Will Chrysler really drop the PT?

[gbcruiser]

The news over in the U.K. is that chrysler ARE dropping the P.T. which is bad!!

[blucruzer]

Hi. My first post here. Please pardon me if I'm a little long-winded--these thoughts have been building. I bought a '01 Limited used in '03--exactly the car I would have ordered if you could still order a car to your specs. The salesman tried to talk me into a new one from inventory. He didn't seem to have any appreciation for customer satisfaction, it was like, if I was going to buy a car, I should do the dealer the favor of buying what they wanted to sell. I held out and probably paid more than I should have but I got the car I wanted and still like it a lot. Now they want desperately to sell cars and mine is now off warranty and it would help both Chrysler and the economy to buy a new one so I stopped by a couple of dealers to see what they had. I can't specify how but the last time I looked at the Chrysler website where you can plan your car, the packages have been changed around and options have been eliminated so that I couldn't duplicate my car in an '08 or '09 model. Why should I have to trade the car I love and accept something that is less than what I want? For Chrysler's sake?

I told one of the salesman who, reluctantly, came to talk to me in a showroom, once upon a time you could order a car with this option, that option, this paint, that engine to your taste. I don't know when that ended but I suspect the imports had something to do with it. Hard to custom order a car when they were built and shipped from Japan or Germany. So, instead of emphasizing their strength, the ability to build and ship a car quickly from this country, the American manufacturers took the easy route and decided to do like the imports and build them first, ship them to dealers and hope to find buyers for what they had already built afterward.

My last trip to the dealer last week, a salesman approached. (Many times I took my car in for service in the past few years, walked all over the showroom, opened doors, picked up brochures and nobody ever approached.) What are you looking for, he asked. Well, if I was going to trade I'd like to find a 215hp PT Cruiser with a five speed manual. Good luck was all he said. There was a time when the answer would have been something like, well, that's not an option on the '09s but, if I could find a clean '08 or '07 would you be interested? But no, just "Good luck." Like, you'll take what we've got and like it. No, pal, I won't. So when you're out of a job and Chrysler is out of business, don't blame me. If that's their attitude, at least for me, it's not a case of Chrysler dropping the PT Cruiser, it's a PT Cruiser buyer dropping Chrysler.

[CreepyPT]

When I went to the dealer for what would become my Bella, I knew what I wanted. Unfortunately, I had about 3 days to get a car, or nothing.

I went in with my mother and my grandmother, and he asked what I was looking for. I told him a black PT, A/C, 5 speed. Those are the options I wanted. I asked about a price and he said, " Oh, about XX, XXX. They had a Black limited (i think), with an auto trans, a bunch of options. I said no, manual. They had another model with several options more, and again, an automatic, I said no. He finally looked up on the computer, said there was in in town dealer with a such and such model, with the five speed, in a different color.
I told him again what I wanted. He said he could get a GT? with the options I wanted and quite a few more. I asked how much difference in price (quite a bit), and said no. I told him, I can afford the price range you gave me earlier for what I wanted. I want black, a/c, and a 5 speed. If you can find something with those options, I'll take it right now. For that price. If you find something with more options, and want me to buy it, it will have to be, THAT price.
The next day he called and said they found one in Des Moines, about 500 mile away. Blah blah, and there would be a transfer fee, a delivery fee to pay a driver, and several other things that would add up to more money than I had. I finally told him, "Hey look, I found a used car with warrantee still on it, it has what I want, and I'm going to go get it, you lost your chance." He called back later, told me his sales manager said they would get the car, bring it down, and it would cost only $200 more. It was Saturday, and I said if you can have it here Monday night, I'll come sign papers now.
So, Monday I get a call: They found out the listing was wrong, it was a demo car with 5000 miles on it, but they would bump the warrantee from 5, 50, to 5/70. An hour later, they called: It was a dealer loaner, with 10k on it, and they would bump it to 7/70. An hour or so later: it wasn't either, it only had 30 or so miles on it, and they would have to drive it down, no additional warrantee. I told him to cancel it, it was more hassle than I or he wanted.
Very soon he called again, manager said they would deliver it, give me a 5 year 70k warrantee, and no delivery fee, since it would have 5o0 miles on it from delivery. But, it wouldn't be till tomorrow, Tuesday, that they could get it here.
I told him I was coming in, and hung up.
When I got to the dealer, I said, "I want the vehicle VIN, the options on it, the expected mileage on delivery, the warrantee you're giving me: 5/70, bumper to bumper, and the price, with tax and everything on a piece of paper, with you, and your sales manager's signature on it. I want it in five minutes, and I'll be back tomorrow evening to pick the car up. If it's not here, I'm walking out, and if you call me again, I'm calling Chrysler to tell them that you lied to me repeatedy, you caused me to miss my first day at a new job, and that you're harrassing me by phone."
The next afternoon, my car arrived. I think every person in the dealership apologised to me. The dealer owner apologised to me for no one hearing what I wanted, and trying to talk me into anything otherwise. He told me if there were any problems at all with the car, to bring it in and they would have it fixed post haste. Over two years later, they are still denying that the tires are crap, and that the half shaft is out of balance.
I finally took it to the Jeep dealer across the street from them and got the half shaft replaced under warrantee. I was screwed on the tires, since I only recently was able to get a Chrysler dealer to tell me my tires are factory bad, "chopped" they called them, but it was too late 32k miles later to get anything back from the tires for new ones.
I love my car, but I'll never go to another Chrysler dealer in my town for a new car.
Ramble ramble, sorry, very tired tonight

[mattg]

Originally Posted by crusierdad76

Isn't the Caliber the replacement for the Cruser like the Cursier was for the Neon

I believe the Calibur was the replacement for the Neon.. I own SRT-4 neon and now the calibur has its own SRT-4.. Im not sure what going to replace the calibur LOL..But in this economy who knows.. But they will do whatever it takes to keep business moving..

[EssexExport]

Its a mystery to me. Over a million units sold since
2001. It is the only model with its own particular
frame & engine remaining in the MoPar lineup (which
has been ever shrinking).

[digitalpinscruiser]

It still really bugs me that they have discontinued the PT.....also that I keep seeing these awesome commercials for the SCION's and all the custom colors they can come in but I never once saw a commercial for the PT Cruiser or anything as cool as the SCION commercials. Hardly saw any adverting at all for the PT. For Chrylser to have such a unique retro designed vehicle and to just let it go, really boggles my mind.

Then the ugly calibur came along I saw one commercial for that when it first was launched.....so when are they going to cancel that.

But back to the PT's, I remember when it launched there was a frenzy over them, you could not find them or the dealers were over charging cause they were a hot item. Why did'nt the the big suits over at chrysler not notice this and advertise the heck out of it like cool commercials like SION thought of with all the custom colors they are getting younger buyers by doing that. A few years ago there were a string of car movies that came out like Fast and Furious and why did'nt chrysler try to catch younger drivers then by showing custom options for the PT's I remember other car companies doing it then. They should have given the PT a chance now at some type of rebirth maybe a newer or other powerful engine option maybe a hybrid. Or try to give it some rebirth in a movie transformers or the new fast and furious something just to try to get it out there to the younger buyers instead of just canceling it. We see this too many times with the American car companys, they just decide to cancel something thats unique or has sold well for them in the past.

Ok thats enough of my rambling just bothers me that Chrysler gave up on it.

[djdan74]

Had the PT evolved more over the past few years, its possible that they could have retained continual interest.

Looking at my former 05 model and my current 08 model, there really isn't much difference inside or out. Sure there are some cosmetic differences (such as dash display, factory radio and arm rest, etc), but there isn't enough to wow the general consumer. If Chrysler had changed the engine to a V6 (or V8) or modified the external appearance more, its possible that they could have attracted more interest.

However in this economic slowdown, its very easy to see why Chrysler chose to not experiment and focus instead on their bread and butter models. I hope that they revisit the PT model when times improve.

[Pteazer]

I agree with white, This cruiser has been one of the best and stupidest things Chrysler has done.They had a home run if they would have paid attention to what the PT fans were wanting .ie the Pronto instead of the crossfire.Allso the Panel delivery with a rearveiw camera to address the visablity while backing.Most Pt fans were drawn to the rounded retro styling. but they got wrapped up in the huge tuner car market place ,and some genious thought you could actually pull some of thouse buyers into a pt by modernising the bumpers. This may have worked in the past but the cruiser is differnt.They should have had someone go to some pt events and ask the fans what they wanted to see, In my opinion most cruiser fans would own one to the day they die if the designers had just given them what they were wanting.I shouldnt complain I supose as it makes my parts more in demand but it seams like they wasted a lot of money making changes that nobody wanted.Now they come up with these theories about needing to change more to stay competitive .It would have been better to put a v6 in the old style .How about a rear wheel drive ,or dear I say it what about a teazer addition with or bumperette front with a full grill and a cowl hood.Fairdinkum Ray Newton Pteazer

[PurplePTGirl]

Well, it is likely a moot point since Chrysler itself is unlikely to survive.

[Hooligan]

Fiat is buying in. Fiat = Fix it again Tony!!! This may be a plus for Chrysler, one of the last American car builders.