style, interior comfort and looks, hauling room (for a small vehicle), stability and handling (even in the snow -I'm in Minnesota), reliability.

could use more power

This is in response to some of the negative posts I have read regarding the PT. I bought our Cruiser with 26K on the car. It now has 51K. It is a long distance commuter for me (60 miles round trip through sun, rain, snow and wind). Total expenses $300 to replace a faulty rear disc brake caliper plus oil changes and new tires at 50,000. Feels like it will run forever. Tight and solid. Could use a little more power but I added a K & N air filter and a low restriction exhaust and it helped a bit. Average MPG 24-26 with about 60% highway and 40 start and stop. Wonderful interior and very comfortable. Really the nicest car I have ever owned.

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Ford Contour, Mercury Mystique, Mazda Protege Wagon, Chrysler mini van

Other than review I like it wish I had bought a suv

brakes
turning
no power
gas

I have 17,000 miles on my car it has been in the shop twice for brake squeaks they said dirt but my front tires are always covered in black dust? sometimes seems like it is going to stall but never does

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town & country
jeeps 4
pontiac montana

1. Stable ride
2. Looks
3. Quality of finish
4. Roomeness for a guy 6'3" tall(245lb.)
5. Control locations for powerwindow,doors

1. rear drum brakes are very noise sounds like you are on steel caused by very hard shoes.....note have 50000 miles and they are only worn to a 20000 mile level probly wount need to replace till we due frount pads again so we suffer with the noise..chrysler said the new rears wont be that way so will change to new type next time round

This is the best car we have ever owned,it is roomy inside great for senior to get in out of it.The ride on the highway is unreal it is so stable you would think you were riding in a 50000 dollar carBMW,Lexuis...etc you get the picture. We have put almost 50000 miles on it and all we have done to the car is replace tires and frount brake pads,gas milage is average nothing to write home about

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1955 pontiac
1951 morris minor
1948 dodge
1959 pontiac
1961 ford
1961 dodge
1966 pontiac
1970 plymouth
1971 dodge dart
1975 pontiac
1971 dodoge tradsmen 200
1979 chev caprice classic
1991 dodge colt
2001 chev malibu

You can take the back seats out.

It's loud, the brakes suck, the brake dust stays caked on, the gas mileage sucks, don't even try to drive in the snow. All around, I would feel more comfortable on a bycicle.

It's a big piece of crap. I am ver dissapointed and will never buy another Chrysler again.

Quality
Looks
Roomy
Performance

-Poor gas mileage
- Lacks cabin air filter (watch the critters - they eat a hole in the plastic grid.)

I've had two PT Cruisers, and certainly feel qualified for a report. These are very good cars for the money! Setting aside the looks, they are roomy, practical cars with good fit/finish (especially the newer ones.) The GT, though, is a bit different....

The 2005 GT has the 230HP turbocharged engine. Mated with the automatic "slap stick" the gas mileage is horrible (about 16 MPG - not even close to EPA estimates.) Web searches bear this out. Never drove a GT with a manual, though my 2005 SRT-4 is more performance-tuned and still pulls down 26MPG average. Heads-up!

The rest of the story is bright. We LOVE this car. Though not near the acceleration of the SRT-4, its way above average. Handling - for what it is - is good. Driver comfort is exellent (especially if you're a big person.) Heavy loads don't faze it, and awesome storage.

This car draws attention with the chrome wheels, spoiler and tinted glass, but isn't too "look at me!" Great for a middle-aged folks that are too young for weanie compacts, but are really tired of the SUV scene as the kids get older.

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Toyota Matrix

Fun to drive. Comfortable for short folks like me. Great space --- seats 5 adults comfortably. Very roomy. Looks good.

Poor visibility looking towards the back. Poorly made, in the shop too often. Very noisy.

Car was great initially. It's a 5 speed manual transmission; fun to drive. Not to good in the snow however. Began having problems w/ hydraulic system, clutch & using lots of oil at 55,000 plus miles but dealer repeatedly said there was nothing wrong. Engine went at 73000 miles. Jasper installed that went up & caught fire after 1 1/2 weeks. 3rd engine installed & now, 2000 miles later motor mount bolt breaks inside engine & dealer says it's due to normal wear & tear. I've had it. Going back to foreign cars.

Cargo,Look,Price was great for this car at the time, I personally loved the interior for a small car

Brake System, tires replaced at 22,000,gas mileage is rotten, sits too low, bottoms out a lot

This car has been soooo frustrating. I bought it used and didn't notice the squealing brakes on the test drive. The next day I am shocked, take it back, they promise me these brakes are made to squeal. I trust them. I bring it back twice in the next 2 months, still nothing wrong with breaks they say. One year later, at only 37,000 miles, I am replacing the entire break system, UGH! I feel ripped off by Dodge at this point. The gas mileage is awful, I'm only getting 19-29mpg in the city. What I do love is the room, flexibility is seating, and look, it's just a lot of fun.

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1995 Montero LS

Absurd amount of space for riding on a Neon platform. Comparable fuel efficiency. Has plently of zip for having that much room. Love it or hate it, it looks like nothing else out there. Lots of features and comforts for a great price - this of course depends on the dealership. There are cons out there so use some sense.

Visibility is a little hairy out the rear. Feels a little underpowered when (and only when) you have about 600 lbs of passengers and cargo. No covered center console - all your junk(cell phone, change, tissues, etc..)is on display. Battery is a pain in the butt to replace.

I had no intention of writing a review but after reading several of the reviews I had to put in my 2 cents and address some of the (many) negative comments I have read. This car is made by Chrysler, not Mercedes or BMW or even Volvo. It cost me 14 grand, (used w/ 12k) not 40 grand. I can live with a "plastic interior" for car payments less than our cable bill. Our good friend vehicle is a '00 Avalon and I don't notice a glaring difference in interior quality as some people apparantly do (neither do the owners of said Toyota). Having bought a manual transmission, I can make no assumptions about the mannerisms of the automatics. But our PTC has plenty of get up and go. Have had no problems with passing on the interstate, car doesn't seem at all sluggish to me. In fact it has more pep than several other cars I have owned. Gas mileage is not fantastic, 21-25 mpg, but then again I can go to Home Depot and take home a monster gas grill. Try to do that in a Civic. Guess what? More space = bigger vehicle = less mpg. I would like to see the #s on a mpg comparison with a small SUV with similar cargo capacity. I'm guessing they are comparable if not favoring the PTC. The car looks fantastic, I get compliments more often in this than in any other car I have owned. The silver paint is holding up well (dark cars sure are beautiful but the paint fades and the inevitable tiny "air scratches" are much more apparent) and the chrome (plenty of it but very tasteful) still gleams. We do the routine maintenance and have no major problems. Had a small tranny leak (rubber gaskets shrink and get brittle in the winter, a fact of science. It will happen to a $45k car as well) but a quick fix and no repeat problems. Bottom line - the car has a ton a space for such a small footprint, has given us better than average reliability and performance, has distictive styling and is very affordable. Is it super fast and sporty? No. It is a tall wagon, not a roadster; ours has enought snort to keep us entertained. Does it get Civic gas mileage? No. But I can seat 4 people AND their luggage comfortably. And I am sure more economical than, say, a Pacifa or Highlander. It it a luxury car with a flawless interior? No. But you can buy 3 of these for the price of one Mercedes. Ya get what you pay for folks. Does it turn heads? Yes. All the time. This is not a vanilla sedan. I would recommend this car to anyone who wants a little extra space without having to get a big SUV. This car has lots of style but I wouldn't recommend buying ANY vehicle using style as the only measuring stick. And this car has other benefits in spades. I am not so enamored with my car that I am blind to its shortcomings. But if you are interested in one please don't compare apples and oranges. You are not going to get a 40 mpg, 0-60 in 6 sec, 200k miles without a problem, seats 5 adults and a 36 in tv, looks like a dream, aston-martin interior for under 20 grand wonder car. Simply because that doesn't exist. You will get a good little car with more room than it should have, a very well done interior, with decent mpg that gets around well and gets second looks.

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Similar? None. Other vehicles we own(ed) This includes pre-marriage. We don't go thru cars like kleenexes, really. 1972 VW superbeetle 1989 Pontiac Firebird Formula 1989 Pontiac Sundbird 1992 Ford Tempo 1996 Mazda 626 - another great car 1996 Chrysler Cirrus 2000 Toyota Avalon 2001 Ford Mustang 2002 Chrylser Sebring

Plenty of space for cargo and passengers. Versatile interior with removable rear seats. Hatchback makes loading easy. Interesting retro look--even when you're not in your fifties/having a mid-life crisis. Pretty comfortable for long rides.

RELIABILITY. More visits to dealership than I can count. Rumors about brake problems are true--apparently it is 'normal' to replace entire brake system every 25,000 miles. Transmission problems. The extended warranty (7 year/70,000 mile)is a rip-off. Chrysler defines 'wear item' pretty liberally. Normal wear items, such as belts didn't hold up very well either. Very noisy car in general. Unexplained squeaks, rattles, and various other noises practically from day 1. As so many note, visibility is poor, though you can get used to this. Still, seems dangerous especially in heavy traffic. Had to have radio replaced twice in the first several months of ownership because the CD player rattled badly and would not play CDs. Dealer told us that they couldn't hear the problem, though it happened practically every time we tried to put a CD in the player. Gas mileage isn't great if you compare to other cars. Decent by SUV or van standards, though.

We bought this car slightly used (10K) in 2003 partly for its looks but also because it seemed really functional without the size and poor gas mileage of an SUV. After a couple of years of ownership and about 50,000 miles, we've come to really regret our decision. This vehicle has been terribly unreliable--in the shop again and again (see weaknesses). The people at the dealership are nice enough but they continually told us that the problems were normal and acted surprised when we questioned each $500 repair job. Their strategy seemed to be to waive some nominal fee, while charging us extravagantly for each repair so that we would be thankful for the 'favor' they were doing for us. But this isn't about our dealer. We read many sites like this one before buying the Cruiser. Nearly all of the complaints then focused on visibility and lack of power. We felt (and still feel) that the versatility of the interior and the interesting look make up for these drawbacks--you can get on the highway and see with the mirrors and that's all we need. No, the real problem is that this, like too many Chryslers (I've owned three) is a cheaply made and often unreliable vehicle. I understand that all cars have problems and that all cars are machines with the potential to break down. This car is far more prone to these types of things, though, it seems. You might buy one and have no problems, but the probability is much greater than with other vehicles that you will. If you're thinking about buying the Cruiser, ask yourself if you can afford to pay ~$75-100 extra per month for maintenance. I've read plenty of reviews on this site with far worse problems than ours, but we still have had to pay, on average, that extra amount each month. We will never buy another Cruiser or accept one as a gift (should we be so lucky). Our 'Five-Star' dealer seemed all too eager to get our money and throw us crumbs to distract us. We're unloading the 'PT-Crapper' (thanks to whoever came up with that one--we laughed hard and knowingly) for whatever paltry sum a (non-Chrysler) dealer will give us. In short, Gary Sonji was hoodwinked. And so were we.

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Amazing interior space for it's size, versatility. Driver and passenger comfort. A small SUV with no truck-like drawbacks.

Acceleration is leisurely. Fuel mileage so-so, due the car's weight

Bought this car used in 2002 with 20K miles. Now has over 80K. I absolutely love it. Amount of usable space and configurations is amazing. Every new passenger has the same first reaction:"It has so much room!" I use it for a commute of 65 miles, and long trips, it's been perfect. 80MPH on the NJ Turnpike is no problem.