Dodge Intrepid

mdey · July 2003

Remember the part where I said fool me once, shame on me?

andre1969 · July 2003

make the brakes any harder to work on? One thing I like about my Intrepid is that it takes maybe 20 minutes to change the front pads. Does ABS make otherwise simple stuff like that more aggravating?

emale · July 2003

mdey,

the part of your post that stood out was "chrysler won't fool me twice". i don't think chrysler ever set out to fool you or anyone else...just because you weren't smart enough to check and see whether the car had anti-locks is your own problem and noboby elses!

mdey · July 2003

I take full responsibility for my own actions, always have. And you might be surprised at just how smart I am. I repeat, fool ME once. I am disappointed in Chrysler, but I AM the one who overlooked the option. My problem is not intelligence; it is time (or lack of it).

I will pay better attention in the future though. With all of the discontenting that is going on in the auto industry, we all will have to.

You fellas sure do enjoy a good debate. Just remember that a good debater doesn't insult the opponent.

But let's return to the issue of ABS. How can a car without ABS be a good thing? Aside from the fact that you might actually need those airbags (which are still standard by the way--by law in the U.S. at least), and your insurance will be higher (my experience), how is a car without ABS better than one with ABS? I have two other cars with ABS and I have experienced "saves" under certain conditions that might have created a bad result without ABS.

As for changing the brakes, I just replaced brakes on four wheels, including rotors and drums, on a vehicle I own that has ABS. Following the shop manual, all I had to do was disconnect the battery.

smithed · July 2003

This is how they keep the price level. When I bought our '99 ES in 2/99, I got all the bells and whistles available for $24,000. 3.2 Liter, Autostick, Moon roof, ABS, Leather, two power seats, the fancy sound system etc. When I saw what they did in later years, I was not surprised, but made me aware of being careful.

The bottom line for me: Use Edmunds.com alot when buying, and pay attention to detail.

Happy 'Trepping

ES

mike372 · July 2003

of my Intrepid the other day, I could not help but notice how difficult it must be to replace the radiator. It looks like you have to take half the front end off! I mean, I am used to removing a few bolts and the cooler lines and, presto, the job is done. Maybe I will have to take a closer look but it seemed to be very time consuming. And the A/C compressor is also in a difficult place to get to. Well, so much for Chrysler engineering?!

ottowrkr · July 2003

Mike getting the rad out is not a hard job at all. If you remove what we at the plant call the diving board- 8 bolts 4 headlamp screws and a few plastic rivets that metal cover lifts off and gives you great access to the rad , belts and fans . You can have that piece off in 10-15 min. You must have the 2.7 , with the A/C compressor down below. Yup its not in a great place is it!!!

Also doing the brakes on a ABS car is no different than on a non-ABS car . As long as you dont open the fluid lines and have to bleed the brakes , everything is the same.

andre1969 · July 2003

I don't think it's the engineering that's so bad, that forced everything into such awkward places under the hood. It's more of a result of having to squeeze all that stuff into such a tiny place in the first place! With the way the front of the car tapers, and the slope of the hood, there's really not much room in there at all.

One thing I'm impressed with though, is the location of the oil filter. The 2.7 has got to be about the easiest car I've ever had to change the oil on! I can actually get to it without having to raise the car up. Just pull it to the edge of the driveway, where the ground slopes away from it, and I can get under there no trouble at all!

I wonder if the switch back to RWD, and the bigger, blockier looking front-ends, will open up some room under the hood?

riopelle · July 2003

I've cross-posted this news on the Intrepid replacement board, but I thought people here might be interested too:

I saw 4(!) lightly disguised Magnums here in Boston at 8am this morning, two on the Harvard bridge, two parked on Memorial Drive (for those of you who know Boston). Two were the wagon, two were a notchback sedan. They looked almost exactly like the show vehicle, as is typical of DC. They had incredible presence, and were lower than I expected (no taller in appearance than my protege) but that might have been a result of the small window, square jaw and wide stance. Awesome, radical proportions.

The notchback was less attactive to me, it had a CTS-like profile with a short rear deck. It was nice, don't get me wrong, but the wagon is the showstopper. I am very sorry I didn't have my camera with me!

I don't have anything else to add, I'm not in the market for a car this size or a big DC fan, but wow, it is gorgeous. DC is seriously on a styling role. Just thought I'd share with you the news. Take care and cheers.

mike372 · July 2003

If you do open the lines how is the brake job different on a car with ABS. I'm just thinking- I tried to move my moms wrecked GTS the other day and it didnt move very well. I know the front axle is a little screwed up but I expected it to move more freely when I gave it some gas. The front right line was severed in the accident and since the car has ABS I'm wondering if the brakes are locked up for some reason. Maybe I should try removing one of the wheels (other that the damaged one where the rotor was broken) and see if the rotor moves freely. I am thinking about fixing it up.

ottowrkr · July 2003

What you have to do with an ABS car when you bleed the brakes is open the solenoids in the ABS pump so that no air remains in the system . The factory service manual says to bleed the brakes the normal way first , then bleed them with a BRD scan tool to open the solenoids and then to rebleed them all over agin with no DRB .
I dont think the ABS is problem with that car , if the line is cut you would lose fluid and you would have no brakes . If it does not move well something is jammed or damged that causes the car not move

vikd · July 2003

...Wife is looking to unload the Civic. We saw your exact vehicle ('00 2.7l) with the standard automatic and 43k at the local dealership yesterday.

What are your general thoughts on this vehicle? I assume, since this is the Intrepid board, that there will be a fair amount of fans of this vehicle here and that's fine. I'd also like to hear about the concerns with this veh though, as well as the positives.

I've honestly not shopped the Intrepid before (like I said, this would be the wifey's) so I am pretty uninformed at this point. I would appreciate any feedback you, or anyone else, could give me regarding this veh. Thanks!

Regards... Vikd

jsylvester · July 2003

If the selling price of 2000 Intrepid SE's are what I think they are, I would not have any qualms about buying one. While I have an R/T, I think the SE may have a smoother ride, and I think the 2000's had not been so badly cheapened up yet.

That being said, there should be tons of used Intrepid's floating around, so I would take the time to look at a number of them. A lot of Intrepids have been either former rental cars, or owned by younger people who may not have spent the money to maintain them properly. So I would take my time and look at a few.

Jason5 · July 2003

Anyone else experiencing this? My trunk will open ONLY with the key...the remote works for the door locks and the "panic" feature but won't open the trunk. Neither will the trunk release on the dash.. OTTOWRKER...is this a fuse?

andre1969 · July 2003

Sorry I didn't get back to you earlier, but I just got back from the all-Mopar nationals in Carlisle, PA about an hour ago. Sad isn't it, that the first thing I do is get on the computer!!

Anyway, I've been pretty happy with my '00. It has just under 82,000 miles on it, and I can't complain. I hate to sound too generic here, but the best thing you could do is get a competent mechanic to look the thing over, and check out the usual trouble spots. Hopefully, you can see the service records for the car. The 2.7 is a good little engine, but I've heard it's prone to sludging if you let it go too long between oil changes. I always change mine every 3-4K (I try for 3K, but did let it stretch to around 4K a few times).

I believe they got most of the kinks out of the tranny by '96 or so, but they still keep on tweaking it here and there, with every new model year, so I'm guessing it's still not bulletproof. I get my fluid changed every 30,000 miles, just to be safe. I think the owner's manual says every 100K miles for "regular" service, and every 50K miles for "severe" service. I'm not taking any chances though. I'd rather pay the $100 every 30K miles to have my mechanic service it, than worry about a $2500+ repair sometime down the road. Maybe if I was going to trade the car in soon, I might be tempted to skimp, but I need this thing to last me.

Anyway, here's a rough rundown of things that have gone wrong over the years...

30K miles: new tires (OEM Goodyear Eagle GA's wear out FAST!), tranny service, alignment check.

35K miles: power lock actuator in driver's door went out, replaced under warranty.

39K miles: new front brake pads (I delivered pizzas back then, with a lot of stop-and-go driving. I was pleasantly suprised that they lasted that long, but I think others on this board have gotten more out of them)

~44K miles: rear door seal started to shrink, letting in air, but not water. Also, the passenger side mirror adjust went out, but I just left it broken, and adjust it by hand if it shifts.

51K miles: new rear brake pads, spark plugs, and thermostat housing. I've heard the thermostat housing is actually a common problem on these. At least, that's what my mechanic said. It cost about $210 to replace. The part was around $84, and the rest was labor to put it on. It had actually been leaking for awhile, but stupid me, it looked like it was leaking out of a nozzle, so I thought it was supposed to do that! That's what I get for being so used to older cars, that would actually blow off a little coolant when pressure got too high. I should've known that no new car is supposed to do that!!

62K miles: tranny service, alignment

69K miles: new front brake pads. I made the mistake of putting cheap, no-name pads on at 39K. This time around, I put some fairly expensive Bendix pads on, so they should last a lot longer.

77K miles: new tires.

And that's about it, other than occasional stuff like rotating the tires, every 3rd oil change, and replacing the air filter and pcv valve every 15K miles or so.

I'm honestly not sure when the belts and hoses come due, but the coolant is supposed to be good for 5 years/100K miles, I think. Just to play it safe though, I might have the belts, hoses, and coolant, and tranny, done in November or at 90K miles, whichever comes first. In Nov, I'll have had the car 4 years, so I figure that's a good interval, anyway.

As for gas mileage, I've gotten anywhere between just under 20 mpg (wintertime, delivering pizzas, running on that nasty oxygenated gas) to just over 30 (on a trip, running around the speed limit of 65...Dad was in the car and he gripes when I go too fast!)

I think 2002 was actually the year they started cheapening them up. One thing I noticed was that they quit putting carpeting and cloth on the door panels. The cloth was replaced with vinyl and the carpet was just gone, exposing the hard plastic underneath.

Somewhere along the line though, they dropped a few other things. I think they also dropped the rear sway bar (a shame, because even in base form, the 'Trep would outhandle uplevel versions of cars like the Regal, Taurus, Impala, etc), and the tint on the windows. Mine still gets hot enough inside with the windows all the way up though, so I'm not sure how useful the tint is, anyway!

Last time I was at the dealership was about a month or so ago for a recall...something about some bolts in the backrest of the seat that could break. While I was there, I looked around the lot, and saw about 5 or 6 '02 Intrepids, all base SE models, with about 20-25K miles on them, for around $12,995. Some of 'em had alloy wheels, some of 'em didn't.

Well, that's it in a nutshell...hope this helps. Also hope you're still awake after reading all this!!

ottowrkr · July 2003

jason , HHHMMM !!! thats a question that cant be easily answered over the web. But if both the button and fob wont make the trunk open , could be the little motor on the trunk realese unit itself. You would have to check for power and ground at the motor. then go from there
Hope this helps
Otto

93taurus · July 2003

This is my first message to my fellow Intrepid owners. Bought my Trep in 7/02. I rented a similar Trep on my vacation in Florida. I loved the car, so I purchased a 98 trep with a 2.7 litre engine, with 6.000 miles on it. The only problems that I have experienced was the a/c blew hot on a 100 degree day. The dealer took care of it after two attempts. I beleive they replaced a body control module, which was covered under warranty. Also they replaced the rear door seals at no charge. Has anyone considered a performance exhaust with twin pipes?

scott1256 · July 2003

My wife and daughter just picked up our 2002 Intrepid this morning. A silver SE, power seat, CD, keyless entry, bench seat, 21,000 miles. Final price was $10,800.
I also have a 2001 for business use that we bought in May of 2002, and I have been very please with it. It is hard to find a better buy out there right now - the value quotient is high.
The business car is a Chrysler Intrepid, bought in Canada as an Avis used rental car. Intrepids are badged as Chryslers in Canada.
Probably will look into the extra warranty for the new 2002 - wonder what that will cost for 5yr/100,000 miles?
Cheers,
Scott D.

andre1969 · July 2003

congrats on the second purchase! I don't know what an extended warranty would cost on a used car, but on my '00, when I bought it new, it was $1205, for what they call "bumper to bumper", although there's still a lot of things that doesn't cover. Mine also has a $200 deductible.

I got it through the dealer, and have never had to use it. I dunno if I overpaid or not, but I figure if the tranny or engine blows at 99,000 miles, it'll more than pay for itself!

I always thought it'd be kinda cool to have a Chrysler Intrepid...I think it would make a neat conversation piece! I wonder if that causes them problems though, selling Chrysler Concordes and Chrysler Intrepids in the same showroom?

ottowrkr · July 2003

andre1969- dont forget about the 300M , all three LH cars selling in one dealer .
I myself do not like the Intrepid being a Chrysler in Canada. Chrysler to me is the luxury brand of DC . The Trep should be Dodge , the performance division. The Cocncorde is luxury , the Trep sporty/performance amd the 300 luxury performance . I hope when the LX cars come out the Dodge version will be Dodge in Canada .

mike372 · July 2003

Your 02 Intrepid may have a transferable 7/70000 powertrain warranty as standard equipment. When I was looking for used ones, I called up Chryslers 800 Warranty number. Any Intrepid put in service after, I believe, the middle of July 02 has this warranty. I do not remember the exact date. Notice I said put in service, not the manufacturing date. Its a pretty good warranty, covering major engine and trans components.

mike372 · July 2003

just passed the 5000 mile mark. Still no dents, dings, etc. Looks showroom new. I actually received a few comments on the car (the last time I can remember was when my 1976 White Firebird Esprit was new). I think most people are attracted by the color- easily the best color for a Trep in my opinion. Also, no problems since the ABS controller was replaced. The A/C even works - a luxury I have not had for the past 8 years.

smithed · July 2003

Cleaned the 'Trep inside last night (vacuuming and treatment of the leather and vinyl), checked the fluid levels, air pressures. Heading out for what I hope is about 2500 uneventful miles over about 10 or 11 days. Up to Delaware through and over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, stop overnight, then on to NY City for the weekend, then over to western PA on Monday, if all goes well. 66,000 miles now, but will be nearing 70,000 soon. The 'Trep still seems like a new car to me, but now I realize it is 4 and a half years since I picked it up.

That steel blue is a nice color, unavailable in 1999 when I ordered this Champagne one. I tried to get the cypress green, but then it was only available with the dark grey interior, and I wanted the saddle tan. So ours is champagne with tan leather inside. The outside sure doesn't show much dirt.

I have had light colored cars for 20 years, but darker ones seem to be catching on. The whites and yellows are said to be more visible but sometimes the dark ones look so good when they are clean. They sure have cut down on the options as far as doors, paint, and interior colors over the years. All money saving for the manufacturers.

Keep safe out there.

ES 99

andre1969 · July 2003

I saw a new 'Trep in that Butane Blue color. Now that's a sweet color! Almost makes me tempted to trade in on a new one...almost!

That's dumb, that the cypress green only came with the dark gray interior. I'd think that a tan interior would go great with that color! When I bought my silver '00, I actually did want that cypress green, just from the color sample in the sales brochure. When the sales guy showed me a minivan in that color though (no 'Treps on the lot in that color to show), I didn't like it. Looking back, now I don't know why, but for some reason at the time it just didn't appeal to me.

It is amazing how fast the time goes by, though. It'll be 4 years in November that I've had mine. I cleaned it up real nice to take it up to the all-Mopar Nationals in Carlisle PA the other week, and aside from a few stone chips, and some minor damage to the front and rear fascia (they just don't make bumpers like they used to!), it looks almost new. Only real problem on the inside is that the steering wheel is starting to deteriorate around the 9 o'clock position. The dark gray material on the outside is rubbing off, exposing the foam underneath.

ES, hope you have a safe trip. Let us know how the 'Trep does! I might be going to a family reunion in NC in a few weeks, and I have a feeling that I'm going to get talked into being the driver! At least this trip would only be about 5 hours, but with relatives on board, that can seem like an eternity!

mike372 · July 2003

butane blue color. Its attractive but still no match for steel blue. I think its a new color for 2004. I will also be making some rather long trips this summer, probably to New York State and maybe to Lake George. It will be real nice to drive the Trep.

klausfischer · July 2003

I have an '01 SE not a hint of a problem with it, mine is Burgandy which is kind of rare and I love it, funny thing...at one time you wouldn't have caught me dead in any form of a red car!

ottowrkr · July 2003

Midnight blue is my favorite blue on the LH cars.

emale · July 2003

i always thought the bright platinum was a killer colour....i wish they'd have put it on the rams!

Jason5 · July 2003

I waited an extra 5 months to purchase my 2000 Intrepid ES for two reasons....additional "debugging time" and the arrival of the Steel Blue. Hard to believe that I took delivery on Thanksgiving of 99' and I'm about to hit 70K. My Intrepid hasn't worn so well on the exterior. Most of the damage is due to excessive travel this past year--highway. I'm sure the winter hasn't helped matters, especially with the severity here in Northeast. Seems that a number of us are in the same general area--eastern Pennsylvania here.

andre1969 · July 2003

I'm actually coming up to PA this Saturday! There's an antique car show in Macungie, which I think it about an hour from Philly? I've only been to it once, and that was coming from Harrisburg, so I can't remember exactly where it was in relation to Philly. It was east and seemed kinda north of H-burg, though.

I'll probably hit the 83,000 mile mark on my 'Trep on that trip. It's weird to think that soon, this car is going to have more miles on it than my '79 New Yorker! (about 87K right now).

About the only damage on mine is from stone chips. it's also creased just a little in the front fascia from where I rear-ended someone about 2-3 months after I bought the car. It also got whacked a few times in the parking lot, but nothing major. The silver paint shows no sign at all of fading. Considering that I park outside all the time, and don't wax it like I should, I'd say it's holding up pretty well!

My only real complaint is that the exhaust system started looking really rusty pretty early on. I don't think it's getting any worse, but it just doesn't look too pretty when you get up under the car!

mike372 · July 2003

I think my Intrepid has a stainless steel exhaust system. At least this is what the brochure states. But I have my doubts, because some of the used ones I looked at looked kind of rusty (the pipe that goes from the muffler to the resonator). I am not sure if the 2000's had stainless steel pipes. Well, anyway, my TBirds exhaust system is still the original (1989) so I expect the Trep's system to last a long time. Or maybe Ford builds better cars?!

mike372 · July 2003

do these Treps really have a stainless steel exhaust system??????????

Jason5 · July 2003

Well....say hello when you make it to the car show--it's in my backyard. The front third of my hood and the front fascia assembly look a bit rough on my Trep. I even stopped using touch up because I couldn't keep up with the nicks, chips and scratches from flying debris. I have no doubt that it comes from winter travel and the excessive highway miles I'm accumulated in the past year. That's especially bothersome given that I had the hood repainted and the fascia replaced in Feb 2001 after a women was kind enough to run a stop sign and remove them for me.
The lower black air dam was knocked free on a recent trip by a chunk of truck tire. Praise be to the wizards at Strauss Auto who always seem able to rivet it back in place. My rear fascia is also a bit scuffed--someone backed into me in a parking lot. If it weren't so costly I have the front and rear replaced. When I bought my Trep I did have them install the full front end "mask" (or bra depending on what you call it). But after a few curbs and driveways, the elastic bands were rubs through and broke. That would have helped despite the fact that it rubbed on the front fenders and left some superficial scratches.. The price we pay for a beautiful, low slung car I suppose..

andre1969 · July 2003

so how far are you from Macungie? Do you ever go to that car show? I forget the name of it...it's something German, like "Das Awchikt" or something like that.

My lower black air dam came off, too. In the course of delivering pizzas, I hit a 'possum and a cat. Thankfully, both of them lived (I'm too much of an animal lover and actually kind of a wuss when it comes to that stuff. God help me if I ever had to kill my own food!). But the cat took my air dam almost all the way off.

I drove around with it loose like that, but finally just pulled it off. I probably shouldn't have, as it probably alters the aerodynamics a bit, and might have some effect on the cooling system, but that was over 2 years ago, and doesn't seem to have caused any problems yet!

scott1256 · July 2003

Thanks for the heads up on the 7/70 warranty possibility. I called the toll free line, but our silver 2002 was put in service prior to the date the warranty was extended.
My daughter has put a fuzzy blue steering wheel cover - odd to say the least, but she likes it. She also has a small purple dolphin hanging from the rear view mirror, a purple/blue blanket and pillows on the back seat.
I want to get mud flaps on the car shortly, as I find this saves the lower body panels a lot of wear, and also am thinking of putting clear plastic shielding on the leading edge of the hood. Anyone have any experience with this?
Andre - the 'cinnamon glaze' 01 Chrysler Intrepid keeps on flawlessly at about 41,000 miles. I have seen one or two other Intrepids here in the US branded as Chryslers, but not many.
Cheers,
Scott.

Jason5 · July 2003

Like I said, it's in my backyard--I live in the Lehigh Valley. The car show is referred to as "Das Awksch Fest" from Pennsylvania German. Good food too....my brothers, father and I typically go for a few hours. Enjoy!

mike372 · July 2003

car show in PA. I live in NW Jersey so its probably not too far away. Is it just antiques or do they have classic cars (1970's) also.

andre1969 · July 2003

Here's a website I just found for this car show: http://www.awkscht.com/ They also have this map:

It's open to all cars up through 1983. I guess it was up through 1982 last year. I do remember a good number of 70's cars there last year, but there were tons of 50's and 60's cars, and even a good turnout of 40's, 30's, and older. I kinda liked that, because it's getting to the point at the Carlisle shows that it's all mostly just musclecars, and then the car corral is mainly overpriced junk. Now musclecars are cool and all, but I always like to see a wide variety of old cars.

My first time going was last year, but I want to try to make it a yearly thing. If you can make it, Mike, I highly recommend it!

Oh yeah, Jason, thanks for the correct spelling! I just noticed that if you pronounced it the way I typed it, your mother might wash your mouth out with soap!

mike372 · July 2003

that map was really cool. You must know something about HTML and web design. However, I thought I read somewhere that pictures were not allowed on Edmunds.com. I am not positively sure though. Well, anyway, are you definitely going to the show. I think it would be really neat to meet some of the car nuts that post on Edmunds. By the way, where are you coming from.

andre1969 · July 2003

it's not hard to post a picture. To post a pic, you just use this format: (img src="http://url_of_picture_you_want_to_post.com") But use < and > instead of ( and ). I used parentheses so that the actual wording would show up...otherwise it would try to post that bogus url I typed in.

Yeah, I'm definitely going. I live in Crofton MD, which is near Annapolis, but I'm driving up to Grbeck's place Friday nite. He lives near Harrisburg. We'll be coming out from that direction. I guess he's about an hour and a half from Macungie. We'd be coming out I-78 East. That'd be cool if you want to try and meet up. It's a big place though, so it might be kind of hard to coordinate. I guess we could exchange cell phone #'s or something. My email is jgandrew@hotmail.com, if you want to contact me. You too, Jason5...let me know if you want to try a get-together on Saturday!

andre1969 · July 2003

as for posting pictures, I've done it a few times before. I think there are certain restrictions, like no nudity. And before you laugh, I did have a pic yanked off once, that I posted of a '77 New Yorker. This one just happened to have three women in scanty bathing suits posed across the back of it, like they were trying to push it. It didn't go over too well with the hosts. Honestly, I was just trying to show someone that Chrysler still had flip-out vent windows in the doors by that time. Really I was! ;-)

pat · July 2003

Posting pics ... the most important rule is that you do not display pictures that someone else has copyrighted. I'm quite sure that the New Yorker would copyright its content whether it was a picture of "women in scanty bathing suits" or a picture of the flip out vent windows. (Yah, yah, yah andre!! ;-))

It's okay to *link* to pictures on public websites, just don't use the img src tags to actually display them in your message unless you own the copyright or are able to positively ascertain that they are in the public domain.

And I suppose the second most important rule is that the picture be topical. PRIMARILY topical, not somewhat topical in the background. If you get my drift.

mike372 · July 2003

what do you mean 'in the public domain'. Suppose I wanted to post a pic of an Intrepid from Dodge's website. Would this be OK.

andre1969 · August 2003

I'll have to post some of the pictures I took at the Carlisle all-Mopar Nationals. There must've been a good 30-40 or more LH cars, ranging from bone stock to wildly modified. Most of the pics I took were of older, classic cars (got a few of the new Magnum wagon though!), but I snapped off a few of the LH cars.

It was actually pretty inspiring, seeing how much people can get into their Intrepids, Concordes, and such. At the GM and Ford Nationals, you don't see people flaunting their Tauruses and FWD Impalas! (Impala SSes and classic Impalas, that's a different story!)

pat · August 2003

The safest thing to do if you do not own the picture yourself is to just post a link to it.

You are free to display pictures from edmunds.com here in the Town Hall (but not elsewhere on the web), but otherwise just post a link.

Jason5 · August 2003

Gentlemen....any other day but Saturday! I appreciate the offer, but I have a birthday party on Saturday with 10, 7 year olds. I would, however, be interested in considering other meetings. For instance I usually go to the NY Auto Show and Philadelphia show. The winter, I'm hoping to finally get to NAIAS in Detroit. Any takers?

smithed · August 2003

Cleaned the 'Trep inside last night (vacuuming and treatment of the leather and vinyl), checked the fluid levels, air pressures. Heading out for what I hope is about 2500 uneventful miles over about 10 or 11 days. Up to Delaware through and over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, stop overnight, then on to NY City for the weekend, then over to western PA on Monday, if all goes well. 66,000 miles now, but will be nearing 70,000 soon. The 'Trep still seems like a new car to me, but now I realize it is 4 and a half years since I picked it up.

That steel blue is a nice color, unavailable in 1999 when I ordered this Champagne one. I tried to get the cypress green, but then it was only available with the dark grey interior, and I wanted the saddle tan. So ours is champagne with tan leather inside. The outside sure doesn't show much dirt.

I have had light colored cars for 20 years, but darker ones seem to be catching on. The whites and yellows are said to be more visible but sometimes the dark ones look so good when they are clean. They sure have cut down on the options as far as doors, paint, and interior colors over the years. All money saving for the manufacturers.

Keep safe out there.

ES 99

smithed · August 2003

I am back from 2100 miles of travelling up and down the East Coast. The 'Trep did great, and comes back with new front brake pads, turned rotors, and two new tires. All of that was expected work down at my brother's shop. I saw lots of other 'Treps on the way through SC, NC, VA, MD, DE, NJ, NY, PA, and WV. None was stranded on the side of the road.

emale · August 2003

woah!!! smithed you have me totally baffled! both your leaving and returning vacation messages are dated today (august 4th). i don't get it...? did you travel 2100 miles in several hours...? what up...

mike372 · August 2003

Yes, I have to agree, that was an incredibly quick trip. I remember reading the exact same leaving message days ago. I am not sure how the two messages had the same 8/4/03 date. I suspect it has something to do with the 'bookmark' option.

Dodge Intrepid

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