Buying an Old Car

Quote: beachbumbabs

May I please have some car advice.

Looking at 08 Chrysler 300 C xl w 5.7L Hemi.
30650mi. $12,800 in dealer ad.

Question. Isn't this a Daimler car?

If it's a Florida car, no salt, no damage, isn't that a pretty damn good deal?

I shopped these in 2005, wanted one so bad, but they were about 42-45k new. And favorably comp to Lexus etc due to Daimler trying to upgrade that model
Or not. Thanks.

My wife is still driving our 2005 Pacifica which is also more Mercedes than Chrysler. It has been a great vehicle and has 230 KM on it now with no problems. I would expect the early 300's would be similar. The current Pacifica is a glorified minivan. The biggest issue is that parts are always backordered and expensive since they are basically Mercedes parts for most of the drive train.

Quote: kenarman

My wife is still driving our 2005 Pacifica which is also more Mercedes than Chrysler. It has been a great vehicle and has 230 KM on it now with no problems. I would expect the early 300's would be similar. The current Pacifica is a glorified minivan. The biggest issue is that parts are always backordered and expensive since they are basically Mercedes parts for most of the drive train.

Is yours the Hemi?

No just a 6 cylinder.

Got ti thinking how much of my life is memorialized by the cars I've had.

My cars
1969 Cutlass (used)-family kid car
1972 Mercury Comet (used)-family kid car II
1972 Chevy Vega (used)-$600, alum engine block. Melted
1978 Ford Pinto (used)-$5000 pos force-bought. Killed it with midwest winters.
1985 Dodge Daytona turbo (new) drove 5 yrs warranty. Melted alum engine block 1 mo after warranty expired.
1992 Chrysler LeBaron (new)-too small for husband. Gave to brother
1978 Ford F250 (used) (column shift) bought from geared perfectionist co-worker. Got talked into selling it after 1 year to tradesman who saw it in the yard and begged for it.
1994 Buick Regal (used)-leaked thru moonroof. Pos.
1998 Ford Explorer (used) bought from co-worker, sent w/husband in divorce
1993 Buick Roadmaster (used)-inherited from dad. Sent to brother after driving 2 years.
2005 Dream Cruiser (new) "custom" PT Cruiser. Only low-profile car I'll ever have.
2006 Hyundai Santa Fe (used) took to Hawaii, drove 2 years, sold on island for more than I paid for it.
2012 Hyundai Santa Fe (new)-current car, very happy so far.

I wish I still had the Gutless Cutlass (we called it). It was only gutless compared to the big cars my dad had.

All manual xmissions until the Regal. Pos (again)

Quote: kenarman

No just a 6 cylinder.

I wondered if it was one of those Hemi's that run on 4 cyl for better mileage, then 6 and then 8 for go fast, like the one Babs describes?

I have a friend with the Dodge hemi pick up. It gets 22 mpg cruising around, but he put a trailer on behind it, and the mileage dropped to 8mpg?

I have no knowledge of the vehicle Babs describes but anything that changes the amount of cylinders firing, makes me wonder about how long they last?

Congratulations on the 230k, that's always good to hear.

Babs have you googled complaints about the vehicle? People it seems are anxious to share, when they think their ride should have run better or longer.

Quote: petroglyph

I wondered if it was one of those Hemi's that run on 4 cyl for better mileage, then 6 and then 8 for go fast, like the one Babs describes?

I have a friend with the Dodge hemi pick up. It gets 22 mpg cruising around, but he put a trailer on behind it, and the mileage dropped to 8mpg?

I have no knowledge of the vehicle Babs describes but anything that changes the amount of cylinders firing, makes me wonder about how long they last?

Congratulations on the 230k, that's always good to hear.

Babs have you googled complaints about the vehicle? People it seems are anxious to share, when they think their ride should have run better or longer.

Good idea to go looking for complaints. I'm very fond of edmunds for good info. Will check around.

Never heard of a part-time Hemi. Thought they made it a muscle car on purpose by dropping in a truck engine. Just can't trust those car salesmen, I guess. I believed him at the time.

That car (the 2005 I test drove) was pure pleasure. It purred. You sank into the seats. Great acceleration, marvelous cornering, good sound suppression.

Quote: beachbumbabs

Got ti thinking how much of my life is memorialized by the cars I've had.

There should be at least some memorable
cars on your list, cars that were great.

I only had 3. A 1970 Opal GT, a 1968 Lincoln
with suicide doors, and a 1969 Chrysler convertable
with a 383. I got the Opal new and it's
the only sports car I ever owned. I had
the Lincoln in the 80's and the Chrysler
in the 90's. I loved these cars dearly.

I got the Lincoln in SoCal from an old
lady. The Chrysler was in a farmers barn
covered in bird crap. I got it in a 1993 auction
for $300 because it didn't have a battery
and nobody knew if it ran. Started right
up and I drove it home the next day.

This is the Opal, miss it every day. It looked
just like this, they were mostly in red.



Lincoln, nicest riding car, it floated down the road.



The Chrysler was a boat, a land yacht,
but it went like a banchee and was
scary to drive. It looked almost like
this one.

You tryna sell that beast, petro, or just make me jealous? You've succeeded on one, and success on the other is but a phone call away =) Can't find sticks for nothin', no matter how much EB insists the auctions are full of em =p Also, the "ecoboost" is a Ford thing. They've gone to putting turbos on everything to up the mpg while still being able to make power. Many (most?) new F-150s are all V6 twin turbos. 25+mpg while still putting down 365hp. They do the same with their Fiestas or whatever their compact model is called now. Great on paper, but Good Enough is not good enough, and one 10mm down into a turbine spinning @ 175,000rpm makes a horrific noise that sounds an awful lot like $10,000 leaving your pocket. I'll stick with Bronze Age V8's TYVM.

Babs car, OTOH, I would almost guarantee has that cylinder killing feature. I know I saw 300's advertised with it around that generation, and my cousin owns a Ram that does it as well. I don't like it, but mostly because I'm an "end of the line" type of buyer, and it's just one more system that will take a s#$% while under my purview. As far as having it when it's newish... the cylinders still go up and down and the valves still open and close regardless if there's spark and fuel, so I can't quite understand the maintenance worries. I'd be more worried that the controller (wires / ECU) fails and sticks me with full time 4banger than the system wearing out the engine weirdly. But this advice comes with absolutely ZERO real knowledge. ECU controlled cars make my brain hate itself =p

And Babs, not to scare you, but if you look towards the beginning of this thread you will read of my Ram woe. That Ram had the same 5.7 Hemi you're looking at. Keep in mind, as AZD said, a lot of folks get the big stuff precisely so they can tromp the balls right off it, and maybe mine was one of those examples. I can't say I've EVER heard of the 5.7 being the problem (Dodge using s#$% paper thin steel on the bodies is the biggest gripe), but having an engine literally explode at 70k miles while coasting at 19mph has left a taste so foul I still haven't rid myself of it yet.

Just to put my story into perspective, if mama came to me talking about a 300, I wouldn't be on her ass about the motor. I just mentioned it because IT NEEDS MENTIONING. F#$%ing Dodge =p

I really appreciate the thorough and knowledgeable advice, guys. I will be taking a pass on this car. (sniff, sob).

I'm sure I'm an ignorant Luddite on cars. I liked:

Big engines - because you win if you go head-on, because the car has enough weight to keep going in mud/slush/etc., because you can accelerate your way out of trouble, etc.

Manual transmission - because I like to DRIVE. also great for certain things, like mountain driving.

A carberator rather than fuel-injection etc. -simple system, can be fixed.

Analog engine/parts controls rather than ECU. God, I hate those stupid chips. They go haywire all the time and are SO expensive.

I miss the simple beasts of the 60s, American muscle cars. Never owned one. Several boyfriends did, though. Almost bought a 1984 Mercury Cougar (past its best years by then, but still fun) after my pos pinto was stolen. Police found it on day 28. I would have had the insurance money on day 30. The thief had been living in it. It was returned full of dirty clothes and government cheese.

The pinto itself was a story. I was shopping for a car with my Vega on baling wire and oxygen. My grandpa died and left a small inheritance. I excitedly upped my budget to a good car. I drove to my parent's house, where there was a "surprise". One of my dad's salesman had decided to buy a different car, and sold his used car to my dad for MY money, and a couple thousand more than I had planned to spend. Boy, was I pissed.

Insult to injury, it was the UGLIEST car ever painted. According to values, it was worth more than "I" paid for it, so I suppose a good deal, but it only lasted 2 years. So I didn't get my money's worth at all. Some negligible trade-in value on the Daytona (which I loved at the time, though it was underpowered on mountain climbs ).

This was the body style, including the all-glass hatchback.



This was the paint job, though this is a Mercury Bobcat (twin sub-compact). Retroactive barf.

Quote: Face

You tryna sell that beast, petro,

I would like for you to have it, except then I would be out looking for a rig. They really don't seem to hold their value after being 10 plus years old?

I've seen many under 10k, with lots of miles left on them. New ones are pretty dear though. My god, my first two houses total, were less then a new truck these days.

That is one of my worst fears, having to go vehicle shopping again. I hate it. Although I have been eyeing a 70 +/- El Camino, or full size K-5 Blazer.

IDK personally about the 4 to 8 cylinder voodoo thingy, but it reminds me of the old Fords that always burnt the back two valves, because the exhaust system wasn't balanced. The new stuff confuses me if I look under the hood and can't find the motor.