterior, and interior are solid. I think the quality of some of the mechanical components of this car are sub par.

Even though many friends have laughed at me, and girls refused to date me because I drive a PT Cruiser, overall I am happy with this car, and intend to run it to death. I would buy another PT GT Turbo.

Faults:

Leaking rear shock absorber, bad battery, fogged headlight lenses.

General Comments:

Get a used one that has been well maintained and you will be getting a great buy. Nothing in its class can touch it for price in the used car market.

The 2.4 motor has plenty of zip, and the cargo space is surprising with the folding rear seats.

Faults:

The first thing to go wrong was the serpentine belt adjuster - at 30,000 miles. It went wrong -- and a belt broke. The adjuster also needed replacement.

The next thing was oil appearing from one of the spark plug holes (I noticed this about 5000 miles after a local dealer replaced the spark plugs). They had to replace the spark plug tube seals (in the manifold), and I had them replace the oily spark plug wire (I opted to replace them all).

Then the battery cables corroded very badly, to the point that the car would not start. This may have been caused by a local mechanic who replaced the battery after three years -- and not using Chrysler parts.

At 49,000 miles, the air conditioning went south. I live in an extremely hot area of the country, so this was a drag. Under a separately purchased warranty, the dealer replaced the condenser, compressor, dryer, hoses -- the whole shebang. That would have cost me $1500.00 if I hadn't bought the extra warranty.

By the way, the original Goodyear tires needed replacement at 25,000. I expected more from Goodyear.

The front brakes were replaced at 45,000 miles. From what I've heard, I got a lot more miles than many on this issue.

General Comments:

Aside from a few haunting noises from a nut or bolt in the interior of the car (which elude me to this day), I am quite pleased with our Cruiser. It only gets 24 MPG on the highway -- but we travel about 70 MPH, and use the air conditioner whenever we travel. So I should not complain, I suppose -- unless gas goes through the roof again.

I am especially happy about the fact that I can put my seats down -- or take them out completely -- and stack wood fencing (like 8 ft. 4X4's) in the car. Also, I had to replace a dishwasher in our home, and the new dishwasher (box and all) fit in the back with no trouble.

I have heard some bad reviews about trans going out -- and this scares me a little. But, so far, no problems in that area. It's a good idea to change transmission oil at least every 50,000 miles, folks.