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I agree with you wholeheartedly. Re/the 300ZX, if memory serves me correctly they made some improvements in the later years that were worthwhile (to the mechanicals) so give preference to those years. Funny how one in good shape looks better than most of what's out on the road now, and I'd bet performance is still in the ballpark with current offerings.
Regarding the 'M fading, was going through my old Car and Driver mags last night, and looked at an issue where they compared a 2000 M to the 2000 Acura TL. In Y2K, the TL was given a 5 speed auto (4 speed previously), and a few other updgrades. The M lost to the Acura by one point in the evaluation process. The score was something like 97 to 96. The M was judged to have the better brakes and transmission (yes the 4 speed better than the Japanese 5 speed), while the TL scored better for engine sophistication (variable timing) and fit and finish and I think refinement. Note that the '99 M outpointed the '99 TL. The difference is that Acura continued making incremental improvements that kept the press and public interested, while Chrysler did nothing and then actually started taking content OUT of the car. No need to mention which strategy worked better. Bottom line; the M was judged a better car in '99, roughly a tie in '00, whereas at this point in time the TL is better and still selling well whereas the M has faded sales-wise. But it's still a great car I think most of those that actually own one and drive would agree (with the exception of Pster who has had the car from hell).
With the exception of a few isolated cases, the 300M proved to be reliable and had very few "new model bugs". The first year Lincoln LS (2000), by comparision, was a failure from that perspective.
When I began shopping for a new car this year, it became evident, in my opinion, that the 300M still offered the best value for the money. There were cars out there that were appealing, but not at a price I was willing to pay. So I purchased our 3rd 300M (we still have 2). I still think it is one of the most attractive cars on the road...
Ive noticed lately that I have a ticking noise comming from my engine. Its only noticable when its in the garage, or next to a building (like a drive up window)... I opened the hood and tried listening to figure out where its comming from... it sounds like its comming from under one of the coil packs on the top of the engine... I can feel a tapping corresponding to the ticking coming from one of them, the others have no tapping feelings... Anyone know what is wrong ?
No problem. Glad I was able to find it so fast for you.
All-
Saw my first Crossfire on the road tonight! Just happened to go by the "award-winning 5-STAR" this afternoon and noticed that the Silver Crossfire that has been sitting in the same place for weeks was now gone. Tonight, while I was on I-95, that SAME Crossfire was in front of me. I know it was the same one because it had one of those ugly dealer frames around the license plate! Why people let the dealer put those things on is beyond me. The ONLY car that I ever had any dealer ID on it was Christine because it was a nice silver sailboat- the dealer's logo!
A prediction- the first thing that's going to break on the Crossfire is that silly "spoiler" that pops up and down according to your speed. The one I was behind must have gone up and down about 6 times at least because we kept hitting traffic and had to slow down.
Anyone see the new commercial for the Pacifica? They say "it goes well beyond the SUV"! SUV? They should have said- it goes beyond the station wagon! ;-)))
fastdriver
iRotors-Someone here a while back (I can't remember who and I'm too lazy to look it up!) asked what the club (Chrysler 300M Enthusiasts Club, www.300mclub.org )discount was for iRotors. I ordered mine yesterday and they are $249 for a set of 4, and the club discount is free shipping, which was about $27 in my case. They also had free Zinc plating ($50 value) through July. That's not a bad discount and well worth joining the club to get access to the codes and phone number needed. The discount alone would cover the club membership and leave 10 or so bucks to boot! Maybe they'll show up by the end of next week. It takes a couple of days to process the order and about 5 days to get from California here to Alabama. I received my silver caliper paint yesterday and I already have my EBC Greenstuff kevlar brake pads. Looks like I might have a nice project for next weekend. Maybe I can get my intake kit ordered and do everything at once. As always, I'll report on them when they come in.
Special Front Bumper
Special Rear Bumper
Special F & R L & R Rocked Panels
Special Signal Mirrors
Rear Spoiler
Avalanche type Hood Scoop
(2) new 20" Rims (they got bent)
The body guy will mold the hood scoop in for an extra $200, and paint the rest of the car for an extra $800... It will go in as soon as all the parts arrive... Definately will be better than b4
LOL....IF that's the case, I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of slow-moving Crossfires. I don't think that's true though because you said that it could be turned on or off. If it's off and DOWN, how is that different from JAMMED and down?
Time will tell.
fastdriver
Pster, $500 over invoice is allright, but some people have been getting that for the past year or so. If you want the car, I would think you might even get a rebate once the '04s come out. Acura has given rebates on the RL in the past. Also, re/the tranny, at least Acura would be more likely to stand behind their product than Chrysler. In any event, it's a nice car and happy shopping. If you're one of the guys (like myself) her who loves red, check out the Accord 2-door in red; it gleams! And the 165 HP 4 cylinder gets incredible mileage (24/34) and moves quite well; my mother has one.
Crossfire; I've been looking but have yet to see one! But I see a lot of Lexus SC430s, which cost double or more of the Crossfire; go figure.
Dustin, it was me who inquired about the rotors. That's a great deal you got ($249 for 4); I think the OEMs were more than that at my local dealer when I priced them. But you posted on 08-01, and stated the free zinc runs through July; did you mean August? I don't know diddly about rotors; is the zinc to improve looks and resist rusting? Does it have any other effects? And what was used as the base for those rotors, perhaps the OEMs? Did you compare them to the OEMs? I don't belong to the 300M club as I've been happy w/this board; but I'd considering joining to get those rotors. What does that cost if you don't mind my asking.
Ajpii; what is a "Car Club Member" which enabled you for a 20% discount? I need some parts and wouldn't mind that.
You also get free shipping on any order over $200
http://www.familyparts.com/id18.htm
Now for the Good news.....After surveying the damage, getting more and more upset, I found a nice, apologetic note shoved into the driver's door gap. It turns out the driver that hit my car works for the Protective service that patrols the apartment complex at night. I talked to the guy and he was very nice and has since had his company's insurance adjuster contact me.
Now, can anyone in the San Diego area recommend a good, reliable body shop, preferably somewhere fairly near the Carmel Mountain Road area?
I'm here in San Diego temporarily and don't know the area well, so I'd like to find a shop near where I'm living and working.
Lynn Flowers
McKinney, Texas (temporarily in San Diego)
I just replaced the tires on my 300M with with Yoko YK420's I like them a lot so far but will withhold judgement until after my 450 mi commute this week.
Unfortunately, the headlights are one complete unit so you cannot replace just the lense, nor can you clean it from the inside. If the dullness is on the outside, there are some plastic polishing kits that may help. This did not work on my 99 headlights, however. They were not only pitted on the outside, but had some sort of glazing, crackling on the inside. I ended up purchasing an almost new set from a club member who replaced his with HIDs. They run approx. $260 each new. I immediately put the Stoneguard covers on the lights to at least eliminate any future pitting on the outside.
lflowers -
Sorry I can't give any recommendations on a good body shop in that area. Fortunately I haven't needed to use one on quite some time (knock on wood). Poway may be a good area for you to investigate as well. Check with SDMike or Glennbp if you haven't already.
Yes there are side moldings on the Special. And they make it a real "special" event when you need to use the jack. But in spite of that, if you're getting the front and back cladding you probably should get the sides too.
Some observations:
1. Gas mileage was much lower than expected @ 21.2 mpg. However, the car had only 700 miles on it at the beginning of the trip and 1500 at the end. So the engine hasn't been truly broken in to yield maximum gas mileage. Plus we got into some horrible traffic jams coming and going on the 101 freeway, which definitely ate into the gas mileage -- it was a very busy weekend. But it sure was fun driving up and down the Monterey Peninsula, 17-mile drive and over to Pebble Beach with the sun roof open and the cool sea air! We saw a lot of Sebring convertibles making the same journey...
2. I noticed, when using cruise control, that the car would downshift on relatively minimal grades, speed up past the set cruise speed and settle back to the cruise speed. I have never noticed this on my 2000 M or my wife's 2001. I recall reading an article about the Pacifica doing the same thing, but they blamed it on the 3.5L engine being under-powered for the Pacifica's weight. I wonder if they have might have programmed the computer to downshift at certain resistance points for the Pacifica and decided the new settings would be good enough for the "lame duck" 2003/2004 300M's? Kind of a "one size fits all" philosophy...
3. With my accumulated gas mileage running low on the trip, I thought I would check the real-time gas mileage on the overhead center to see if it was improving. Bingo! I found something to add to my list of decontented features -- no real time display! Both the 2000 and the 2001 have this feature...
The decontented features may or may not have affected my decision to buy my 2003 M, had I known about them. However, I really don't appreciate finding them in this way. I truly believe car manufactures should be required, by law, to list all additions and deletions in continuing model vehicles, so the car-buying public is not deceived at the time of purchase. We should not have to personally inspect the hundreds of working parts in a car to determine if something has been subtly removed...
Getting down off my soap box for a minute, I still love my M!
But I just hope I don't find any more decontenting in it...
Otherwise, no significant problem with 300M X 2 years except occassional light show.
Intrepid, any plastic painted wheels? (Warning, cheesy humor ahead) And did you look under the hood? It's a bad sign if you see a squirrel on a treadmill where the 3.5 engine used to be.
Kind of frustrating to watch a formerly promising, formerly American automaker go down the tubes before your very eyes under the tutelage of someone named Dieter. But it took an American CEO to sell out DMX and its employees; can't blame the Euros for that. I think American CEOs beat even lawyers for grand theft (sorry to all you legal eagles out there--I know most of them are not sleazes, but the ones that are are VERY sleazy and cover a lot of ground). Back to your normal bat-channel now.
Last call for the Woodward Dream Cruise. August 16 in Detroit. You can check the WDC site for info on the Cruise, and the Club site to see what we will be doing. All M's and their owners are invited to join in the fun. Still rooms available at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Southfield [248] 350-2000. We Cruise the 16 mile route as a group on Saturday morning. Be there or be square.
Rotors-UPS says they will be here Thursday! I hope the rain will let up and I can get them and my pads installed this weekend. We are having an extremely wet and cool summer. It's August 5th, and we've already gotten the amount of rain that we would have in a normal year!
The facts: My M is early (i.e. Oct.) 2001 model year so it only came with the 3/36 and not the 7/100 (powertrain) basic warranty, which I believe the later 2001 M's got. Therefore I am unable to take advantage of the (fairly reasonable) deal from DMX to upgrade the 7/100 (powertrain) to a 7/75 Added Care warranty. (On the other hand, however, I do have a chromed shift knob.)
This means that if I want to buy the regular DMX 6yr/75000 $50 ded. "Added Care" extended warranty from Melton sales (with their 25% discount) it is going to run me about $1300.
So I have to ask myself if the next 36000 mi (and I will likely keep the car that long) are going to bring me $1500 (say, 1300 + 4 visits at 50 ded. each) in repair bills that this warranty would have covered.
The good news is that 2001's seem to be some of the more reliable M's out there, and my warranty repairs have been fairly few so far (dealer - actually a good 5 star- replaced my front rotors just under 12, radio has been changed out, BCM flashed once and trans re-set twice, seat bolt recall & driver seat travel adjusted once). I even still have the original window motors. But on the other hand anyone who reads this board has seen their share of stories (and not only from Fastdriver) about reliability.
So please let me know what you think, especially you 2001 owners and those of you in the 40-70000 mi range who have already been there. (Fast, I can already quote your answer so I will spare you from responding.)
As always, appreciate the advice this forum has to offer. Thanks a lot.
I've never used the extended warranty (knock on wood).
Lynn Flowers
I bought one of the car covers from Covercraft about a year ago; it was one of their top end designs and I think it had the word Noah associated with it, but not sure. Whatever it's called, the material was made by 3M and I want to say "Evolution 3", or something like that. It is lightweight, breathes well, waterproof, and protects well. When I have it on overnight in the winter, frost does not form on the car, thereby preserving the paint lustre. I was happy with their service (received it fairly quickly), the added lock and cable I purchased with it, and the cover material and fit. I would suggest just picking the material from their website that looks like it best suites your particular needs (the website is pretty informative) and go with it. 3M makes terrific products (where would we be without yellow stickies?) and that evolution 3 is excellent IMO.
BTW, thx for info on sun shade. Mine doesnt' fit well and isn't rigid enough; I'll probably pick one of these up. I'm not worried about the dash not being able to take the sun, but rather I like the way it decreases the heat factor when I get into the car on a hot day. Also, the NorthEast also had an amazing amount of rain in May and June, but it's gotten better in July. Hard to believe Fall is just weeks away!
Kupper, I have a '99 w/75K, and I would advise against buying that for $1300; it's not even a close call. My feeling is that once these cars get an initial bug or two out of them (window motors in particular) they are quite reliable. Be aware that the transmission input or output sensors sometimes fail (mine failed at 72K), but the car still runs on "limp" mode, and the sensors only cost about $20 and can be replaced yourself fairly easily. These engines are very reliable IMO based on few problems on this board. Serious tranny problems are also fairly rare I think. If you get a car like Psters, you might as well kill yourself now or junk it... just kidding Pster. The lemon you got made a deep impression on me...
Hope you post some pics like last year. It was nice to see the cars, the shine, the people and of course ottowrkr.
kupper25-
"....I come to the great hall of collective 300M knowledge for input."
This USED to be the great hall of collective 300M knowledge at an earlier point in time. There was NONE better. It was one of the most active topics in all of Town Hall, if not THE most active topic UNTIL the posters were driven out to greener pastures by the big kahunas! You couldn't miss this topic for a weekend or you'd have hundreds of messages to read. No more. So sad. Everyone helped everyone else out when a question was posted.
Life goes on.
fastdriver
The ride in our 300M was good the first couple of years and 12K miles, but since then it has been very rough. Clangs over pavement holes, especially at lower speeds.
With 22K miles on it we reached our limit last week. First, my mother-in-law rides in the M for the first time in a year and a half and tells the wife that it feels like the M's shocks are gone. Then we rent a full-size GMC pick-up for some major transport work and it rides smoother over our rough local roads than the M. Gotta get a decent ride out of the M. Can't afford to sell it an buy new at this time.
Problems:
1) 2 Window motors replaced (Fixed)
2) Driver seat movement(fixed)
3) Clunk in steering column (had R&P, steering shaft, cv boots, and ball joints replaced before it was fixed)
4) Leather tearing on seat (fixed)
5) leather wearing on steering wheel (Refused to fix)
6) whine, rough idle (never fixed)
7) burned out tail light (fixed)
8) check engine light came on (not fixed but went away)
I have 39k on my 300 right now.
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My driver seat rocked a bit also. They replaced different bolts (on the actual track not recliner bolts) than the recall and the problem has not resurfaced. I think this might be common in cars with easy entry features because I had the same problem with my infiniti.