1997 Dodge Intrepid Sport from North America - Comments

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.

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.)

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.

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!!!