burlapp car

End of production for the PT Cruiser

By  •  Published:  •  Last updated:


This is it.
The last day of production after over 10 years.

Once really cool, it became more and more of a joke over the years.
Stupid Chrysler killed one of their most successful car by neglecting it. Idiots…

I drove a couple over the years, and they were pretty decent.

I still remember seeing a dealer in Glendale charging over $30 000 for the $23 000 model when they first came out.

How about some of your memories of the old PT…

Conversation 12 comments

  1. A friend got one when they first came out. And it was very cool. One of the coolest vehicles you could get at the time. I got one as a rental car a couple years ago. And it was embarrassing. If you're going to build a fashionable vehicle, it's important to keep it in fashion.

  2. As a rental, it's not quite as bad as the Caliber, but it's really slow. They kept it around too long without updating it like the Mini Cooper does. But 10 years isn't too shabby a run without significant changes. It was time.

  4. What a shame. When it fist came out, I remember standing in the lot of one of the biggest Chrysler dealerships in PA (Reedmans) and watching them come off the car carrier. There must of been 100 people there watching!

    I had to have one… so I brought one in early 2002 brand new. I remember the dealer telling me he'd had to search for the one I wanted as the Midnight Blue (or whatever they called it) was the hot color that year.

    The car was great looking,comfortable,practical,and everyone looked at it. Too bad Chrysler never got the drivetrain correct. The car was slow and got horrible gas milage.

    I kept the car for about 4 years, then traded it in cause of the horrible gas milage.

    Chrysler could have had a winner here if they kept it updated and perfected the drivetrain.

    You couldn't beat the car for comfort. I still have a softspot in my heart for them.

  5. I can only comment on how terrible they are.

    I've had a few as rentals and they were absolutely abysmal. The MPGs are SHOCKINGLY bad for a vehicle this size equipped with a four cylinder. 24MPG if I remember correctly.

    Good riddance.

  6. The PT Cruiser (and the New Beetle) are the best illustrations of the problem with Retro Styling.

    What's next?

    How do you do a major upgrade to a vehicles styling when the whole point of the car is to look like a car from decades past.

    It looks like VW will probably abandon retro styling of the next gen Beetle with a car that simply follows the styling cues of the original car.

    I'm curious to see what will happen with the Chrysler Challenger, Ford Mustang, and Chevy Camaro. The Challenger is the most pure retro design to ever be put to market. It has been a hit and seems to have legs that will last a good while, but whats next? Will they let that car languish for 10 years?

    The Camaro is the least retro of the cars. It is merely inspired from the Camaro of the 60s. I think GM will probably have the easiest time redesigning this car when the time comes because the Camaro has gone through so many iterations over its existence.

    The Mustang stands in the happy medium. Just about every generation of the Mustang has had styling cues dating back to the original. The latest car is, of course, the closest thing to the original Mustang in terms of styling. Not to mention that it still has a solid rear axle. But Mustang fans will probably be very happy to accept a totally modern design that still has styling traits of the original..

    BTW, speaking of that Solid Rear Axle, it amazes me how that suspension is not only still in existence on a new car but actually performs extremely well against the competition.

  7. I remember those when they came out, they were all the rage. I liked the idea of a compact wagon and thought the styling was neat.

    Fast forward to last year. I get a job with a delivery company, and the company car is a PT Cruiser.

    What a POS.

    Slow, loud, thirsty, cramped, cheap; CONSTANTLY things break. When it shifts gears, it feels like someone kicked you in the back. Crashy ride, horrid turning radius… NOT ONE redeeming quality. If I had time, I'd prefer to walk. I hate those cars.

    My fondest memory was accidentally hitting one of our Calibers with my PT Cruiser. It barely dinged the Caliber but the front fender got pushed back about an inch, so the passenger door would not open. That day, my boss replaced it with a Chevy HHR.

    The PT Cruiser made the HHR look like a Mercedes-Benz, and if that's not telling I don't know what is.

    Dear Chrysler, the PT embodied everything wrong with your company. Thanks for putting that dog down, and maybe consider getting out of the car-building business as you suck at it.

  8. My memory of it is the worst car I have ever driven. Steering sucked, handling sucked, rode like you were driving on rocks even when the road was smooth, ergonomics sucked, uncomfortable, terrible. Cant say enough bad things about it. And I couldnt figure out how to get the trunk open. Theres no latch on the outside or button on the inside. Good riddance.

  9. Too bad Chrysler let this one die on the vine. Annual improvements could have kept this competitive for them without major styling changes. Daimler management never understood this car from the beginning and allowed it to fail. The MINI Cooper would have died too if BMW did not make wholesale improvements each year. This will be a text book lesson on how to destroy a product line for year to come!

  10. Everyone that I've ever known that had one had nothing but trouble with them. And yes, one of their complaints was mileage. Other complaints that I can remember were transmission and heater-core issues. I really thought the PT was killed off a year or two ago. Shocking that it went this long and it is a testament to how bad Chrysler is.

  11. don't say CHRYSLER neglected it. Say DaimlerBenz raped Chrysler and left it to die. Then Cerebus showed up like a pack of vultures and picked at the remains. I think we'll see great things from FIAT–that is if the "air-suspension" "real wood & real leather interior" of the new Grand Cherokee are any indicator. The high-tech / high MPG / low-emissions Pentastar V6 is absolutely "state-of-the-art" and it could have been out 3 years ago. But at least Chrysler is finally "full steam ahead" in the right direction! The PT was great in it's day; but now it's history. Time to move on! As for the Pentastar v6; it's really the only 6 that gives Ford a run for there money. Honda, Nissan, Toyota, Hyundai, BMW, Mercedes and even GM seem caught off guard by the new generation v6's from Ford & Chrysler.

  12. I always loved it. It brought buyers to Chrysler in Germany. But as it is one of the most unreliable cars in the market the sales went near zero later. So the 300 C took over to be their cool car.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *