1994 Dodge Intrepid ES 3.3L
Summary:
A sharp-looking, yet poorly-built and unreliable car
Faults:
The air conditioning has lost a charge 3 times since new. Replaced the evaporator and condenser twice.
Dealer and Dodge were very uncooperative with providing warranty work.
Transmission was repaired once at 15,000 miles and replaced at 25,000. Still shifts hard.
All 4 doors squeak very loudly when opened and closed -- dealer quoted $80 to repair the broken plastic pieces that are likely to break again.
Driver side door molding fell off resulting in loud road noise in the interior.
Right camber became out of adjustment and Dodge decided, in all their infinite wisdom, not to put a camber adjustment on the car.
Windshield wiper motor became too weak to pull the 24" wiper blade all the way to the bottom of the windshield.
And the most recent addition to this $25,000 piece of crap, the air conditioning compressor seized up.
General Comments:
This car is the biggest piece of crap I have ever owned in my entire life. It needed nothing but repairs while I have owned it -- fortunately mostly covered under the extended warranty.
The headlights are about as useful as a household flashlight.
It rides terrible and Chrysler couldn't make a comfortable seat to save its life. These seats cause fatigue after about 100 miles.
The brake fade is reminiscent of a dump truck and the ABS helps little.
The factory stereo is also quite weak.
On top of this, all the problems I've had with this car have also been experienced by other Intrepid and other model Chrysler/Plymouth/Dodge owners. Chrysler is operating a fine scam with their cute marketing campaign, designed to confuse the unwary, ignorant customer into thinking they build a quality product. All I know is that I will NEVER buy a Chrysler product again, and every time I see someone walk out of a Chrysler dealership after purchasing something, I cringe, because I know they just bought themselves a poorly engineered and built automobile.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 6th August, 2001
3rd Nov 2004, 19:07
I own a 1994 Intrepid. I have also had a lot of problems with it.
About 3 days after I got it, it decided it really did not feel like shifting out of first gear, occasionally it would, but not often.
The starter went for no reason.
The headlights are weak.
The AC is weak.
In the winter if I did not warm it up for 10-15 minutes it would not shift out of first gear.
The AC and windows still run when the car is off so sometimes the battery slightly drains and will die on me. To counter that I have to unscrew the battery terminal so the battery definitely isn't running. Then the pop hood latch thing broke so I couldn't pop the hood to send power from the battery again. Therefore I could not drive it. Therefore I missed school for 2 days now with these problems.
My brakes also got really rusty out of nowhere because of one rainstorm. I need a new car.
20th Sep 2001, 12:28
I totally agree with this review, I owned a 93 Intrepid and had pretty much the same troubles, but more so for my transmission and the AC was worthless, it needed repaired yearly. Dodge should be sued because of these lemons! I now own a 2001 Sonata, it could not be any worse than the Intrepid and at least it has a good warranty...