Absolutely nothing has gone wrong with this car. My wife drives it every day with out any complaints. It would seem that many of the people who have experienced problems with these cars are simply experiencing poor service from their repair shop or dealer. All of the non-warrantied work is done by myself on my vehicles and since I go out of the way to do things right when I fix them no further problems occur. Unknowing people constantly throw around the word "lemon" at a vehicle that has been improperly maintained. That is the only explanation I can see for the ailments that plage other people's Intrepids. I have two friends of mine who own Intrepids, my company uses one as a courtesy car, my mother in-law has one and a friend of my wife also has one and none of these cars have ever experienced problems outside regular maintenance. It's funny because the car we had before the Intrepid was a 1990 Taurus, another car people like to assess as a lemon prone vehicle. We had that car for 12 years and 267000 km and never had to replace anything more expensive than an alternator and some leaky frost plugs that's it. It always seems that the most problematic vehicles fall into the hands of people who know nothing about them, coincidence, I think not.
This is a great car, I heard a lot of bad things about Intrepids too, but still bought this one because it was a good deal with excellent financing with an extended warranty. So far haven't had to use it. The car is very quick, a terrific highway cruiser and handles very tight. The R/T suspension does wonders for this car. In my opinion this car had everything and more than my neighbors BMW 3-series and can outrun it too for $15000 less and its much cheaper to get parts for.
Most of the negative reviews, including mine, were about the 2.7l engine which is not in the R/T model or they addressed unpreventable items. I would like for this person to let me know how I could have prevented two windows malfunctioning, two engine fans breaking, A/C coolant leaking, transmission sensor failing, dash lights going out twice, rack & pinion replacement and premature engine failure at 56,000 miles. All maintenance was done as per the Owner's manual and I am a very conservative driver.
I am not the writer of this review, but I have some pointers for you. Usually, when something is about to break, there is some sort of warning sound. By warning sound I mean a different kind of sound that usual. The windows, probably started to go up and down slowly, or the motors might have started to make funny noises before they broke. The engine fans: You should keep a close eye on your temperature gauge. When the fans usually just don't' stop over night. They usually stop while driving, therefore causing the car to start overheating. As for the second one, you should have been prepared after the first one. The rest is just common sense. Look and listen for warning signs from your car. Don't be like others and have that "it will fix it self" opinion.
I think the only unknowing person commenting on this is the original author. if you knew what you were talking about you would know that we are talking about different model intrepids. and also when you say that unknowing people throwing around the word lemon that is very offensive to someone who.. through no fault of their own bought a car that breaks down. there is proof that these engines (2.7) in intrepids are faulty. how can any consumer prevent that? and certainly like myself I'm sure that most people got regular oil changes. I think the unknowing person is you and whoever thinks that any of this can be prevented. and also for the guy who said we should take hints from our cars, when my transmission failed there was no warning. just a loud hissing noise and no transmission after that. when my engine blew 6 weeks later, again no warning. no lights no sounds no message from god saying it was about to happen. so before you speak, make sure you know what you're talking about!
I have owned my Intrepid R/T about two years now without a glitch and I have no idea what could have caused the problems mentioned. Maybe this was a used (and abused) car or an earlier generation with many miles on it? But we aren't given this information. My 2002 was a year old when purchased and now has 34,000 miles on it.
I know many Intrepid owners - R/T, ES, and SE - through a car club and except for some early 2.7L engine problems we are all quite happy with our cars...
Hi, have owned Intrepid R/T 3.5L model for 6 years now, Vancouver BC.
Great roomy family car, used to handle great, struts are weak now after 90 000 km, and pricey, can only get front struts from dealer and price is $250 each.
Relatively minor problems with car:
- it really rains a lot here, car has interior water leaks.
- R/T suspension and my driving ruined factory Michelin Tires (have yet to see another car with same tires...) causing terrible balancing problems even with frequent rotations. New tires are Falken 912, smoooooth...
- this damn car can't keep front brake rotors from warping. Second set warped now, and even bought expensive slotted rotors and HPS pads.
- unsolvable belt noise when engine is cold, a low rpm growl.
- hard starting from cold these days, have read the fuel injectors may be leaking parked, flooding cylinders. Not sure about this, but the smell is evidence.
- oil filter hell to get off, until I swapped to a deeper model, off a vintage 383/440!
- tranny cooler leak at upper rad fitting.
Other than this stuff, which I consider minor, except for the brake rotors... great performing car, the autostick shifts HARD.
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