I suppose that part of my hatred for them is the fact that every one of them that I have ever seen on the road is driven by an asstard of epic proportions, whose sole occupation in this realm is to berk up mine, and every other commuters day beyond belief. I am a firm believer that at least 60% of the crime in todays society is directly tied to people not possessing adequate means of releasing the decade of pent up rage derived from inhabiting the same stretch of road a s a PT cruiser operator.
Judging by some of the pics you guys have posted, it looks like the car could have a stock shifter. I looked under the car briefly and noticed no other modifications besides the S/C ( if it even has one). No sport exhaust, coilovers, etc
I know these car have a bad rep, I wasn't looking to buy it, but maybe if the price was a little lower I'd consider it for the cool factor ( supercharged PT.. c'mon, lol) It would be the perfect sleeper to take on the local honda fanbois
In reply to 4cylndrfury:
Hyperbole much? Every car can be driven by an asstard owner, and I've seen more than my fair share of them in Porsches and BMWs, and yet I still like Porsches and BMWs. 
Iv'e seen very few PT owners bolloxing up traffic. Mostly for me it's Toyota and Jeep SUV owners on cell phones doing it.
Chrysler may have sold a metric E36 M3 ton of them but that did not make it a good car. Same as VW sold umpty gazillion air cooled Beetles in spite of the fact that they were built like a tin can, even the latest ones.
I dislike: the styling, the seating position, the really crappy feeling manual shifter, the indifferent build quality, poor quality interior materials, how difficult it is to do ANYTHING on them, etc.
In their defense they will take an amazing amount of abuse and continue to run. Like an old Chevy they will make noises that sound like the clearances on everything were checked with a ruler but still get where they need to go.
Sky_Render wrote:Kenny_McCormic wrote: Also keep in mind the PT Cruiser is a vehicle solely built for CAFE trickery, it just had to sort of limp along through the warranty period to bring up their light truck fuel economy..Riiiiiight. The fact that people kept buying them in droves had nothing to do with it. That car is not worth $6K, though.
People have bought a lot of E36 M3 in droves over the years(see nearly all the other non flagship Chryslers from the 90s up until about 2 years from now), doensn't mean they were any good. "Look how cute it is!" sells a lot of cars. The fact of the matter is the PT cruiser is a parts bin car built the wrong way, they made a big car out of little parts. It was cheaper than redesigning all the pickups, so they built this hateful thing to make up for it.
Remember, I have a Sunfire AND a Yugo, so I have room to talk about not so great cars.
Well, say what you will, hater-folk, but I have one, work on it entirely myself, and, as an appliance, it's quite nice.
Slow and boring, sure, but no worse to work on or less reliable or bad on the inside than my wife's old 98 Civic, and it can carry a hell of a lot more. Also, parts are really cheap.
Kenny_McCormic wrote: Also keep in mind the PT Cruiser is a vehicle solely built for CAFE trickery, it just had to sort of limp along through the warranty period to bring up their light truck fuel economy..
At a best of 29 highway under the old rating system I can't believe that CAFE standards was ever the main goal of this car.
Keeping in the ChryCo stable a similar year neon got 36 Highway, and the same 2.4 with both autos and manuals pulled higher numbers in the 2nd gen cloud twins.
Curmudgeon wrote: I dislike: the styling, the seating position, the really crappy feeling manual shifter, the indifferent build quality, poor quality interior materials, how difficult it is to do ANYTHING on them, etc.
And my expereince in OWNING one is diametrically opposite yoursl. Wonder whythat might be? I DROVE is 70k miles, including long trips and the seating position was excellent for me and my wife. I LIKE the shrunken '37 Ford styling. in and out. I like the steering wheel and the body color panels on the dash. I liked the ergonomics of it. I liked the manual shifter, very hot rod like, and not vague at all. I don't see how the interior materials were poor quality, but then again it wasn't a $30-40k car so it didn't have to have Lexus levels of luxury.
Basically, you are telling me MY car was crap, and MY taste was crap and my point of comparison was crap and that you, borrowing one or renting one once have more knowledge and more insightful experience than actually OWNING one for 5 years (and being part of a rather large owner's group). It's insulting and closed minded is what it is. 
And kenny, working on only broken ones will give you a jaded view of anything. I see it from BMW techs all the time when the talk turns to cars like my E38. But compare the total number you work on with the total number sold and the percentages come out quite a bit different.
I wonder how many of you people with unreasonable hate for this car actually have any experience with them?
neon4891 wrote:Kenny_McCormic wrote: Also keep in mind the PT Cruiser is a vehicle solely built for CAFE trickery, it just had to sort of limp along through the warranty period to bring up their light truck fuel economy..What are you talking about? Mileage SUCKED, on par with minivans and small SUVs. Just with out the size or AWD of either.
yeh, mine only got mid to upper 20s on average (and only about 30 on the highway on longer trips). But it was considred a truck, not a car, like minivans tended to get tested as.
neon4891 wrote:Kenny_McCormic wrote: Also keep in mind the PT Cruiser is a vehicle solely built for CAFE trickery, it just had to sort of limp along through the warranty period to bring up their light truck fuel economy..What are you talking about? Mileage SUCKED, on par with minivans and small SUVs. Just with out the size or AWD of either.
Still above the big trucks they were selling at the time by 5-10 mpg, it was good enough, the whole car was just good enough.
kevlarcorolla wrote: Haha,anyone I knew that had one now lives in a home,has no memory of family members and is spoon fed soup daily.
They're the de facto delivery truck now that the Ranger is out of production.
neon4891 wrote:Kenny_McCormic wrote: Also keep in mind the PT Cruiser is a vehicle solely built for CAFE trickery, it just had to sort of limp along through the warranty period to bring up their light truck fuel economy..At a best of 29 highway under the old rating system I can't believe that CAFE standards was ever the main goal of this car.
They were classed as a light truck so they helped bring the average of their truck fleet (meaning, the RAM 1500 and the big SUVs and such) up. 29 highway is pretty awesome compared to 10!!
stuart in mn wrote: I wonder how many of you people with unreasonable hate for this car actually have any experience with them?
sure I do - I have to look at them every damned day
My MIL has one and it is insanely more reliable that the 92 Protege (bought brand new) it replaced.
When they first came out, the PT Cruiser Club had their national meet at the Carlisle Mopar show. We accidentally stayed at the same hotel that the club was hosting their banquet. It was a weird scene.
The PT people that insisted their car was a street rod because they added some decals were bad, but the one with all the airbrushed Elvis murals and neon lights was too much. And they kept driving around the parking lot all night playing Elvis tunes.
A friend had one as a rental car once. We took it to lunch one day. It was OK. The dash & windshield layout reminded me of another friends old Super Beetle.
The two times I've test driven PT GTs, I've been impressed. I almost bought one once. I wouldn't pay that much money for one, but I'd hold out for a well maintained GT from an older driver. It might go for a little more than one that wasn't maintained, but these can be a bit to get up to snuff if undermaintained.
Honestly.. I dont like PTs too much myself, but im on the side that says 'they're not that bad'.
It's basically a roomier 2g neon with BETTER styling (keep in mind how ugly every non srt/acr 2g neon is...) and a worse engine bay. That may not appeal to a lot of enthusiasts but it sure isnt the worst thing ever.
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