Do Not ever buy a Dodge/Chrysler product!

[mamacags]

Why you should never ever never buy a Dodge/Chrysler product EVER!  In 2009 we bought a 2009 Dodge Journey.  It was roomy and had every option I ever wanted in a car.  It was slightly used with very low milage on it.  You know that Car Fax commercial?  ALWAYS GET THE CAR FAX!  Little did we know but we were the 3rd owners of this car.  The first owner was actually a Chrysler executive.  During that time they had mumerous items on the car replaced because they fell apart including the radio, brakes, rotors, and transmission.  You would think that being a Chrysler exec they would want to take pride in their product and NOT put a piece of crap car on the road.  But, no.  So they sold it to owner #2 who had it for about 5 minutes before stuff started falling apart and they traded it back in.  We never even knew about owner #2.  So unsuspecting us, we bought the Journey.  I should have known from the start when I put the sun visor down and the mirror fell apart.

We then had to replace the rotors twice and the brakes 3 times. The radio went out and that was $500 to replace. I would be driving it down the road and the car would turn off. I thought maybe there was a bad battery so we replaced it and it was OK for a while. Parts were always falling off of the interior. If it was plastic in the car it was broken and fixed or just thrown in the back. A couple of days ago I was driving down the road and a HUGE bang came from the engine. It was able to drive about 10 MPH so I was able to make it back home. I had it towed to a local place. They were convinced that I had wrecked it to make the transmission fall apart the way it did. A part just simply broke off of the car. I then had to have it towed to yet another place. So I call Dodge to see what they want to do about it since the car is 3 years old and through no fault of mine it was falling apart

Of course you can guess at this point what they said. Nope, you can't guess what they said. They said that the car had been flagged the first time the tranny was replaced so it had no coverage at all on it. We were never told about that to start with. So a Chrysler exec put this car back on the market knowing full well that it was a total piece of crap lemon. Why? I can only guess because they don't give a rat's hiney if America knows that their product sucks and they don't back it. They will just get bailed back out if they start to go under again. I informed them that I was going to make sure every single person I know or even ever met will know about this. After about $5000 worth of repairs to a 3 year old car I have had enough. If you go online and look up reviews for the 2009 Dodge Journey you will see this happened to a lot of people and Dodge wouldn't help ANYONE no matter when the claim was filed. I will never even look at another product made by them. Even if they made air I wouldn't breathe it due to the fact that it would probably be poisoned and they wouldn't give a crap about that either!

[formerlurker]

I am sorry you are dealing with this.  My husband has a 2012 Dodge Ram that he bought a year ago and knock on wood, he has had zero problems.     

[Jasonw560]

Every vehicle I have owned has been a Chrysler product.

First truck '87 Dakota- still running as of 6 months ago. (Different owner in the town which I grew up).

Second- '92 Jeep Cherokee- totaled (my fault)

Third- '96 Ram 1500 - Drove it for 15 years. AC system finally went out. Traded it in.

Now- '09 Jeep Patriot. Not a problem with it so

[wasp69]

I have not owned a Chrysler/Fiat product in many, many years.  They run, but will nickle and dime you to death if not outright fall apart in your driveway.

[mamacags]

Good thing nothing was wrong with any of yours because they don't even try to kiss you before they go in with no lube.

[CactusCarlos]

Why you should never ever never buy a Dodge/Chrysler product EVER! 

Chrysler took stimulus money - Toyota didn't. 

[Mr Mannn]

I have a 9 year old Toyota. Paid off, running like a top.
The problem isn't Dodge/Chrysler....its the UNION that made it.

I will NEVER buy a UNION car ever again!

[BlueStateSaint]

When I met her, my wife had a Dodge Colt--made by Mitsubishi.  The tranny went on that one (my fault), so we got her an '01 Toyota Corolla with 63,000 miles on it, and ran it until July, when we traded that in and she's driving an '09 Corolla S that had about 63,000 miles on it.  I was driving a Saturn SL sedan for the last 11 years until July, and that got swapped along with the Corolla for the '09 RAV4 I drive now.  We've made the transition to a company that didn't take bailout money, and doesn't have its' union tack on $1400 per car for its pensions.

[Conservative_Sangfroid]

I have had MOPAR products in the past, but don't currently have one. 

I like the charger station wagon.

They make the BEST mini-vans.

It doesn't have anything to do with unions though.

[Skul]

Have owned two Chysler vehicles.
Will never again purchase another. Both were from the early eighties, both were crap.

[J P Sousa]

My daughter and son-in-law just bought a 2012 Dodge Grand Caravan. He was showing me the flimsy tailgate hinges and some other less than "solid" parts. 

He closes the tailgate "very carefully", already had it fixed once.
.

[whiffleball]

I had a '63 Dart slant 6 transmission that my Dad bought for me in '71 for $400.  It ran for me through 200k miles until the body started to rust.  I was driving it with holes in the floorboards.  I sold it in '76 for $150.

Then, along comes the '73 Polara.  The damn thing wouldn't start if it was damp outside and that was only one of its problems.

I don't know if the Dart was just an anomaly, but I'd never own another Dodge. 

[Undies]

1959 Imperial by Chrysler.  The most beautiful American car ever built.  It was slowly downhill thereafter.

My first car was my mother's hand-me-down.  It was a solid white 1964 Dodge (no other name - just "Dodge").  It had the push-button transmission and The best A/C ever.  I loved that car.

Then in 1968 my Dad bought a green w/less green vinyl top 1969 Chrysler New Yorker.  Problems abound.  I think it had problems because it was green. 

[MrsSmith]

I bought a Chevy Lumina minivan that was full of "cheap" parts..."cheap" parts that cost hundreds to replace as there were no 3rd marketers.  The window motors were worst, I replaced 3 or 4 of them at $600 per motor, parts cost. (I did the labor.)  The door handles were also crap, when we were down to one working door, I finally replaced all the handles at something like $150 each...one of those broke a couple months later again.     I will admit that the motor and tranny did well, I ended up with nearly 200,000 on that one before the tranny went out.

We now own a Dodge Caravan.  The motor and tranny in it are pretty impressive.  We bought the thing with at least 240,000 miles on it for $3000 just to get us home when the Lumina lost its tranny.  That was 8 or 9 years ago, and that Caravan is still running.  I can't tell you how many miles it has on it because all the dashboard gauges completely died about 6 years ago.  We track speed with mile markers and a stopwatch, and keep track of our trips and fill up every 300 miles (and carry a 1 gallon can of gas just in case.)   

[Evil_Conservative]

I am so sorry for your nightmare. 

Unfortunately, your ordeal did not surprise me at all.  This is nothing new from the horror stories of GM (before the bailout) either.  Like another post, I would try to stay away from anything union made. 

[Boudicca]

The problem might be buying a used vehicle.  The last one we owned cost us so much extra money to keep repairing, it would've been better to buy new.  Since then, we've always bought a brand new vehicle, finance rate is lower and we have the peace of mind knowing it hasn't been pre-abused by another person.
Just had to trade in my 2002 Chrysler 300M.  I LOVED that car.  The only thing ever wrong with it was the transmission, which the dealership repaired with a minimum of fuss while it was under warranty.  What can I say?  I have a new Hyundai Genesis now, but that Chrysler last me 10 years, and I was sad to have to give it up.  However, being stuck in Tucson 75 miles from home at 1800 on a Friday night half a block from Auto Mall Road, with a shorted out electrical system, was a sign we couldn't ignore.
Still, my Chrysler was easy to find in a parking lot and I loved the body...my Genesis looks like every second vehicle out there.

[Evil_Conservative]

The problem might be buying a used vehicle.  The last one we owned cost us so much extra money to keep repairing, it would've been better to buy new.  Since then, we've always bought a brand new vehicle, finance rate is lower and we have the peace of mind knowing it hasn't been pre-abused by another person.
Just had to trade in my 2002 Chrysler 300M.  I LOVED that car.  The only thing ever wrong with it was the transmission, which the dealership repaired with a minimum of fuss while it was under warranty.  What can I say?  I have a new Hyundai Genesis now, but that Chrysler last me 10 years, and I was sad to have to give it up.  However, being stuck in Tucson 75 miles from home at 1800 on a Friday night half a block from Auto Mall Road, with a shorted out electrical system, was a sign we couldn't ignore.
Still, my Chrysler was easy to find in a parking lot and I loved the body...my Genesis looks like every second vehicle out there.

I don't think it's a used vehicle thing.  I'm on my third used car and it's 12 years old.  Runs great.  We have to replace a couple of small things here and there.  All repairs have been under $200.  Used vehicles are great as long as you buy a vehicle someone really liked and cared for.  I'll always buy used because new vehicles aren't anything special.  You just get a car no one else has driven.

[BlueStateSaint]

I don't think it's a used vehicle thing.  I'm on my third used car and it's 12 years old.  Runs great.  We have to replace a couple of small things here and there.  All repairs have been under $200.  Used vehicles are great as long as you buy a vehicle someone really liked and cared for.  I'll always buy used because new vehicles aren't anything special.  You just get a car no one else has driven.

What I realized when I got the RAV--it had just come off of a 3-year lease.  The lessee had taken care of it, else he would have paid through the nose when the lease elapsed.  So, I'm going to buy a previously-leased vehicle when the time comes for the RAV to go (wich should be 10+ years).  Hell, if I could swing it, I'd get a Prius V off of a 3-year lease for my wife in a few years.  Her main qualification, after "reliability," is "fuel economy."

[Lacarnut]

I have owned 6 new Nissan/Infiniti vehicles ...(2) 240 SX, 300Z, (2) 350Z, and a 2011 G37 which I will trade in on a 370Z. All have been great cars. Tires and batteries are the only thing I have had to be replace. The only big 3 car I would consider is the Vette, and then I would get an extended warranty.

[Evil_Conservative]

I have owned 6 new Nissan/Infiniti vehicles ...(2) 240 SX, 300Z, (2) 350Z, and a 2011 G37 which I will trade in on a 370Z. All have been great cars. Tires and batteries are the only thing I have had to be replace. The only big 3 car I would consider is the Vette, and then I would get an extended warranty.

I loved my 240SX!  It was such a great little car.  One of our neighbor's has a 240SX (same body style as mine, the 95-96 body) and it makes me miss mine so much.  It's just not a practical car for a family.  haha

[NHSparky]

I drive WAY too many miles to lease a vehicle.

My Jeep is a 2008, and at 110K miles (knock on wood) runs effin great.  Only had fluid changes and tires, and FRONT brakes so far.  Rear ones are still over 50 percent.

Might have a lot to do with 1--being garaged, 2--not a lot of "town" driving, almost all highway miles.

Compare that to the 2001 Toyota Tundra I owned (new.)  Biggest POS truck EVER.  Will never own another Toyota--it's Ford/Dodge/Nissan in that order when I buy a new truck, and I'm seriously leaning to the F-250/F-350 just because those have a better towing capacity (most F-150's only do about 7500 lbs without special order differentials.)

[RobJohnson]

Sorry to hear about the Journey.

I bought a new 2010 Journey the winter of 2010 from a local dealership. I am friends with the owners of the dealership and this is a small town.

No problems and I have a lifetime warranty. I just rolled over 12,000 miles. I live very close to work, which is nice.

Eventually if the car business picks up I will be working at the car dealership in some capacity, but right now it looks like long boring days to me.

They keep making me job offers. I won't simply do sales. I would need to be a sales manager or internet sales manager to make it worth my time spent there during the day.

[mamacags]

It isn't just a used car thing because if you read the reviews and complaints about the 2009 Dodge Journey almost every single one says the same thing.  They suck, they fall apart, the brakes have to be replaced all of the time and the transmission is a pile of crap. 

[Eupher]

I was born and raised in and around the city of Detroit.

Needless to say, it will be a cold day in HELL before I buy anything made or managed or unionized or underwritten by any of the so-called "Big Three."

For those who have had great luck with Chrysler products, good for you. You might be lucky or you just might appreciate poor ergonomics, crappy workmanship, sloppy fit and finish, and oh, did I say unions?

 

[DumbAss Tanker]

You almost have to wonder if the union guys knew this one was a company exec purchase when they were slapping it together...