buying an intrepid and need advice from pros

cusky ss · 02-05-2004, 10:53 PM

so im thinking of buying a 94-97 or so, what kind of kilometers can they last for? and is gas mileage good or what, any info you could tell me would be great, pros and cons.....thanks alot for the help

ta0ba · 02-19-2004, 07:03 PM

i have a '96 and at the moment it has around 100,00 miles on it... i just had to put a new tranny it in, but that's because my brother drove it right after he got his license very frequently and i am guessing he put a lot of unwanted stress on it. it get's around 17 miles the the gallon in my small town with little stop and go driving. on the highway i make about 20. hope this helps!

gsxrbobby · 02-20-2004, 03:08 PM

I was also thinking about getting an Intrepid, I was looking to find out what year seems to be the best so far and what model and motor. The one I test drove had a 3.4 L and it seems to have been a good strong engine for it being a V-6. I am also looking for a used car so I was thinking about a few years old. Can anyone help?

ta0ba · 02-20-2004, 08:00 PM

3.5 L is what i have and it is powerful and get's fairly good gas mieage (see above post)

gsxrbobby · 02-21-2004, 01:39 PM

After looking around I think I am going to be looking for a 98 or newer es with a 3.2 L, unless anyone can tell me if they have a good amount of problems other than the water pump going out?

longhorn11 · 03-03-2004, 01:25 PM

i have a 98 intrepid, 2.7 it is a good engine if you take care of it. I would go for the 3.2. more power but both are nice. expensive to fix but nice to drive.

indyram · 03-09-2004, 01:56 AM

I had a '96 with a 3.5L. I loved it. I got about 32mpg. I had to replace the tranny at 135,000. The '94-'97 are known for water pumps, fuel rails, and trannies. I would definately get the 3.5L though gas mpg and power are a big difference between the 2 motors.

calgary_redneck · 03-11-2004, 05:05 PM

Personally I would run as far away from intrepids as you can but if you must buy one don't get the 2.7l v-6 in has horrible sludge build up problems even with careful mantainace. The trannies are another area of consiterable trouble. The 604 is one of dodges worse transmission decines in recent memory (and trust me they have had alot of bad ones). Be very carful to inspect the fluid and ensure it has been changed regularly. Its not uncommon for a 604 to fail long before 60,000mi. All it all I wouldn't wish this car on my worse enemy do a little research and I"m sure you will find enough horror stories to make your hair stand on end.

taxman82 · 05-02-2004, 04:36 PM

My fiance loves her 96 Intrepid, V6. No problems really.... Good pickup, about 17 mpg city, 21hwy. I'm tall, so I don't like driving it

slantsixness · 05-04-2004, 02:02 PM

Buy one, but beware:

The A604 (transmission)will bite you with poor maintenence.
The steering can fail. Check b4u buy...
The 2.7L motor is a pile of sh!t. and after 40k miles it's full of it too!
the 3.5L gets bad water pumps, but it doesn't sludge!
The fuel rail issue is a free fix (but not a recall??)from ChryCo.
The ES option is the best one to buy. (SE on later models...)
On newer models, The "slapstick" shifter makes the trans go bad even faster.
The ES with the 3.5L V6 is a dream to drive, and gets better mpg (25-35 mpg) than the 2.7. I don't know exactly why, but it does.

so be careful, but you'll like it. Buy one.
I bought my Dad a '96 ES, and It runs and drives better than the '93 88 LSS olds my mom has.
My parents are in their '80s, and they hardly drive them very far, so I never have had a trans problem, but the filter and fluid has been changed twice in 50K miles on the intrepid. I wish the Olds would just die, so I can get my mom a 300M...

Slantsixness

5spd · 05-07-2004, 06:05 PM

Avoid at all cost the 2.7L. They usually sludge no matter what you do and a #3 bearing seems to get spun alot. TRUST ME!

2crunk · 05-16-2004, 05:24 AM

I have had 2 intrepids in my time. A '95 ES fully loaded with a 3.5L V6 and a '99 intrepid with a 2.crap i mean 2.7L V6. First, the 3.5L.....Complete TRASH!!! Had the motor replaced because it burnt up, bought another motor, traded it in to my buddy who owns a carlot, first the AC goes out after about a month, then he has to replace the motor for some reason (didn't really care to listen why, just glad to get rid of it!!) Now, the '99 intrepid is the car i traded my '95 ES for. I thought hey, this car is only a few years old, about 50k miles, cant be that bad right? WRONG! After 3 fu**ing days the blower motor resister goes out, only letting my AC work on FULL BLAST. 2 weeks later, i swear, a sensor goes out, so my car can't shift out of 2nd gear. Real fun on the highway, let me tell you. So after i got both of those fixed, after spending about 9k on the car itself. And another $600 on repairs. I finally get to drive my car. 2 months later the stupid resistor goes out again. And again 4 months after that. And once more 1 week before i decide to get rid of it. To top it all off, after aproximately 65k miles an o2 sensor goes out and about the same time, my passenger side window decides to come out of trac with the power windows it has...To make a long story short, if this were to be a short story, please take my advice.....DO NOT BUY ANYTHING THAT SAYS INTREPID ON IT!!! those are my 2 cents, maybe i just had bad luck with two different cars and 3 different motors, maybe it just wasn't meant to be. But hey do what you want

calgary_redneck · 05-16-2004, 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2crunk

I have had 2 intrepids in my time. A '95 ES fully loaded with a 3.5L V6 and a '99 intrepid with a 2.crap i mean 2.7L V6. First, the 3.5L.....Complete TRASH!!! Had the motor replaced because it burnt up, bought another motor, traded it in to my buddy who owns a carlot, first the AC goes out after about a month, then he has to replace the motor for some reason (didn't really care to listen why, just glad to get rid of it!!) Now, the '99 intrepid is the car i traded my '95 ES for. I thought hey, this car is only a few years old, about 50k miles, cant be that bad right? WRONG! After 3 fu**ing days the blower motor resister goes out, only letting my AC work on FULL BLAST. 2 weeks later, i swear, a sensor goes out, so my car can't shift out of 2nd gear. Real fun on the highway, let me tell you. So after i got both of those fixed, after spending about 9k on the car itself. And another $600 on repairs. I finally get to drive my car. 2 months later the stupid resistor goes out again. And again 4 months after that. And once more 1 week before i decide to get rid of it. To top it all off, after aproximately 65k miles an o2 sensor goes out and about the same time, my passenger side window decides to come out of trac with the power windows it has...To make a long story short, if this were to be a short story, please take my advice.....DO NOT BUY ANYTHING THAT SAYS INTREPID ON IT!!! those are my 2 cents, maybe i just had bad luck with two different cars and 3 different motors, maybe it just wasn't meant to be. But hey do what you want

The scary part is that this kinda incident is far from a rare event I couldn't advice against buying an intrepid more....stay away from them

dampachi · 07-17-2004, 12:29 AM

Intrepids...eh...they're kind of a mixed bag. you could buy one and it could last forever. but then there is the more frequent experiences of buying them and they fall apart. i have a 93 3.5 ES and wow. where to start. paint oxidized, the radio just one day died for no reason, water pump went up, the AC died, and just recently the headgaskets blew. it has about 108,000 miles on it. and all those are pretty common problems.

gobblerspur · 07-31-2004, 04:23 PM

i have 96 dodge intrepid , 3.3L motor and it ha 200,200 miles on it and still runs like a champ. the only thing i put into this car is one front and backwheel bearings/hubs.has little rust on the trunk lid.i kepted up on maintance on this vehicle. now i bought a 1998 intrepid ES and fully loaded and has 74,000 miles on it.the body almost excellent condition,. just has some scratches here and there.

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