Motor Tread Car of Year - PT Cruiser

[Frank 03SRT]

FYI. Latest issue (Jan) says it.

[SSSSE YA]

I m still waiting for my PT Cruiser .I placed my order in July, I bought my Viper much faster whats up with that???

[getbit]

got mine the week before thanksgiving. Paid sticker though. Not bad for it being on the lot. My local dealer just bought 10 PT's for $2K over sticker, sold 9 in one day for $5K over sticker! People are nuts!

[Joseph Houss]

Liz,

It happens to be a very unique vehicle. Although loosely based on the Neon platform, It has a very low sticker price (18,500 equipped!), lots of room for passenger or storage, a unique retro look, and the quality of interior components seems at par with much more expensive cars.

I think the Car of the Year definition might be fair, as it is totally unique (crossover SUV, Passenger car, wagon, economy car), sets up a new class of vehicles (Ford has already come out with a PT style concept car based on their focus platform), and is stirring interest in a FUEL EFFICIENT, yet "Cool" alternative to the SUV craze.

Try to get a test drive in one...they're fun, inexpensive, and at this point, unique in character.

...and most important, my kids ONLY recognize 3 vehicles on the road....Vipers (of course)....Beetles (and they play a game called "Punch buggy..no punch back"..every time one passes) ... and now the new game with the kids is "Pinch PT..no pinch back".

Not every car of the year is a performance car (a matter of fact, most are not)...but the PT surely has excited many generations of people, and NOT at a price that makes your car payment more than your mortgage.

Just my opinion, of course.

[Jason-Middle Tennessee]

Don't get me wrong here, I love the looks of the PT but they drive like a Neon. My 2 cents

[Jeff-00-ACR]

I've got about 1800 miles on mine now and I find it to be a very comfortable vehicle. Rides smooth and quiet. Everyone who rides in it thinks the same. I guess to each their own....

Jeff

[Roland L-Ocala, FL]

What's wrong with the ride of a Neon? It's one of the lowest cost cars that is avaialble from a US automobile manufacturer, and it offers a lot of value for the money. We had a '96 Neon Sport for two years, and it was a fun car to drive! It was fairly comfortable to take a trip in, got great mileage, and surprised a lot of bigger displacement engined cars, because it was fairly quick for a little 2 liter engine. Actually, though, I thought that the PT Cruiser rides better than the Neon did, and it is much easier to get in and out of. Would I pay over sticker for it? No, in our case, it is better for us to wait, but some folks are willing to pay more, so they can have one sooner. Remember the Viper when it first came out? I have the original sticker from our '94, and it added $38,000 to the sticker price for "Market Adjustment." What I can't figure out, is why production isn't ramping up to meet demand. With the current financial situation at DC, you would think they would be more than willing to increase production of the most popular car that DC has come out with in the past few years. Make more, sell more, increase profits?

[getbit]

What can I say? I love my PT Cruiser. It is smooth and comfortable and a nice inexpensive change of pace from my '99 Viper and '67 Shelby Cobra (replica) with a 600hp 514! Great looking and attention getting and not to mention very useful without being oversized like my 2000 Yukon XL 4X4!

[Y2K5SRT]

OK, I am going to "revive" this old thread to see what opinions are of this nifty little cross-over vehicle. I know quite a few Viper owners bought them early on - are you still happy with them? I believe Mark installed a Whipple supercharger - has it held up?

The prices are finally reasonable (one dealer is offering the 2001's at invoice and the 2002's at $300 over invoice) and we are going to need to replace our recently sold Durango. (Side note: Whereas AutoTrader.com didn't net a single inquiry even with a paid "deluxe" ad, the Viper Classifieds here on the VCA site really did the trick!). We have enjoyed driving the PT Cruisers over the past couple days (5-speed manual). It would be a daily driver, but not for long trips. We are holding on to our Yukon XL. Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

Chris

[-RUNNR]

My wife had one of the first ones in the country. She loves it. I have driven it on many occasions, and I cannot complain about it.

Slow yes, but then again look at what we are used to. It's very roomy, gets good milage, has a nice look, and is easily modified for a whole variety of looks.

My wife rates it a 10, I rate it an 8.5.

You also however might want to look at the new Jeep Liberty. I picked one up when they first came out earlier this year. My wife wanted to trade in her PT for a Jeep like mine.

My $0.02

[2tall]

My mom bought one. Pretty nice. If they were older model year I'd buy one for the winter (I only buy used cars for winter vehicles). At 6'6" I found the seats comfortable and it was nice sitting upright for a change. Plenty of room (even for a guy like me).

A little slow, but whaddya want from a Neon?

Interesting note: I picked up the latest issue of the DuPont registry two days ago. They were in all the leasing ads along with the corvettes, prowlers, vipers, jags, lambos, etc...

Here's the interesting part: The average LEASE cost per month was about $590 or so. A corvette on average was like $550 or so (Viper was ~$900). If we do some math that means that the money that goes out on the PT (not including the downpayment mind you) is slightly more than the sticker price of the car. I wonder what the residual is??

I guess lease companies think that rich people are stupid...

[Craig 201 MPH]

I saw a turbo kit for the PT cruiser (and neon) for $750 on Ebay.

It put out an additional 50 horsepower. Pretty decent.

Craig