Does Fiat still own Chrysler?

[Quavodus]

I know I could've looked this up but, I just wondered if this irks anybody else as much as it does me. American auto companies used to make me proud.

[peejman]

Yes.  It was Daimler Chrysler before that. Do what you've gotta do to survive. 

[OLDNEWBIE]

I watch Scotty Kilmer's  youtube channel quite a bit. Some people out there say he's a paid hack but I still enjoy the channel.

American and some European is all junk now according to him but especially Chrysler/Fiat. Toyota is usually the best bet he says.

The guy's got me so paranoid now I'm thinking my next vehicle I'm gonna fork out the dough and get a Toyota.

He does say if you buy new and don't plan on keeping it 100K miles plus.......Buy whatever you want it will last that long.

Edited October 12, 2018 by OLDNEWBIE

[bersaguy]

54 minutes ago, Quavodus said:

I know I could've looked this up but, I just wondered if this irks anybody else as much as it does me. American auto companies used to make me proud.

Your brought up a very sore subject in my life. I really use to love the lead sleds that ran up and down the highways of America. Those big old Chrysler Crown Imperials, Lincoln Town Cars, Cadillac El Dorado's, Oldsmobile Toronado, Buick Riveria's. Yep!!!! those were the good ole days for sure. Reminds me of a day at the shop I owned many ears ago that my son owns now.

I was closed on Saturdays and heard this racket out side so opened the overhead door to see on of Tow Pros wreckers siting on the parking lot. On the back of the roll back was a 1958 Chrysler Crown Imperial all dressed up in all that beautiful Chrome and the wide white wall tires and the memories came flowing back. It was Scotty, the owner of Tow Pro and the owner of this beautiful car and he had a problem. Scotty had been to 5 garages with it and all of them told him not to even put it on the ground because they knew nothing about anything that old. I could tell by the look on the older gentlemans face he was concerned about his car. Scott had it loaded backwards so I said back it up to the door an put it in the second bay nose first. Scotty told the man he owed his $45.00 and the man handed him a $100.00 and said "Thank you son!'

I asked the gentleman what was wrong and he said he was in town from New Jersey for a Chrome show of Old cars and it just quit running after a back fire. I said ok. He looked at me and said do you thnk you can help me and I said it would not be on the ground if I didn't. I lifted the hood and there is was. a 392 Cubic inch Chrysler Hemi with twin AFB carbs. Just as I was expecting. I pulled #1 Plug and told him to bump it till I told him to stop. On third bump the piston in #1 hole came up om top dead center compression. I took distributer cap off and rotor button was pointing to #1. I then got a distirbutor wrench and pulled the distributor and took it over to a workbench. The gentleman walked with me. Once at the bench I turned it upside down and shook it and in just a couple shakes the piece of copper fell out on the bench. It had a set of dual points in it and the copper strap holding the coil wire to the points had broke. That was a standard issue with them back in the day. I called the parts house and they sent me 2 new dets of points and two new condensers. I set the gap on te points before I put the distributor back in. Once every thing was back in place I told him to start it. It turned over about 3 times and fired right up. I watched as the mans grin came over his face from ear to ear. He revved it a couple times and turned it off.

I think he was kind of expecting me to bend him over for the fix.  I charged him $27.00 for the parts and $45.00 Labor which was 1 hour. He also handed me two $100.00 bills, shook my hand and said gentlemen like you and that tow truck driver are both a very rare pair of individuals and for that  thank you both and I sent him on his way.   

Edited October 12, 2018 by bersaguy

[A.J. Holst]

The rumors are Chrysler proper will go the way of the dinosaur.

They have 2 or 3 models left, the 300, Pacifica (minivan replacement) and the 200?

Word is they will support Dodge and the rebranded truck line, Ram.

Jeep is safe, sales and value retention is still quite good (Wrangler specifically)

[bersaguy]

6 minutes ago, Gotthegoods said:

The rumors are Chrysler proper will go the way of the dinosaur.

They have 2 or 3 models left, the 300, Pacifica (minivan replacement) and the 200?

Word is they will support Dodge and the rebranded truck line, Ram.

Jeep is safe, sales and value retention is still quite good (Wrangler specifically)

Pontiac and Oldsmobile have been gone like the dinosaurs for several years now and I am surprised that Chrysler has made it this long. I think it is the high Performance cars that is keeping Dodge a float but for how much longer is anyones guess.

[OLDNEWBIE]

I was all hot to buy an old Classic Dodge Swinger/Plymouth Valiant some time back with the slant 6 engine. Still might someday if the right one comes along and I have the money burning a hole in my pocket at the time.

I have very cold pockets at the moment.....

[DWARREN123]

I see a lot of younger and younger acting folks drive the 300, Charger and some others around here. The 392CU. IN. seems popular. RAM trucks and Jeeps seem to sell fairly well.

I , myself, would not buy one of their vehicles.

[Omega]

I'm a Toyota guy, my first, an 81 hilux(?), was what sold me.  It was a 4x4 stick shift, and that thing never let me down.  It's only downside was that it had problems pulling my 17' tri-hull boat from Ft Bragg to Wilmington every weekend in the summer.  I upgraded to a 90ish, same 22R engine just fuel injected and it fixed that.  I was shipped out to Japan, was notified 1 day after I picked it up, so my BIL took over payments for it and delivered it to him when I finally left.  He trashed both of course, but that's another story, anyway when I returned I went through a few other brands and Ford was the worst.  I actually was warned against getting a Ranger, so I bought a Mazda B2300...yup, same truck.  So I went through 2 Mazdas, and a GMC before going back to a Toyota.  Run a Tacoma now after first trying a Sequoia (didn't like offroad), and if I get another it will probably be another Tacoma.

Older vehicles...Yea, had Dodge Demon, AMC Javelin, Chrysler Tradesman 200, Pontiac Trans-am, Chevy Monte Carlo.  They all had their time but eventually they all fell to mechanical issue.  The only thing I liked was that parts were readily available, and besides the tradesman, all had plenty of space to work on them. 

[bersaguy]

2 minutes ago, OLDNEWBIE said:

I was all hot to buy an old Classic Dodge Swinger/Plymouth Valiant some time back with the slant 6 engine. Still might someday if the right one comes along and I have the money burning a hole in my pocket at the time.

I have very cold pockets at the moment.....

You may buy a Dodge Dart with the 235 Slant 6 but the Swinger was a V8 car with either a 273, 318, 340 or 360 factory and the Valiant had two different body styles depending on year model but in the later years they were 6 cylinder only before the DC them. 

[Quavodus]

What kills me about Fiat is not only are they an Italian company but, have you seen the butt ugly cars they build?

[bersaguy]

For those younger folks that are buying these newer Chrysler high performance cars and getting the Hemi's. They are not the Hemi's I grew up with. The ones on the market are not true Hemi's.

With the possible exception of FORD, HEMI is the most celebrated set of four letters in all automobiledom. ... But, upon close inspection of the new engine's innards, I was disappointed to find that the vaunted hemispherical combustion chambers are NOT part of the deal.

[OLDNEWBIE]

2 hours ago, bersaguy said:

You may buy a Dodge Dart with the 235 Slant 6 but the Swinger was a V8 car with either a 273, 318, 340 or 360 factory and the Valiant had two different body styles depending on year model but in the later years they were 6 cylinder only before the DC them. 

I stand corrected. The swinger body style Plus the 6cyl. engine by whatever name anyway.

[OLDNEWBIE]

Some variation of this body style is what I'd go for but not a 8cyl. Speed not needed nowadays.

Other contenders for my classic car dream are a Corvaire 2nd bodystyle, 60s Ford falcon, 67ish rambler etc.

Basically, a mid 60s to early 70s stock econo car. Anything but a Maverick. 

[bersaguy]

28 minutes ago, OLDNEWBIE said:

I stand corrected. The swinger body style Plus the 6cyl. engine by whatever name anyway.

I didn't do it to correct you at all sir. Being an old mechanic as a profession for 35+ years I just know about the old American cars to an extent. Plus my 1st wife drove a Dodge Dart Swinger with the 318 in it for about 7 years and I finally got her out of it by buying her a brand new Chrysler LeBaron which is what she was driving a month later when she ran off with her boyfriend................ 

Edited October 12, 2018 by bersaguy

[A.J. Holst]

The Dodge retro styling is well done, v6 is peppy and with Chrysler Financial and Santander, they are doing a fair share of below 650 credit scores.

The 300 is about the last big US luxury car since Cadillac and Lincoln exited the segment in 2011 (end of DeVille DTS and Town Car)

Regarding reliability, all I know is every franchise dealer has a service department full of Hondas, Toyos, Fords, Chevys...

[OLDNEWBIE]

No offence taken Bersaguy, I'm no mechanic or expert on cars. I was a parts changer in the Army though back in the early 80s.

[DaveTN]

32 minutes ago, bersaguy said:

For those younger folks that are buying these newer Chrysler high performance cars and getting the Hemi's. They are not the Hemi's I grew up with. The ones on the market are not true Hemi's.

With the possible exception of FORD, HEMI is the most celebrated set of four letters in all automobiledom. ... But, upon close inspection of the new engine's innards, I was disappointed to find that the vaunted hemispherical combustion chambers are NOT part of the deal.

They aren’t the Hemi’s I grew up with either. They will spank the Hemi’s we grew up with and leave them sitting at the starting line…. embarrassed. 

[bersaguy]

3 minutes ago, Gotthegoods said:

The Dodge retro styling is well done, v6 is peppy and with Chrysler Financial and Santander, they are doing a fair share of below 650 credit scores.

The 300 is about the last big US luxury car since Cadillac and Lincoln exited the segment in 2011 (end of DeVille DTS and Town Car)

Regarding reliability, all I know is every franchise dealer has a service department full of Hondas, Toyos, Fords, Chevys...

I have love that New Chrysler 300 ever since they came out with it and if I had to money available I would buy one of them today. That is really the only new American luxury car left and I would buy it and Chauffure Darby around in style!!! 

[bersaguy]

2 minutes ago, DaveTN said:

They aren’t the Hemi’s I grew up with either. They will spank the Hemi’s we grew up with and leave them sitting at the starting line…. embarrassed. 

Maybe yours but they would not have spanked mine!!!!!............

[DaveTN]

39 minutes ago, bersaguy said:

Maybe yours but they would not have spanked mine!!!!!............

Shoot…. You couldn’t beat a Challenger Hellcat Redeye if it was pulling Greg’s boat. 

[gregintenn]

17 hours ago, bersaguy said:

Maybe yours but they would not have spanked mine!!!!!............

My sister and her husband have an original Coronet with a 426 hemi and 4 speed. She also has a new Challenger Scat Pack. There's no disputing which one is faster.

On the flip side, she's had this car for less than a year, and I know it'd been back to the dealership for repairs 3 times, and I wouldn't doubt more. My wife bought a new Honda in 2011. It has 112k miles on it, and has never needed any repair whatsoever.

Edited October 13, 2018 by gregintenn

[MacGyver]

Chrysler wouldn’t have made it out of the recession hadn’t it been for Fiat agreeing to purchase them. 

 

[enfield]

Toyota makes good cars, but they aren't trouble -free.  Toyota benefits from biased media who gleefully report problems and recalls on American cars, but not for Toyota and some other makes.  Toyota, Honda, BMW, Porsche, Mercedes, Volvo, etc all have quality problems and recalls.  You just don't hear about it - you have to dig for the data.

I don't see Chrysler surviving in the long run.  Dodge trucks and Jeep will survive, but not Chrysler Corp.

I spent 29 years in the auto industry.

[analog_kidd]

I recently bought a RAM truck, and have been very happy with it so far.

I really wanted the Toyota Tundra, but they are seriously proud of that truck and wouldn't budge on price. Plus they just laughed when they unashamedly said "Yep, it gets 13 miles per gallon". My RAM gets 18-20 with the Hemi V8. For way less money, I got a much nicer truck than what I could have afforded with the Toyota. The options I got on this truck would have bumped the price up $12-15k at Toyota.

I was going to go Ford when I realized I couldn't afford Toyota, but the trucks I looked at just didn't get my juices flowing. The V6 they are pushing didn't seem to have the power of the RAM, and the interior seemed just blah.

Plus RAM threw in a lifetime powertrain warranty. I told them that the truck I was getting out of was nearly 20 years old, and I plan on keeping this one even longer. So, for me that is a good deal.