Overall Reliability

2927 Views 19 Replies 12 Participants Last post by catchMEifUcan, Apr 3, 2005

Jerome81

Discussion Starter · Mar 31, 2005

Hello all. First post, and considering the 300C as a purchase.

However, I am having difficulty finding any sort of answer on the reliability/durability front. CR does not have enough data to rate on this, and I must admit that I have some reluctance about buying a Chrysler. It is a bit of an import bias I must admit, but I also worked in Auburn Hills for some time in 2003 and heard plenty of inside issues regarding (at that time) the Jeep Liberty, particularly transmission problems.

I must say that at the time seeing those 300s inside, away from prying eyes, I was very very excited. There was this gut feeling that the car was going to be a huge hit. I just loved it. And it has come true

Anyway, I realize this is a web board and people post their issues far far more than their non-issues (I currently have a Mazda Miata and spend much time on that board-you'd think the Miata was the worst car in the world, but in the grand scheme, it is incredibly reliable), but I am wondering the most common problems on the car, their seriousness, and if it is a hit and miss problem for just a few owners or something pretty widespread.

My search did turn up some strange tranny issues, the vibration, and the pull. Anything in addition? And finally, as I plan to purchase in a few months, are these problems becoming less and less frequent as the car moves into its 2nd year of production?

I can deal with small little stuff, but dropping trannies and bad shimmys scare me. Especially that I generally keep my cars for 8 years....which is partly the reason I have driven Japanese cars for so long. They have given me a few issues but all in all, no big, expensive problems. I want to keep it that way.

Thanks for the help.

And as a side note, my other considerations are:
Cadillac CTS
Infiniti G35
BMW 3 Series
Audi A4
Mazda RX-8

I realize these cars each have their own issues, I am visiting boards trying to gather some info on them as well.

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catchMEifUcan

· #17 · Apr 2, 2005

jcsganga34 said:
I just found yesterday that my rear driver side passenger window is not working.

My windows also do this, but it is because of "user error." The window have a self-correcting circut breaker. If you flip from open to close (or is it close to open) quickly, the powerful window motor will pop their breaker. Wait 30 seconds and the breaker will reset itself.

All fixed!

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catchMEifUcan

· #18 · Apr 2, 2005

Jerome81 said:
As far as this right pull is concerned, has there been a TSB issued? Is it a problem that is easily fixed or is it one of those mysterious problems that just can't ever seem to be figured out?

Remember that the steering in this car is very sensitive. It gives a LOT of road feedback.

My car experiences the "pull" but I do not feel that it is "out of the ordinary." It is the feedback from the road. If your car doesn't do this, then either the road is flat or the engineering of the car is over-compensating.

Out here in the Seattle area, I-405's left two lanes have a 5-10% pitch to the left. If I drive in those lanes, the car pulls slightly to the left. The right lanes are pitched to the right and the car pulls slightly to the right. There are a few flat spots on I-405 (just outside of Bellevuw at the top of the hill) and the car is perfectly nuetral. My truck experiences the exact same conditions in the same locations so it's not the car!

The tires also make HUGE difference. The fat, tall stock puncture-resistance tires seem to exaggerate the conditions. The beach tires I have on my truck are by far worse with those big guys (side walls are soft compound so I can run them with lower pressure to get better grip on the sand). The size of the large size tires - compared to the smaller sizes on another cars - also makes a difference in the amount of pull.

Try putting some 15s with 45s on the car. It's drive more like those rice-burners with less pull.

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catchMEifUcan

· #20 · Apr 3, 2005

Sorry to hear that JC... hopefully it's something trival like a bad breaker.

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