1998 Dodge Intrepid Base review from North America

Front passenger side power window regulator replaced 22,000 miles (warranty covered)

Both left and right rear power window regulars replaced 30,000 miles (warranty covered)

Faulty muffler resonator 34,000 miles (warranty covered)

Replaced spark plugs 36,000 miles.

Small transmission fluid leak 42,000 miles.

Replaced leaking coolant bleeder valve housing 55,000 miles.

Replaced spark plugs 72,000 miles.

Replaced starter 75,000 miles.

Replaced battery 90,000 miles.

Replaced battery cables 105,000 miles.

Replaced spark plugs 113,000 miles.

Overall, this has been a good, reliable car for the past 8 years that I have owned it.

I began putting Mobil 1 oil in the car at 60,000 miles after reading about all the horror stories with the 2.7 engines. So far, so good.

I have replaced the spark plugs a few times because the car would run a bit rough at idle. Replacing the plugs seems to cure this problem.

Last winter I went to start the car and it was completely dead. Turned out that the battery cables corroded off due to the road salt. Apparently Chrysler didn't think of this potential problem when they chose to put the battery directly in front of the passenger side wheel well! So, if you own one of these cars and haven't checked the battery cables lately, I would recommend it before the next snow storm.

At 80,000 miles, I had an unfortunate encounter with a semi on the driver side damaging the front fender, rear door, and rear quarter panel. There was over $4,500 in damage. The insurance company totalled the car. However, since the damage was only cosmetic, I chose to keep the car and continue driving it unfixed. Although it hasn't looked pretty for the past 30,000 miles, the damage hasn't compromised the integrity of the vehicle. Except for having to regularly refill a cracked washer fluid container hidden behind the damaged fender, the car has been fine.

Since I now know about the 2.7 engine problems, I probably wouldn't buy one with this engine. If you already own one and haven't changed to Mobil 1, I would strongly encourage you to do so as I haven't had any engine issues since switching.

I still feel that the Intrepid is one of the nicer looking cars on the road today-- even better than its replacement-- the Dodge Charger. So, I will probably drive the car until it falls apart-- barring any more semis!