Excuse me while I take a while to get to the actual complaint, it's about 3 or 4 paragraphs down the line so feel free to scroll ahead.
To anyone who buys a used car without considering an extended warranty then bitches about the costs of repairs later... SHUT UP! You could have easily gone and purchased a 30k warranty with equal coverage to the factory warranty that expired for $1800 or less. I say this for one simple reason, manufacturers design their equipment to fail AFTER the warranty expires thus incurring less cost on their behalf. If you aren't smart enough to figure this out on your own then maybe you should do something called research. Especially true if you are considering to purchase a Chrysler product, this 2009 Bailout Bullshit they have participated in is now the 3rd time in 12 years that they've required financial assistance or faced bankruptcy... so wake up America, American cars suck for a reason!
Anyway, now back to my complaint. I purchased a 2006 Magnum R/T AWD with only 28k on the odometer, I will admit I love the cars look and power. Especially when I dressed it up some. When I purchased it I did my research to learn that my warranty would expire at 36k regardless of the originally offered 10 year 100k warranty. I knew this because 1) Chrysler requires the original owner register and activate the warranty or their is no such thing and my car was never activated under the first owner and 2) because Chrysler rewrote their warranty clauses in 2007 to save their asses from further financial distress by excluding all second owners from any 10 year 100k coverage that was in existence because of the amount of spending that occurred under warranty claims in recent years... again I repeat, research everything possible before purchasing a car new or used. Because of this warranty issue I purchased a CNA Platinum Warranty, cost me $1800 out of pocket but has saved my ass considering the problems to come.
How about some Chrysler history: Chrysler built all LX Chassis cars on the platform handed down from Daimler Mercedes prior to thier original sale of the company roughly ten years ago. At that time they became Chrysler LLC as we know them to fail to day. My complaint is prime example of the reasons why they are in this situation today. The LX AWD is a Chrysler modified drivetrain using the NAG1 transmission and other parts left behind from the Mercedes E Class wagon... by now you should notice the technology should have been considered outdate as the first LX AWD cars where built nearly 6 years after Mercedes kicked them to the curb. Regardless the design was quality and shouldn't have been tampered with. Anyway, Chrysler rebuilt the planetary assembly with their own parts, which was learned within the first year and 20k miles of use that aover half would suffer a sever shudder while in turns and would require a rebuild and transfer case service. The end result was Chrysler issued a service bulletin replacing the Chrysler parts with the originally designed parts as intended from Mercedes... wierd, talk about a preventable expense on their behalf. This was addressed without question under warranty as it was suspected this was my issue for the shudder in the car. This was rebuilt at 44k miles in my car.
For my complaint, Chrysler thought this was the true issue... WRONG!!! The shudder which is evident at 40 mph and 1,500 on the Tachometer continued and worsened. I had the tranny serviced at the same time as well. Now, 6k later and 50k on the odometer the car has a more severe shudder that rattles the dash board so bad most its clips by the defrost vent have broke or loosened. So, I recently took it to the dealership for the 4th time. This time they checked all fluids and found the tranny fluid to be black, signifying that something internal has failed and is causing the fluid to burn at high heat and friction. The car has had its tranny serviced twice trying to fix the issue and the findings were the same each time, but Chrysler swore nothing was wrong with the parts regardless of technicians backing the complaint and the evidence found.
So ask yourself what is the solution to this problem? The answer, since Chrysler warranty wouldn't fix the issue as it was present under the first owners claims nor would they provide help for it when I complained, be persistent. CNA has worked with the dealership which discovered the issues to of course, you guessed it, replace the entire package!!! Yeah!!! So maybe after a new tranny and transfer case with a new torque converter I just may be able to enjoy my oversized, rapidly accelorating, poor breaking and deficiently designed Dodge Magnum once again.
For those of you who purchsae an LX car, do yourself a favor and buy a 2008 or newer. At least then they addressed the problems from the 2005-2007 Magnum, Charger, and 300 chassis LX cars. Or better yet, buy a foreign car where at least they understand what dimensional tolerances during vehicle assembly should be causing less slack and slop which in turn creates less damage and longer lasting cars. Can we say Civic vs. Pinto?
For more information regarding Dodge and its benefits as there are many and its flaws which there aren't few, become a member to thier owner sites. Visit www.lxforums.com for more great information about the Magnum, 300, Charger, and the new Challenger.
Excuse me while I take a while to get to the actual complaint, it's about 3 or 4 paragraphs down the line so feel free to scroll ahead.
To anyone who buys a used car without considering an extended warranty then bitches about the costs of repairs later... SHUT UP! You could have easily gone and purchased a 30k warranty with equal coverage to the factory warranty that expired for $1800 or less. I say this for one simple reason, manufacturers design their equipment to fail AFTER the warranty expires thus incurring less cost on their behalf. If you aren't smart enough to figure this out on your own then maybe you should do something called research. Especially true if you are considering to purchase a Chrysler product, this 2009 Bailout Bullshit they have participated in is now the 3rd time in 12 years that they've required financial assistance or faced bankruptcy... so wake up America, American cars suck for a reason!
Anyway, now back to my complaint. I purchased a 2006 Magnum R/T AWD with only 28k on the odometer, I will admit I love the cars look and power. Especially when I dressed it up some. When I purchased it I did my research to learn that my warranty would expire at 36k regardless of the originally offered 10 year 100k warranty. I knew this because 1) Chrysler requires the original owner register and activate the warranty or their is no such thing and my car was never activated under the first owner and 2) because Chrysler rewrote their warranty clauses in 2007 to save their asses from further financial distress by excluding all second owners from any 10 year 100k coverage that was in existence because of the amount of spending that occurred under warranty claims in recent years... again I repeat, research everything possible before purchasing a car new or used. Because of this warranty issue I purchased a CNA Platinum Warranty, cost me $1800 out of pocket but has saved my ass considering the problems to come.
How about some Chrysler history: Chrysler built all LX Chassis cars on the platform handed down from Daimler Mercedes prior to thier original sale of the company roughly ten years ago. At that time they became Chrysler LLC as we know them to fail to day. My complaint is prime example of the reasons why they are in this situation today. The LX AWD is a Chrysler modified drivetrain using the NAG1 transmission and other parts left behind from the Mercedes E Class wagon... by now you should notice the technology should have been considered outdate as the first LX AWD cars where built nearly 6 years after Mercedes kicked them to the curb. Regardless the design was quality and shouldn't have been tampered with. Anyway, Chrysler rebuilt the planetary assembly with their own parts, which was learned within the first year and 20k miles of use that aover half would suffer a sever shudder while in turns and would require a rebuild and transfer case service. The end result was Chrysler issued a service bulletin replacing the Chrysler parts with the originally designed parts as intended from Mercedes... wierd, talk about a preventable expense on their behalf. This was addressed without question under warranty as it was suspected this was my issue for the shudder in the car. This was rebuilt at 44k miles in my car.
For my complaint, Chrysler thought this was the true issue... WRONG!!! The shudder which is evident at 40 mph and 1,500 on the Tachometer continued and worsened. I had the tranny serviced at the same time as well. Now, 6k later and 50k on the odometer the car has a more severe shudder that rattles the dash board so bad most its clips by the defrost vent have broke or loosened. So, I recently took it to the dealership for the 4th time. This time they checked all fluids and found the tranny fluid to be black, signifying that something internal has failed and is causing the fluid to burn at high heat and friction. The car has had its tranny serviced twice trying to fix the issue and the findings were the same each time, but Chrysler swore nothing was wrong with the parts regardless of technicians backing the complaint and the evidence found.
So ask yourself what is the solution to this problem? The answer, since Chrysler warranty wouldn't fix the issue as it was present under the first owners claims nor would they provide help for it when I complained, be persistent. CNA has worked with the dealership which discovered the issues to of course, you guessed it, replace the entire package!!! Yeah!!! So maybe after a new tranny and transfer case with a new torque converter I just may be able to enjoy my oversized, rapidly accelorating, poor breaking and deficiently designed Dodge Magnum once again.
For those of you who purchsae an LX car, do yourself a favor and buy a 2008 or newer. At least then they addressed the problems from the 2005-2007 Magnum, Charger, and 300 chassis LX cars. Or better yet, buy a foreign car where at least they understand what dimensional tolerances during vehicle assembly should be causing less slack and slop which in turn creates less damage and longer lasting cars. Can we say Civic vs. Pinto?
For more information regarding Dodge and its benefits as there are many and its flaws which there aren't few, become a member to thier owner sites. Visit www.lxforums.com for more great information about the Magnum, 300, Charger, and the new Challenger.
- William W., Rock Springs, WY, US