1997 Chrysler Concorde LX review from North America

Brake rotors warped constantly, though it was later found to possibly be due to an aftermarket addition made by the previous owner. So far, after its removal, the problem appears to be gone.

The air conditioning needed to be recharged. The dealer can't seem to figure out where or if it is leaking.

Weather stripping fell off the driver's side door. Ten minutes in the driveway fixed that.

The transmission cooler lines and power steering pump both started leaking after the particularly horrible winter here in the Northeast. This car isn't very fond of cold weather.

The metallic paint is very thin scratches easily, plus the primer is light colored so scratches show on a dark colored car.

I love this car. It's big, but it handles and rides wonderfully. The 3.5 liter V6 has great low-end torque, sounds really nice with the windows down, and still provides more than sufficient gas mileage, mid to upper 20's even with my lead foot. Despite the dubious reputation, the transmission has been good to me, and with the adaptable shift points, behaves very well (a far cry from my old Toyota's habit of upshifting on hills).

When I got this car, it had sat for quite a long time (at least a year), so part of any reliability issues could have stemmed from that. My fuel injectors sludged up, leaked, and prevented the car from starting a few times. Other than that it's very hard to tell this car is nearly 6 years old. It's the first domestic I had, after 2 Toyota Camry's (the latter of which was a reliability disaster to the tune of 4 grand a year) and so far I have been very pleased. It seems to me that a lot of the problems with Chrysler and Dodge vehicles are lousy dealer service departments. You have to search for a good one, and stick with them to get decent service on these cars.

If you want a car that is comfortable (even for 5 people), provides all the fun toys like automatic climate control, handles great, doesn't cost that much, and looks like nothing else, check out the Concorde. Just bear in mind you need to keep up on your scheduled service and tolerate the occasional glitch and quirk that is the drawback to owning this car.