[FWDLK] Future of Chrysler Group?
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

[FWDLK] Future of Chrysler Group?



I just took delivery of my third Durango, a 2007 with a greatly improved front end..like the Nitro. ..I usually put 35,000 miles a year on them and this is my second in the latest series. I order them fairly well loaded and always tow my car hauler so the tow package is required as are the skid plates for Colorado mountain roads.  I find the 5.7 Hemi to be excellent and at 300 feet above sea level or lower can get over 20mpg on the high way.  Around town 15-16 mpg.  That isn't speculation but what I get.... NO body ever accused a Land Cruiser (aka Land Crusher) or the land barges from Nissan to be very well styled or particularly economical. 
 
On durability, I just today did a brake job on my son's 2000 Dodge Stratus...2.4L and it has 165,000 miles and the engine is very quiet and does not burn any oil...He thinks he will get 300,000 miles before he replaces it..we gotta quite thinking only Japanese do that.  
 
 
The Durango is an excellent SUV and the 2007 is the best yet.  But that is from experience , not somebody's neighbors kid's girlfriend. 
 
    ********************************************************
 
    If the argument is corporate bottom line, then nothing above makes good arguing points.  Chrysler Corp. is once again in trouble.
 
    Performance-wise, a 1957 Dodge V-8 town wagon would do what a new Durango would do, so what's to get excited about ?  This is what Chrysler has to offer for 50 years of product development ?  I know for a fact that a 2000 Stratus comes nowhere close to 40 mpg.
 
    My point is not that Chrysler builds not-so-great cars.  They build perfectly fine cars.  But if Chrysler wants to find their way out of the woods from the standpoint of being a sovereign corporate entity and taking more market share, they need a new game plan.  Somewhere in this mix, I thought we were comparing what Exner and Colbert did in 1957 to the product line to make it exciting and different.  My product loyalty is with fins and chrome first. Practicality second.  Since fins and chrome are no longer a new car option, when it comes to new cars, my loyalty follows practicality with a caveat of rejection for just being too damned ugly thrown in.
 
    If you like your new Durango, and hope that Chrysler survives as a company, better hope everyone else buys one too, or they may go the way of Packard by losing identity and following.
 
    I am just sick of all the hype that new cars are exciting.  Remember when new car introductions rated close to a National holiday ?  My benchmark is a 57 Adventurer.  Build something that exciting again and Toyota will be in the trouble Chrysler is in.
 
    I guess we can all just wait and see what today's plastic jellybean offerings are going to do for Chrysler in the next year or two.
 
    B.

*************************************************************

To unsubscribe or set your subscription options, please go to
http://lists.psu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=l-forwardlook&A=1




Home Back to the Home of the Forward Look Network


Copyright © The Forward Look Network. All rights reserved.

Opinions expressed in posts reflect the views of their respective authors.
This site contains affiliate links for which we may be compensated.