Edmunds CarPool

I've never really been a single-brand person when it comes to cars. I like lots of cars, from many manufacturers and eras. I'm not a Mopar/Blue-oval/Bowtie/whatever guy, I'm just a car guy.

My Dad became a Mopar man for a while by accident (he wanted a Pontiac, but a strike in 1965 limited the model he wanted, so he ended up with a Polara). After briefly flirting with a 1972 Toyota Crown, he went back to Mopar. We had a string of used Dodges and Chryslers. I myself had 2 (bought Dad's 75 Coronet for $1, then had an Aspen until the water pump started to go and I couldn't afford to fix it). Since that used Aspen in 1983, though, I haven't had a Mopar since, and Dad's last Mopar was a Chrysler Cordoba (sold it in 1988).

I like the idea of a new Mopar. The new trucks are amazing inside and out, and are very capable. The cars, though, seem like they are meant more to be looked at. Every time I sit in one, and see the acres of cheap, hard monotone plastic and cheap vinyl, part of me wonders "why would I spend $40+k for this?". The powertrains, the bodies, wow. The interior: no so wow. I'd take an older Mopar though (69 Charger would be good, a 65 Polara 2-door hardtop would be great for nostalgia). Okay, I'll be honest, I'd also like a new Challenger. Perhaps I'd find a way to put up with the cheap interior (smoky burnouts can overcome a lot of things :-) ).

BTW, the 440 (technically 439.72 cu. in, since it had a 3.75in stroke and a 4.32in bore) is 7.2 liters. A 6.2 liter would be 378 cu. in.

I purchased my first Chrysler product in 1994. Up until that time, I owned mostly GMs and Chevys with a couple of Fords scatted in between. I now own three Mopars.

In 2006 I drove up to the Detroit Auto Show to see the Challenger concept car. The mob of people surrounding that car as it spun on the display was impressive. Ralph Gilles gave a talk about the car and you could just see the pride he had in this vehicle. Off to the side of the display, there were some Chrysler big shots sitting in chairs taking this whole scene in. I don't know what was running through these guy's minds, but it had to have a profound impact on them. Like maybe it's time to go back to our roots?

Fiat has stated that Chrysler must stand on its own. The people that put Chrysler in the position they find them self in, are now gone. There are big changes in the works for all their vehicles and we will start to see them later in the year. Even the Challenger is getting some minor upgrades. If Chrysler goes down, they will at least go down fighting.

Chrysler is a damn fine car company that has been abused by its owners for years. This is now changing. As a long time car owner, I can say that there is just something about driving a Mopar that I never felt with any other car.

they are in much better shape than they were in 1998 when they got taken over by Daimler. They cant do worse so the future looks good.

My favorite Chrysler? The original 1955 300, in which "300" stood for "300 horsepower," a first for Detroit. That car had the front end from the '55 Imperial, and was mated to the light-weight (relatively speaking) Windsor coupe body.

My least favorite? Impossible to choose, as there were so many to pick from.

I was a mopar fan while in high school. I had an '84 Chrysler Laser - sister to the Dodge Daytona. It had the 2.2 turbo motor in it, but it was hampered by the 3 speed auto and a terrible oil leak in the turbo in which I could fill an intersection with a could of blueish smoke so thick you had to wait for it to clear before going through it.

I also had (have) a buddy from work who owned a 69 Charger, a SuperBee, a RamCharger and also Rosco's cop car (in baby blue). It was hard to find a place to park at his house as he owned all these at once. He eventually got rid of the truck, but he hung onto the rest. He was all Mopar. His Charger was his baby and daily driver. He had it moderately fixed up but it was still his daily driver. I don't think he ever owned a car less than 20 years old. To a high school kid he was the coolest guy around with the coolest cars.

I have always been intrigued by Chrylser and loved the Viper when it came out and even liked the Prowler. These are the cars that I had on my wall. I also had an Avenger (remember that car?? Not the current one. The 2 door Mistu-based Stealth replacement) poster on my wall. I also wanted a Stealth at one time as it looked cool and was less expensive than the Viper although still WAY WAY out of my price range. I could barely keep gas in my 12 year old falling apart Laser.

Now I am just depressed when I look at the lineup. Aside from the Charger and Challenger, there is nothing at Chrysler that interests me. Not the Dodge Ram (it will ALWAYS be a Dodge), anything in the Jeep lineup (I test drove a 4 door Wrangler and wasn't too impressed - it still felt like a 20 year old "new" Wrangler) or anything else.

I am a GM owner now and GM does have really nice vehicles now, but I would own a Challenger over a Camaro, a Charger over my Impala and would have bought a Magnum over the Impala, but the wife nixed it on looks alone. So I am stuck with my humdrum Impala till we out grow it or it dies. We'll prolly outgrow it first and I am not sure what to replace it with as nothing out there excites me enough that is that size. I don't care for nor do I want to be driving a Caravan. It was a ground-breaking vehicle 25 years ago and my family had one of the first ones. We bought a 1985 Voyager in 1986 and drove it into the ground. It went everywhere. But now?? I just see acres of cheap plastic and hard seats and have not been impressed with it in the least. I would never buy a new one at 40+k and even used, I don't think I could be tempted. The previous gen? Maybe. They seem more solidly built and several in-law siblings have them and have been happy with them so maybe I'll stick with that. I don't care about buying new or used, I just want to buy something that I can be happy with and enjoy having. If I have to buy a 6 or 7 year old Caravan to do that then I will, but more than likely, instead of a Caravan I will probably end up in an Odyssey or Siena (brake problems and UA notwithstanding :-D).

Chrylser just doesn't have the products that fit the bill I need anymore. GM fits that bill better and they have good solid products. I own three. They are functional, solidly built and run well. the new GM's that I can replace them with? They seem solidly built, run well, have a bit of excitement and luxury built into them and will fit my needs nicely when the time comes to replace them with. I will probably end up buying GM's as the need arises unless something else can tempt me away. That Flex is looking mighty mighty tempting, although a minivan is still much more practical and I'd have to go with Honda or Toyota for that. Even Kia might get a shot but the Sedona, nor Hyundai's version really did much for me, but I haven't really researched them enough to count them out...

I sometimes think my family had the only reliable Dodge Aspen built. My parents bought a brand-new 1976 Aspen and we had it for six years; never gave us any trouble.

The longest lasting vehicle my family ever had when I was growing up was an '86 Dodge Caravan. I remember how reliable it was, particularly in relation to the junk Ford we had. But I also remember the little things would break all the time. The tape deck stopped working, the interior bits would break, the seatbelts wouldn't return after being pulled, and dad was always yelling something about something called "power steering." Despite all of these problems, that Dodge never died on us in the 8+ years we owned it. Even when we sold it with 200K+ miles, the engine was tip top.
We had a '90 Eagle Talon TSi as well. It ran like a beast, but it had timing issues. It was constantly in the shop. Honestly, though, the Talon can hardly be considered a Chrysler product.

I grew up with the impression that Chryslers had great engines but they couldn't produce anything else to save their life. My mother had a Durango a few years back that seemed to confirm those suspicions as the transmission kept crapping out.

I can't say my impression is really any different now. If anything, my views of Chrysler seem to be confirmed all the time. Chrysler can produce some fantastic engines and they've got a design team that other companies would kill for. But it's everything else that keeps me out of their dealerships.

My 1st car I ever bought with my own money was a 3 year old 1979 Plymouth Horizon. It wasn't a bad car for the money at least for a while. it was fun to drive (compared to the barges of the 70's), good on gas, great in the snow and practical for hauling stuff to college.

It's biggest faults were durability (good for 2 years then fell apart) and the 1983 Dodge Colt. My dad bought the Colt to commute to work and then retired a year later so I bought it off him. It was simply a huge leap better at everything then the Horizon.

My current Chrysler is a 1995 Grand Cherokee. Bought it used 7 years or so ago to replace my old Trooper. It creaks and leaks but it's a tough old beast that never quits dispite the major abuse it's been through.

Of the new products they make, what would I buy?

I like the Grand Caravan but would wait for the new V6 and the new interior.

I like the Wrangler but would wait for the new V6.

I like the Ram but have no need for a giant pick up.

I like the Charger and might consider one if the discount was big enough.

I like the PT and would buy one if it were 10 years ago.

After reading overseas reviews of the Fiat 500 I will consider one if priced in line with the Fiesta, Fit and Mazda2 but not as much as the Mini.

Always admired the B and E body Mopar muscle cars back in the day, especially the 440 and Hemi cars. They were what '60s muscle cars were all about.

It was always Chevy this and Chevy that in my neck of the woods growing up, so I gravitated to Ford and Mopar to be contrary to prevailing gearhead attitudes. But I also remember that Dodge and Plymouth always had cheap build quality reputations. A friend of mine recently purchased a '70 Hemi Charger "survivor" car in great original unrestored condition. Seeing it confirmed my recollections of shoddy Mopar build quality from that era (this is one aspect of Chrysler that hasn't improved much over the years, unfotunately).

But they were fast, and that's all that really counted back then. Today though, I wouldn't buy a Chrysler product - or GM - because of the government bailout money they took. Except for the Challenger nothing Chrysler puts out interest me anyway.

"they are in much better shape than they were in 1998 when they got taken over by Daimler. They cant do worse so the future looks good. "

GOD you really should not talk about things you dont know about! The reason Daimler bought them was because they were sitting on a mountain of cash and had a stable full of revolutionary cars......stick to trivia about Chevy hubcaps....you just made yourself look really stupid. Do us all a favor and read up on this subject at allpar.com or better yet just go away.