16th Oct 2009, 22:57

I see many bad experiences with the T&C. I bought a 2001 in 2005 with 50,000 miles on it. It has been great to us, considering what all could have gone wrong.

The alternator was replaced right before I bought it. Never had a problem with it.

The battery died right at 5 years of life (normal).

Transmission control module went out in 07' ($400+).

The A/C went out in 08' ($800+) (missed that factory extended warranty by 5,000 miles).

And that is it. I have not changed the brakes at all and are still good. Can't complain at 96,000 miles. It is a smooth ride (specially for road trips).

I have the Limited with all the comfort features and the 3.8lt engine that is running strong. I take care of it and give it all the maintenance. I recommend you use full synthetic like I do. I think I might upgrade to a slightly newer model with the all wheel drive. I am not getting a new one (don't like the body). I prefer this over the Grand Cherokee that I drive (my wife hates it when I take her car). I think some of you just ran WITH some bad luck as I did with a Ford Taurus (NEVER AGAIN - CURSE YOU FORD TAURUS).

4th Dec 2009, 23:55

Own a 2005 T&C with approximately 120,000 miles. Seems like this van has nickle and dimed us to death. We were spoiled by owning a Subaru before, great car, can go anywhere, very little maintenance.

On multiple occasions, have been told by local dealership that something needed to be replaced, only to have 2 other local (non-dealership) mechanic friends say nothing needed to be done. Never have I heard a mechanic from this dealership say "nothing needs to be done" to a customer, although I heard that frequently at our Subaru dealer.

Left Subaru because we were having twins and needed a minivan to accommodate all of our child safety seats. Now that they are old enough for boosters, when this van is done, we're headed right back to Subaru!

1st Aug 2011, 11:32

I also own a 2001 Town and Country Limited. I bought it in 2002. I never buy an extended warranty on a used vehicle, but on this one the dealer kept persisting that I do. My instinct questioned the way they were doing this, since I was wondering before why this new shiny van with low miles is doing in their used car lot with all the older cars, but my husband who always buys his cars at full sticker price (go figure!) wanted me to get this van. The reason is that we would drive around with the grandchildren.

Anyway, the first few months of owning it, I spent all of the $1,400 of the extended warranty on parts and repairs. Chrysler recalls helped with some. In the years up until now, I am still spending money on it. Right after I bought it, I had an incident where I had pulled into a restaurant parking lot and the car started making a strange noise, then the engine stopped before I could straighten up and park. My four children were very scared.

The next incident was when I was driving down a street near my home at night; the inside and outside lights suddenly all went out, then came back on.

Driving down the expressway one day, part of the seal from the windshield suddenly came apart and flew away.

I have replaced nearly every major part so far, and now I am replacing the compressor. I have replaced door latches, control arm, windshield wiper arm, heat and air, ignition coil, starter.

CD player has not worked since 2007, it is blinking on every selection.

The rear door lift does not work, but I refuse to spend money on those since I do not have any.

The front ends took thousands of dollars to fix, and still it's not right. Every time I am told I need bearings, struts or tie rods, it never sounds right on my front end; always popping noises or grinding sounds. I should have turned this car in as a clunker when I had the chance, however my husband had also lost his job around that time, so I did not want a car payment. Another thing I told myself was that with all the money spent on parts for this vehicle, I might as well keep it since it would be almost new!! However on the parts that have not failed yet, I am worried that one or more major part would fail while driving and probably cause a catastrophic event. So I told my close friends and family that if I am gone, go after Chrysler on my behalf. That is how much mistrust I have of this vehicle.

Still I cannot afford a car payment. What a shame! Chrysler has not been sympathetic to us customers on this model, they knew that it was not a good product, but still put it on the market with few recalls.

Like everyone else, I have VOWED never to buy another Chrysler, not even under the ownership of Fiat, since I read they too do not produce quality ones either!! It is my first and last!!