the cars that killed chrysler...

[wannabe]

...according to yahoo...

do you agree?

http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budget ... d-Chrysler

[DKaz]

I don't know about the 300C, it's a hot looking car but I've heard that the cars are just awful reliability wise which comes as a complete shock to me.

Caliber and its siblings the Patriot and Compass, looks decent on the outside, looks cheap on the inside. My wife and I considered one until we got into one at the autoshow. Hard plastics, something that scraped against my shin in the backseat, inefficient interior - for example my goodness as if seating three adults in the back of any compact isn't bad enough, which wise guy put the rear cup holders where they are? I know you can't expect too much from an economy car but in an era where the Civic, Corolla, 3, Focus, and even the Cobalt have managed to make decent to good economy cars, Chrysler took a huge step backwards from the Neon with the Caliber.

I like the Jeep Comnander but didn't for once thing that the Nitro would ever take off. The current Sebring is just a failure and in ways a step back from the previous one. The new Ram is nice.

[theholycow]

300C -- They seem to describe it as a good, successful car...opposite of a car that would be blamed.

Magnum -- They blame it even though they say it sold well. I have to say it was one of the first cars that ever made me reconsider my dislike of Chrysler. I've always felt like Chrysler made cheezy, crappy cars that would fall apart, aka "just awful reliability wise". The Magnum looked so cool and represented the type of car that I want to see more of (RWD, V8 available, full size wagon...just missing the manual transmission) that I would consider making a leap of faith. Charger and Challenger cause the same thought process.

Caliber -- I suspect that it is too expensive for what it is. It shares its platform, its performance, with the Jeep Patriot, an extremely practical and cost-effective basic transportation bargain that only I seem to know about.

Commander -- The reviewers don't seem to understand the consumer. The complaints they make (with which I'd probably agree) are exactly the things that most consumers don't care about. Consumers mostly don't care about wallowing, ill handling...and they seem to like tall awkward proprtions.

Nitro -- They're probably right.

Sebring -- It was redesigned? I had no idea. I suspect nobody else did and that's probably the problem.

Ram -- They only praise it, why would they put it in an article that's looking to place blame?

I notice they've skipped the Charger. Does that mean they think it's a success for Dodge? I suspect that it is.

[LHOswald]

all of my friends that have had chryslers said that they were terrible. major problems too. timing problems, transmission problems, and motor problems. the only thing i've ever heard good things about was when my dad bought his PT cruiser. which is surprising considering that all the reviews ive seen about that car are crap

[DKaz]

Commander -- The reviewers don't seem to understand the consumer. The complaints they make (with which I'd probably agree) are exactly the things that most consumers don't care about. Consumers mostly don't care about wallowing, ill handling...and they seem to like tall awkward proprtions.

In other words, the Jeep Commander fails because it's unrefined on paved roads making it unsuitable for the 80%+ of the North Americans who never take their SUVs offroading.

The Chrysler group does have some really good cars including the Dodge Charger and my coworker is absolutely obsessed with his Magnum, but in an era where more and more are buying smaller cars combined with Chrysler's failure to build a few good small cars, it's no wonder that they're failing.

[AHTOXA]

80% don't take their SUVs offroad? From what I've seen I'd expect that percentage to be in the 90's.

[DKaz]

80% don't take their SUVs offroad? From what I've seen I'd expect that percentage to be in the 90's.

I was going to say 95% at first but decided to leave it at 80%+. . I wonder if SUV drivers know that gravel does not classify as offroad. lmao.

My buddy's Jeep:

[AHTOXA]

Now THAT is what a Jeep should look like. Not this: (although I can clearly tell you buddy's Jeep is running open diffs )

[wannabe]

Now THAT is what a Jeep should look like. Not this: (although I can clearly tell you buddy's Jeep is running open diffs )

ahhh! its too clean and shiny!

[permabanned]

jeep used to be excellent a few years back when they had the cherokee, grand cherokee, wrangler and liberty in their lineup. now they are all full of gay looking pieces of shit that nobody knows the name of.

[Rope-Pusher]

'Feces", "Turd" & "Road-Apple"

[potownrob]

That article is all over the place. i of course think they did themselves in on purpose, but i think they would've done better (not sure how much better) sticking with making the more commonplace cars they did in the late 90's and beginning of this decade without changing them for the worse and upping prices, cars like the sebring, 300, town & country (or possibly just the lowend minivans), and then the dodge (or they could've kept plymouth) lineup. I used to see lots of Plymouth Breezes (and the model that came before the breeze), Dodge Caravans and Neons (of course). The newer models of these cars (the ones they kept) seem to be bigger and uglier (or at least uglier). Older K cars and what came from them had some character to them that you don't find in a lot of cars these days.

[Rope-Pusher]

I think that just like GM, Chrysler lost distinction between it's brands. If Dodge was their performance division, there should have been no underpowered Dodges, and no Dodge minivans. If Chrysler was their luxury division, there should have been better materials, more elegant designs and sophisticated suspensions, brakes, entertainment systems, technology, etc. Plymouth should have stayed the thrifty buy, and not competed against Dodge with cars like the Cuda and the Road Runner. Plymouth is the perfect brand for minivans, econoboxes, and taxi cabs.
Old man Sloan set up GM so all their brands wouldn't compete with each other, but that structure was all thrown away years later. Dealers are always crying for whatever is selling hot, even if it doesn't fit their brand image.

[ColJessip]

[ElectroGhandi]

Is that a Sebring?