Figured I should do my everyday car justice and give it a page of it's own. Here she is, a 2000 Chrysler Intrepid ES. (In Canada it's actually a Chrysler, not a Dodge. Says so on the doors and they don't lie.) I'm really not bragging on this car too much, I've done absolutly nothing with it other than fixing a couple of little things and giving it the cleanup of it's life. I've never owned a Chrysler product before and I'd never buy one, I've seen too many transmission problems with these cars. However this car was very generously given to me by my good friend Scott Davies. He was the original owner and he drove the heck out of this car and it took it. The price was right and almost a year later I'm pretty happy with it. Really I'm a die hard GM man and always will be, I've even got the GM Canada logo tatt'd on my arm. It looks like this:
Here's my tattoo. It's actually two. I got the GM part about 12 years ago in Savannah GA and I had the box and maple leaf done a few years later here in Brantford. I love just about any GM car, I can admit they've made a few that stank. I've never owned a Ford but I did drive a Hyundai Scoupe for about a year but only for the same reason, it was a free car!
Now Scott wasn't very big on cleaning his car. OK he pretty much never did. For 7 years! Combine this car's filth with wicked highway milage and it had little resale value so it was my lucky day. High milage doesn't frighten me. I bought a '90 Bonnevile SSE in O1 with 277 KM on it and took it up to 330 in 3 years and then sold it to somebody else. With this car I knew it was 90% highway miles. Scottie didn't give a crap about this car cosmeticaly but he changed the oil regularly and didn't beat on it. (It's got the autostick tranny but I've never tried it for fear of messing something up.) The body is still pretty clean with the odd ding or two. It has a rust spot on the roof by the sunroof but otherwise not bad at all for a car that never got washed unless it rained...
No, it hasn't got a Hemi, it's the bulletproof (So far knock on wood) 3.2 V6! This was the optional and better engine for this year, the base being the 2.7. Still purrs like a kitten...this cars runs/shifts/drives as if it were only a couple of years old. This has been one of my favourite cars so far. Fun to drive with lots of power.
A couple of interior shots. She's got all the bells and whistles and everything works except the A/C which I can live without as I've done with 10 or so other cars. Even has keyless entry with two remotes and an overhead console! Rich corinthian leather seats with no rips, power on both sides. I've got to say this is a very roomy comfortable car. I'm 6 foot 5 and even with the sunroof I've got headroom. Scott and my wife Heather and I drove this car down to Ft Lauderdale in the summer of 2000 when it was new. Good Times! I actually performed this car's first oil change before our trip, the work order is still in the glovebox! I spent two full days on that first cleanup, it really was that bad but I knew there was a decent car underneath it all. By far the dirtiest car I've ever done a cleanup on. (Sorry Scott but you know how rank it was!) It came out nice inside except for a stubborn salt stain at the driver's left foot area. I hate winter!!!
A shot of the dash, looking good. I've left the stereo alone, the 4 disc still works fine and I just use a casette adapter for my iPod. I had to get a new floormat for the driver's side. Scott's heel had worn a hole right through it. Turns out he actually wore a hole right through the main carpet too. I could see silver floorpan! Now that's some driving! On the right is the amazing thing about this car : 318,775 KM and counting on the original engine and transmission. (Update Oct. 17/08 : Now over 320,000) For my American homies that's about 200,000 miles and neither have been out of the car. To drive the car you'd never know, it's still that smooth on the highway. It had 312,000 when I got it and I just drive it to work and the odd 1 hour trip to Toronto. Compared to it's first 7 years this car is now in it's retirement phase. And I'm telling you about all Scott did was oil changes, brakes, tires. I replaced the original battery when I got it and that's it. I am very curious to hear from any second generation (98-04) Intrepid owners with high milage. Has anyone got me beat? I check the autotrader now and then but I havent seen one with over 300 yet. I'm going to try to get it up to 400 but at the rate I put milage on it might take too long.Thanks for visiting, please let me know what you think!
