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Thanks
Let me start off by saying my Concorde did require 1,000 dollars worth of repairs between the 36,000 mile warranty and 50,000 mile mark...which I find a little on the high side but still within reason....on the possitive side I find the Concorde to be a truly beautiful car,reasonably well made,fun to drive,very roomy both in the driver seat as well as the back seat..plenty of power,very economical on the highway,handles very well at all speeds,and is fairly priced for todays cars.
On the negative side I find the Concorde to have limited leg room in the front passenger seat(if you are 6' or taller you will not find this position at all comfortable)...blind spot from the side view mirrors,hard riding car(feel all the bumps)and a very noisy riding car.
To sum it all up I have to say that I disagree with many of the previous posters who stated that the Concorde was junk...I feel it is a fairly well made car with many good points but also have to say that when I trade my car in next May I will not purchase another Concorde because of the hard and noisy ride of the Concorde.
I feel that the Concorde with a few modifications could be made to be one of the best cars made today for it's price but as it is now I would have to pass on purchasing another one.
I'm in the 45k-50k mile range and I need a new one for my '98 lxi $1250est.
Unfortunately these repairs can also be needed in lower mileage front wheel drive cars.
Do you have the Chrysler extended warranty?..If so I believe all 3 levels of the Chrysler warranty cover both the rack and CV {drive axle}
As far as a used Concorde, they are priced low, so a few repairs may not be too bad. Remember, on an 8 year old car, expect air conditioning and maybe some electrical problems. Age effects those systems the most.
You may want to look at the Chrysler enthusiasts site allpar.com for additional information. Good luck. ramrod
In my case at times my front passenger window would not work from my main driver window controls and it was a come and go problem.
I had taken my car to the dealer and the service dept said they could not duplicate the problem at that time and made no further attempt to fix it.
I then waited until it happened again at which time I immediately drove my car to the dealer and had the service writer see for himself the problem and it turned out to be the power window switch which was replaced and corrected the problem.
You had mentioned about a General mgr who said 95%of the people who buy the warranty never get their moneys worth...possibly he was referring to the fact that many buyers trade their cars in every 3 or 4 years and in that case only have less then 50,000 miles and for that reason never get their moneys worth from a warranty.
I have been in the car business about 25 years and have owned several car lots over the years and have close friends in the automotive business from owners to mechanics and just about all of them purchase the extended warranty when buying or leasing a new vehicle.
In my expierences any one who keeps their car for close to 100,000 miles will find the warranty to be very cost efficent.
He was also right when he said the warranty was a big profit item to the selling dealer and the reason for that is that there is no set price the dealer has to charge for the warranty and it is sold by the finance dept. after the point of commitment and sale of the car and most buyers just agree on the price given them which in many cases is much higher then could be bought for.
In my opionion I feel if you do your homework and know the true cost of the warranty and purchase it at a fair price and do end up keeping your car with high mileage it will prove to pay for it self and then some.
The 1st time, the motor was replaced under warranty. The 2nd time, I ended up paying the $50 deductible on my extended warranty.
Coincidentally, on both occasions when the motor failed, it was after I had come back from a 3-4 week vacation. This means, the window motor was not used for 3-4 weeks.
8-40-99
8-46-98A
My driver side window gets stuck in the up position, making it inconvenient sometimes at toll booths.
However since it happens infrequently, I just haven't brought it in for service cause of the hassle of it. Haven't had any other problems at all so haven't had any reason to bring in for service other than routine maintenance.
I ascribe the stuck window to dirty or grounded switch as it happens when it has rained or snowed a lot, or has been very hot for a few days.
I also cleaned off the glass area that seemed to have some kind of sticky stuff on it, don't know if that helped.
Rick
Thanks for your responses.
www.ehomebook.com/users/njerald
Click on Photo album, Click on LHS. 6 Pictures.
I have tries to silicone the gasket with no relief. My fear is that the window motor will blow, and this will of course happen after the warranty is up. Any ideas out there?
My nephew had a Chrysler van which developed transmission problems and a variety of other problems when the van had less than 75,000 miles. He was smart enough to have purchased the extended warranty. Unfortunately I was not.
Another nephew's Chrysler AS system went out shortly after the car was out of warranty.
I will never purchase another Chrysler product.
If Daimler Chrysler wants to improve business, they need to improve the quality of their product.
#58 of 71: Transmission Ed. 101 (indydriver) Tue 14 Mar '00 (11:40 PM)
If anyone is having tranny problems with their
300M, contact the service manager at Carson
Chrysler in Plainfield, IN (they're on the web).
He's become an expert after working on my car the
past year. I bought in Dec. 98 and now have 35,000
miles on the clock. Car was delivered from the
factory with the famous 'valve body' defect which
manifests itself by failing to shift out of park on
cold starts even though the digital dash indicator
shows it shifting. Trans eventually engages after
a few revs and pressure is built up. Replacing this
part involves complete removal of the trans from
the car--make sure you've got a good mechanic! I
continued to have shifting problems, especially a
"thunk" on the downshift from 2nd to 1st when
coming to a stop. Dealer replaced the TCM
(transmission control module) and Speed Sensor with
no improvement. Dealer finally nailed it by
replacing the solenoid controlling 2nd gear. Works
great now and I use the Autostick all the time.
Window problems are caused by the rubber seals
being too soft. Notice the smudge marks left along
the leading edge of the glass. You can help prevent
window motor failures by keeping this leading edge
of the glass clean. If you never clean it, it
tends to get tackier and tackier especially in warm
weather putting excess strain on the hardware.
Actually they have improved a lot.
You will notice that a lot of the 1999+ LH-platform owners (300M, Concorde, LHS, Intrepid) are very pleased with their cars. That is because they did better design work on these cars.
Same with the new model of Sebrings, much better cars than the previous ones. The new engines and transmissions are responsible for a lot of the customer satisfaction. DOHC designs vs. the old OHV engines.
I don't know about the vans if they are still on the same platform as before, but they appear to be better built also.
This platform seems to be quite sensitive to how/where you drive also.
I had the dealer align all wheels and balance them, three times in 25,000 miles.But have them definitely inspected after going over some bad roads (like those in Manhattan or D.C.).
About a month or so ago my driver side rear window stopped working for about 5 minutes and then just started working again and I didn't really give much thought to it until last week when I had a passenger in the back seat who was unable to open the back window...I tried from the main control on and off for about 15 minutes at which time it started working and has worked fine ever since.
Realizing that sooner or later in all probability the window would stop working at all so when I had my oil changed at the dealer today I told him about the window and to my surprise they changed the window motor...the repair was at no cost to me as I have the zero deductable extended warranty but I always ask the cost of the repair for curiosity and was told the replacement cost of the power window motor was...210.00 dollars plus tax.
It does seem that Chrysler has had a lot of problems with the power window motors but i'm sure other new car manufactures are having similar problems as well.
The fuel system is another source of trouble on these cars - leaks are common.
Other common failures: electrical system, air conditioning, and suspension parts.
Overall - have the car checked by a competent mechanic, and if available, buy an extended warranty. Chances are good you will need it. The 98+ models improved somewhat, but the first-generation LH cars were among the least reliable cars on the road.
I would suggest that you take the car to a reputable shop and let them put it on a lift and check for past frame damage as well as checking the drive train with their diagnostic equiptment and test driving the car.
A complete evaluation like this may cost about a hundred dollars or so but it may prove to be a wise investment.
As for the warranty....without question if it were me buying the car I would purchase the warranty if that was an available option.
I don't know too many people with older LH's. A friend of mine has a '94 Concorde with the 3.5, and he must have about 80-90K miles on it by now. I know he's had water pump, A/C, and brake rotor problems, and a few other annoyances. And there's a lady at work who has a '94 3.3 Concorde, that's pushing 100K. I think it's ok mechanically but is starting to rust on the lower edge of the doors.
When I delivered pizzas, 3 other drivers, at varying times, had first-gen LH's. One guy had a '96 3.3 Intrepid that he bought used, low mileage. I haven't talked to him in awhile, but have seen the car parked outside his house, so I guess it's still running. This other guy had a '96 or so 3.5, that was pushing 80K, and running fine.
Then finally, about the time I quit, this one kid had a '94 Intrepid that his mom gave him. I do know it was on its second tranny, but don't remember how many miles it had.
Well, I guess I know more people with older LH's than I thought!
It used to happen very rarely, only in the daytime, when I drive with the headlights ON.
Whenever the flicker occurs, the headlight also turns OFF and ON, similar to turning the headlight switch OFF and ON. ( When the headlight switches OFF the interior turns brighter and when the headlight comes back ON the interiors turn dimmer )
The dealer never found the cause. This problem has never occured even once during nighttime driving. So i just ignored it. I still have the car and it drives great.
The replacement cars...known as the next generation Chryslers will have rear wheel drive.
The article gave two reasons for Chrysler doing away with the cab forward design...the first being that the new Chryslers will have V-8 engines which will require larger front hood space....the 2nd reason being they were not big sellers due in part because of complaints about quality,reliability and ultimately low resale value.
I guess if the Concorde had a low resale value in the past now that it is being discontinued it will have almost no resale value....Thank God I only lease mine...
I have to say that I will miss the beauty of my 99 Concorde when I give mine back at the end of my lease in June.
I also have seen a picture of the new future 2 door Chrysler Hemi conv. and I have to say that it was one of the best looking cars I have ever seen....what a beauty...
Best of luck to all.
allpar.com has more info about this, and I think that is also where I saw some drawings. Unfortunately they have made lots of decisions which are to the detriment of what used to be Chrysler, its employees and its customers. Like cancelling the Neon and selling a rebadged Mitsubishi car instead. And it will not be a better car than the Neon, as it will be based on the current Lancer/Colt platform and will have smaller engines than the Neon.
It will be cheaper for them to produce, and so will make more money for the German company.
They also intend to source LH transmissions from Mercedes. The new LH design looks like some kind of retro design which even less people will buy. There is some debate as to what will happen to the 300N plans. Oh well, forget frickin Daimler, my next car to replace my 99 Concorde will probably be Japanese.
After viewing your profile and reading your posts in the 300M thread, I thought you might be better placed to provide an explanation:
1) I have mentioned in posts # 117, 142, 209, 211 of this same 'concorde' thread of a headlight/dashlight flicker that I have noticed on my 98 Concorde Lxi. Is it possible for you to throw some light on this ? I know a few other Concorde owners who have emailed me off-line with the same issue. The dealer has no idea of what's going on.
2) What is the deal with the Chrysler learning transmission ? What was it supposed to achieve ?
Any info is deeply appreciated.
Thanks
In my situation what I did was adjusted the brightness control for my interior dash lights to the brightest position without my interior lights coming on and that did correct my problem....leading me to believe the problem may be in the dimmer switch.
Prior to owning my Chrysler I have been a buick owner for many years and I have to say that the Buick dealer would always look much further into any problem reported to them regardless of wheather or not it was doing that when it was brought in but I find that with Chrysler service they are very fast to just say...can not duplicate the problem at this time...and end it at that.
This problem occurs only during daytime and only when I am driving with headlights on.
The effect is the same as the headlight switch being turned to the 'OFF' position and then back to 'ON' position.
So even when my brightness switch is turned to max brightness,as you suggested, it does not mean that the problem is solved. The headlights are still affected. Only this time, the interior dash lights are unaffected. This is how it is supposed to be when your headlight switch is turned 'off' and 'on.
Point: The problem still exists. Some sensor or software is turning the headlight switch 'off' and turning it back 'on' during daytime.
I got some new 205/70 tires for my 99 Concorde: Michelin X Radial Plus (maybe an OEM model for Costco? as I can't find it on Michelin's web page). Since I have the smaller 15" steel wheels, I did not have much choice. Boy was I shocked when I saw the price for each tire was $89. Last time I had purchased tires two years ago that much money paid for a Michelin MXV, the next higher in touring class tires.
It could be my imagination, but the tires slightly quieted road noise. Handling is maybe slightly degraded though when driving fast around sharp curves, as I think this is a harder tire with less grip than the original Goodyears.
The shop mounted them black face out.
around the windows on the outside of the vehicle. Everytime that I wash the vehicle, the trim has these streak marks that make it look almost as if it has an oxide problem. It looks horrible and I have not been successful in getting the trim to shine. Any suggestions?