Revisiting (and defending) the PT Cruiser

[Jesda]

Remember the 90s? Retro was back — baby boomers who conveniently forgot about segregation and polio celebrated their youth with a renaissance of mid-century pop culture and design. American muscle cars reached stratospheric prices, the Volkswagen Beetle made a return to America in 1998, the PT Cruiser arrived in 2000, and the Ford Thunderbird and Mini Cooper made a comeback in 2002, the latter still in production. And let’s not forgot 2005’s retro-styled Mustang and the style-over-substance 1997 Plymouth Prowler.

Not everything from the retro fad lasted. The Thunderbird came and went like the candles on a birthday cake. Swing music made a comeback in 1998 and died by 1999. The PT Cruiser, despite its fading popularity, soldiered on through 2010, becoming the butt of jokes in automotive circles.

So here I am, putting my credibility on the line, coming to the defense of the PT Cruiser, the most-hated wagon in America (based on the “I made it up” survey).

We enthusiasts make fun of the PT for being cheap, dated, and inconsistently built. That’s all true, but we’re more shallow than we admit. We really hate it for looking dorky and appealing to grandmothers and aging boomers with outdated ideas of style.

Let’s start from the bottom and look at what else from 1999-2010 was unquestionably worse than the much-hated PT Cruiser:
–Anything from Daewoo
–The Chevy Aveo, a Chevy-badged Daewoo
–Any Kia from the late 90s or early 2000s
–Chevy Cavalier and Pontiac Sunfire

I admit, its a shorter list than I imagined. Cheaper cars tend to fall into a “blah” category at the bottom, and differentiating among them is like fishing through dog s*** looking for gold nuggets.

America Changes, PT Stays the Same

The PT Cruiser’s universal hatred among auto enthusiasts is mostly image-related. The parentally-favored PT was allowed to wither away on the market for over a decade without major improvements, leaving its perch in the spotlight when Car and Driver placed it among 2001’s Ten Best Cars and becoming decidedly uncool. Its social acceptability is polarized by the way it draws attention to itself with bright primary colors, a convertible version with a big structural ‘basket handle’ in the center, and dweeby (but friendly) owners who love flame stickers, stick-on portholes, and dog dish hub caps.



Chrysler offered flame stickers from the factory for those who didn’t want to go through the hassle of driving to Pep Boys. Below is an aftermarket treatment.



Remember that we once loved (or at least appreciated) this car for its sharp looks, design creativity, color-cued interior accents, and real-world utility. Its genuinely usable as a family vehicle, and it inspired an entire category of car-based boxes and wagons like the Honda Element, Chevy HHR, and Scion XB. Yes, all three of its knockoffs are deplorable turds, but that’s beside the point.

As baby boomers fade away, quite literally, my generation appears to have rejected the way the PT is directly associated with our parents, the same way so many of my peers have whined ad nauseam with documentaries about the dreariness of the boomer-created suburbs (the safe and peaceful communities that raised most of today’s spoiled white youth) or the non-free-range-ness of the chicken served at KFC.

Yet, they proudly embrace retro in the form of 30 year-old Volvos (covered in stupid “Coexist” bumper stickers), intentionally fuzzy photography, vinyl records, corded telephones, and vintage clothing. Such a fickle bunch of little monkeys, they are.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZEmTIu9W1k

Sometimes, being outwardly unique earns a cult following, like Saab, Subaru, or Freddie Mercury. In other cases, it invites well-earned scorn, like the white-faced goth kids I remembered roaming the halls in high school. [I’m sure half of them are working in cubicles now, driving Toyota Highlanders to and from work.]

The little PT boldly puts itself out there like an amateur dressed up for the Olympics without any actual training. The PT’s tall, arrowhead-shaped hood looks fast standing still and big wheel arches suggest power and V8 strength, but in reality its a quiet, economical, loudly styled Dodge Neon wagon. Like the Plymouth Prowler, which I admit I love, it was style over substance.



How It Drives

The Dodge Neon was a decent little car, highly regarded for its safety, handling, and clean, friendly design. Neons are autocross favorites, and despite the occasional SOHC head gasket failure, they’re mostly dependable cars if you get the manual transmission.

The PT Cruiser drives little like its sporty Neon sibling. It looks like something quick and exciting, but it moves like an average lump of car.

I had the misfortune of renting a particularly bad one in Tampa. I can’t blame Chrysler for the way it smelled (like diapers), but it felt competent enough for commuting. The sound system was decent and there was more than enough room for luggage and passengers with rear seats that folded flat.

It really could have used more power.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Gg6NpQuKFU[/youtube]

Nothing makes me more hateful than flying, and by the time the plane landed in Florida I was starving. The guy at the Enterprise rental counter was a d!ck and there was obvious dirt and grime all over the inside of the car. I didn’t get more than a few miles out of the airport before calling, complaining, and giving it back.

To the PT Cruiser’s credit, the 2007 (2006?) Kia Optima I received as a replacement was miserably bland by comparison, but at least it was clean. The Optima’s stereo sounded like a boombox shoved under piles of blankets and the steering and brakes were completely lifeless. Proof again that there are cars in this world worse than the PT Cruiser we all love to hate.

It would also be incorrect to call the PT Cruiser crude. It may be a bit cheap, but nothing seemed outstandingly bad for its class, and the cheerful body-matched interior panels, spherical paint shift knob, and white face gauges gave it some life. It beats the usual swaths of grey and black plastic you see in every other econobox.



On the highway, it was quiet and soft with light and easy steering. The automatic transmission did its job, but the 150-hp 2.4L engine was noisy and seriously showing its age, somewhat insufficient for moving 3100lbs of wagon. In this day and age, a car with the PT Cruiser’s specifications might see 30mpg, but the combination of a wheezy four-banger and 4-speed auto produce no more than 24mpg on the highway.

I can’t recall if the seating was any good — the odor from Enterprise’s lack of care made me want to get out as soon as I could. The seating position itself was tall and comfortable with good visibility, much like sitting in a 5-door Saab 900/9-3.

I suspect the turbo version might have been a hoot, with 230 horsepower and a stiffer suspension in the GT.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx-ETgZQDz0[/youtube]

Conclusion

Don’t get the wrong idea — I’m not in love with it at all, and its highly unlikely I would buy one for myself, but this now-discontinued little car is hated for the wrong reasons by my fellow car snobs, so I was compelled to come to its defense.

The PT Cruiser was originally intended to be a Plymouth (PT means Plymouth Truck) in a full lineup of retro-styled cars, and came out of Chrysler’s 1990s design renaissance, the era that gave us the Viper, Ram, 300M, Grand Cherokee, and several stunning concept cars. In the end, more than a million PT Cruisers were sold, though a large number of them went to guys named Hertz, Avis, and Enterprise.

If the jackasses at Daimler-Benz hadn’t taken over and squeezed the life and soul out of the company, the PT could have evolved into an impressive little utility vehicle, just in time for $4 per gallon gasoline.

But that seems to be the story at Chrysler over the past decade: what could have been versus what really happened.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9Sm5_dqbGM[/youtube]

http://jesda.com/2011/03/09/revisiting-the-pt-cruiser/

[Razi]

Proof again that there are cars in this world worse than the PT Cruiser we all love to hate.

This is almost impossible to conceive.

I had to rent one out in the year 2007.
It was quite horrible.

[IBCoupe]

I liked it.



And, Jesda, you're right to draw comparisons from the PT Cruiser to the HHR - it's the same designer.

He's also responsible for the Malibu redesign:


I happen to love the way it looks, and secretly wish that they'd bring back the Chevelle as a coupe version. I'm pretty sure I'm in the minority on that one, too.

[Jesda]

I liked it.



And, Jesda, you're right to draw comparisons from the PT Cruiser to the HHR - it's the same designer.

Hah! How about that!

[IBCoupe]

I can't remember where I first heard about that. It might have been in googling the HHR, as I was thinking about trading in for a five-door, though I was aiming pretty hard for the Kia Forte 5-Door.

Looks European, but I don't have to deal with ***holes as much:

[IBCoupe]

Interesting note: the guy who designed the Kia Forte, also designed the first gen Audi TT (and, less impressively, the new Beetle). Turns out, the whole new front end theme that Kia has going on was his doing, too, 'cause he's now Kia's chief designer.

Kia Forte is above.

Audi TT:


VW New Beetle:


4th-Gen Golf:


VW Eos:


I like this game.

[RuD-bOi]

Faaak man, I remember my pops was going to buy the ``PT-LOser`` untill all of my family and all his friends convinced him not too lol. Thank the lord he didnt bc we would of been the butt end of all jokes in my nabourhood .... Number one name for that car in my town PT-LOSER.

[driverdriver]

The only people who drive PT Losers around here are hillbillies with bad credit. They seem to be the dominant car at lots where the specialize in arranging exbortitant auto loans for people with very poor credit and little money. Some of them have "wrapped" flames.

[Jesda]

The only people who drive PT Losers around here are hillbillies with bad credit

[OutToWinPAHC]

I drive dodges... company cars. Horrible horrible horrible tin cans with stupid issues. I know a girl who had one of these monstrosities as well, which just fell apart. The interior was cheap plastic, the ac always broke, the trans slipped and bucked.

Defend all you want but Mopar in large percent is trash

[driverdriver]

The only people who drive PT Losers around here are hillbillies with bad credit

That would be accurate.

[AZhitman]

A Neon with a bustle-back and God-awful imitation of 40's fat-fendered style... minus the style.

[MinisterofDOOM]

The Dodge Neon was a decent little car, highly regarded for its safety, handling, and clean, friendly design. Neons are autocross favorites, and despite the occasional SOHC head gasket failure, they’re mostly dependable cars if you get the manual transmission.

And all of that would be great if all you wanted from a car was an engine that starts every morning and the ability to drive on public roads. I hate the Neon FAR more than I hate the PT Cruiser. At least the PT Cruiser was trying to be something unique. The Neon was just the lowest of the lowest of the low, an ultra-super-stupendo-crazy cheap economy car. Stripped of ANY "features" and built as cheaply as cars can be found. They might make great autocross cars, but that doesn't make them good CAR cars. Driving a modded one at the track every weekend is one thing. Driving one to work every morning? NO. I'd rather drive a Solara. At least the Solara's ugly comes with an interior that doesn't belong in a Play-Skool catalog.

Defending cheapass cars because they're fun would only work if there were no GOOD cars that are fun. And there are. So the Neon gets no redemption.

The only compact I dislike more than the Neon is the Cavalier, and that's because the Cavalier is guilty of all the Neon's sins but to an even greater degree.

Remember the 90s? Retro was back — baby boomers who conveniently forgot about segregation and polio celebrated their youth with a renaissance of mid-century pop culture and design. American muscle cars reached stratospheric prices, the Volkswagen Beetle made a return to America in 1998, the PT Cruiser arrived in 2000, and the Ford Thunderbird and Mini Cooper made a comeback in 2002, the latter still in production. And let’s not forgot 2005’s retro-styled Mustang and the style-over-substance 1997 Plymouth Prowler.

Not everything from the retro fad lasted. The Thunderbird came and went like the candles on a birthday cake.

The Prowler needed 2 more cylinders. Or at least a 6 worth its weight in pigiron. Chrysler knew it, but also knew it didn't matter, since it was a unique enough car that people would put up with its shortcomings.

And the Thunderbird...
I find it highly amusing that the same magazines that praise the LS up and down also LOVE to bash the Thunderbird. THEY'RE THE SAME CAR.


Yeah, I know this thread is about PT Cruisers. I have nothing to say about PT Cruisers, so I said other stuff instead.

[Jesda]

Driving one to work every morning? NO. I'd rather drive a Solara. At least the Solara's ugly comes with an interior that doesn't belong in a Play-Skool catalog.

Defending cheapass cars because they're fun would only work if there were no GOOD cars that are fun. And there are. So the Neon gets no redemption.

The only compact I dislike more than the Neon is the Cavalier, and that's because the Cavalier is guilty of all the Neon's sins but to an even greater degree.

You're demonstrating what I said in the original post about fishing through dog poop for gold nuggets.

The reason I brought up the Neon at all was to show how such a fun-to-drive little car could lose its character when plumped up to be a tallish wagon.



rage clown

Now your hands are covered in canine feces.

[Jesda]

And the Thunderbird...
I find it highly amusing that the same magazines that praise the LS up and down also LOVE to bash the Thunderbird. THEY'RE THE SAME CAR.

I remember the Thunderbird being adored by most of the media. There was that Car of the Year thing.

[IBCoupe]

Eh, I could never get behind the styling of the rebirthed Thunderbird. Looked too much like this:


And not enough like this:


I know they tried with that porthole thing, but... no.

[MinisterofDOOM]

You're demonstrating what I said in the original post about fishing through dog poop for gold nuggets.

Actually, I'm demonstrating that I can just ignore the dog poop since I know where they keep the gold.

[s0m3th1ngAZ]

I once passed the Northwest PT Cruiser club while out on a drive. Must have been over 100 PT Cruisers in all colors and configurations.
Was like a circus and I thought I had tripped into the Twilight Zone.

[Jesda]

You're demonstrating what I said in the original post about fishing through dog poop for gold nuggets.

Actually, I'm demonstrating that I can just ignore the dog poop since I know where they keep the gold.

The analogy went right over your stubbornly determined head.

The point I was trying to make is that distinguishing a bad car from a s*** car is a pointless exercise.

[93coupe]

Not much to say in this thread besides the fact that I like dog dish hubs... on old Mopar.

My pedo neighbor drives a purple vert PT Cruiser.

[AZhitman]

The reason I brought up the Neon at all was to show how such a fun-to-drive little car could lose its character when plumped up to be a tallish wagon.

I rarely disagree with The Pants, but there is nothing.... NOTHING... remotely resembling "fun" about the experience of driving a Neon, unless:

1) You're 14 and you've never driven a car
2) You're so stoned that EVERYTHING'S "fun"
3) It's a rental and you;re filming an episode of "Jackass"
4) It's an SRT-4 that's been modded (stock ones are still fail)
5) It's an ACR version that's been modded (see above)

[Bubba1]

And the Thunderbird...
I find it highly amusing that the same magazines that praise the LS up and down also LOVE to bash the Thunderbird. THEY'RE THE SAME CAR.

I remember the Thunderbird being adored by most of the media. There was that Car of the Year thing.

Ya, just Motor Trend. the problem with the Tbird was that the car itself never lived up to the hype or looks. The original 55-57 was a sports car, and while the new one looked much like the old sports car, the new one was strictly a freeway cruiser. It's not that the LS platform sucked, but more that Ford hyped it to be something it wasn't. It was also priced a bit too high for being not much more than an old LS with a different body.

I think MoD got it right. The neon is a fun little weekend track car. Surprisingly competent. The SR-T4 is still a delightful car to fling. The problem is it was never built well or reliable enough to be a good daily driver. Chrysler also put very little money into developing it. The PT Cruiser was also a competent driver, with a clever design, but it suffered from the same basic problems as the Neon: built poorly, and no development dollars.

[Bubba1]

The reason I brought up the Neon at all was to show how such a fun-to-drive little car could lose its character when plumped up to be a tallish wagon.

I rarely disagree with The Pants, but there is nothing.... NOTHING... remotely resembling "fun" about the experience of driving a Neon, unless:

1) You're 14 and you've never driven a car
2) You're so stoned that EVERYTHING'S "fun"
3) It's a rental and you;re filming an episode of "Jackass"
4) It's an SRT-4 that's been modded (stock ones are still fail)
5) It's an ACR version that's been modded (see above)

Disagree with you a bit. I drove some early stock Neons at Lime rock. They were pretty darn fun. I also know a guy that tracks an ordinary neon. Although it's wrong wheel drive, it as cheap to run on the track as a miata, plus you can haul a complete set of tires in the back + jack + luggage.

[Jesda]

the problem with the Tbird was that the car itself never lived up to the hype or looks. The original 55-57 was a sports car

No it wasn't, not even a little bit. It was a personal luxury car that looked sporty. The sportiest Thunderbirds came out of the 90s.

The original Neon weighed only 2300lbs because Chrysler spent about $0 on sound deadening, comfort, and refinement. I place it on equal footing with the B14 Sentra, a lump of sad that weighs 200lbs more.

But, if you can't find a little joy in throwing a lightweight trash can like a Neon around a corner, then you're spoiled or jaded.

And so here we are, digging through dog poop for pieces of gold. I warned you.

[Rex]

I could have been convinced to buy an HHR if it had real V8 power ... the PT's weren't that bad when they were new. Though long term quality showed why they were so "affordable".

And I believe the original Thunderbird was designed/considered "sporty" for the mid-50's era.

[Jesda]

Maybe I'm incorrect and looking at the original Thunderbird and Corvette the wrong way. Maybe they were indeed "sporty" in the context of what else was on the market:


^So damn beautiful it almost aches to look at.

[Bubba1]

I could have been convinced to buy an HHR if it had real V8 power ... the PT's weren't that bad when they were new. Though long term quality showed why they were so "affordable".

And I believe the original Thunderbird was designed/considered "sporty" for the mid-50's era.

Yes, it was definitely considered sporty in '55-'57. In fact, Ford offered some rather sporty hot motor setups in that car including a 300 hp Paxton supercharged version. Pretty impressive considering what American cars were like in 1955. I think Jesda might be citing Fords initial ad campaign where they marketed the Tbird as a "pesonal luxury" car in an attempt to separate it from the Corvette. It really did not become a luxury car until 1958, when Ford grew it into a luxo-barge.

[IBCoupe]

Yes, it was definitely considered sporty in '55-'57. In fact, Ford offered some rather sporty hot motor setups in that car including a 300 hp Paxton supercharged version. Pretty impressive considering what American cars were like in 1955. I think Jesda might be citing Fords initial ad campaign where they marketed the Tbird as a "pesonal luxury" car in an attempt to separate it from the Corvette. It really did not become a luxury car until 1958, when Ford grew it into a luxo-barge.

+1. If memory serves, the T-Bird was designed to compete against the Corvette. They were both small roadsters/coupes with a V8 (though the Corvette's cheapest model came with an I6, originally).

[AZhitman]

Bubba's right - the original (55-57) 'birds were indeed sportier than anything else on the market at the time, and, properly equipped, would outrun anything in Detroit.

Jesda nailed me: Spoiled AND jaded.

But a closer comparison for the Neon would have been the B13. The B14 isn't in the same class as a Neon.

[IanS]

I will agree with most of your points Jesda, but I have to say one thing.

The PT Cruiser is at the top of my list as one of, if not THE worst built/engineered vehicle of the last decade. I hate them, because working on them is a huge pain due to endless engineering oversights, odd angles, and lack of space in the wrong places. Yet, at the same time, I love them because so many parts wear out on a consistent basis.

The suspension, while acceptable on the Neon, was never meant to carry the heft of the PT. Bushings, ball joints, tie rods, struts, shocks, sway bar links and watts links all fail laughably often. The water pumps burn up before timing belt replacement is even recomended, while the power steering systems seem to leak perpetual. Not to mention the chrome wheels that often wont hold air after only 3 or 4 years due to the plating peeling off.

Chrysler should have stuck with the original neon. Stupid cheap, stupid simple, and darn reliable, even for a chrysler. They had their issues, but almost everything was a cheap fix. The PT on the other hand, tried very hard to be upscale, as did the newer neons, and this bit them in the butt.

Chrysler should have been left to die. Not just because of the PT Loser, but for numerous other reasons.