Chrysler Concorde Prices Paid and Buying Experience

ijennings1

I'm looking to buy a 2004 LXi or possibly a Limited within the next 6 months. I'd be grateful for the following opinions and advice.

 

Is the standard servicing easy? E.G. Oil and filter, air filter, disc pads? In other words, are they easy for a guy to work on in his garage?

 

Does the 3.5 engine have a rubber timing belt or chain? If the former, how often should they be changed and what is the cost?

 

I'm English and have lived in Kansas City for 2 years. A lot of people in the motor trade have not spoken too kindly about Chryslers reliability and construction. They say this is refelcted in their low resale price. Is this a fair comment? To me Japanese and German cars are well overpriced. I can buy a 2004 Concorde LXi here for the same price as a 2004 Civic or Corolla!

 

I currently drive a 2000 Taurus SES Duratec and am pleased with it. But Fords dealerships and Detroit customer service are a joke, just like the U.K. How do you find Chryslers back up service to its dealers?

 

Any other comments will be appreciated.

jlawrence01

Some points:

 

1)If you are happy with your current drive, why do you want to trade it in? I have had so many people sell vehicles that they like for a car just to have problems with the new vehicle. You are going to take a bath selling a Ford Taurus due to its depreciation.

 

2) Chrysler has some very stylish vehicles. Most of my drivers are in Chyrsler products and they have many other options. They all seem to have a warranty issue or two in the first year that is readily fixed at the dealership.

 

The vehicles, including the Concorde,tend to be very comfortable and easily fit five adults comfortably.

 

3) Thye tend to be relatively trouble free for the first 70-80k and then start to have some reliability issues - usually electrical.

 

That is my .02 worth. There are others with more experience

andre1969

is going to vary from dealer to dealer. I actually heard one of the salesmen at the dealership that I bought my Intrepid come out and say "our service department sucks!"

 

The 3.5 does have a timing belt, but it doesn't call for replacement until around 105,000 miles, so I wouldn't let that scare me away from one.

 

As for servicing, well my Intrepid is just a 2.7, but changing the oil is simple as can be. I just pull the car to the edge of the driveway where the yard drops off a bit, and can actually get to the filter and drain plug without even raising the car up. The air filter's easy to get to, as well.

 

I just replaced my front pads and rotors at 98,000 miles. Very easy to do. Once you get the caliper off, there are just two clips that hold the rotor on, that are pressed down over two of the 5 wheel studs. Pop the clips off, and the rotor just slips off. Not much harder than changing a tire, actually.

 

Still though, Jlawrence is right. While I'm a Chrysler fan, I don't have anything against the Taurus. And if you're happy with the car, and it's serving you well, I'd just hang onto it, and maybe try to find a local independent mechanic that I trust, instead of messing around with the dealer.

 

BTW, Jlawrence, have any of the Mopars in your fleet had the 2.7 V-6? I've heard that there can be a sludge issue with these engines. Have you heard, or had any experience with that?

ijennings1

Thanks to Andre and JLawrence for taking the time to reply. 'Taking a bath!' That's a new one for my repetoire! I haven't heard that before.

The main reason to change is the first owner took the depreciation hit, so I got the benefits so to speak. I also want disc brakes all around, the brakes are a weak point on saloon Tauruses as you may know. I always change my cars around 80,000 miles, as in my expereince (53 years young), cars start to cost money after that, as things wear out. That's a law! I also love the shape of the Concorde and when I drove one for a test drive (a 2001 LXi), i liked the handling and road holding but could not afford a Concorde then. I would also like climate control. Last but not least, I just fancy a change! It may not make financial sense, but sometimes you have to live for today a bit, especially at my mid-life crisis age! I love the new 300, but can't afford it! But I hired one with the 2.7 and boy was it underpowered! A great car otherwise.

 

Thanks once again guys and happy New Year.

 

Ian

andre1969

if you bought the Taurus used, anyway, and got some use out of it, you're probably not going to lose too much money on it. And I can understand getting tired of a car, and wanting a change! And at this point, if you can still find them, you should be able to get a killer deal on an '04 Concorde.

 

One thing I should point out, though, is that while the Concorde and Intrepid do have disc brakes all around, IMO brakes are not a strong point on these cars. I don't have ABS on my Intrepid, and a Concorde LXi would most likely have them, so that might be part of my problem. But I don't really see much of an advantage with my Intrepid's brakes over my previous car, which was an '89 Plymouth Gran Fury. It had disc up front and drum in the back. However, it was also an ex-police car, so it had some incredibly beefy brakes. I could actually lock up the Intrepid's brakes easier than I could the Gran Fury's.

 

Overall though, the Intrepid and Concorde are good handling, comfortable, roomy cars. The transmissions used to have a bad reputation, and I think that still affects people's perceptions of the cars today. If it's any consolation though, my '00 Intrepid has 100,330 miles on it, and the tranny shifts the same now as it did when it was brand-new.

 

I've had a few problems here and there, but nothing too major. Probably the biggest things were the power lock actuator in the driver's door (fixed under warranty at 35K), the thermostat housing which leaked ($210 at my local mechanic), and the oil pressure light which came on at idle once warmed up, around the 87,000 mile mark (fixed by a TSB...it was a wiring/electrical problem and not a mechanical one).

 

The only reason I had to replace my rotors was because the pads wore unevenly, and the inner one on the driver's side wore down to the rivets and cut into the rotor. Unfortunately, the wear indicator was only on the outside pad!

 

My passenger side power mirror assist broke, but I just left it alone, since it was where I needed it to be. And I think that's about it, as far as problem areas.

 

BTW, I like the new 300, too! But considering that the 2.7 is only adequate in my Intrepid, I know it has to be awful in the 300! And while the 3.5 is supposed to be pretty decent, I figure that if I'm going to get a car like this, I might as well splurge for the Hemi! But I'm just not ready to plunk down that kind of money on a car just yet!

jlawrence01

Andre,

 

I have had no problem with sludge issues. However, do realize that we generally replace the vehicles at 3 years which is around 40-50k miles which may not give us enough time to have the problem. Also, since I am paying for the maintenance, our drivers get an oil change every 3-4k miles.

 

The two most recent issues with the Mopars has been a bad fuel line which meant that it took the driver about 10 minutes to fill his tank up with gas on an Intrepid. Also, a Pacifica had a pretty severe transmission fluid leak a few weeks ago.

 

I just think that it is a jinx to replace a reliable car. (The devil you know is better than the one you don't.) On the other hand, I don't mind $1000-1500 a year in repairs as much as I mind writing a check for $300 each month.

Sylvia

Reminder that this is to discuss Prices Paid & Buying Experiences. If you would like to discuss issues with the vehicle or comparisons, feel free to do so in the main vehicle discussion Chrysler Concorde

xpresser

$5,055 Total (usd)
$5,000 + $55 title/registration fee

'99 Concorde LXi, 90k, 3.2 engine, one owner (non-smoker), immaculate inside, no dents of any kind in body at all.

Hold together baby...pleeeaaase!

ccrider

Have '99 Concorde LXi, 3.2 engine, $120,000 miles, fair condition (dent on passenger side), non-smoker. What should I get for it as a trade-in?

reuel3

Have you asked your question in the Real-World Trade-In Values discussion? You should have better luck there as the discussion is actually focused on that topic.