Bought a new 2007 PT CruiserHmm Reviews, customer adventures, travel — by TDavid @ 10:10 am PST
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Our search for a $10,000 new car is over.
Ok, well, we didn’t pay exactly $10,000, but we came pretty close. That is if you don’t count taxes, fees and the five year maintenance plan we purchased. Here’s how things went down.
Friday night we stopped by the Chrysler dealer and asked if they had any small cars around $10,000. The salesman told us that they had purchased too many PT Cruisers and were offloading them for $10,990 which included a $3,000 rebate and other dealer incentives. We didn’t have to be military or college grads to get the deal. It wasn’t a special for only one car or an internet only deal, they had several to sell at this price.
The PT Cruisers came with air conditioning, but were five speed manual transmission. We tried to negotiate for an automatic for a few hundred more dollars but we’re denied because those were “more desirable” cars.
I don’t mind driving a stick and Kara decided that getting automatic wasn’t worth paying an additional $1,500+. Strangely, the price on the sticker for automatic was $800 and yet they wanted to charge almost twice that at the table. Whatever the case, we were growing weary of searching for something at/under the $10,000 mark and we pulled the trigger on the 2007 PT Cruiser. Later we would learn it was the salesman’s second week on the job and the sale seemed to have made his day. The dealership seemed pretty empty for a Friday night, but that made the deal move swiftly.
Since Kara doesn’t have her license yet by choice, the salesman drove the car seven miles or so to our home and I gave him a ride back to the dealership.
Back home I checked the web for the price and the cheapest I could find a brand new base model 2007 PT Cruiser was $12,000, so I’m fairly confident we got a good deal. If you spot the base model 2007 PT Cruiser brand new with air conditioning for less than $10,990, please tell us about it below. According to the Edmunds true cost to own tool, the cost of owning the 2007 PT Cruiser over five years is $36,903. Edmunds shows as low to the depreciation side which is good. The Edmunds tool shows $41,453 for our Saturn Relay.
On Saturday, we drove the 2007 PT Cruiser down to pick up our middle teen at his friend’s house in Vancouver. The ride is nice, but not as smooth as our 2005 Saturn Relay, and I don’t care that much for the legroom under the driver’s side dash. I separated my key rings so that I only have three keys on the PT Cruiser ring. Having more than that had them dangling down and brushing across my knee. No cruise control either which on long trips might be a bit of a bummer, but we knew we were going to get few, if any, luxury items at basement pricing.
Other features included power windows and locks, keyless entry and car mats. If we had been willing to go into our pockets $3-4k more (that’s what all car dealers hope for, but were denied in our case) we could have gotten the Luxury Edition with sunroof, cruise and a few other items.
The air conditioning in the PT Cruiser is the best I’ve ever seen/experienced in any car. It’s arctic cold. So cold that we had to keep the indicator at the center position on the lowest position not to freeze. This will be awesome on hot summer days. Haven’t tried the heater yet (making note to test that).
One of my favorite 2007 PT Cruiser features in the auxiliary input on the standard radio. Right beneath the single CD AM/FM radio is a handy shelf spot where an iPod, Zune or other MP3 player fits nicely with the cord going into the AUX in at almost perfect distance. Sweet. We weren’t expecting much more than a generic radio for the price paid, but the sound system is decent with good base and treble.
The standard warranty package is 3 years, 36,000 miles, whichever comes first. The power train and engine are warrantied for life. Yes, you read that right, the lifetime of the vehicle. It’s subject to some requirements like a certified inspection every five years and it excludes a few things, but if your engine just gives out because it sucks and you’ve followed the fine print, Chrysler will replace it at no charge. I’m not aware of any other car manufacturer that offers a warranty on the engine and power train like this, are you?
We skipped the gap coverage since there will be no disequity. We already have adequate life insurance, thus no need for credit life. We’re still looking over the extended warranty plans beyond the 3 years 36,000 miles (we have a week to make up our minds there) for items besides the power train and engine.
We paid an additional $1,565 to buy a five year maintenance package which includes every oil change and other preventive maintenance check/repair over the first five years of the vehicles. This means no charge for oil changes, tire rotation (Goodyear tires), windshield wipers or fluids for the next five years. We did the math on that and it works out at a savings of about $700 over the next five years, not counting inflation, assuming we take the car in every 3,000 miles or three months as scheduled. We will.
They did a haphazard final detail job on the car and we’re taking it back in later today to show them a few spots they missed and ask them to do a better job. You can see inside the car from the pictures above a few spots they could have vacuumed better.
Although we thought about paying cash for the whole deal, we decided to finance some of the car. We were going to use our credit union, but the dealer got us a better interest rate. That’s what we’re going in to sign for later today.
All in all, the 2007 PT Cruiser seems like a fine little car and the buying process was relatively hassle-free. We feel like we got a good deal, but as with any car purchase, you have to see how many things go wrong over time to gauge true customer satisfaction. Right now we’re happy, check with me in five years when the maintenance plan runs out and we’ll reassess.
The car could get a little better gas mileage (29 MPG highway, 15 gallon tank) but it will get better gas mileage than our Relay, which was part of our strategy. We leaned heavily toward the Chevy Aveo, but I think we got a little more car for the money. Grade: B+
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Congrats on the new purchase. I had a 2002 Touring Edition and loved it. I unfortunately totaled it about 2 years ago, but will send you a picture of how well it held up against a collision with a 1 ton electrical truck, and a pickup truck that was towing a full size motorhome trailer. Check your Gmail account - I’ll send it from my Gmail.
You’re right, the stereo is a good one. the keys dangling thing always bugged me, so I had to separate my keys as well. It’s a good car for road trips, and mine did have the cruise control as well.
You mention slight dissatisfaction with the ride….which I always liked….so I would be interested to experience the Relay for comparison.
AC is great….and I always liked the leg room on the driver’s side….almost feels like you are in a mini-van, but handles infinitely better than a minivan!
and by the way, I think you did just fine on the price.
Congrats!
Comment by Matt Wardlaw — August 6, 2007 @ 2:15 pm PST
Thanks Matt. I just saw that photo from the crash, yowsa! Hope you didn’t sustain any injuries, that’s really something.
Comment by TDavid — August 6, 2007 @ 2:50 pm PST
Yeah - I walked away with just minor back pain that has gone away…..thank god!
Comment by Matt Wardlaw — August 7, 2007 @ 7:28 am PST
I’m jealous! Congrats on the new ride.;)
Seriously you got a heck of a good price on the car, though living in California, we tend to pay a bit more for cars since the cars are equipped with emission controls due to state law. But I believe now days that alot of cars are being sold as “50 State Legal” as emissions go. It should say on your sticker. If yours is, then I might have to run up there and grab a PT Cruiser while I can. LOL
Best of luck with the new car!
Comment by orangecrush — August 7, 2007 @ 9:48 am PST
Congrats! We have two PTs (see link) and love ‘em both. Hope you have many miles of smiles!
Comment by Rich — August 12, 2007 @ 6:52 am PST
I really hate you Americans.. your cars are dirt cheap. I wouldn’t be able to get that PT cruiser for less than 17000 CND here, and considering that our money is worth almost the same as yours now, we’re really getting ripped off.
I just got a new 2007 SEL Ford freestyle over here and love it so far. $30000CND.. yeah, kindda expensice considering that you guys can get it for around $23 / 25k, but here, this is real cheap.
Comment by Kiltak — August 13, 2007 @ 6:50 am PST
Wow Kiltak, hate Americans because one of us got a great deal on a car??? That’s a bit harsh isn’t it?
I’m looking at PT Cruisers now and the best deal I can find is $15,530 for a 2007. I’m getting mixed reviews on whether or not it’s a good car to own. The biggest downside appears to be leg room, which wouldn’t be an issue at least at this point for me and my two young kids.
I really appreciate this post. Gives me a lot of information and some great views of the car. ; )
Wendy
Comment by Wendy — August 13, 2007 @ 9:51 am PST
Ok, I don’t exactly hate you guys, but let’s say I’m jealous
Even if our money is worth the same thing as yours now, we always pay about 30% more on everything we buy in Canada
Comment by Kiltak — August 13, 2007 @ 10:00 am PST
Hi Wendy - There should be a limited time $3,000 rebate offer going on right now from Chrysler, so you should see that sticker price come down by $3,000 ($12,530 more like it?), just ask the salesman. That is assuming you don’t go with the 0% interest offer. If you do the math (and you should), 0% interest versus the $3,000 back it’s almost always better to take the $3,000 off the price.
Comment by TDavid — August 13, 2007 @ 10:04 am PST
I think the sticker price was $19,755 or something like that, so they’ve already taken money off for incentives. This particular car has a sunroof and a few bells and whistles that the one posted here doesn’t have.
I’m now thinking I won’t be buying this car though. I posted to a message board and I had a lot of negative feedback on PT Cruisers in general. One woman said her hubby works for Chrysler and when they see a PT rolling into the service station they see dollar signs. Apparently they have a lot of transmission problems?
Not sure. We have a friend with a PT, but haven’t seen him in awhile. I’m thinking I need to touch base with him and see how his baby has held up over the course of his ownership. First hand info is priceless.
Comment by Wendy — August 13, 2007 @ 10:42 am PST
Ahh, if it has a sun roof it’s probably the PT Cruiser Luxury Edition, which is more expensive. We bought the base model PT Cruiser with five speed manual + air conditioning and mats. You can tell the difference by the “limited edition” on the back. There is also a Touring edition and the most expensive version is the PT Cruiser Turbo with the speedier engine.
The power train (including the transmission) has a lifetime warranty so if there are problems, they’ll be fixing it. So far no problems, but as I said in the post above: ask me again in five years. My health willing of course, I’ll be writing about the experience along the way. If you want to keep up with that just subscribe by RSS to any post with the keyword PT Cruiser (RSS link) and you’ll get owner updates along the way. You can subscribe to any keyword(s) on this blog if interested in specific topics.
From Rich’s post above I followed a link with a rumor that 2009 will be the last year Chrysler makes the PT Cruiser, so they could play into the resale price. All things worth considering.
As far as I’m concerned no new car review is truly complete until at least 100,000 miles have been driven on it and all in warranty and out of warranty repairs have been accounted for during this time by the owner. We’re about 99,000 away from that mark. Please check with your friend and get back with his comments. I agree that first hand info is gold, hence another good reason to encourage car owners to blog their customer experiences
Comment by TDavid — August 13, 2007 @ 11:18 am PST
Also, did the person who mentioned the transmission problems say whether that was related to driver related problems (was it manual or automatic transmission or both? Some people don’t know how to drive a stick, ride the clutch, etc) or was it related to manufacturing defects (and hence covered under the warranty)? Transmission problems by itself is a bit vague. Also, any comments on past line PT Cruisers might have been fixed in the 2007 and 2008 models, something I try to remember when reading negative comments from others.
From what I understand the lifetime warranty on the power train is fairly new for the PT Cruiser and so this could be the result of past model problems. The Edmunds.com link mentioned in the post shows five customer review giving the 2007 PT Cruiser an 8.0 rating out of 10. Again, these are new owners, so this is only their initial feelings, similar to ours in the post above.
It would be more useful to find out what the rating is in 2012 or 100,000 miles whichever comes first from these same owners, but unless we get a time machine when making new car purchases we have to take some things on faith. I’m making a mental note to re-review the car at 100,000 miles or five years, whichever comes first.
Comment by TDavid — August 13, 2007 @ 11:29 am PST
Great info David. Maybe I jumped too quickly in scratching the Cruiser from my list. I really need to look at everything. I just know I can’t afford a lemon. I’ll check out the link you provided and if I visit the dealership I’ll ask about the lifetime warranty.
My driving habits are such that I’d only put about 4,000 miles on a car per year. We live in town and everything is within 10 miles from home. I’m a work-at-home mom who home schools and we don’t have the time to take road trips. Maybe this would be a good choice for me? lol See how I argue with myself? This is one of the reasons I never get anywhere!
Ok, This has been great conversation!
Comment by Wendy — August 13, 2007 @ 11:35 am PST
Wendy,
If you follow along with our car buying adventures, we looked at a bunch of different new cars with the primary criteria of spending $10,000. We wanted a new car so we could get a bumper to bumper warranty to limit the whole lemon concerns you have. Frankly, a used car scares me more than a new car because I know that most, if not all, the repairs will be covered in the first five years.
From Chrysler’s own recommendations on the PT Cruiser, every 3,000 miles or three months the oil should be changed. This is more frequent than Consumer Reports mentions. I wonder how many PT Cruiser owners with problems have stayed to this cycle of maintenance?
City driving is harder on cars than highway driving. Frequent stops and starts and excessive idling (like bumper to bumper traffic) is harder on a car. We’re less than a mile from the office and use our bikes to/from work whenever we can this time of year, but when the weather goes bad we’ll probably have a good 70% be city driving. The other 30% will be trips with my wife and I mostly on the weekends.
BTW, it’s TD or TDavid, I promise not to call you Endy
Comment by TDavid — August 13, 2007 @ 11:56 am PST
Ooops! Sorry TDavid.;)
I’m back to considering the PT, even after the not so cool experience I had to day with the car salesman I talked to on the phone. You’d never believe what happened after I discussed the car on his website listed for $15,530. I went back to look at it after we talked and all of a sudden that particular car had gone up $3,000! SAME CAR! It had the same VIN # and everything. The silver and black PT’s were at the same price as before, but the Marine Blue Pearl that I specifically asked about had suddenly incurred a massive price increase. Grrrr!
The screen that I was viewing showed when it had last been updated by the dealer and would you believe it was only minutes after my conversation with him? I won’t be doing business with this guy and have decided to wait until I have a couple more grand in the bank before doing anything at all. What a jerk.
Comment by Wendy — August 13, 2007 @ 7:51 pm PST
We have 3 PT Cruisers a 2001, a 2004 and just bought a 2007 for 9301.00, yes you read that right $9,301.00. Good thing the power train warranty is lifetime and do follow the letter to keep it as the 2.4 engine they use in the PT and NEON as the PT body is on a Neon chassis is really a crappy engine. the 2001 one we have is on 2nd motor as the first one had timing belt break 50,000 miles early (70,000 and 2001 maintenance manual called for replacement at 120,000). The timing belt break ruined the motor.The engine cooling system is really lame and weak as heat damage is very common in the PT we had to replace radiator twice in 2001, fan 3 times and the engine drank coolant apparently as no dealer or mechanic could find leak, head damage, gaskets or hoses bad either but we had to add coolant every week. The mechanic at the dealership called the car a 2 story neon last time I was there last week. The 2001 has been in the shop 2 times in the last month. Going to take it to macco and have them repaint it lemon yellow soon if I can keep it out of shop long enough to get it there.
Comment by mb2foru at aol — August 20, 2007 @ 7:59 pm PST
I just bought mine here in Libya (Base 2007) exactly the same as the one you bought but i have the Keyless entry option, and it cost me just 10,500$ (due to some government subsidization);
LUCKY MEEEEE
I’m just a little worried about the crowded engine room.
when you light the dash at night it’s awesome…..
Comment by Nedal Hubhub — August 28, 2007 @ 7:04 am PST
Nedal - congrats on your purchase. You mention “but I have the Keyless entry option” — is there another one I’m not aware of? We have the keyless entry.
mb2foru - where did you buy for $9,301?
Comment by TDavid — August 28, 2007 @ 7:17 am PST
Where is everyone getting these for $10K? I’m at a loss. I can’t find one under $15 where I live. Am I missing something?
Comment by Wendy — August 28, 2007 @ 10:34 am PST
Yes i forgot to mention that mine has the Automatic Transmission…….
Comment by Nedal Hubhub — August 29, 2007 @ 1:28 am PST
Hello all, saw comments here on the PT Cruiser and wanted to add my two cents. I have an ‘03 PT Cruiser Turbo GT with the manual shift, 43,000 miles on the odometer some four years after I bought it brand-new. I also have a little insight into cars — I work in sales at a car dealership (Nissan now, Chevy until recently).
The PT Cruiser is a pretty good car — not the best, but far from the worst. Chrysler for the last few years has been making some of the best-looking cars on the planet, but the engineering is behind the times. The 2.4 4-cylinder runs rough by comparison with many of the 4-cylinder motors on the road today, and it is not as efficient as it could be.
But you know, you’ve got to take other factors into account. Things like, do you like the car? Do you like the style? Do you like the price? PT Cruiser base models are a bargain, when you consider that the only competition in that range comes from cars like the Aveo and the Kia Rio — cheaply built, using cheap components, the kind of car you’re not going to want to repair when ther inveitable breakdown occurs. With the PT, you will. It’s not a bad rig for the money.
Erik Smith
Comment by Erik Smith — September 20, 2007 @ 10:53 am PST
[…] registering and clicking on a validation link, the next step is adding your car. I added our 2007 PT Cruiser first. The system dropdown menus offered me the option to choose “model not here” but […]
Pingback by Service Beacon car maintenance schedule reminders » Make You Go Hmm — November 6, 2007 @ 5:43 pm PST
mb2foru,
If you have had such problems and think the PT’s stink why did you buy an ‘07…just curious because I am about to invest in one this weekend.
Comment by Michele — December 27, 2007 @ 7:56 pm PST
Congrats on the pruchase. 2007 PT cruisers fully loaded (cruise, tilt, A/C are going for 12000 here. I have a 2006 and am deeply disappointed in it becasue I have 48,000 km and I baby that car to the extreme and the rad fan broke and now it needs a whole new engine. Not to mention the thing is a gas guzzler and has no guts on the highway… oh how I love my old PT, but I am this close to trading it in for a Honda….. I hope you have better luck with yours!
Comment by Lee-Ann — April 16, 2008 @ 9:37 am PST
[…] some readers might recall, our last new vehicle purchase was a 2007 PT Cruiser. Subpar gas mileage aside — I mean you’d think a little car like this would get great […]
Pingback by WiFi hotspot in Chrysler 2009 vehicles » Make You Go Hmm — June 26, 2008 @ 8:40 am PST