Where Have You Had A Good or Bad Experience Buying A Used Vehicle?

What's with the fixation with Chrysler products? The company is on the way out of business largely because of poor quality.

Blown engines at 225K ?. I know someone with a Honda Odessy that is approaching 600K on the original motor. The van is sure tatty, but after that much use and a lot of neglect it's to be expected. But it is still running reliably.

I'm guessing you have never owned a Japanese vehicle. Pick up any car magazine. Every test ever written comparing the mini vans put Toyota and Honda at the top of the list. For good reason, they are better in every way except original purchase price and even that is more than offset by lower repair bills and lower depreciation.

I'd buy a used Toyota over a new Chrysler any day.

Actually my wife's car is a very good Honda accord 1999 I think-
I guess when I bought my 1st Van , a Chrysler , there were no Japanese vans. I think my 1st van goes back a ways and I was comfortable in it, hauled my 4 kids in it and served me well.
maybe I will take a look at other vans?

the venture (and other chev GM products) are actually know for that to happen.

The Dexron III coolant eats away at the seals of the van and if you dont notice the water leaking into your oil ... a few thousand miles later and bamo!.. usually happens right around 210K..

On line I boogles chrysler vans and on 1 website there are 1000's of complaints on the transmission. I had taken a 7 year extended warranty on my 1990 van and sure enough 2 months before the 7 years they replaced the transmission.
I don't know if 7 years is a long time for a transmission to last?
Any other comments?

Chrysler/Dodge are superb vehicles when it comes to Vans & Trucks.

They typically last longer and are more durable then their counterparts in other markets...and since they invented the minivan...they do have the advantage of a few extra years of design.

The foreign models are not bad (Toyota, Honda) but no, their overpriced upfront costs do NOT compensate for the years of "low maintenance". If/When there IS maintenance...it costs double to get them repaired. And when you buy a vehicle, you don't buy it thinking it will last you 10 years. You buy it assuming you will be trading it in at 3-5 years on something new.

That attitude is probably changing though, as people are being more cautious about buying...they will keep their cars longer.

Chrysler/Dodge's problem and why they are failing has very LITTLE to do with vehicle quality...it has more to do with management and union abuse.

Chrysler has announced they will dissolve about 1/2 their production..and get rid of anything that hasn't been selling for them. So look for the only thing left to be the PT Cruiser, the minivans (Town & Country & Grand Caravans), one of their cross-overs (Caliber or Journey), and their RAM trucks...and maybe one of their sedan cars.

Ironically...though everyone is saying Chrysler is going down...I personally anticipate them surviving...and would predict they'll be one of the "Big boys" when the dust settles. They have the advantage of having been nearly shutdown before...and Iococa came in and restructured, providing a huge rescue. There's a good chance enough of that era remains to solve this dilemma too.

wpg_idiot wrote:*sirens in head*
Stay away from Ontario cars! Working in the car business, I can tell you, ITS NOT WORTH IT. Unless you're a mechanic and own a paint shop to control the rust, you're blowing your money away. The best cars are in the west.

One of the best cars I had was from Ontario. I ran that hell out of it and it never gave me trouble. Not a spot of of rust on it. It got rear ended and written off or I suspect I would still be driving it today. It was a 96 Mazda Precidia M3 ES. 5 speed, turbo. It was a fun little car.

How could Ontario have cars with more rust then ones from Manitoba? Where is this rust coming from?

Deank wrote:How could Ontario have cars with more rust then ones from Manitoba? Where is this rust coming from?

They use WAY more salt out there then Manitoba does. The roads are bigger, and faster.

How could anyone use more salt? We have a longer colder winter.

The east uses TONNES more salt because they get more ice.

When we get snow...they get ice storms. Slick, slippery ice.

And when you follow their trucks...they are dumping much more than I've seen the trucks dump here.

And, they get more storms than we do...adding to the problem.

Coming from that (general) area...I can assure you...there is a BIG difference between a "Dry Cold" and a "Wet Cold"...and I much prefer the -30C Dry Cold we get here.

yeah but our season is generally two months longer then theirs...
whatever.. I dont know, jsut thinking that it seems unlikely.

AGEsAces wrote:.... So look for the only thing left to be the PT Cruiser, the minivans (Town & Country & Grand Caravans), one of their cross-overs (Caliber or Journey), and their RAM trucks...and maybe one of their sedan cars.

I thought that they already dumped the PT Cruiser.

Speaking of which, I am looking to buy a care before I return to Alberta. I arrived in Winnipeg today and need a car. Can anyone point me in the right direction

new or used

Toronto has about 5100 kilometres of roads within the framework of a classification system, which provide for the safe, efficient and affordable means of surface transportation for all road users.

The City of Toronto first introduced Direct Liquid De-Icer Applications(DLA) during the winter of 2002-2003 as part of a small pilot project in South and East Districts. In this first season, approximately 60,000 litres of salt brine were used. This technique was then adapted for limited use in the winter of 2003-2004 using approximately 500,000 litres of salt brine for both DLA and pre-wetting. The lessons learned over the course of this pilot project were used to develop guidelines for the expanded program that was introduced as part of the 2003-2008 Winter Maintenance Depot Contracts.

JTF wrote:

AGEsAces wrote:.... So look for the only thing left to be the PT Cruiser, the minivans (Town & Country & Grand Caravans), one of their cross-overs (Caliber or Journey), and their RAM trucks...and maybe one of their sedan cars.

I thought that they already dumped the PT Cruiser.

http://chrysler.ca/en/pt_cruiser/

Still available...they did dump the PT Cruiser Convertible though.

AGEsAces wrote:

Deank wrote:How could Ontario have cars with more rust then ones from Manitoba? Where is this rust coming from?

They use WAY more salt out there then Manitoba does. The roads are bigger, and faster.

Really? When I lived in ontario, they used this pink stuff that was supposed to be safer for both cars and the eviroment. Sometimes it was blue. I guess they have gone back to salt?

That pink stuff was used only for a short time! The truck drivers complained that it was a threat to their manhood!

pink salt for lady drivers, blue for the boys!

Of course, nobody wants to talk about the environmental effects of dumping tonnes and tons of salt into our ecological systems.

At least we stopped the process of storing the snow and ice we remove from the streets right on the Frozen river... that was at least a little bit of a better thing

Deank wrote:At least we stopped the process of storing the snow and ice we remove from the streets right on the Frozen river... that was at least a little bit of a better thing

Now we put it beside its and let it make its own way there! hehe j/k

But they actually used to put it right on the river? makes sense to me... can't make the rivers any dirtier then they already are.

yeah everywhere in Canad used to jump dump it in a variety of spots right on the banks or even right on the rivers.
The Pas MB was one of the first places in Canada to stop the process based on water quality tests ( which is bizarre enough since a major pulp and paper mill dumps efluent into the system and no one has issue with that )

When we dumped directly into the river, we weren't using salt.

Another thing, I doubt that they recycle all that sand that's dumped.

oh but we were using salt Jimmy.. using salt on the roadways is not new at all... not dumping it directly into the river is ( well relatively new... like less then 20 years new )

I think 20 years ago we just started to use salt though.