How reliable has your PT been

[sawdust123]

Before getting my PT, I had a Toyota Supra that had about 250K miles on it. The car still ran great when I got rid of it. Over its entire life, it had very few problems. I can only recall these failures; an engine computer, a clutch master cylinder, an AC evaporator leak, the factory radio and a seatbelt. Even wear and tear items seemed to last long, my first set of front brakes lasted 110K miles, I was still on my second set of rear brakes, tires were good for at least 50K, I was only on the second clutch, I changed oil only once or twice a year. Its only problem was batteries (3-4 years on average). If I hadn't neglected the car cosmetically (I think I changed the oil more often than I washed it), I may still be driving it. After 3.5 years with a PT, it seems the PT will never approach that level of robustness. reliability and low cost of operation.

My PT seems to have a regular stream of maintenance issues. So far nothing has been major but I have had two AC leaks, valve cover gasket leak, oil pan crack, oil sender fail, a caliper freeze, a visor break and at ~70K miles I am already on my third battery, third set of brakes and soon my third set of rubber. It makes me really wonder how long this car can last. Or at least, how long it will be economically viable to operate. Does anyone else feel the PT requires a lot of maintenance?

[ucantcme]

Originally Posted by sawdust123

Before getting my PT, I had a Toyota Supra that had about 250K miles on it. The car still ran great when I got rid of it. Over its entire life, it had very few problems. I can only recall these failures; an engine computer, a clutch master cylinder, an AC evaporator leak, the factory radio and a seatbelt. Even wear and tear items seemed to last long, my first set of front brakes lasted 110K miles, I was still on my second set of rear brakes, tires were good for at least 50K, I was only on the second clutch, I changed oil only once or twice a year. Its only problem was batteries (3-4 years on average). If I hadn't neglected the car cosmetically (I think I changed the oil more often than I washed it), I may still be driving it. After 3.5 years with a PT, it seems the PT will never approach that level of robustness. reliability and low cost of operation.

My PT seems to have a regular stream of maintenance issues. So far nothing has been major but I have had two AC leaks, valve cover gasket leak, oil pan crack, oil sender fail, a caliper freeze, a visor break and at ~70K miles I am already on my third battery, third set of brakes and soon my third set of rubber. It makes me really wonder how long this car can last. Or at least, how long it will be economically viable to operate. Does anyone else feel the PT requires a lot of maintenance?

I have no idea where or who you bought your PT from. My PT has around 54k miles and Ive only changed the tires twice, brakes once and had the power steering pump replaced. Other than that my PT has been reliable as ever.

Just sounds like you got a bad PT from someone!

[bados]

I have almost 70k miles on my '05 PTGT. I still have the original battery and brakes. The a/c did crap the sheets last year and the cost was about $1,800. I live in FL and the a/c IS ON ALL THE TIME. I have replace the tires a few times, due to the low profile tires and high speed driving on the FL Turnpike (I'm a salesman & put on a lot of mileage). I've had 2 tune ups as well. The car uses no oil, but I do use Mobil1 and change the oil & filter every 6,000 miles. Over all, except for the a/c repair, I'm very happy with the car.

[SR-PT4]

Yeah, I'm getting sick and tired of this ongoing issue with my PT; it seems that on a regular basis, like about every 240 miles or so, I need to pull over and put gas in the darn thing. And I have to wash the dirt off it regularly too. I wish Chrysler could do something about that, it's really annoying.

More upsetting though is that I should have known better based on the 2000 Dodge Stratus V6 I had prior to the PT; I had to do all of the above plus replace a bulb in one of the fog lights.

Being the glutton for punishment that I am, I have now added a Chrysler Crossfire to my stable. Yep, same darn problem, although this thing seems to go closer to 300 miles before I need to pull over and gas it up, so they are getting better.

[calflan]

No reason a car, nowadays, should have the issues all but SR-PT4 talk about.
Don't get defensive just because someone wants an opinion, or shares an opinion.
I wonder the same on Chrysler reliability. Our PT has approx. 6000 miles on it and so far, so good, but if I go through the issues on the PT we do on our Magnum, it's a goner soon. The Magnum - 34,000 miles - has had brakes, tires, rear axle seal, O2 sensor, annoying ENG LT. issues and a few minor cosmetic annoyances (window motor, sunroof switch). With today's technology and car reliability, especially from the foreign made cars, no reason Chrysler products (or Ford or GM) should see AC compressors, brakes, tires, etc. going at such low mileage. Tires and brakes SHOULD see at least 40-50K per set. Why would a car like the PT be rough on tires or brakes ??
As for other components, steering pumps, AC Compressors (regardless of use) should be reliable into 100K's of miles and sure as heck NOT be $1800 to fix. I'm glad everyone here likes their PT and the PT so far for us is a good car, but you have to wonder about the long term when you hear these stories, don't you ? I've already written Chrysler about our Magnum and will see what they come back with, but do we HAVE to buy a Honda or Toyota for the reliability ?

[Superwoody]

I haven't had a single problem with my PT and we've put well over 1200 miles on it in last 3 weeks!

Seriously though, his question is a very fair one. Does Chrysler squirt out a lemon with more regularity than say a Honda/Toyota?Nissan/etc... ? Probably, if you could actually find unbiased statistics from every manufacturer, you would see a higher rate but I personally don't think it would be as large of a % as you might think. The big three Japanese have their share of problems too you just don't see as many "I hate my Camry" "My Altima sux" "My Accord just suddenly burst into flames" .Com web sites like you will for Detroit's big 3! My newest Chrysler purchase was strictly economics based (that and I have always wanted one ), I would have had to spend just about DOUBLE the money for a comparable new HONDASSAN or whatever! More like a 5 year old used 70K mile foreign make car for what I bought my PT for, so if I have to replace a power ..... whatever after 120K miles, or even 70K miles, I think I'm still ahead of the game.

PLUS, nobody makes a car as cool looking as our PT's!

[sawdust123]

I must admit that my wife's PT (the convertible) has been more reliable so far than her old Camry wagon.

According to Consumer Reports, the Camry is one of the best used cars you can buy. We bought the Camry when it was 5 years old and kept it for 7 years. It cost almost $2K a year in repairs. I guess we got it cheap for a reason. We had major problems like head gasket leaks (twice), tranny failure, steering rack failure, frozen calipers, all the window regulators failed at some point, and more. The only reason we kept it was because it seated 7, drove great and swallowed a ton of stuff. There was nothing like it on the market unless you went to a minivan or large SUV (which she didn't want).

So far the convertible has had the roof realigned and the rubber seal at the windsheild replaced under warranty. At 38K we are on our second set of brakes but still the first battery. The car does seem to have a problem attacting door dings and bumper scratches. I'll have to investigate that.

[Superwoody]

Originally Posted by sawdust123

....snip.... The car does seem to have a problem attacting door dings and bumper scratches. I'll have to investigate that.

Probably jealous drivers of other makes of cars!!

[Johns Steel Blue]

I'm just under 50,000 on one of our Cruisers and I basically have only replaced "normal wear" items, brakes, plugs, wiper blades, etc...

[bobs turbo pt]

i have a gt wife has a limted normal wear & tear nothing crazy