General Comments:

I bought a 1997 Chrysler Sebring convertible new and am looking forward to celebrating its 10th anniversary. It has 121,000 miles on it (the odometer display just came on tonight on my way home…it’s off most of the time). I, too, have had issues with the odometer and tachometer working intermittently. I was also told it was the printed circuit board as a previous reviewer had said. My mechanic at the time (about 1 year ago) said it might cost over $500 to fix. So, I decided I could live with it this way. Its kind of like Christmas when the lights come on…it is a good feeling!! So if the odometer is on, great. If it’s off, I just wait until it comes on again to check my mileage. It’s been doing this for about 30-40,000 miles.

Overall, I still love the car. I have taken excellent care of it and it serves me well. I just had the gas cap replaced this week because of the check engine light coming on. Several months ago I heard a noise in my steering…and had to replace the steering column. I choose to replace it with a used one. I replace the roof two summers ago because I knew the time would come, so I wanted it to look good and replace it ahead of time rather than after it leaked. Although, it is a convertible, and it has always leaked a little. There are some annoying electrical problems with interior lights and now the volume on my radio…but once again…it has over 100,000 miles. Up until the last year or so, I put almost no money other than maintenance into the car. And it still gets as good or better gas mileage (22 city; 28 highway) than most cars being sold today in its class.

I am shopping for a new car, however I am keeping my ’97 Sebring!!! It has served me well. It looks great, runs great and is fun to drive with the top up or down.

NT

New Jersey.

Faults:

Bought the car with faulty odometer and tach.

Interior light flickered as though the car was possessed.

Broken tie rod.

Squeaky brakes.

Severe Oxidized film on headlights.

Had a swimming pool in the driver's side quarter panel.

General Comments:

After you repair the famous Chrysler design flaws, this can be one blast of a ride! I love this car. All the problems that I listed came with the car when I first bought it, and after all repairs, the car no longer gives any trouble. The problems never came back once they were taken care of. So far, the only complaints I have about the vehicle, is that changing spark plugs is an almost impossible task, and why on earth didn't they put the transmission on the floor instead of mounting it transversely next to the motor? They had all that floor and engine bay space to work with. Someone needs to have a serious talk with Chrysler's Design and Engineering department on that one.

Other than that, the car's a hot piece of eye candy, it handles almost like a euro tuner, and the Eclipse motor shows plenty of potential for a future Turbo setup. If Chrysler gets it right, the Sebring can become the next American legend.