Prospective Owner
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I guess 1st, are you planning on buying new, or would you consider used?
There were a number of small problems with the '05's; right pull, transmission water accumulation, minor electrical problems, etc. I haven't heard of any real problems with the '06's, most of the TSB corrections had been incorporated in the new model.
There are still some minor electrical nuisances, the seat glide-back, one-touch up and down front windows. Some of these features need prodding now an then.
The car itself, is solid structurally, and mechanically, and is great fun to drive. I don't think you can go wrong with it. IMHO.
There were a number of small problems with the '05's; right pull, transmission water accumulation, minor electrical problems, etc. I haven't heard of any real problems with the '06's, most of the TSB corrections had been incorporated in the new model.
There are still some minor electrical nuisances, the seat glide-back, one-touch up and down front windows. Some of these features need prodding now an then.
The car itself, is solid structurally, and mechanically, and is great fun to drive. I don't think you can go wrong with it. IMHO.
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We bought an '05 Midnight Blue Pearl about 5 weeks ago with 14.6k miles. Was locally purchased and owned, resold from the original dealer as Chrysler-certified Pre-owned. Saved us several thousand over and '06 new although we didn't have our choice of ordering options. The only thing we'll really miss is not having the moon roof, but for the price savings, I'm not complaining in the least. We might not have ordered a "C" but the used price was attractive and now that we've experienced the Hemi... well, I'd order another one if I had the money!
Has not exhibited any of the early '05 problems, other than we did have to apply the TSB for the auto-glide on exit for the driver's seat. I can't even complain about the stock ContiSeal tires... they seem to be performing and wearing well. CarFax was available, and I would recommend that for ANY prior owned purchase.
Since you now have three choices, I'd say either of the used ones would do you well... although I might wonder about an '06 being let go so quickly, and an '05 with so few miles... of course maybe they were traded in for an SRT-8 model... who knows!
Has not exhibited any of the early '05 problems, other than we did have to apply the TSB for the auto-glide on exit for the driver's seat. I can't even complain about the stock ContiSeal tires... they seem to be performing and wearing well. CarFax was available, and I would recommend that for ANY prior owned purchase.
Since you now have three choices, I'd say either of the used ones would do you well... although I might wonder about an '06 being let go so quickly, and an '05 with so few miles... of course maybe they were traded in for an SRT-8 model... who knows!
The two used ones are from the original dealer. The '06 model is being sold because the guy who bought doesn't like the colour and to be honest me niether. Its the same one you have but the interior is grey leather which I didn't like. The used '05 one is perfect, big difference in price between it and a new '06. I think I'll go for the used '05, but I just want to make sure there are no problems realibility or build quality.
What ever you do decide to get, if you have not done so already, it is usually a good idea to find out about your financing options before you go to the dealership, especially if you have good credit.
When I got my 300C, I already had to good offers in my pocket and gave the dealership the option of matching the best one; if they had been a pain to deal with, I would have asked them to beat the offer, but they were easy to work with(and I told them why they did not have to beat my offer, only match it). Basically the dealerships get some money for doing the financing.
Also, if you plan on getting an extended warranty, shop around online(I would only go with Maximum Care from Chrysler). Depending on the age of the two 05s, their may not be a penalty for getting the extended warranty. Also, the 05s have a 7/70, which I believe is cheaper to extend. And, when you extend, if you pick a lower deductible, it applies immediately.
But, it is also possible that either of the 05s may already have an extended warranty, which would be transferrable to you, for a fee. Make sure to ask.
Opinions vary on the extended warranty(whether to get one or not), but for me, I like the piece of mind. With the prices I got, I decided to go with the $50 dedcutible, which I would break even on at about 3 warranty visits. And, pick the plan that fits your driving. Me, I drive a lot, so I went with a plan with 100,000 miles, but fewer years. For some, low milage but a lot of years works for them.
In short, the better prepared you are going into the dealership, the better your chances of getting the best deal. I don't mind the dealershihp making money on me, I just don't want to be gouged. I even made sure to have my title, registration, and insurance info with me; the dealership new I was serious and not there to waste their time(and they knew I wasn't going to let them waste my time). I am firm, but also fair.
And, finally, enjoy the car...but that won't be hard to do. :biggrin:
When I got my 300C, I already had to good offers in my pocket and gave the dealership the option of matching the best one; if they had been a pain to deal with, I would have asked them to beat the offer, but they were easy to work with(and I told them why they did not have to beat my offer, only match it). Basically the dealerships get some money for doing the financing.
Also, if you plan on getting an extended warranty, shop around online(I would only go with Maximum Care from Chrysler). Depending on the age of the two 05s, their may not be a penalty for getting the extended warranty. Also, the 05s have a 7/70, which I believe is cheaper to extend. And, when you extend, if you pick a lower deductible, it applies immediately.
But, it is also possible that either of the 05s may already have an extended warranty, which would be transferrable to you, for a fee. Make sure to ask.
Opinions vary on the extended warranty(whether to get one or not), but for me, I like the piece of mind. With the prices I got, I decided to go with the $50 dedcutible, which I would break even on at about 3 warranty visits. And, pick the plan that fits your driving. Me, I drive a lot, so I went with a plan with 100,000 miles, but fewer years. For some, low milage but a lot of years works for them.
In short, the better prepared you are going into the dealership, the better your chances of getting the best deal. I don't mind the dealershihp making money on me, I just don't want to be gouged. I even made sure to have my title, registration, and insurance info with me; the dealership new I was serious and not there to waste their time(and they knew I wasn't going to let them waste my time). I am firm, but also fair.
And, finally, enjoy the car...but that won't be hard to do. :biggrin:
Also, just in case you change your mind, there is a $1000 rebate on the 06s.
And, sometimes, depending on your source of finanacing, new car loan rates can be less than used car; it really depends on the bank/CU. I have seen some CUs that will give the same rate for a new 06 or a used 0; but I have also seen a 1/2 point difference with some banks between new and used.
And, sometimes, depending on your source of finanacing, new car loan rates can be less than used car; it really depends on the bank/CU. I have seen some CUs that will give the same rate for a new 06 or a used 0; but I have also seen a 1/2 point difference with some banks between new and used.
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Ours is the light graystone with midnight blue pearl outside. I didn't and wouldn't want the darker gray interior either. Attached a couple pix... I think.
We traded a '97 Subaru Outback for $3k and had $1k in cash... against sale price of $30k less $1... due to Chry. Cert. got financing for 63 months at 6.26%. Dealer did the paperwork, but loan came from local bank and banker that we know and have worked with for many years... We're now rolling everything into a refinance on the house at fixed 6% for 10 years at which point we'll be debt free... and hopefully retired! :banana:
Added later: Ours had the transferrable 7/70 powertrain and 3/36 B2B. Am considering a Max Care extended, but not until Feb. '06 timeframe, and it will be the longer mileage, shorter timeframe given our long-distance travel patterns.
We traded a '97 Subaru Outback for $3k and had $1k in cash... against sale price of $30k less $1... due to Chry. Cert. got financing for 63 months at 6.26%. Dealer did the paperwork, but loan came from local bank and banker that we know and have worked with for many years... We're now rolling everything into a refinance on the house at fixed 6% for 10 years at which point we'll be debt free... and hopefully retired! :banana:
Added later: Ours had the transferrable 7/70 powertrain and 3/36 B2B. Am considering a Max Care extended, but not until Feb. '06 timeframe, and it will be the longer mileage, shorter timeframe given our long-distance travel patterns.
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mk393GB said:
Between the 2 used ones (05 and 06) you get the 7/70 powertrain warranty with the '05 for a transfer fee of $150, provided you are the second owner and not the third. On the 06 the warranty is only 3/36.
My 05 has been trouble free - - but it was a very late build 05 (Feb 05). They started building 06 in March so mine was one of the last 05's so most of the 'bugs' must have been worked out.
If I have any complaints they are: Forward visibility... you have to duck to see a stoplight if you are the first car...and you can hide a schoolbus behind the inside rearview mirror. But those are just things to get used to , I LOVE this car, especially when I'm on a 2 lane highway and need to pass
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KJ... I'm a tall guy (6'4") and rearviews are always slung way too low for me. So the first thing I do is push them up as far as I can near the headliner, then tilt just the mirror portion down to show the road behind. Makes visible a lot more of the road ahead and too the right side for me!kevenj said:
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mk393GB said:
I'm sure this could vary from car to car within the same model year, and after all they really didn't change anything, but to be honest the "fit and finish" is actually better on my 2005 300C than on my Dad's 2006 300C-SRT8. The hood on dad's 06 is very slightly off to one side, and the door moldings on the rear doors are not positioned quite as far back from the edge of the door (some people have had those 'catch' when opening the door and scratch the paint on the front door).. dad's 06 also has one rattle coming from someplace in the left dash area (which he can't hear but I can).. and my car is absolutely rattle free. This MAY be due to the firmer ride of the SRT8 though. Paint quality is a toss up.... mine has some orange peel and dad's 06 has a few specs of dirt in the paint that you only notice when you wax the car.
Over all an awesome machine for the money either way you go.
The only major changes I can think of were a small upgrade to the passenger seat(I think they are 8 way now), plus the tire pressure monitor system(shows the actually reading on each tire). I think there were one or two other changes, but, mostly minor(map pockets or some such).kevenj said:
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I also bought an 11month old, fully loaded, Midnight Blue Pearl 300C with only 1,240 miles on it a few months ago. Previous owner didn't drive it much as this was a work car for his "away" office. He replaced it with a Black SRT8. I had considered the 300C out of my price range until I found this one on EBay.kevenj said:
One thing to note is that if you buy the extended warranty, there really is no reason to pay the 150 transfer fee for the 7/70 factory warranty on the '05. The factory warranty only covers manufacturing defects, not wear. The extended warranty covers wear as well as a lot more parts.
2Shay
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kevenj,
Magnuman, down here in Boise. How's your weather? Any snow yet? I noticed on one of your previous posts in this thread that you had a problem with the overhead stop lights. I solved the problem with one of these: http://www.lightinsight.com/index.htm
Mount it at the top of the windshield, slightly left of, and behind, the rear view mirror. You, and any other LX owners, may want to give it a try....inexpensive and works great. Let me know if you get one and how you like it.
Magnuman, down here in Boise. How's your weather? Any snow yet? I noticed on one of your previous posts in this thread that you had a problem with the overhead stop lights. I solved the problem with one of these: http://www.lightinsight.com/index.htm
Mount it at the top of the windshield, slightly left of, and behind, the rear view mirror. You, and any other LX owners, may want to give it a try....inexpensive and works great. Let me know if you get one and how you like it.
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magnuman said:
Hey magnuman,
No real snow in town yet, the ground was white with slush yesterday morning but was gone by about 10am....a few hundred feet higher in elevation at my brother's house there was some white stuff sticking...
Thanks for the link, I might have to give that thing a try! have you had any problems with it being in the way at all , or distorting your vision on the road when you are not sitting at a light?
By the way the picture is of my dad's SRT8 and my 300C in his driveway. No particular reason I attatched it other than I just took it the other day and thought it was a cool pic! :wave:
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kevenj,
Beautiful pair. I'd for sure take the SRT, if given the choice. How much faster than yours? Have you and your dad run them at the drags?
The light-in-sight does not get in the way or distort your vision at all. In fact, I moved mine a little more to the left of the rear view mirror, because I was having to lean a little to the right to get a clear view of the stoplights through the prism. Now it's perfect...no bending or leaning. You can sit normal and see the overhead lights with ease.
Beautiful pair. I'd for sure take the SRT, if given the choice. How much faster than yours? Have you and your dad run them at the drags?
The light-in-sight does not get in the way or distort your vision at all. In fact, I moved mine a little more to the left of the rear view mirror, because I was having to lean a little to the right to get a clear view of the stoplights through the prism. Now it's perfect...no bending or leaning. You can sit normal and see the overhead lights with ease.
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No we have not run them; Dad just got the SRT8 at the end of August; The Magnesium 300C was my dad's and I bought it from him when his SRT8 finally arrived. My "C" only has 2900 miles and Dad's SRT8 has 1300 miles on it. (He's got a 2000 Grand Cherokee that he bought new, and has just 21,000 miles on it now) so you can see he didn't really need the SRT8; he's about to turn 71 and wanted to buy himself a toy. When he was a 20 year old kid pumping gas a guy used to come in with a brand new 1955 Chrysler 300 and my dad vowed that one day he'd own a Chrysler 300 with a hemi !magnuman said:
Next spring we're going to take them both to Spokane Raceway Park along with my brother's 2001 Corvette Z06, and see how they run. They also have the "Friday Night Street Races" there, where they don't give you a time slip, just heads up racing for $5 all night - - basically geared for the kids to keep them from racing on the street. I'm gonna have to borrow the SRT8 and go show some Ricer Kids what a real car is! :wave:
Given the choice, sure, I'd take the SRT8 - - but it's out of my reach financially. I love the 300C and feel fortunate to have such a machine. Even though I bought it "used" with 1300 miles on it I count it as a new car; first new car I've ever had. In the past I've had 10 year old cars with 100k miles on them so to me this car is sweet!
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