1997 Eagle Talon ESI review from North America

Transmission blew.

Lights had untraceable shorts.

Frame rails collapsed.

Brakes squealed.

Valve guides wore out.

Windows leaked.

Hatch leaked.

Hatch rusted.

Where should I start? I bought the car in March of 2002 with 83920 miles on it. Out of all the Talon/Eclipse cars I drove this one had the least amount of high speed whine. I have never been in a 2G DSM that didn't have it. So, I figured it was like the lifter tick in a 300GT, quirk of that line of cars. The noise got louder as time passed. I took it back to the dealer to have it covered under warranty and was told "The warranty only covers items if they break. No matter the condition of the inside of the tranny, if we take it apart your warranty will only cover items that are broken. Worn and ready to break is not covered. And you will have to pay the bill." 3 days after the warranty ran out the transmission exploded. Driving down the interstate, cruise on, 70mph, flat hwy, and BAM! Tach goes through the roof and I have to coast to the next exit. Cost to repair? Right at $1000 for a used transmission installed. After which I found that the automatic transmission in the N/A 2G DSM's (43TE (4 speeds load level 3 transverse mount electronicly shifted) ) are shared with pretty much every other FWD Chrysler product. And that the question is never if it will break. But how often.

If you are ever in the market for one of these cars. Pay careful attention to the front sub frame rails. Just behind the trailing edge of the front wheel opening, toward the center of the car. Owners and even certified mechanics like to place jackstands and chassis lift pads there. (logically, as it is normally the strongest part of the front of a unibodied car) But not so on 2G DSM's! You will find that most of these cars will have the rails mashed to the floorboard to varying degrees from being suspended from them during maintenance.

At roughly 87000 miles the valve guides had worn enough to allow the engine to smoke slightly upon the first startup of the day.

Never could get the front brakes to stop squealing. Loudest on the passengers front brake. Three sets of pads (both organic, semi-metallic, and full metallic), 3 sets of anti-squeal plates, along with more bottles of brake pad glue than I cared to buy ended with me giving up and just letting them squeal.

Bad grounds in interior and exterior light wiring cause intermittent light malfunction and with regards to the dome light, common failure.

Call this one a fault of the installing company and employees, but, when my car was broken into all the busted glass had to be replaced. Both door windows and both 3/4 windows. Glass company (major chain) never got the door glass aligned correctly. The drivers door window was replaced 3 times and the windows were realigned weekly (serious) for 3 months at two different shops of that chain until I was told that because of the strict manufacturing tolerances of the auto maker they were not able to align the windows as accuratly as they came from the factory. And that they were as good as they were going to get. Even though they leaked when you washed it which they never did before.

That was the last straw. The glass replacement left me with leaky windows and rattling interior panels. The second transmission was beginning to whine. The brakes never would stop squealing. At 99706 miles I had, had enough and I sold the car.

Minor concerns to pay attention to, to prolong the life of you hatch. Water becomes trapped in the rubber seal between the hatch and the hatch glass. When drying your car after washing and with the hatch closed, stick your thumbnail under the rubber window trim on the exterior of the hatch at its lowest points (10 o'clock and 2 o'clock on the glass with the rear center of the glass being 12 o'clock. this will drain the trapped water and keep the hatch from rusting in this area.

I was very excited to buy my car as my previous 1st G Talon was a 100% reliable and fun to drive car. But this last Talon has too many Chrylser parts in it to be anywhere near reliable. But they are nice cars if you don't mind replacing engines and transmissions as your 3000 mile maintenance. call your local import salvage yard for information on the reliablity (and cost) of these parts. And be ready for your Chrysler dealer to tell you to go to a Mitsubishi dealer because they cannot work on talons. At which time the Mitsubishi dealer will tell you that he can fix it, but that it would be cheaper to go to a Chrysler dealer as the car is a Chrysler product. (100% serious)