Faults:

Nothing really, just the standard maintenance.

General Comments:

The car looks great. Runs Great.

I was looking for a Civic, but couldn't afford one so I decided to take a chance with this Intrepid. I was lucky because the one I have works great. It has the 3.2 L engine, which I have heard is reliable; the 2.7 should be avoided.

I currently have around 160,000 miles on it, and it's still running fine.

The car handles fine. The thing I don't like about it, is it's harsh on bumps.

Everything else I like; the ABS, auto stick feature, and mine also has a display that shows the gas consumption and outside temperature.

I've been getting around 26 MPG on the highway, so I'm happy with that. For a car of this size, it's good.

Faults:

Blown engine, due to low oil pressure that resulted in timing chain failure. The chain, you see, gets it's tension from the oil pressure.

General Comments:

The engines in these cars were designed by Daimler- Benz. The small oil returns and the oil pump/timing chain tensioner problem is a seriously flawed design. My car had only 53,00 miles, and I was refused service due to sludge in the engine. My oil was changed religiously every 2500 miles. I was treated very badly, and I will NEVER purchase another Chrysler product as long as Daimler Benz is involved with them.

Faults:

I would like to think that my problems are not as bad as some of you guys, but I had to change the main belt one year after I got it, and the tires every two years (brand new), because even though I have life time alignment, they still wear bad in the front.

Now the air broke and the cooling fan in the same day. It will cost me 400 to fix just the fan, not to mention the air.

I have had to fix the head lamps, the locks on the doors, and the windows also. The auto doesn't work and has never worked. And also the auto lock, which I had when I bought the car, stopped working two days after I got it.

The lights inside the car have always flickered back and forth. All in all, it's been a good car, but once it breaks you had better pad that pocket cause it will drain you... Lawsuit??? jenbehappy@yahoo.com

Faults:

Front passenger side power window regulator replaced 22,000 miles (warranty covered)

Both left and right rear power window regulars replaced 30,000 miles (warranty covered)

Faulty muffler resonator 34,000 miles (warranty covered)

Replaced spark plugs 36,000 miles.

Small transmission fluid leak 42,000 miles.

Replaced leaking coolant bleeder valve housing 55,000 miles.

Replaced spark plugs 72,000 miles.

Replaced starter 75,000 miles.

Replaced battery 90,000 miles.

Replaced battery cables 105,000 miles.

Replaced spark plugs 113,000 miles.

General Comments:

Overall, this has been a good, reliable car for the past 8 years that I have owned it.

I began putting Mobil 1 oil in the car at 60,000 miles after reading about all the horror stories with the 2.7 engines. So far, so good.

I have replaced the spark plugs a few times because the car would run a bit rough at idle. Replacing the plugs seems to cure this problem.

Last winter I went to start the car and it was completely dead. Turned out that the battery cables corroded off due to the road salt. Apparently Chrysler didn't think of this potential problem when they chose to put the battery directly in front of the passenger side wheel well! So, if you own one of these cars and haven't checked the battery cables lately, I would recommend it before the next snow storm.

At 80,000 miles, I had an unfortunate encounter with a semi on the driver side damaging the front fender, rear door, and rear quarter panel. There was over $4,500 in damage. The insurance company totalled the car. However, since the damage was only cosmetic, I chose to keep the car and continue driving it unfixed. Although it hasn't looked pretty for the past 30,000 miles, the damage hasn't compromised the integrity of the vehicle. Except for having to regularly refill a cracked washer fluid container hidden behind the damaged fender, the car has been fine.

Since I now know about the 2.7 engine problems, I probably wouldn't buy one with this engine. If you already own one and haven't changed to Mobil 1, I would strongly encourage you to do so as I haven't had any engine issues since switching.

I still feel that the Intrepid is one of the nicer looking cars on the road today-- even better than its replacement-- the Dodge Charger. So, I will probably drive the car until it falls apart-- barring any more semis!