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quote:Originally posted by robinjoe
SRG, Yeah, I know some people won't listen, but I'd still like to find that article.
Joe
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The information below is quoted directly from "Chrysler PT Cruiser", by Matt DeLorenzo and John Lamm, published by MBI Publishing Company. This book is a great read and gives the complete history of the PT Cruiser from its inception through the first attempts at production, to the final product and features some awesome pictures and diagrams of the prototypes and production cruisers. I highly recommend this book to any PTers who may be interested. For easy ordering, the ISBN # is 0-7603-0988-4.
Here are some excerpts from Chapter 4 Under the Cruisers Skin - pp. 57 71
One misconception is that the PT Cruiser is merely a reskinned Neon. Nothing could be further from the truth when you look at a comparison of base vehicles. The Neon rides on a 103-inch wheelbase and is 185 inches in length. It is powered by a 2.0 liter sohc 134 brake horsepower four offered with a choice of 5-speed manual or 3-speed automatic. It also has a fully independent suspension.
The PT Cruiser also has a 103-inch wheelbase but is only 168.8 inches in overall length
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In the United States, PT Cruisers come with 2.4 liter dohc 4-cylinder engines that make 150 brake horsepower and are offered with 5-speed manual or 4-speed automatic. The PTs rear suspension is a beam axle, as opposed to an independent setup, to increase the load-carrying capacity
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(First) The money to create the PT Cruiser came from the allocation for the 2000 Neon platform. Second, the PT Cruiser resides with the small-car platform team. Many of the same engineers who helped develop the new Neon, also worked on the PT Cruiser. And finally, where possible, component sets such as the 5-speed manual, the front suspension, and other assorted bits and pieces that could be shared were used in order to cut costs.
There is a synergy between the Neon and the PT Cruiser, said Dan Knott, director of vehicle development for the small-car platform. Its not so much that the vehicles are the same, or that they share so many parts. Rather, its the sharing process, and what we learned on the Neon we were able to apply to the PT Cruiser.