Last Ride: The P.T. Cruiser
Back in the year 2000, Chrysler Motors thought they invented the Car of the Century when they unveiled their new P.T. Cruiser. Fashioned similar to a car you would have seen back in the 1930’s, Chrysler believed they were going to have a major hit on their hands…then, sadly, like with many new cars, it was realized that P.T. Cruisers came loaded with problems.
Powered by a measly 2.4 liter 4-cylinder 150HP engine right off of the assembly line, the P.T. Cruiser engines quickly developed problems caused by spark plugs misfiring. Some of these brand new cars wouldn’t even start! Chrysler jumped quickly, installing better spark plugs and stronger timing belts in their 2002 models. However, along with the spark plug problems, P.T. Cruisers also featured a stubbornly shifting automatic transmission. That triggered a massive recall, further upsetting a lot of customers.
P.T. Cruisers came with a lot of limited options. Customers could choose between an automatic transmission, or a 5-speed manual, and many customers opted for the automatic due to the sole fact that they disliked having a shifter on the floor, as it being placed there provided no arm rest between the seats. The bucket seats that came standard offered short leg room, and were oddly spaced far apart, something that was much more noticeable if you had the automatic, where there was an open space on the floor where the shifter would go if the car were manual. Why Chrysler didn’t fill the space with an actual center console is beyond me…
Further frustrations reared their heads for owners. When it came time to replace a headlight bulb, or the entire headlamp, every body shop in America had a headache on their hands. Mechanics had to remove the entire front clip, more commonly known as the two front fenders, and the hood, just to get down inside enough to replace the lights/lamp. To replace only the bulb itself, the owner's manual instructed that the car be jacked up in the air to one side. Remove the tire, remove the inner tire liner, reach your Stretch Armstrong arm up toward the bulb “door,” then somehow keep it open with your hand while taking the old bulb out and replacing it with the new bulb. Easy peasy, right? Chrysler offered no simpler way whatsoever for this fix, and the way the car was designed made it almost impossible to adjust the aim of the headlight once you got the bulb in.
P.T. Cruisers averaged only 24mpg for highway driving, and an abysmal average of 15mph in the city. They all had horrible “get up and go” to them, thanks to an engine with a measly 150HP.
Owners that somehow still loved their Cruisers begged Chrysler to release future models with more peppy 6-cylinder engines and higher horsepower, but Chrysler never did.
The “P.T.” portion of the name stood for “Personal Transport,” though Chrysler originally wanted the name to be “the Plymouth Pronto,” aka the P.P. Cruiser. You can take a guess right now as to why they changed it to P.T. instead… After a few years, even Chrysler themselves didn’t like the name, so they modified it to the “Chrysler P.T. Cruiser,” where it remained in use until the last model rolled off the assembly line in 2010.
No matter what the actual name of the car was, many people started calling them “Hidden Neons,” as almost all mechanical parts for the Dodge Neon and the P.T. Cruiser were interchangeable. The main difference between the two models lies in the unibody floor design: both are different at the rear of the car. P.T. Cruisers were also notorious for engine belts either fully breaking or getting close to failing, and if the belt actually did break there was only a 50% chance that the valve stems would be bent, fully ruining the engine.
Does the P.T. Cruiser have a chance of ever becoming a classic? Fans of the car think so, but many others disagree. Through research, I learned that the National Automobile List of Lemons has the P.T. Cruiser listed in their catalog. As is the Edsel, Vega, Pinto, Chevette, and others. Not exactly the type of company you want your car to be included with! Imagine trying to sell a car that has a decade long reputation as a “Lemon.” People sure did love them though. Many “improved” their Cruisers by adding wood grain molding to the doors and rear hatch, some added white wall tires with moon caps, and others added over the windshield sun visors to make their Cruiser look like an old-time delivery car. All a waste of money, if you ask me!
A couple final items: I always end my articles with the phrase “Life is good if you don’t weaken.” That came from my late cousin, Connie Myers, who passed 2 years ago from diabetes. Connie always ended any phone call, text, or email with that quote. She lived a majority of her life with one leg, and was a registered nurse, working in her wheelchair at her hospital right up to her last day. Rest in Peace, Connie. Lastly: this is the last edition of Talking Cars. Though I have highly enjoyed getting to share car facts and information with Pilot News readers over the past few years, I feel I have talked about cars enough, and plan to revamp and continue with a similar weekly column about music.
Life *is* good if you don’t weaken.