Car For my Daughter - Dart or 200?

Both of these were available with the excellent 3.6L Pentastar engine. In general, how are these cars with 100k or more miles on them? Inherent problems to look for? Transmissions? Suspension? Any years to avoid? Thanks.

We have a 2015 200 with the 2.4 4cyl and 9 speed auto with 90K on it with nary a problem. Wife didn't need the 3.6...

Dart never was offered with a 3.6.
I have a Dart 2.4 with 107K miles and it’s been a good daily driver. Just had to get a new radiator, and rear brakes are acting worn out. Not sure why rear brakes go out every 50-60K miles, though the rotors aren’t much more than half the size of the fronts. Maybe undersized?
The multiaire has a bad rep, supposedly go bad and a new multiair controller is around $1400. I really don’t hear much complaints from Dart owners on this though, it’s a Fiat feature, maybe they were sketchy in Fiats but they’d worked out the bugs by the time they used it on 2.4L North American engines?
For 107K miles that’s not a whole lot to gripe about.
One thing that really pleases me is that despite living in the snow belt the underside is still really clean, Car still looks pretty new despite parking outside and enduring 8 salty roads winters!

3.6 has lawsuits going - look it up. 2.4 might be fine but the GT 1.4 turbo is all forged and a great engine, I'd go for that. Drove one daily for 5 years and 0 issues - MAINTAIN IT. Treat it like a lil racing engine as it is, on time oil changes etc. It runs a pump after shut down to cool the turbo. Do your job and it will do its

What kind of lawsuits? The rocker arms? I've read about fleet cars (Chargers) with over 600,000 miles on them & Chrysler tore them down & the engines still looked new inside.

Don't know how they are but I do like the looks of the 2015/2016 Chrysler 200. Jim says they are okay then that's good enough for me My vote: Chrysler 200


Mike


https://www.automobile-catalog.com/car/2015/2036720/chrysler_200c_3_6l_v-6.html

https://knightlawgroup.com/chrysler-pentastar-engine-failure-lawsuit/

That must be what I hear on my Hyundai 1.4L turbo on shutdown. I wondered what it was. I never drive the car hard, though.

Fill in the blank with any vehicle manufacture and guess what.................. "_________ engine problem class action lawsuit"

https://www.classaction.org/ford-ecoboost-engine-problems-coolant-overheating

https://www.mylemon.com/lemon-law-blog/general-motors-engine-valve-lifter-class-action-lawsuit/

https://thelemonfirm.com/2021/08/17/all-you-need-to-know-about-bmw-n63-class-action-lawsuits/

https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit...benz-amg-v8-engine-class-action-lawsuit/

https://www.kgglaw.com/practice-areas/product-liability/timing-chain-class-action/

http://www.toyotaproblems.com/lawsuits/

I'd liked to see anyone put a manufacture into the blank and NOT come up with a "class action lawsuit" And yes you can put Tesla in with "engine" lawsuit and it will key off of "lawsuit" and find a dozen or more too. Does anyone really think if someone called a lawyer and complained about anything they would not take the case...like the thread a few months ago where the owner "didn't know he was supposed to change the oil like the owner's manual said because a "mechanic" said he could go twice the distance than the manual". I don't think I've read one thread here on Moparts with a complaint about the Pentastar V6's reliability......and this is the internet too so it must be true.

Yeah, perfect choice for a kid to have

If the kid cant change the oil on time skip Chrysler all together and get one of these then

I have a '15 200 that I bought used with about 89k on it about a year ago. It has the 3.6.. One reason I chose this car was the Carfax report, which I know is only as good as the reporting accuracy is on it, showed that all the service was done at the same dealer apparently from new. It just showed normal service was done on it since new and it has been great for me with no problems. I'm very happy with it. And for what FWIW, I have a '14 Ram also with the 3.6. And other then the oil filter adapter problem they had, and was replaced under warranty, it has also been a trouble free engine.

How many kids do you have? My wife, an RN, can't change oil either, (like I can) should I get her a beater Yota too? On the other hand I'd bet my wife could and would change her car's oil if she absolutely had to or the dealership or quickie oil change place couldn't do it but that's not a game changer is it?

Zero, hopefully.

There isn't much difference in the two dependability wise.

Oil changes are critical on modern cars and Chryslers are no exception. Look in the oil cap/valve cover and if one has sludge or crusty crap inside it wasn't well taken care of.

Being a first car I would pay close attention to which one she can drive best. Blind Spots? Which has the best seat location in relation to the controls? Is a 2 door or 4 door better for her ability to see her surroundings?

New drivers are easily distracted and overwhelmed so making sure the car is easier to see out of and comfortable to control will help.

Take her to a lot and have her sit in them, maybe test drive them.

As far as quality and dependability the 1.4/2.0/2.4 4 cylinders are pretty good. They eat thermostats like candy, and they have 2 instead of 1, but aside from that the only other common problem I have had is that the throttle bodies will die eventually. When combined with the 6 speed auto they are just as peppy as a 6 cylinder.

Keep up the oil changes.

Ditto on the oil changes, and make sure to use the right viscosity oil. Buddy of mine had a '15 with the 2.4. He put miles on it like crazy, and used 10-40 because he got it cheap. 79,000 miles and the top end was junk.

I had a '14 Rallye with the 2.4. I thought it was a good little car. Not a great car, but good.

Bought a NEW 2016 1.4 Turbo Dart for my son when he graduated H.S. in 2018. At that time, Chrysler was blowing them out the door at $14K since it was the last year they were made and not everyone could drive a manual trans so they were being deeply discounted.

Taught him to check and change the oil frequently (and he has), and we also did did a few of the Mopar Performance mods (CAI, throttle body, pedal boost). He's since driven it across the country to his military schools and new duty station. It's now at 28K miles and he has had ZERO problems.

Basically, it's a fun driver that handles well and is not as overwhelming to drive as my old SRT-4 ACR. If your kid can handle it, the manual trans Dart with the 1.4 Turbo was just fine. If your daughter doesn't like manuals, from what others are saying, it seems the automatic is pretty good, too.

Best of all, is that my kid likes his car. Thinking back, how many of us would be coming to this website if we hadn't had a first impression from that old 440+6, 383, or even hot-rodded 318 car that hooked us? Sure, that may not be what you want for your daughter, but maybe your Mopar legacy is worth considering in this transaction as well.

My wife has a 2016 200s and not a single issue since the day we bought it new 2.4 auto.
Will easily pull low 30s MPG on th hiway we have right at 70k miles on it now


Daughter has a 2015 Dart sxt also 2.4 auto. Same deal. It has been perfect and I think she has a click over 60k miles on it .

The only thing done to them both has been oil changes and tires ( all 4 on both )

They are basically the same car with the 200 being slightly longer wheelbase .

I didnt mean change the oil yourself. If you can't make your way to a jiffy lube on time then yes, buy an old beater or something else. The 1.4 T uses a multi-air system that is extremely reliant on good, clean oil. If the car sits long enough and the oil drains from the system you have to spin the key until it primes again for the car to even get compression. Imagine that with chunks of burnt oil clogging it up...

All good info so far - thanks all.

My daughters 2013 Avenger 2.4 was a decent car. Did need a new alternator and steering rack replaced at around 80,000 or so.

Steering rack - UGH! We bought a new 1995 Stratus back in the day - that car was a first year model, & a real POS. First thing that went on it was the steering rack - within the first year too I might add. Obviously replaced under warranty, but still. We bought a 1999 Taurus in 2001 that was really a nice condition car - with around 62k on it. Steering rack went on that - it was on my dime. At the time, I had a good friend working for Ford & he was able to get me a rack off a to-be-scrapped test vehicle, so it was basically new. Then - to find someone to install it. Finally found a shop to do the install for a reasonable price, but it had a whine all the rest of the years I owned the car. Typical Ford - all kinds of nagging & STRANGE problems until we sold it off a few years later.

So, don't get me started on steering racks!