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| 1997 Dodge Intrepid Review, Terry, From Greensboro, NC
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Dodge Intrepid ES
| | Model of the car: | Dodge Intrepid ES | | | General comments: | We ordered this car new in late 1996 because we needed more room than our Saturn offered and didn’t want a minivan. Now at 75K miles I have only good things to say about it. It has great power from the 3.5L engine, spunky handling that saved literally saved our lives once and room to haul two small children and all the detritus that requires.We ordered ours loaded with everything except leather and the moon roof. The Autostick is fun and the performance suspension sharpened up the handling nicely with little impact on ride comfort. Other than routine maintenance items (tires, brakes, lubricants), the only problems we have encountered was a cut transmission cooler line, the water pump leaking at 65K miles and a continued problem with the C-Pillar moldings. The car can’t be faulted for the transmission cooler line. Stuff happens. I was a bit annoyed by the water pump going out so early. The $500 repair bill I thought was a bit steep, but I did have the timing belt and serpentine belt replace at the same time. Note to Chrysler: Don’t start with the water pump and build the rest of the car around it! The C-Pillar molding on the other hand is obviously a design problem. Ours keeps breaking a small piece off where the molding meets the roof. It was replaced 3 times under warranty, and now that the car is out or warranty, they will just to stay broken for the $385 that it costs to replace them. All the Intrepids of this vintage that I have seen around appear to have the same problem. Fortunately our car is black and the problem is barely noticeable. I believe that routine maintenance is the key to longevity in a car, and the Intrepid appears to be more sensitive than some to this. Others I know have had more problem than we with their Inrepids, but they don’t stay on the maintenance as we do. Still, one family has more than 165K miles on theirs and has had only one major failure (transmission) and they still love theirs.In summary, this car looks great, runs better, and offers strong handling. I feel that you 95% of BMW performance at 60% of the price. I would buy another without hesitation. | | | What things have gone wrong with the car: | None serious | | | Previous car: | 1987 Ford Muscort (Escort GT), 1991 Saturn Coupe, Have had good service out of all these, and the Dodge appears no different |
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