Faults:
Rack and Pinion system went out at about 200k miles. It didn't leave me stranded, just kept getting worse till I decided to fix it.
Around that time, a transmission relay went bad. It was a pain to track down, but cheap to fix, and quite a relief not having to replace the transmission.
Also about then, the starter was going bad and had to eventually be replaced.
At about 210k miles I got a bad batch of gas that clogged my fuel filter and caused the fuel pump to burn out.
At 230k miles the front struts finally wore out to the point of undrivability and I had to have them replaced.
At 240k miles the paint finally started chipping and rust is starting to show.
General Comments:
I got the car from my parents, who bought the car new. They're big on preventative maintenance, so when I got it nothing was wrong with it. The only thing I know of that they replaced was the transmission at about 150k miles (normal for Chrysler's, in my experience), although I'm sure there's more. I'm at just over 246k miles now, and it's still the most reliable car I've ever owned. Someone at Chrysler screwed up the day they made my car, domestic cars aren't supposed to last this long.
The ride isn't really comfortable, doesn't handle bumps well at all, seats are kinda hard, etc, but that's about the only bad thing I can say about the car.
Pickup is nice for being a small car, and it handles well.
The next thing to go will probably be the transmission again, but I imagine it will make it well past the 250k mile mark. When that goes, I'll probably finally get rid of the car.
19th Oct 2007, 01:22
On what other domestic cars are you basing your judgment on? I have owned many reliable domestic cars, and I know people with imports that are complete garbage. But thanks to the perceived reliability of imports, their piles o' crap would be worth more than my reliable car on a trade.
I am not saying that all imports are unreliable. But I am saying that you can't base how reliable a car will be based on where a company is headquartered.