Overview & Reviews

Chrysler is generally considered part of the Big Three, a title that refers to the traditional triumvirate of domestic automakers. The current accuracy of this classification is open for debate, but there's no debating the fact that Chrysler has experienced a revival of sorts over the past few years.

Chrysler Corporation was founded in 1925 by Walter P. Chrysler, a noted machinist; he'd purchased the Maxwell Motor Corporation of Detroit and used it as the foundation for his new company. The automaker quickly earned a reputation for advanced engineering. In 1928, Chrysler Corporation expanded with the purchase of Dodge and the creation of the DeSoto and Plymouth divisions.

The 1930s saw Chrysler boldly looking toward the future with the introduction of its revolutionary Airflow. Powered by a front-mounted inline-8, the car was one of the first to be designed with aerodynamics in mind, and featured swooping lines and a prominent grille. Perhaps a bit too ahead of its time, the Airflow was a flop with the public. Chrysler was able to survive the lean years of the Depression thanks to strong sales of its entry-level Dodge and Plymouth brands, whose vehicles boasted more traditional designs and much lower price tags.

Chrysler shined postwar. For a period in the late 1940s, it even surpassed Ford as the No. 2 U.S. automaker. The company's storied "Hemi" V8 engine debuted in 1951. Offering 180 horsepower, it was a significant improvement over Chrysler's previous 135-hp V8. The Hemi engine was meant to trounce the V8 offered by Cadillac, Chrysler's rival, and it kick-started Detroit's horsepower race of the 1950s and '60s. The '50s also saw the debut of treasured Chrysler classics like the handsome Town and Country and the sleek 300C.

By 1961, Chrysler had trimmed its line of brands by dropping the DeSoto nameplate. New technologies were also afoot, such as unibody construction (Chrysler was the first of the Big Three to introduce it) and the replacement of generators with alternators for a car's charging system. In the latter half of the '60s, Chrysler was heavily involved with NASCAR and producing performance-oriented cars.

At the same time, however, dark clouds were gathering. As with other domestic automakers, the 1970s proved to be a difficult decade due to the oil crisis, new government regulations and changing consumer tastes. A costly and ineffective overseas expansion further hurt the company's bottom line. By the late '70s, the company was in such financial disarray that it petitioned the government for $1.5 billion in loan guarantees to save it from bankruptcy.

Thanks to impressive public campaigning by then-chairman Lee Iacocca, the debut of the well-received K-car platform and the creation of the modern minivan, sales had improved dramatically by the mid-'80s. The government's loan was paid off seven years early. The picture further brightened in the late 1980s with Chrysler's purchase of American Motors Corporation (which netted the company the Jeep brand) and a joint venture with Mitsubishi known as Diamond Star Motors.

Success continued through the early 1990s. In 1998, German-based Daimler-Benz merged with Chrysler to form DaimlerChrysler. At the time, this deal was presented as a merger of equals. But it quickly became apparent that it was more of a purchase, with Daimler being the dominant partner.

Less than a decade later, that merger was no longer, as Daimler sold Chrysler (and Dodge) to a private equity firm in 2007. However, that merger had borne some worthwhile fruit, most notably in the form of the Chrysler 300 full-size sedan. The latter shared some chassis components with an older Mercedes-Benz E-Class platform.

As such, the 300 was a highlight for Chrysler that had a pleasingly solid feel to its driving dynamics that was further sweetened via an available powerful V8 engine. But soon after the split, America's economy slid into recession. Due to poor sales and debt, Chrysler had to declare bankruptcy and the federal government intervened with bailout loans. Eventually Chrysler came under control of Italy's Fiat.

Today, the lineup has been pared down to a pair of sedans, a convertible and a minivan. However, after years of having lackluster entries in the very important midsize car category, Chrysler made major improvements in the performance, design and quality of its midsize sedan entry, the 200. The latest 300 also stands as a prime choice for a premium full-size sedan. Still, it remains to be seen as to whether this and future product releases will be enough to restore the company to its former glory.

User Reviews:

• 

  Worst car ever owned! - 2001 Chrysler PT Cruiser
  By classicsrock - August 6 - 7:46 pm

  i bought a 2001 pt cruiser 3 weeks ago...a weeks after i bought it i had to put in new ball joints and bushings and put 4 brand new tires on it. then last weeks i broke down on the side of the rd, the timing belt went and ruined all the valves and failed the compression test, the motor was junk so needless to say i will NEVER buy another one complete junk! i should have bought the Chevy Camaro i was headed to go look at the but saw the pt on my way their biggest mistake! now Im out a couple thousand dollars and no car. for anyone thinking about buy a pt, dont, just keep driving!

• 

  "Car of the Year" Performance - 2005 Chrysler 300
  By m rizzi - August 3 - 9:33 pm

  Thought youd like to know how the "Car of the Year" has performed for me. Here is the repair record for my 300 Limited since 7/30/04: Right Lead/Alignment - 4 repair attempts; Clunking Noise in Rear End - 7 repair attempts; Defective Door Panel - 1 repair attempt; Recall for Radiator Brackets - 1 repair attempt; Electrical Problem w/Drivers Window - 4 repair attempts; Defective Seat Riser - 2 repair attempts; Defective Air Bag Sensor - 3 repair attempts; Electrical Problem with Wipers - undetermined(part on order).

• 

  Crummy Cruiser - 2003 Chrysler PT Cruiser
  By Mary Roth - July 6 - 8:50 pm

  Before the warranty was up I had to have a new transmission and two new air conditioners. Since then, the AC has had to be fixed again (by someone other than the dealer.) The gas mileage is poor for a small car. This is a cute top on a Dodge Neon platform and I am very unhappy with it. The service from Tommy Manuel is very crummy and I would never buy from them again.

• 

  Terrible Brake cost - 1999 Chrysler Sebring
  By Randy - June 29 - 4:15 pm

  Every 25,000 I needed a font brake replacement, including rotors. This is an unacceptable cost. I was not hard on the brakes, I just drive the car to work and home, almost all highway. I called Chrysler after the second time to let them know what was going on and maybe they might want to see if it is something in the manufacturing of the rotors. I was treated very poorly by the customer representative. I will never own a Chrysler again after I sell this car!!

• 

  Horrible car - 2006 Chrysler PT Cruiser
  By mrloyd - June 29 - 8:50 am

  The car gets 17 mpg, which is awful. You cant see traffic lights if you are the first car because of the sloping roof. The seat feels like you are on a bar stool and about to fall off, and is so narrow you have to sit on top of the bolsters, and I am thin! Front end drags when you hit the slightest dip. When cornering, tornado effect throws all loose items around car. Passengers usually complain of motion sickness. If something falls off the seat you will have to pull over to retrieve it. If you try to get something out of the passenger floor, the seatbelt will stab you in the ribs quite painfully. The removable seats are so heavy you cant remove them, or but them back. This car is terrible

• 

  not what expected - 2003 Chrysler PT Cruiser
  By bboy - June 6 - 2:00 am

  Interior design is poor... Suspension system is poor... Interior is noisy... difficult to check blind spots...

• 

  EWWWW.... Too many problems!!! - 2001 Chrysler PT Cruiser
  By Jay1121 - May 9 - 2:00 am

  I have purchased this vehicle and I will NEVER buy any Chrysler again!!! It was my second Chrysler and now I learned my lesson!!! This car gave me in less than 2 months apart $2500 worth of repairs. I took it to Chrysler Service and I felt "ripped off". First time in service was about $1000, and the second was about $1480. I had 60k mile warranty on this car, and as soon as it turned 61208 it started with problems. As if it had some computerized mechanism to do so. Go figure!!!

• 

  Reality of Ownership. 18 months, 15k miles - 2015 Chrysler 200
  By unhappy2020 - May 7 - 12:44 pm

  Purchased brand new prior to massive incentives with 18 miles on the car when I bought it. Engine sounds good when new, beautiful style, feels much more expensive than it is, at first. Then come the never ending rattles, from door panels, pillar panels, vibrations of the engine making cups rattle in the cup holders. The 4 cylinder engine that now sounds like it has a heavy piston tap when at idle in gear with the AC on. ( Dont worry they say, thats the Multi Air System its perfectly normal.) Then comes the real problem, the transmission. Driving the car in the 500 mile "re-learn" period after they "update/flash/reset" the car drives as normal as it can with so many gears. Once it "learns your driving" ( I dont race my car, I drive like a responsible adult, however racing it around like an idiot does make the car seem a bit more normal) the transmission does have a number of lovely added features such as; sudden lunges when downshifting, getting stuck in 3rd gear when coming to a stop to prevent you from accelerating normally through an intersection, half way through it will suddenly drop the transmission into second giving you burst of acceleration (almost like you have turbo lag accompanied by horrendous noise ) , loss of power while making a U-turn on busy roads, lunging forward into garage walls once its put in park. Harsh shifts, are a common experience with this car, if you decide to buy it know that you will often feel like someone is kicking you under your seat as you are driving down the road. You will also experience the loving surge the car has acquired since the last "reset" when cruising along at any consistent speed in 4th or 7th gear. Ive decided it must be part of a driver alertness package my car wasnt purchased with. Thanks Chrysler for the free upgrade... The car has also had its fair share of "phantoms" with the 8.4 Uconnect system, AC couldnt be controlled, freezing when phone was plugged in to the USB port, now randomly the ghost of Chryslers past (hackers) have come out to allow the Uconnect to mess with my phone if it is plugged into the USB system. I can tell the car to be on radio and it will shift back to play my phone every 2-3 minutes. If i need to charge my phone now I drive in silence with my phone turned off as well. You will meet many new people with your Chrysler 200, if its anything like mine the 10 visits to service in the 15k miles (nearly every 1500 miles, but whos counting I love being without my car, or a loaner) have allowed me to meet nearly every service advisor at both dealerships with in 35 miles of my house. In addition to talking with number of agents working at Chrysler Customer Care. My newest introduction was to a lovely lady named TRIVIA who works for the customer resolutions department, in a review of Lemon Law dispute with the car. She has a wonderful habit of not answering ANY phone calls, returns voicemails when its convenient and makes appointments with you (at your request) for phone calls which she never makes, or takes when you call her at said time. She must be incredibly overworked at Chrysler in light of the companies poor build quality, and poor customer service standards. It all makes sense now why Chrysler is discontinuing the 200 and Dart. The company will be bleeding money by the time they are done with recalls/ buybacks/ and bad public relations but America will just bail them out again... Your Tax dollars hard at work.

• 

  Feet of clay - 2006 Chrysler PT Cruiser
  By rickevans033050 - April 14 - 11:53 am

  I rented one of these doofuses for a trip to the Grand Canyon because Enterprise didnt hold the Kia Rio I reserved. Talk about clumsy and underpowered. It could barely hold 50 mph flooring the pedal to the metal climbing the hills between Phoenix and Flagstaff. Its a 6000 climb with some fairly steep grades. But we were being blown by Aveos, Corollas, Sentras and Neons. Its fuel economy averaged about 21. In handling my Corolla CE could run circles around it. I dont get those who think its "fun to drive" Interior is comfy and many like this retro wannabe but frankly the styling is dowdy.

• 

  I HATE IT - 2006 Chrysler PT Cruiser
  By I HATE IT - March 19 - 11:26 pm

  i have had my Pt for about a year now and it gets REALLY BAD GAS MILAGE, and WATER STAINS MY SEATS !! i bought this car bc the sales man cond me into it and i have a daughter and if she spills anything i cant clean it up bc the liquid makes the stain worse the inside of my car looks like a NASTY person owns it and im a clean freak I CANT WAIT TO SELL IT I will NEVER OWN ANOTHER ONE !!!!