1997 Dodge Intrepid ES 3.3

Summary:

Great car!!!

Faults:

Changed 1 injector.

Driver's seat is wearing into some steel in the back of the seat.

General Comments:

It is how you maintain the car. If you take care of it, it will take care of you.

I change my oil and filters every 3000 miles, and trans oil and filter every 50000 miles.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 13th April, 2005

1997 Dodge Intrepid Base 3.3L

Summary:

This is an excellent car and was a bargain

Faults:

Everything that has gone wrong has been the result of normal wear and tear. For example, within the past 6 months I have had to replace the front sway bar end link bushings and the front brake rotors.

There have been no other major problems; today I expect to hit the 100,000 mile mark.

This is the 3.3L base engine and has been highly reliable. As it has a timing chain and not a timing belt, there is no threat of a break damaging the valves. It is delivering 27 mpg along with decent performance. That is pretty good for a big car.

General Comments:

I have found this to be an excellent family car. It was my wife's vehicle for several years and now I use it to commute up to 100 miles per day. We bought it when it was two years old.

I expect to go at least to 150,000 miles.

The paint and interior have held up well.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 13th January, 2005

1997 Dodge Intrepid Sport 3.5 Liter 24 Valve

Summary:

Very reliable and fun, just needs a couple improvements

Faults:

The alignment is awful to keep, nearly impossible. I've had it re-aligned numerous times. The brakes had to be changed twice already (and I'm not that hard on brakes.) The O-rings had to be replaced also. This was causing the smell of gas to enter the car whenever the heat/air conditioner was on. That problem, however, was part of a recall. I've replaced the c/v joints, and tie rods at 90,000 miles. I also replaced the serpentine belt at 97,500. As of right now I need new shocks and springs, but this may not be a problem either considering I can't remember if they've ever been replaced. Steering is a bit tricky with the worn shocks, the car decides where it wants to go, and you try to fight it (sometimes the car wins.) The big thing that I can't stand about my Intrepid is the headlight brackets. The way there aimed when you get new brackets is way to low for me to see (I drive in an extremely hilly rural area.) If you happen to re-aim them up, they seem to break all the time. Any type of bump in the road or any sort of draft wind from the car ahead seems to bounce them. I've gone through 4 sets of brackets already. The paint does fade at the C pillars quite easily, as well as on the roof. So the biggest problem, as with all Intrepids, is the front end. If only Dodge could build a better, more stable front end.

General Comments:

Overall, even with the problems, this car has been a FANTASTIC CAR. I live in Ohio, and have had my Intrepid over a good portion of the country, all over the summer (North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota and the Minnesota trip was 1000 miles each way, and I drove there and then back to Ohio in consecutive days.) As far as the engine and tranny go, this car has been extremely reliable, and is loads of fun to drive in my rural area (especially with my autostick.)

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 15th November, 2004

23rd Jan 2005, 12:01

Struts, springs, shocks are secondary causes of poor steering in this model. Have your mechanic check you inner and outer tie rod ends. The inner tie rod ends are the worst things on the '93-'97 that are usually completely shredded at 50K miles. Lower control arms would be next to check or replace. Finally, front end alignment.

22nd Aug 2005, 08:00

I own one myself the same model.. I have found one of the major causes of bad front end are the wide tires installed in this car from factory. Take a look at the small scrape you will find around the wheel barrel made by the inner part of the tire. I have a 1997 my buddy owns a 2000. Same problem. Change the size to a smaller width. They have a BMW steering performance. You won't even tell the difference. If you don't change it, be ready for the entire Rack and Pinion replacement include both tie rod ends.. I LEARNED MY LESSON!!!