Howdy GRM'ers
My neighbor is trying to give me his 2002 PT Cruiser . Seems to be is mostly good shape, needing belts and a hose to look good under the hood. Wife and I would be using it for 3x a week short trips around town and occasional 3 hr trips to Mom's place.
Does anyone here have experience with these? Do they have good bones? What do I need to watch for?
LiteGrz
In reply to LiteGrz :
The control arm bushings fail, which could cause poor alignment/tire wear/etc. if left unchecked. There are people who are fans of them, but they're generally not regarded as great cars. For free it might be ok, but I'd suggest not spending much money on it, and be willing to scrap it if there's any signs of problems.
I had one for a while. It was fine. Nice ride, handled fine, was a nice place to sit esp with the leather/suede interior. In my 5-6 years with it I did those control arm bushings, motor mounts and some other odds and ends. It wasn't the easiest thing to work on with the hood, but nothing terrible, within the normal bounds of a compact FWD. Cargo space was pretty great and the rea seats were plenty of roomy for my much-younger-then kids. Ask any specific questions you have.
Oh, timing belt. It was pretty annoying, repeated moving of the engine, and the cams don't lock so I got it wrong and redid it one time.
Basically a more heavily loaded down and harder to work on Dodge Neon that was made into a "truck" to get around fuel economy regulations.
I have not had good experiences with them, but that said all the ones I have encountered have not been owned by someone with any mechanical sympathy whatsoever.
If one was offered to me, I would probably be looking to not keep it in my driveway for very long.
Apexcarver said:Basically a more heavily loaded down and harder to work on Dodge Neon that was made into a "truck" to get around fuel economy regulations.
I have not had good experiences with them, but that said all the ones I have encountered have not been owned by someone with any mechanical sympathy whatsoever.
If one was offered to me, I would probably be looking to not keep it in my driveway for very long.
But with way more usable cargo space!
Plus Neons were pretty great
Watch for 2.4 engine front crankshaft seal leak
Not terrible vehicles. Timing belt is a 3 hour job with a cam locking tool. Front seals are mandatory when timing cover is off.
Control arm bushings are common issue but parts are under a bill and take a few hours to do both sides.
They arnt bad, tons of room, drive decent, and never really had any issues out of one.
I had an 01', terrible on gas. It started over heating, I did the t-belt and water pump. Still over heated after that and did the thermostat. An ok car, its just not very good at doing anything very well.
Depending on which version of pt it is. Makes a lot of difference. In general. all the things mentioned so far. And if no record of timing belt change or coolant flush, plan on doing them
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