Oh, the negativity!
The high level of negativity of Chrysler owners has been commented on, and I think it comes down to Chrysler doing a 180 yet again and leaving the people who liked its old lineup in the dust while it pursues newer pastures.
Those of us who liked the LH and Neon are looking at a totally different lineup. Plymouth (with its 265,000 sales/year) was jettisoned as well.
It seems every year Chrysler finds a new group of people to offend. I wonder if that’s a large part of the negativity… not unlike all those people who turned against Chrysler when the company dropped all of its rear-drive vehicles and strutted around bragging of its front wheel drive K-cars. (I noticed that while they pointed out the advantages of their new Neons, LH, etc., they never actually put down the K-cars in that particular transition, though.)
Then there’s the continued insult of DAIMLERchrysler: the signs in front of every Chrysler Group factory say DaimlerChrysler, while Mercedes is always kept separate and above. The DaimlerChrysler web site treats Chrysler as though it’s smaller than Smart or Maybach. And if you want to get to the Chrysler media site, you have to go to the DaimlerChrysler media site - for all brands except Chrysler Group - and then click through to a new page for Chrysler Group. That’s true even if you respond to the links in their mailing list! The acquisition is done and over with; perhaps it’s time to stop rubbing our noses in it.
(This was originally posted in our forums. Here are some comments people made to follow through:)
Patrick Lynch:
I agree with this. I was especially distressed when Chrysler ran the ad where someone was trying to fix an old fast-top C-body and putting it down while extolling the virtues of turbo four cylinders. At the time, I was driving a fast-top C-body that was running just fine.
I have been struggling with trying to be positive about current DCX products. When gas hit the three dollar a gallon mark, fuel economy became a big issue with me in a way that it hadn’t before. With the demise of the Neon as well as the Stratus Coupe, I don’t see a comparable new DCX product for replacing the LeBaron I have now. In that respect I feel left behind as the LeBaron will be my last coupe. If I were to replace my St. Regis with a comparable product, a Charger would be in my garage and that’s an easy choice if I never had to worry about keeping a full tank of gas in the beast. I got the LeBaron to put my bigger older car into a nice semi retirement and not rely on it for the daily grind. I’m trying to find a way to stay with Mopar, so it looks like its going to be another used car for me. After that, we’ll see.
hawk added:
- Mediocre to middling reviews on most of the new Chrysler cars (LX excluded). Outside of the LX vehicles, we don’t have a vehicle that is universally considered a benchmark in its class. After the LXes got so much media praise, the Caliber gets comments like it is 7/8ths ready, half-baked, and what’s the point of buying it. Haven’t read any in depth reviews of the Sebring, but most of what I read is that it is an average car. I want to read something like, “You would be stupid to buy a Camry or Accord over this car cause it is that good”.
- Still have interiors behind the competition. Even GM gets it.
- Each vehicle is still overwieght.
- All the positive momentum we had with the LXes was killed with the huge inventory problem this year. Now even LX cars have rebates, whereas the demand on them was so high that on average you paid MSRP. We are lumped with Ford and GM because we are doing as bad as them.
- The Chrysler was caught with its pants down when it had too many SUVs and not enough cars when gas was $3.00/gallon
- Little was done to convince the American car buying public that it is safe to buy a Chrysler product because our quality compares with Toyota, which is why a better warranty should be given. Instead of a warranty, CG seems to use gimmicks like a cooled/heated cupholders, built in coolers, and such.
In fairness, there have been many improvements, the negative stuff always gets the press.
