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Dodge Intrepid

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What is this discussion about? Dodge Intrepid, Sedan

Messages Page 67 of 346

#660 of 3457 Hello Old Friends.... by Jason5

Apr 03, 2001 (7:59 am)

Hey Gang. It's been a while. Just wanted to bring you up to speed on my 2000 Intrepid ES. On February 13th, an elderly neighbor ran a stop sign and we "met by accident". In what can only be described as "precision driving"--she ran the stop sign and I impacted her Dodge Caravan in the mid section. Yup--we put the "T" in "T-Bone". Luckily neither of us was going more than 30 mph. Thankfully my airbags didn't deploy and neither of us was hurt--the impact clearly looked worse than it felt.
    My Intrepid was just returned to me yesterday. God how I"ve missed her! The 2001 SE rental kept my memories intact--even it was the "little sister with the nice personality" compared to my buxom Steel Blue bomb shell. Can you tell I'm glad to have her back? Turns out that the impact did a fair amount of damage to the front unibody. The front frame rails had to be removed, new ones installed and the unibody realigned. It was strange to see my car, sans front third--engine and transaxle lying nearby, at the shop. Fortunately, she drives and rides well. I was assured by the service manager that I wouldn't need to "quietly trade it" due to drivibility issues. So far no rattles, creaks or other problems. Total bill covered by my stop sign runner was $10,500.00 dollars--without my 6 weeks of rental car fees.
    Total mileage right now is 18,300--still no problems other than my CD player which skipped and was replaced. Front seat track was replaced early on as well because of free play. Still very much enjoying my car. Mileage is still holding steady at high 17's to low 18's in town. The SE with 2.7 was a bit better at 19.5 to 20 intown. But I'll sacrifice that for the low end torque of my 3.2. Hope all is well with you...

#661 of 3457 One More Thing.... by Jason5

Apr 03, 2001 (8:02 am)

Anybody heard from our old colleague Email? If you're out there watching buddy....you're missed!

#662 of 3457 OK...One More--"One More Thing"... Tires.. by Jason5

Apr 03, 2001 (8:07 am)

No, I"m not trying to make up for my absence in one sitting. Question is tires.. My GA's are fading rapidly--expect I'll get about 30,000 or so out of them--which is about what I expected. Has anyone tried, researched or seen the new Goodyear Aquatred 3?

#663 of 3457 Jason5... by andre1969

Apr 03, 2001 (9:47 am)

Sorry to hear about your accident. Glad that nobody was hurt though! I rear-ended a Grand Am in the rain with my 2000 about 3 months after I got it, but, luckilly, it was just a tap, and all I got was a slight crease in the bumper fascia.
 
As for tires, mine went right at 30,000 miles, and they were pretty bad at that time. The wear on the tread had actually started becoming noticeable at around 12-13,000 miles. I ended up getting some basic General tires from discount tire online. They're a bit harsher than the Goodyear GA's, but I was looking mainly at treadwear rating. The GA's that came with the car were rated at 300, and the ones I got were rated at 560. I went through those first tires in just under one year, and just didn't like the idea of making purchasing new tires a yearly ritual! BTW, I've put about 12,000 miles on the new tires now, and there isn't the slightest hint of wear on them.
 
-Andre

#664 of 3457 Jason5....OUCH!, Marsha7, and tires by neuronbob

Apr 07, 2001 (9:22 pm)

Jason5...welcome back! Sorry to hear about your accident. It certainly sounds like you missed your 'trep. And with that $10K--thank goodness for insurance.
 
Marsha7...sorry, was away for over a week without regular access to the Web. The Sable's a nice car, but didn't have enough personality for me (one reason for the 'trep. I with the Intrepid had its adjustable pedals--I agree with you that everyone should follow Ford's lead. Just so you know, though, my favorite car of all time is the 1990 Honda Prelude with 4-wheel steering. Unfortunately, At the time I most acutely lusted after it, I was just starting medical school at an expensive private school, with only loans to sustain me, so I couldn't afford it. *Sigh* and I could've gotten 183K miles on it so easily myself.
 
Now for the conclusion to my tire story. I almost picked the Michelin X One. I ended up at Sears, during a sale, picking the Michelin "Roadhandler T plus", a Michelin product especially made for Sears. It is similarly priced to the X One, is similar to the X One as far as tread pattern (and therefore allowing my youthful, aggressive driving and cornering), and the tread rating is 540, not bad for a tire of this size. 80K Michelin warranty. As soon as I replaced the OEM Eagle GAs, I wondered why I hadn't done it sooner. The GAs are CRAP! The ride was immediately better, in fact better than when the car was new. I could corner without hearing squealing from complaining tires! The wet traction is wonderful. I should be able to report its snow traction shortly because here in Cleveland, we often get our last substantial snow of the season in April. So I'm happy with my choice for now.
 
More later...
25,300 miles and still happy with my 2000 'trep, 18 months and 2 wks old.

#665 of 3457 Marsha, NeuronBob, etc... by Jason5

Apr 09, 2001 (12:58 pm)

Well gang... Good to be back. Let us share a moment of silence in honor of "email".. His vigilance shall forever serve as an inspiration to Intrepid owners everywhere..
    NeuronBob--should have seen what I was driving through most of my doctoral program. Ah...guess it wasn't that bad. You inspired me to revisit my length of ownership and mileage--I've had my 2000 Steel Blue ES beauty for just shy of 17 months and ran up 18,400 miles. You must REALLY drive... Long commute or many trips?
Couple curiousities for all to chime in on. First--how's the city and highway mileage? Second--what type of tire rotation schedule (front to back) are you using? Last--I'm NOT noticing any significant gains in gas mileage through my use of full synthetic motor oil; is anyone else? Loving my Zaino wax--but will have to wait until the new paint cures to use it for this season..
   Hope to hear from you...

#666 of 3457 Jason5 by marsha7

Apr 10, 2001 (8:59 am)

Welcome back...my Intrepid gets about 22 mpg overall with A/C on, 24.5-26 mpg in the winter (no A/C, obviously), and 28-29 mpg straight hwy running, 65-80 mph...I have commented extensively in one of the columns about real oil vs. synthetic...I am a fan of real oil until there isn't any left...but the folks who use synthetic swear by it...I use real 5W-30...check out the "OIL" topic and read the comments, some spirited conversation both pro and con...
 
Bob

#667 of 3457 Jason5, Marsha7 by neuronbob

Apr 11, 2001 (7:19 am)

My high mileage is because I drive a lot in my current job. In addition, I have driven the car to Colorado (2600 mile roundtrip) and will again in a few weeks. It sounds like you drive your car pretty hard (far) as well, Jason. I'm not planning to keep the car until it falls apart, so I'm not too worried about losing resale value due to high mileage.
 
As far as the tire rotation schedule: My habit is not to--at least with the OEM tires, unless they are good ones. Because the Eagle GAs turned out to be terrible, I knew early in the ownership of my Intrepid that I was going to be buying a new set. On the other hand, our Dodge Stratus came with Michelin XW4s--an excellent tire providing good wet/snow traction. I replaced two of them because of road damage at 42000 with Roadhandler Sports (also Michelin). The remaining XW4s were replaced just last week after a total of 72000 miles. The tread wasn't even that bad on them. In part it was semiregular rotation (every 20K miles or so), but tire quality had more to do with it.
 
My mileage without air conditioning, as of the last tank of gas, was 22.4 with a mix of highway/city driving. It's usually 28 or so with mostly highway miles.
 
As for oil, I use real 5W/30 (though the oil jockeys at the quick lube places have a strange fixation of 10W/30...). I haven't seen a good reason to switch to the more expensive synthetic oils yet.

#668 of 3457 Jason5 by marsha7

Apr 11, 2001 (7:34 am)

I knew I forgot something in my response...tire rotation...die to mostly highway use, I change oil every 4000 miles (except the first oil change at 1000 miles)...so, 1K, 4K, 8K, 12K, etc...I rotate tires every other oil change...8K, 16K, 24K, etc...tires wearing well (Eagle GA) at 32K, but will probably need replacement at 36K or 40K...not sure what to buy, yet...do not want to spend high $$$ for world's best tires on a lease car, but do not want to buy junk, either...car to be turned in at 60K...maybe I could pick up some Firestone ATVs "hardly used" from the Explorers?????

#669 of 3457 by ottowrkr

Apr 15, 2001 (10:13 am)

Has anybody ordered a Dodge Motorsport Intrepid ? Did you know you can get it in Flame Red, and it looks great in this color.

Messages Page 67 of 346

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