feels solid comfortable on long trips roomy for passengers and cargo brakes better than our two sports cars

gas mileage, both highway and city very sluggish motor and transmission alcoholic

I had never owned a new car before and became interested in the PT. The price was right,I liked the look it had, and it had plenty of room for myself, my husband, my three kids, and my Labrador. Unfortunately, it has begun to hiccup. Big Fat Beer Drinking Hiccups!! At complete stops i have to throw it in neutral and apply the accelerator until we can move, fingers crossed that we will. Worse are the hiccups when I am on the interstate, which is my preferred way to travel. At speeds in excess of 75 (yeah, it takes a while to get it to move that fast), she runs great, then HICCUP! Not good. Not Safe. Have purchased a convertible from a different auto maker for fun and am trading the PT in tomorrow for a minivan (yuk) for the kids and dog! P.S. I am nowhere near the 55+ crowd.

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none

5 speed out standing......good

rear end...like to put spring shocks on this......

Wow.....55 years old ....feeling 25..... a real confort car....great seats....good views.......good gas...29 0n highway(60mph) over that it goes down ...some

Appearance. Is not as affected by styling changes. Roomy. Solid feel. No squeaks or creaks. Car runs great on regular gas, but it is sensitive to brand. Does not run well on Mobile. Runs great on Exxon. Runs OK on Shell.

I agree with the forum that gas milage is not good. I get about 22 highway. You will fill up more than once per week with regular driving.

After reading the reviews I decided to write this since my experience seems somewhat different. My PT just turned 50,000 miles. I bought the car new in April, 2002. I have the manual transmission. Except for the OEM Goodyear tires, the car has only needed routine scheduled maintenance (plus recall). My dealer is excellent! Oil changes about $20. Other charges equally as competitive. Brakes are still OK. Every now and then the manual transmission is hard to put in gear, but it works flawlessly after short warm-up (although after reading some reviews I will be more watchful). I have the silver paint -- no problems. In fact, it still looks new (garaged). The car is slightly under-powered, but it is in the acceptable range. It moves OK at 80+ MPH (get decent tires). Acceleration in gears 3 and4 is good to excellent. So far, I am completely satisfied. I loved my Honda Accord (5-speed) which my wife kept through 275K miles. But the Honda had its quirks (needed clutch and transmission work at 100K miles -- replaced twice @$1,200 ea). So far, the PT is a good value for the price - even with the warning of $1K clutch/transmission work in my future. Based on what I have read here I would suggest new buyers to purchase from a consumer friendly dealer. It has made a big difference in my experience compared to what some have reported.

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Honda Accord, Mitsubishi Galant, Pontiac Fiero.

Value for price paid... 150 HP Base engine... Head room and leg room if front and back seats... Many extra options... Power Windows, Intermitent Wipers, Rear Wiper, Rear Window Defroster, Car Mats, 6 speaker Stereo, Tilt Wheel...the options a driver really uses, included on the base model.

I admit... if I were 22 years old I would beat this car into the ground in less than two years... Like every other car I owned at that stage of my life.

The PT Cruiser is a great value for the price I paid. I'm 6'3" and the car offers enough head and leg room in the front seat and the back seat. I don't fit in any other small car in this price range. As far as being a quality car or not goes... the 2002 Honda Civic that I paid a premium price for to get good "quality" was a lemon. My point is, any car can be good or bad and you need to have the understanding that they are all machines and they all wear out. Decide how much money you can afford to spend per month for the expected life of the car and spend it... Pay top dollar for a "good" car or buy an "cheap" car... you end up spending about the same amount of money in the end. I buy what I like without much consideration of the ratings. As far as how much gas it uses goes... it's a more powerful engine than many other cars in its price range... and how much power do you really need? At some point in everyone's life they get tired of paying $600-$800 year extra for insurance because of speeding tickets and figure out that "speeding" gets you there two three minutes faster on average (10 hour road trips excluded). Driving on public roads is not a sporting event...you don't get a trophy for being the first one to get to the next stop light... The PT Cruiser is a good looking utility vehicle and a good value in it's price class.

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Other cars that I have owned in order: 1976 FORD LTD - first car. 1974 Chrysler Gold Duster - the slant six never died. 1972 Chevy Impala - the 400 cubic inch engine was very powerful. 1983 Chevy Cavalier - this was a very under powered car that I killed. 1986 Chevy Cavalier - V6 that I tried to kill but kept had enough power to survive. 1989 Chevy Cavalier - V6 that General Motors refunded my purchase price for - Lemon Law - it had transmission issues. 1978 Chevy Impala - 305 V8 - these cars are hardto kill - very dependable. 1979 JEEP Renagde - was a second vehicle that I drove on week ends... still in the family. 1983 Oldsmoble Toronado - 305 V8 with 4 Barrel Carb... nice car... expensive to keep all the options repaired. 1993 Chevy S-10 Blazer - 4.3 L V6 - was expensive to maintain. 1993 Honda Civic - owned at the same time as the S-10 Blazer - this car is really a best buy - I drove it 100,000 miles and then sold it for half of what I paid for it... 1994 Nisson Sentra - it was a good car - a mini-van ended it's life. 2001 FORD F150 Pickup Truck - 4.6 V8 - nice truck - did not need towing power. 2002 Honda Civic - not enough head room and had major quality issues...sometimes you get a lemon. 2003 FORD F150 Pickup Truck - 4.6 V8 - replaced the Civic with the model truck I really wanted. 2005 PT Cruiser - Current purchase replacing 2001 F-150 that only get 16 miles per gallon... saving me about $300 year in gasoline... I'll be 41 years old in October 2005 and don't abuse my cars anymore...

The reliability. Decent gas mileage (24-28 mpg)and very comfortable to drive long distances or short. You don't have to crawl into it. It sits up high enough you can usually look directly into the eye of the person you're passing in their little SUV, pickup, or minivan. My son wants it when I get ready to give it up - but I don't see me giving it up anytime soon! :o) Lots of room (hauling groceries is a breeze - I even hauled a Duncan Phyfe hutch to a dealer in it).

Can't think of any. Oh . . . it was supposed to have heated seats and didn't, but that was my fault for not checking before I drove away in it!

I LOVE my PT. I've had it since December of 2000 and have driven it coast to coast - literally! I drove it to Alaska and back (lived there for a year!)It handles great in the snow and even on the ice. We had to have heaters put on the oil pan/engine block/battery while in AK due to the 53 degree below zero temps during the winter. My car now has 115,000+ miles on it and hasn't even had a tune up yet! I just had tires put on it at 80,000 miles to make the trip to AK. It's very tight, no rattles or squeaking even after driving the AlCan Both Ways! This has been the best car I've ever had. The only thing that has ever gone wrong was a couple of months ago, the fog lights wouldn't go off. They unplugged them for me since I don't ever use them.

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Nothing similar. Had a Mazda 626 before and the transmission went out on it. Had a Miata and just needed more room. Drove a little Nissan extended cab before that and a Ford Ranger before that. The PT beats them all!!

Nice body style. Good use of seating room. Chrysler Warranty roadside assistance is most helpful and concerned for the driver's safety.

Clutch Assembly Gas Mileage Extended Warranty - beware that any wearable part is not covered and not thouroughly explained at the time of sale that this includes the clutch or any clutch related parts.

I've haven't owned an American made car for 20 years but love the body style and decided to purchase a 5speed 2001 PT Cruiser. It was used so I purchased the extended warranty with powertrain care and believed that it was covered from end to end except for the tires, brakes and windows. 1yr later,I was traveling to work when suddenly I could not shift into 1st gear. I soon learned that the only way to shift was to turn the engine off put the car into gear, start the car back up and drive but I had to tug to get the car to shift into 2nd, 3rd or 4th gear. I was only 3 miles to a car repair shop so I pulled in and had them check out the situation. The transmission fluid under the car and the clutch reservoir were full and not dirty and to take it to a dealership as they were not sure what could be causing the shifting problem. I took my car to a reputable Chrysler dealer who told me that the diagnosis is the clutch disc has gone bad and it is not covered under any part of my warranty. I was under the impression that everything on the vehicle was covered with the extended warranty that I had purchased for 3yrs or 80,000 miles. I guess the person selling me the warranty didn't think about it being a manual transmission and to mention to me that any issues with the clutch are not covered. I was told in order to drive the vehicle, the clutch disc would need to be replaced and the cost was $1,000 plus taxes and is only guaranteed for 1yr. This car does have 71,850 miles on it but I'd never heard of a clutch going out that early. Only clutch I've ever replaced was on a 10yr old vehicle with 216,000 miles on it. The car is nice and drives well but be aware of the 2001 5speeds models as this clutch issue seems to be occurring more regularly on this type of car. I agree, This is really weird! And more weird, Chrysler is not doing anything to find out why this is occurring and if vehicles with this clutch style/model used should be considered for the clutch to be recalled. Buyers Beware...

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Body style 5 speed has pretty good get up and go

Turning radius Blind spot (I lay the front passager seat down when no one is in the car) Manual transmission problem - may need new clutch or pressure plate

I initially fell in love with the body style. I have never owned an "American car", but decided to go for it. So I bought a new 5 speed 2001 PT Cruiser. I had not experienced any real problems before 3 days ago when all of a sudden as I was driving I could not shift gears. The only way to shift was to turn the engine off. Then I could shift to any gear. However, if I started it up in first, I could not shift to any other gear. I had to drive about a mile in 2nd gear. When I arrived home I turned the engine off and sat for a few minutes and then turned the car on and it was fine. I drove about 1/2 mile with no problems. I drove the next morning without any problem. That afternoon when I got in the car I could not shift. I had the car towed to the dealer and was later told that the mechanic could not find anything wrong. He would need to pull the transmission and it may need a new clutch. But even if he put a new clutch in he couldn't guarantee the problem would be fixed. I said forget it. I'm not going to pay $1200 for a new clutch that may or may not fix the problem. I'll go get the car tomorrow and take it to another service center and see what they have to say. This car only has 24,000 miles. I have always driven cars with manual transmissions and never had a clutch go out with only 24,000. This is really wierd.

extreamly cool retro looks,excellent interior room, smooth ride,( like a Caddy)decent acceleration ( could use 50 more horses)

gas mileage

Ive owned My 05 Touring Edition for about 1 and 1/2 months and so far iv been nothing but happy with this car it feels smooth and it has adequit power to move along the highway just fine, the gas mileage could be a little better but other than that i love this car. I was actually pulled in by the sticker price and being a former Chrysler owner 6 times in the past i just couldn't pass up the deal i got on mine. i just took it on a long distance trip this past weekend and i was extreamly happy with its performance like i said i love everything about this car except the excessive gas consumption especially with the price of gas going up everyday.

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theres no other car like this

Solid feel, extremely versatile interior with ample room. Seating position is good, seats are solid but comfortable. Love all the standard options (PW, PDL, Heated exterior mirrors, premium sound). Enough pep to get on the freeway and merge with traffic. I personally would reccomend running the car with a higher octane gas then recommended, and using synthetic oil. The car burns hot and to extend the life of the engine synthetic is the way to go. Has been very reliable transportation-with looks to boot. I would have a hard time going back to a boring looking Japenese sedan.

Exterior finish-the color is fabulous, but I wonder about the longevity of the paint. I keep mine well waxed and garaged! Turning radius is a little crappy, but after you drive the car for a while you get used to it and can compensate for it. Squeaky breaks, a car that looks and drives as well as it does should not "squeal" coming to a stop! Ride can be a bit harsh although I expected it to be with the touring suspension

After reading some of the reviews I had to write-people who rent the car from an agency are not a good barometer for measuring this car. I have had my PT for over 3 years and have had almost no trouble with it. Aside from a bad harness that caused problems with the automatic locks the car has been reliable, trustworthy and solid. I would rank it as one of the best automobiles I have owned. It isn't a race car, but the power is adequate and for the size of the engine and the weight of the car the gas mileage is where I would expect it to be. It would be fun to drive the turbo and see the difference between the standard engine and the "souped up" one. The car feels solid, especially when closing the doors. Gets lots of attention-I have the dark patriot blue paint-color gets lots of comments.

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98 Camry-you know the one with the "oil gelling problem" Toyota didn't want to "fess" up to? 95 corrolla-loved this little car, 93 Probe-good for 89,000 miles, 92 Tempo-One of the worst cars ever, ever manufactured, 90 Escort-No comment, 76 Chrysler Cordoba-sold it to my high school math teacher with over 100k-he is still driving it.

The beauty of this car. The buttery ride I get when I drive it. The seating (and I'm glad they added the arm rest in the passenger front seat) The size of the car inside. The way the car seat moves up. I really like that. I'm in control of the back windows I also like that. I love the keyless entry. Moonroof, storage, movable seating, the leather is soft. I like that I can adjust my seat because I get neck aches and the seating for me works. The seat heaters. Perfect for snowy weather. I also love to see the assortment of colors the car comes in. The vanilla, the gold, cranberry, electric blue, red, green etc.

The visability... I have to twist my neck more to make sure I don't hit anything. LOL.... My CD player jumps (I hate that). The small glove compartment but hey..... I love this car. In a way I wish it had bigger tires too but that's my wishful thinking.

I just want to say that driving a Cruiser is like driving a Toyota Camry. It feels like you're driving butter. Soft, easy.... Everytime I take this car out and park it I return to fingerprints on my windows. I love the leathery smooth seats. I enjoy the moon roof. I just love this car period. Nuff said.

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2001 PT Cruiser, Toyota Camry, Ford LTD, Pontiac firebird, GMC Jimmy