Anyone know anything about PT Cruisers?

My fiancee's car died on Wednesday, so we've been pounding the pavement trying to find her a reliable vehicle. We're pretty cash strapped and have to finance with no money down, which is severely limiting our options. We've been trying to spend around $5,000.

We found a nice looking limited edition 2002 PT Cruiser with 67,000 miles on it, which is about 40,000 fewer miles than we've seen on any other car in this price range. The question is, how reliable is the PT Cruiser? Can we reasonably expect to get four more years and 40,000 more miles out it? Are we just going to be pouring money into it?

I've been bouncing around online trying to find some reliability reviews, but haven't seen any really solid long-term reviews from experts. User reviews have been all over the place. Some say theirs crapped out and were just money pits, others raved about how reliable they are. I suppose that can happen with any car.

We're going to hit a couple other dealerships in the morning and see what else is out there, but I wanted to see if I can find out some more about the PT before we make any decisions.

 

I've driven a few PT Cruiser rentals, including the convertible.

They're OK, decent mileage, but the design of the car is kind of weird. The way the seat is set, it looks like you're too close to the ground when you're driving.

 

The car would have been better if they set it on a bigger platform - I think it was built on a Dodge Neon platform.

 

It was indeed built on the neon platform. It's amazing how much space they managed to get out of a car of it's dimensions. It has something like 60 more cubic feet of interior space (I think it's 190cf to 163) than a Ford Escape, which is an SUV and is significantly larger on the outside.

 

Another option we're looking at is a 2002 Ford Explorer for the same price ... it has 40,000 more miles on it, so we're wondering if an Explorer is more reliable than the Cruiser or are we better off with the car with 67,000 miles on it.

Chryslers kind of scare me. I've had three Fords with no big problems.

 

Consumer Reports shows both the PT Cruiser and Explorer are best avoided.

 

bp23, based on the experience of friends and my sister I would never own a Chrysler product.

 

Do not get a 4 wheel drive vehicle with 107,000 miles on it.

Have you considered leasing. there are some pretty aggressive deals out there

 

The older Cruisers are superior to the newer ones. The production
values and dedication to detail deteriorated with each passing year.
They looked to cut corners more and more, each year, and it was
impossible to hide.

 

You are wondering if a car with 67,000 miles will give you 40,000 more.

A Civic with 100,000 miles will give you 100,000+ more.