Why are PT Cruisers so CHEAP???!!! what am i missing?

[Pteazer]

I hope you find a cruiser soon as your in for a pleasent surprise. its really a lot of car for the money. I know this as I have owned six since 2000 for work and I have put them through alot.I had to replace the trans on my very first pt that happend to be the fourth one sold in california. It went out at 97000 miles and thats the only big repair we had to do out of six cars thats not bad.It wont run like the wrx but you will be plesently surprised once you get her out on the open road.good luck , Ray, PTEAZER.

[AkiraCruiser]

Originally Posted by spinner

I for one am glad you ask the question, I didn't know about the timing belt at 80,000 my wife has 67000 on it now so I guess I have a little time to get ready!!

The dealership where we bought our PT from usually sends us coupons for major service, minor service, etc. Make sure to make use of them.

Instead of paying US$800 for the major service, i only paid $399.00 for it.

[spinner]

Originally Posted by AkiraCruiser

The dealership where we bought our PT from usually sends us coupons for major service, minor service, etc. Make sure to make use of them.

Instead of paying US$800 for the major service, i only paid $399.00 for it.

Thanks for the tip!!!

[NMdesertracer]

Around here as well the p/t's have gone down in price. Do to so many of them for sale locally.

[JoeHundredAire]

Originally Posted by belvedere

Water pump and timing belt is pretty standard change for any car between 80-110k.

Get ready for the $$$ shock on the Timing Belt repair though. Cheapest estimate I could find was $1200. Ended up having a family friend do it for $600 & he said he'll, never touch another PT again. I almost feel bad for using him like that.
If you get one when the time comes for the timing belt, just go ahead & replace everything elst there, water pump, oil pump any tensioner pulleys. Parts are cheap enough so you might as well get it all done & save on possible future labor costs.

Are their any other issues? common oil leaks etc?

I'm not going to beat around the bush. My wife hates my PT. She thinks it's a total piece of junk. I know several current & former dissatisfied owners as well as completely happy owners.
I think I fall somewhere in the middle. I like still like mine for the most part. Looks great, fun to drive, has a decent factory sound system in it. It's remarkable ho much space is avaialble when you take the back seats out. I've hauled a ton of crap in it. Several large aquariums, dishwashers, freezers. The ionly thing similar to it is the HHR & I test drove one of those recently & I can tell you there is no way you could fit a 105G aquarium in the back of an HHR like you could a PT.
I'm am getting tired of the little $150-250 repair jobs that seem to happen like clockwork on mine, but I'm at 111K now. Mine is an '04 Touring Edition wish I had a Turbo though. Not likely to happen though, there are a few upgrades & mods I would still like to do to it.

Here's some common problems with them:
Faulty wheel bearings & hubs(design flaw that can be remedied)
Perpetually bad front brakes(find a good aftermarket upgrade)
Faulty Multifunction Switch($75 part DIY job)
Faulty fan motors & overheating issues(Got me on this one, I think mine just decided it needs a new fan as well)
Personally I think as much as some of these have been problems, Chrysler should have fixed the issues.

I'm not going to tell you one way or the other, either your going to like the car or you won't. The price for them in the DFW metroplex is a little higher than what your seeing out there for one with similar mileage though.

[soonercruiser]

Originally Posted by JoeHundredAire

Get ready for the $$$ shock on the Timing Belt repair though. Cheapest estimate I could find was $1200. Ended up having a family friend do it for $600 & he said he'll, never touch another PT again. I almost feel bad for using him like that.
If you get one when the time comes for the timing belt, just go ahead & replace everything elst there, water pump, oil pump any tensioner pulleys. Parts are cheap enough so you might as well get it all done & save on possible future labor costs.


I'm not going to beat around the bush. My wife hates my PT. She thinks it's a total piece of junk. I know several current & former dissatisfied owners as well as completely happy owners.
I think I fall somewhere in the middle. I like still like mine for the most part. Looks great, fun to drive, has a decent factory sound system in it. It's remarkable ho much space is avaialble when you take the back seats out. I've hauled a ton of crap in it. Several large aquariums, dishwashers, freezers. The ionly thing similar to it is the HHR & I test drove one of those recently & I can tell you there is no way you could fit a 105G aquarium in the back of an HHR like you could a PT.
I'm am getting tired of the little $150-250 repair jobs that seem to happen like clockwork on mine, but I'm at 111K now. Mine is an '04 Touring Edition wish I had a Turbo though. Not likely to happen though, there are a few upgrades & mods I would still like to do to it.

Here's some common problems with them:
Faulty wheel bearings & hubs(design flaw that can be remedied)
Perpetually bad front brakes(find a good aftermarket upgrade)
Faulty Multifunction Switch($75 part DIY job)
Faulty fan motors & overheating issues(Got me on this one, I think mine just decided it needs a new fan as well)
Personally I think as much as some of these have been problems, Chrysler should have fixed the issues.

I'm not going to tell you one way or the other, either your going to like the car or you won't. The price for them in the DFW metroplex is a little higher than what your seeing out there for one with similar mileage though.

*******
Now I',m on several PT sites, and although the list of "potentail" problems above is fairly complete...They are by no means "common" to all PTs....merely the problems that are mentioned most frequently on the fix-it threads. So, put that into perspective!
As a matter of fact, the biggest brake complaint from the regular drivers (not the performance guys), is the brake dust on the front wheels, since the front brakes do the majority of the braking. Worst, if you have rear drums like I do. So, all you really need to do is use a good, ceramic brake pads. Noiw I have no dust, and no noise!

[Hooligan]

I also believe that seeing Chrysler has "killed" the PT, people are not wanting to buy one as they are afraid that there won't be any SERVICE, folks, it just isn't true. Service has to be provided for years, until all parts needed are gone.

[pt4cec]

I have 38,000 on my 2001 Limited and it still runs great so far petrol and tires --Still love it. Andy

[PT_Cuda]

Originally Posted by Hooligan

I also believe that seeing Chrysler has "killed" the PT, people are not wanting to buy one as they are afraid that there won't be any SERVICE, folks, it just isn't true. Service has to be provided for years, until all parts needed are gone.

It is being killed since its on an old platform, its not shared with anything else making it more expensive to build, CAFE standards have changed its just old.. 10 years is not a bad run at all. Let it go gracefully.

Its really quite a run since you can think back that some of the most awsome muscle cars were built for only one or two years, we got a 10 year run.. Its time for the PT.

[garyerrol]

Originally Posted by Hooligan

Service has to be provided for years, until all parts needed are gone.

I may be wrong on the number of years, but it seems to me that I've heard or seen in writing that Federal Law mandates that a car manufacture has to have parts available for any model for at least ten (10) years.