Faults:

Our first problem with this this Town and Country was its battery failed at two years, about two years before one would have expected such a failure.

Then last month (10/03) the evaporator for the air conditioner leaked away its coolant and had to be replaced. There was no damage found on the evaporator, except that it had begun to leak from a seam. that was a $750 repair.

Yesterday (11/30/03) neither of our keys would turn in the ignition switch. An AAA locksmith fiddled with it enough to get it running, and we didn't turn it off until we had it parked at a Chrysler dealer's service area. We were told the tumbler had to be replaced and the new one ground to fit our existing keys -- that's $280 worth of repairs (repair site is in central North Carolina USA).

Our old 1995 Nissan Quest was still going strong at 160,000 miles when we traded it in, because we feared it might become unreliable. The odd thing is, we're now using our second car, a 1991 Lexus 250LS with 123,000 miles on it, as the reliable car in the family -- it gets us to and from the shop so we can get the Town and Country serviced.

Our real concern is that the T&C may become more of a repair hog than we're prepared to own. I'd hate to trade in a car that should just be in its prime!

General Comments:

On the positive side, the T&C is a joy to drive, it has enough power to cruise well, and it can carry a load without really losing its handling.

Faults:

We bought this van new in November 2000. The car burns about 1 quart of oil every 1500 miles. It started burning oil at about 20,000 miles. The dealer measured the oil every 500 miles and told us that 1 quart of oil every 1000 miles is normal. The garage always has this burned oil smell after we drive the car in.

Other problems we have had are: air conditioner turns on by itself while driving, back door fails to open often, driver window would not go up specially in hot weather,

An oil leak at the base of the filter adapter, right rear door opened by itself once, front brakes started vibrating early on due to rotor uneven wear, annoying noise out of the steering column that started at about 7,000 miles.

We have spent money getting car rentals while the car is at the dealer because car rental is not covered after 1 year for most of repairs including some that are covered by the warranty. Other than the excessive oil consumption and the steering column noise the dealer has been able to fixed the problems.

Now we have ~27,000 miles in the car and we are getting 14.5 miles per gallon in the city and 20.9 in the freeway. We also can notice the loss of power more likely related to the oil consumption.

General Comments:

Besides all the reliability problems, this car drives great.