Latest Stg. I Upgrade Info from MOPAR employee

[flashbk2]

Ever work for a big corporation? If you do and I do you know what she's up against ! [xx(]

[tthrift]

this mess. is for kirby and thoses of you that think like him. mopar performance was always for the die hard racer ie. drag cars with big v8's and those guys did break parts every weekend.

thats why there is no warranty on performance parts. the new mopar has just entered the so call "tuner car market" where guys like you and me have a turbo daily driver and would like a little more power, however we do not entend to race or abuse these cars.

so when someone from the DC takes their time to read and post on a forum they should not be abused like she has been from some of you guys.

i have had some conversations with her on the phone about these problems and conserns, and trust me she is doing everything she can do to rewrite the old ways of of CHRYSLER even be for there was a DAIMLER in the picture.

as far as some of the smaller and unadvises dealerships out there that told you guys the line (your warr. will be voided by installing the kit) i'm sorry , at my dealership we look for ways to take care of our customers and help them thru their problems and not just looking for reasons to void warr. or just send you away mad.

LAST THING I ASK IS JUST DON'T LOOSE HOPE IN DC, THINGS CAN ALWAYS BE CHANGED.

tommy thrift

[Dalite]

Tommy,

I am one of those who think somewhat like Kirby. I bought a PT Cruiser even before it was considered a "tuner" car. The GT is my second one in as many years. I didn't make the decision to produce a turbo car, or advertise it and the Chrysler endorsed performance upgrades. I didn't produce 2 "tuner" cars and not look past the current "Fast and Furious" profit potential with my planning, production and marketing. I didn't decide to give my dealer part of my trade-in after I promised him the whole thing (Sway Bar).

I haven't seen many PT Cruisers or SRT-4s making a large showing for team Mopar at the Off-Road events that I have seen televised. There haven't been any of either at any of the local mud-bogging contests. Yet, this is Mopar's stated intended market with this product. And they have had over 2 years of planning and developement to be able to offer it for off road use only?

When I was involved in retail, I never had the luxury of providing add-ons that my target customer's couldn't use. I never sold an item made for sale to support another one, at the expense of the major warranty provisions.

In a nutshell, Mopar and Chrysler simply dropped the ball with this fiasco. The upgrades have been a carrot dangling in front of the market; a promise of things to come. In the time between announcing the product would be available and the product being complete, packaged and made available, there was ample time for a marketing strategy to be developed that matched the demographics of the intended buyer. Using the addage that these are racing parts for the serious racer, and because they will be used on the track there is no warranty is hardly the introduction that the average PT Cruiser owner can identify with. I have had 2 PT Cruisers now, and have never been on a race track, other than crossing the track on foot with a pit pass to help with timekeeping.

I admire UniqTwin's devotion and courage, and I have expressed that many times. She certainly has her work cut out for her, and I genuinely feel for her with the task she faces. I have lanced at a few windmills myself in my 50 years, and it is a thankless job. It is like trying to teach a pig to sing; the pig will never carry a tune, and he doesn't like being forced to try.

I am hopeful that Mopar Performance Parts will be able to make the transition to the 21st century with their product approach for current vehicles. However, until that time comes I am unlikely to be thrilled about the aspects of paying money to negate my warranty and smile about it while I am avoiding the EPA and driving a non-emissions approved vehicle around at the risk of a $20K+ fine every time I hit a public road.

When Mopar and Chrysler address those issues and offer a real-world policy, I will be their biggest fan and will gladly spread the word about their devotion to the car customizers and retro lovers. Until the upgrade is legal to use on the road, and the dealer network endorses a warranty statement that speaks in one voice, I don't expect to be leading the parade...

[Steve03GT]

I'll not tell ya'll, "I told you so."
http://www.ptcruiserlinks.com/forum/...?TOPIC_ID=2421

Me thinks we mixed our issues concerning Chrysler dealers, Daimler-Chrysler and MOPAR into one thread, which I had hoped would stay positive and on-mark with MOPAR tech and delivery questions, and in doing so have lost a valuable ally in UniqTwin. We should NOT have put her on the defensive; Chrysler has their customer complaint phone number in the manual - we should have used it and let Uniq continue to keep us abreast of future MOPAR parts and tech issues, without asking questions, which put her on the spot and I think, in the end, was responsible for her "having" to exit.
BUMMER
Hate to see you go Uniq,
Steve

[Dalite]

Steve,

I hate to see her go also. She represented what may be the last of those who believed...

However, have you taken a real close look at the warranty statement on the Mopar Performance site? If I had been associated with a project, and put a year of my time getting the bugs ironed out and the product ready for distribution, I would have been embarrassed to associate myself with the company that published such a circular referenced warranty negation policy as was placed on their web site. As it is, I am outraged that the bean counters have put the talent on the chopping block with their "quantum stumble" of a warranty statement.

It is a toss-up. Who affected her leaving the forum more? Was it the response to the sabotage presented in the warranty statement, or was it the act of sabotaging the project by issuing the warranty statement?

I am truly saddened to see that much effort, research, development and devotion torpedoed before it even hit the street. Even some dealers are refusing to install the product until the warranty statement is solidified into some policy that allows the dealer to legally install the product.

The "Q" word may be in order to describe this kluge. How would you feel if someone stole the fruits of your efforts by packing them in contraversy? I think I will lay off the forum for a while. I get more steamed every time I try to come to any rational understanding of what has just taken place over the last week, and the time spent preparing the derailment. Somewhere in the corporate offices there are celebrating a coup. An entire division has been neutered and not a drop of blood was visible to the public. And the worst thing about it is they had a good product ready to go that had built-in sales potential. Someone finally figured how to turn a no-brainer into a quagmire.

[don668]

I think like Tommy,

It sucks to have someone on the inside leave the way she did. Longest thread I've seen on this forum and and it just seemed to repeat it's self. Maybe they'll fix the warranty issue, maybe not.

Talking with my service manager, he's trying to get me the upgrade due to my stumble problem. But as he put it, if a problem arises it has to be "proven" it was the fault of the part. (You can always keep the factory PCM with you and swap out if your really worried.) I can't wait to hear the bitching when someone hydrolocks their motor due to removing the air box and installing a CIA and DC won't cover the repairs. I think Ian-GT-PT and others have shown how strong the motor is with bost controllers etc. I don't think there is much to worry about. I had an '86 Charger Turbo that I ran with the stage2 kit (14psi) without an intercooler for 250,000km. without an issue.

The way I personally look at it is I bought the GT because it had great style, handled great for what it is, has 215hp. AND it seems Chrysler was conservative with these numbers with most dynoing out at 200-210. Bonus.

Most "Superchips" and the like are going to void most warranties, it's an aftermarket part. The fact of Mopar designing our PCM should give us piece of mind thats its a quality part designed by the people who designed our motor.

All in all buy it or not, but I dont think 20hp is going to lead to a rash of heads blowing, and engines detonating due to exessive pressure. (and make friends with your service manager, every little bit helps)

Just my $.02, Thanks UniqTwin for your time and effort.

Don

[Steve03GT]

Originally posted by Dalite

Steve,

I hate to see her go also. She represented what may be the last of those who believed...

However, have you taken a real close look at the warranty statement on the Mopar Performance site? If I had been associated with a project, and put a year of my time getting the bugs ironed out and the product ready for distribution, I would have been embarrassed to associate myself with the company that published such a circular referenced warranty negation policy as was placed on their web site. As it is, I am outraged that the bean counters have put the talent on the chopping block with their "quantum stumble" of a warranty statement.

David, I agree with your points; but at the end of the day, her superiors are calling the shots, just as they do for the rest us who work, and we do what we're told - like it or not - or quit. Quitting is not an option for most of us.
IMHO, We shot the messenger!

It is a toss-up. Who affected her leaving the forum more? Was it the response to the sabotage presented in the warranty statement, or was it the act of sabotaging the project by issuing the warranty statement?

A little birdie told me the reason was mostly the "continuing" negativity; again, a classic case of shooting the messenger.
IMHO, we should've thanked her for taking our cause to a board meeting and moved on to another topic. Again, my .02

[DTs_PTGT]

From the way they talk about UniqTwin over at srtforums.com (she mods a forum there), she was more than just a "messenger".

[kgdptblue]

What a shame! Just a little reminder of what was chased away by all the pissin and moanin!

I appreciate the more positive feedback from this forum and would like to continue to post here -
Sidenote: There have been some comments of making calls/sending emails to Mopar - Can someone post the numbers they call or the email address they use. I want to contact these people to make sure they have the correct information. We have several tech lines, information lines, customer service, etc. that are taken care of by agencies - it would be better for me to contact them directly to clarify some of the issues that you have mentioned in this thread. -- Thanks!

We do have a "SteamRoom Forum" and I feel that the complaints should have been made there not the "Turbo Performance Forum"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!
[xx(]

[Kirby]

Was I negative? Please pass the dessert, but what are these rat hairs doing on top?

I had hoped that we would have someone to DISCUSS problems with. But when the first problem came up...back we go to written statements.

I really don't know whether Unique could help us at all... this is sure a CHEAP (no investment)way of advertising. I will feel that Unique was here on this site to do something more than push a product when she has tangible proof of someting other than regurgitating company verbiage.

True the threads on the PT site are more concerned with DEQ and Warranty, but the folks at MOPAR already knew that (look at stage one for SRT-4 25HP, stage one for PT 20 HP).

I think that DC is just yanking our chain.
If you think that we lost some invaluble resource by noticing that the kings new clothes were nothing, then I have a used bridge in Arizona to sell you.