2004 DODGE Intrepid

Intrepid SXT {aka the 'Guy Package'}

Comfort Rating: 5 Performance Rating: 5 Interior Rating: 5 Reliability Rating: 3 Safety Rating: 5 Technology Rating: 3

This has been the most annoying car, I've ever loved. It is the less refined descendant of the Intrepid R/T (made 1999-2002). - My wife had it, first ... We got it in Texas, with 90,000 miles ... The person who had it before us did NOT take good care of it. So, I didn't give it a complete `crap` rating on reliability, because I know getting a used car your experience is largely dependent how the first owner treated it. This car has the mighty (for the time) 3.5 liter High Output motor, from the Chrysler 300M. Transmission first experienced problems at about 101K miles, a year after we had it ... on a trip from North Carolina to Michigan. In Michigan, at the Service Center symptoms were vague - - they changed the input and output sensors, and cleaned the throttle-body. Rode like a champ, on the way back to NC ... carrying four people. Drove fine, 'till late January the next year ... When the trans failed, with NO warning. Turned out the trans had melted unto itself. A dealership put a new remanned transmission in ... Which to this day doesn't always shift right, from first to second ... But that will be addressed, in time ... with my 100,000 mile warranty. The FAR WORSE problem that acted up, from then forward - to about six months ago - was a pesky misfire that kept happening ... Accompanied by check engine light, and an array of misfire codes. Five service centers, in the Charlotte Metro area tried to deal with this ... All failing, thoroughly. During this time the car gave me 2 years of basic headache, and misery. Then, in March this year Hendrick Chrysler-Jeep Dodge and their lead guy in the service dept, Richmond, solved the issue -- They spotted something that tipped them off it was a situation where the egg before the chicken ... There was nothing wrong with the engine!! And I tell ya at this time I was about to get rid of it ... Just sell it, for cheap. (If you get one of these cars you have to have a good mechanic ... someone who can think outside the box; have a feel for the car .... Not just follow the manual, with engine codes.) .. So, the car needed a new Powertrain Control Module - Because it somehow had the wrong one for the car, in there, and it was MAKING an otherwise normal and healthy engine misfire ... and yell at you, with a blinking check-engine light! ... They put a remanned Intrepid PCM in, and my engine has ran excellent, since. August, a loose v-belt had been causing some engine knock ... I had a local shop tighten it. Problem gone. Now this car is rock solid. .. Rides like a tank, maneuverable for it's size, and boy these cars can book, on the highway. It's the 'Guy Package' - as my wife calls it - Because it has cloth seats, regular primitive dials for the climate control, no trip computer or thermometer for outside temperature ... No leather, or interior door lights like the previous Intrepid R/T came with .... But car HAS the big V6, top-end underpinnings (suspension and brakes) and premium Infinity sound system! CDs sound great, in this car. Wife thinks the above lack of refined items [present on the Intrepid ES] but WITH the powerful engine, and performance suspension makes the car ridiculous. ~ I say it makes it awesome! I got a couple dings painted over, and put some cool rims on it's 16" tires ... The spoiler, which was fading into primer, is now silver again. So, Silver Susan lives! With many people having moved into a Charger, or Chrysler 300 .. I have decided it's a special car, and am going to keep her. I don't mind cloth seats ... though leather is nice. I don't need navigation, or an mp3 center ... The highway mileage is around 26 ... Not bad. And this is a fast large car (0-60 mph in under 7 and 1/2 seconds) .. mainly because it has the engine of the 300M, and many 300 Tourings, and Chargers, on the road - but it weighs less, because of it's lack of a sunroof and complete lack of electronics. If you get one, used - - See if it's had a new timing belt/water pump package ... If not, you'll be getting it done. If it has a good working engine, you can get 280K miles out of it. Avoid the 2.7 liter (could be lucky and get one that's been perfectly taken care of, and it'll go for ya ... But if there's a 3.5 liter available, that's a high-risk\low payoff situation).