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I wrecked my Accord 2 weeks back. I am driving my wifes car but eventually I need one so I am waiting for 0% ;-). I might get maroon color ( or whatever they call it). I am also considering Buick Century or Chevy Impala. I am kinda sick for Honda or Toyota. They are good cars but, they are boring.
My Intrepid was just returned to me yesterday. God how I"ve missed her! The 2001 SE rental kept my memories intact--even it was the "little sister with the nice personality" compared to my buxom Steel Blue bomb shell. Can you tell I'm glad to have her back? Turns out that the impact did a fair amount of damage to the front unibody. The front frame rails had to be removed, new ones installed and the unibody realigned. It was strange to see my car, sans front third--engine and transaxle lying nearby, at the shop. Fortunately, she drives and rides well. I was assured by the service manager that I wouldn't need to "quietly trade it" due to drivibility issues. So far no rattles, creaks or other problems. Total bill covered by my stop sign runner was $10,500.00 dollars--without my 6 weeks of rental car fees.
Total mileage right now is 18,300--still no problems other than my CD player which skipped and was replaced. Front seat track was replaced early on as well because of free play. Still very much enjoying my car. Mileage is still holding steady at high 17's to low 18's in town. The SE with 2.7 was a bit better at 19.5 to 20 intown. But I'll sacrifice that for the low end torque of my 3.2. Hope all is well with you...
As for tires, mine went right at 30,000 miles, and they were pretty bad at that time. The wear on the tread had actually started becoming noticeable at around 12-13,000 miles. I ended up getting some basic General tires from discount tire online. They're a bit harsher than the Goodyear GA's, but I was looking mainly at treadwear rating. The GA's that came with the car were rated at 300, and the ones I got were rated at 560. I went through those first tires in just under one year, and just didn't like the idea of making purchasing new tires a yearly ritual! BTW, I've put about 12,000 miles on the new tires now, and there isn't the slightest hint of wear on them.
-Andre
Marsha7...sorry, was away for over a week without regular access to the Web. The Sable's a nice car, but didn't have enough personality for me (one reason for the 'trep. I with the Intrepid had its adjustable pedals--I agree with you that everyone should follow Ford's lead. Just so you know, though, my favorite car of all time is the 1990 Honda Prelude with 4-wheel steering. Unfortunately, At the time I most acutely lusted after it, I was just starting medical school at an expensive private school, with only loans to sustain me, so I couldn't afford it. *Sigh* and I could've gotten 183K miles on it so easily myself.
Now for the conclusion to my tire story. I almost picked the Michelin X One. I ended up at Sears, during a sale, picking the Michelin "Roadhandler T plus", a Michelin product especially made for Sears. It is similarly priced to the X One, is similar to the X One as far as tread pattern (and therefore allowing my youthful, aggressive driving and cornering), and the tread rating is 540, not bad for a tire of this size. 80K Michelin warranty. As soon as I replaced the OEM Eagle GAs, I wondered why I hadn't done it sooner. The GAs are CRAP! The ride was immediately better, in fact better than when the car was new. I could corner without hearing squealing from complaining tires! The wet traction is wonderful. I should be able to report its snow traction shortly because here in Cleveland, we often get our last substantial snow of the season in April. So I'm happy with my choice for now.
More later...
25,300 miles and still happy with my 2000 'trep, 18 months and 2 wks old.
NeuronBob--should have seen what I was driving through most of my doctoral program. Ah...guess it wasn't that bad. You inspired me to revisit my length of ownership and mileage--I've had my 2000 Steel Blue ES beauty for just shy of 17 months and ran up 18,400 miles. You must REALLY drive... Long commute or many trips?
Couple curiousities for all to chime in on. First--how's the city and highway mileage? Second--what type of tire rotation schedule (front to back) are you using? Last--I'm NOT noticing any significant gains in gas mileage through my use of full synthetic motor oil; is anyone else? Loving my Zaino wax--but will have to wait until the new paint cures to use it for this season..
Hope to hear from you...
Bob
As far as the tire rotation schedule: My habit is not to--at least with the OEM tires, unless they are good ones. Because the Eagle GAs turned out to be terrible, I knew early in the ownership of my Intrepid that I was going to be buying a new set. On the other hand, our Dodge Stratus came with Michelin XW4s--an excellent tire providing good wet/snow traction. I replaced two of them because of road damage at 42000 with Roadhandler Sports (also Michelin). The remaining XW4s were replaced just last week after a total of 72000 miles. The tread wasn't even that bad on them. In part it was semiregular rotation (every 20K miles or so), but tire quality had more to do with it.
My mileage without air conditioning, as of the last tank of gas, was 22.4 with a mix of highway/city driving. It's usually 28 or so with mostly highway miles.
As for oil, I use real 5W/30 (though the oil jockeys at the quick lube places have a strange fixation of 10W/30...). I haven't seen a good reason to switch to the more expensive synthetic oils yet.
Thanks!
As for the Intrepid, its strong points are interior room, trunk room, and price. I hear bad things about quality, but my 2000 has 43,500 miles on it, with no major problems. New tires/tranny service at 30K, new power lock actuator (under warranty) at 35K, new front brake pads at 39K, and that's about it.
I have checked out the current-generation Diamante. It's a nice looking car, but to me just doesn't appear to be that well-built. It's also not nearly as roomy as the Intrepid. From what I've seen at our local Carmax no-haggle Mitsubishi dealership, it looks like the Diamante comes in the base model for about $21-22K, and the up-level, loaded model for about $26K. The Diamante has been a sales loser for Mistubishi for years, although this year sales have been up. I think it would usually sell about 600-1000 units a month. compare this to around 8,000-13,000 a month for the Intrepid. That's probably why there isn't much data on it, simply because there aren't that many out there. The main thing I didn't like about it was that the sheet metal seemed kinda thin, too much plastic that looked like you could take apart by hand, and the frameless door windows. The frameless windows look cool, and give the car kind of a "fake hardtop" look, but I can't imagine them sealing out the weather as well as conventional doors. Although I did have a 1979 Newport with frameless windows, that was still watertight in 1998, with 248K miles on it!
I hate to say it, but if you buy an Intrepid or Mistubishi, plan on losing about 1/2 of the value within the first two years. So plan to keep it awhile! I planned on driving my Intrepid until it dropped, (or was at least paid off) so resale isn't quite as important to me...I mainly needed room, and the 0.9 financing was what cinched it for me.
-Andre
I once recommended a Honda Civic to some friends, back in 1994. One of my other friends, a "Mopar or nocar" type of guy, got on me about it, saying that a Neon,which had just come out, or a Sundance should have been just fine...or at least a Cavalier.
Well, they bought the Civic, and I believe it ended up being the worst car they've ever owned!
As for my "Mopar or nocar" friend...he drives a 1995 Toyota Corolla now...go figure ;-)
Another thing I probably should have mentioned, is that I'm fairly tall (6'3") and was raised on big cars, so to me, a Maxima or a Diamante just won't cut it...they're compact at best in my mind.
Anyway, good luck with whatever you choose!
-Andre
homer: I agree with andre. The Maxima has better resale value. However, an Intrepid, if well-cared for, will last quite some time. I've had only one problem with my Intrepid--a tranny failure when the car was new, at 600 miles. This was probably a factory-related problem. However, I received such good service from my dealer (which basically forced a new tranny out of Chrysler, no easy feat) that I stuck with the car. I have had *no* other problems despite heavy use and I am extremely happy with it. Just so you know, the 2000 Intrepid reportedly has one of the lowest defect numbers among similar American cars--I think someone else in this group quoted this--so keep this in mind. Despite my experience, I have found my Intrepid to be reliable and comfortable. I only wish I could've bought an Intrepid R/T...
Now that we have moved to our new platform, we no longer have the requirement to stop and restart discussions after the numbers of posts exceed a certain limit. To keep from confusing our newer members down the road, we are going through the discussion list bit by bit and dropping the "part" numbers associated with some of our extended discussions.
Since this will be the permanent home for discussion of the Intrepid, I have removed the "4" from the title of this discussion and altered the name of the archived version to distinguish it from this one.
Please continue....
Pat
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I was hoping that quitting that job would mean fewer miles on the car, but now I'm just over 44,000 miles, and it'll be 18 months on May 6. So I'm still doing about 2400-2500 miles a month. I guess that's part of the problem with having more free time...I end up driving for fun instead of work (and there's no mileage write off for goofing around mileage like there is for work-related mileage)
So, I guess at the rate I'm going, I'll hit 100,000 miles in about 3 1/2 years.
Oh yeah, two new problems to report...
1) rubber seal on rear door opening coming loose
2) right-side remote mirror not responding...but at least it stopped in the right place for me!
-Andre
PS: Kinda wish I'd bought an R/T, too!
She dislikes my Intrepid and has looked at the Maxima, 300M and 2001 Diamante'. At this point she's leaning toward the Diamante'. The good news is that current incentives ($2000/1.9%) make it relatively inexpensive. The bad news is, that an Intrepid can be better equipped and had more cheaply--and you end up with more space and better handling characteristics. Plus considerably cheaper scheduled maintenance. In all fairness the Diamante' has slightly better ride characteristics and is a bit more quiet. Just a few thoughts..
My wife didn't like the Maxima's appearance relative to it's cost. She MUST have leather, CD and sunroof--at which point the Maxima is up in 300M territory..
In terms of reliability, I have no complaints regarding my 2000 ES. My mother's 1994 and an Aunt's 1993 (supposed the WORST years) have proven remarkably competent. Best Wishes...
I guess either one of the 3 will do now from what I hear!
Although I am partial to the Maxima for its powerful 3.0 V6 and
sport handling! The Intrepid will probably hold up after taking
good care of it. and the Diamante even though falling somewhat
short of the other two seems like a decent buy. I've talked
to a different dealers which hold these cars and the rebates
seem best on the intrepid. The diamante had good incentives.
I like all three to tell you truth and its downright hard trying
to choose one! But I'll make a choice soon after I read up a little
more on these cars and get some prices. Thanks for all your help!
The car is a 1995 ES. A/C problems surfaced at 431 miles past the 70,000/7-year extended coverage that Dodge gave for evaporator coil problems on 93,94,and 95 models (though 93s and 94s apparently were given higher mileage limits). A/C first leaked & was refilled in 1999, but dealership couldn't find any leak. Car was in storage in heated garage for 1.5 years (we foolishly thought we could find someone who would buy it). Now back on the road, a/c recharged again, but still no leak found. And now, it only blows hot air.
So far, I can't get Chrysler Customer Service to commit to any sort of coverage if we find that the problem is indeed the evaporator coil.
Has anyone ever had any success with Chrysler in getting coverage for a borderline warranty case? The mechanical problems with the car are a shame, since we otherwise enjoy the car.
Had a leak. Put it through the dye test and re-charged. This thing is costing a mint! Last vehicle was a Dodge Caravan. Air conditioning problems with that along with the head warping. Last Dodge/Chrysler vehicle I buy!!
At the time, I was doing a lot of stop-and-go driving, with some jackrabbit starts. I used to deliver pizzas, which isn't exactly easy on a car! I just hit 44,000 miles last week, which is 14,000 miles on the new tires. They haven't even begun to show the slightest bit of wear. I ended up getting General tires. I forget which style, but they're a bit firmer than the GA's, so you feel a bit more harshness inside the car. They've got a 560 treadwear rating though.
Come to think of it, I slid through a stop sign, too! I think I only had about 9-10K miles on the car when I did it, though!
-Andre
The trannies are very sensitive to the type of fluid used. Make sure your mechanic is aware of this, or it may never run correctly.
A REQUEST--Does anyone have any experience with the new Eagle Aquatred 3 tires?
Has anyone noticed when rotating their tires, that they get a "radial pull," or whatever it's called.
I went to Wal-Mart to have my tires rotated and then my car started pulling very strongly to the right (or left, I can't remember). When I went to my local tire shop, they said that the tires should only be swapped front to back and not across.
Has anyone else had problems with their 1998-2000 door mounted Infinity speakers? Either the plastic trim creaking or the speakers themselves vibrating or distorting? I occasionally hear a distortion in my speaker (without undue bass or high volume)and the plastic surrounds occasionally squeak. I notice that they were changed to a solid unit for 2001--at least on the 300M.
Still holding out for someone who has experience with the Aquatred 3..
LAST but not least--an observation. I've suddenly started getting better gas mileage at close to 19,000. Perhaps I shouldn't have used synthetic motor oil from 1000 miles on--maybe it keep the engine from truly "breaking in" until know. Took at trip on Friday and got almost 2 mpg more than on similar trips. Also find that my city mileage--never good but never bad at 17 or so is now over 18.. Oh well...the mystery of life adds excitment!
Another friend of mine actually owns 98 Intrepid and he complains of some ABS problems/failures also some front suspension trouble. Anyone heard anything on those?
Thanks in advane.
P.S. I tried to read the posts here but there are so many posts related to earlier models so I'm stuck filtering all the info...
I've also noticed an improvement in gas mileage at about 20K miles on my `99 Concorde LXi - 2-3 mpg better highway.
-Andre
I doubt any car that new should be showing A/C problems - or any other major problems, for that matter.
Also, DaimlerChrysler made more running changes to its 4-speed automatics about halfway through the 2000 model run - which means you might want to consider one of those, since it's an indication that there were still problems in the earlier designs.
been awhile since i checked back in here! you can bet i'm really missing my intrepid right now with gas nearing 2 bucks a gallon! my f150 4x4 supercrew is cruising right along altho it has its idiosyncracies just like every other car i've ever owned. currently it is on its third cd player in less than a year! hood had to be re-aligned and there are a couple relatively minor paint flaws that i'm not gonna do anything about. quality is job1 should still be reserved for the japanese!
i noticed in an older post that you remarked about seeing the new 02 dodge quad cab at the nyc motor show. do you think she is killer? i haven't been able to scope one out yet, only seen pictures. frankly i was underwhelmed. maybe in person i'll be much more impressed. anyway, i probably wouldn't trade the supercrew in until dodge offers the new semi-hemi 5.7l in the 03 model year. the quad cab truck will just be too heavy for the 4.7l to motor it around with authority. and i don't want the old tech 5.9l although it is a fairly durable engine. guess i'll start getting serious in another year.
lastly, i noticed you mentioned something about your infinity speakers. on my 00 intrepid i had the screws on top of the infinity speaker case replaced because the screw heads rubbed on the hard plastic weather strip surrounding the front door openings. of course this only happened with the door closed. but, the rubbing caused a clicky, squeaky sound that irritatated the hell out of me. there is a tsb out about this...
unfortunately the folks over in the supercrew topic are much less fun and less talkative then you guys...keep up the good work! i'll be sure to check back once in awhile.