I’ve been driving a silver PT Cruiser GT Turbo for some 4 weeks now and I am generally very happy with the vehicle.

The overall build quality has impressed me and I’m somewhat confused to the reasons why so many people put down Chrysler cars using this vehicle as the benchmark. To contradict myself in the next sentence, I have recently driven for a period of one week, a Chrysler Sebring, which, in my humble opinion is a rather miserable, cheaply built vehicle by comparison.

The GT has been driven approximately 3000 miles in the last month and it has been very comfortable and gets me from A to B in a somewhat quick manner. I’ve not tested the top speed of this car but it does get to 100mph effortlessly.

I like the looks of this car but many of my colleagues are not impressed at all with the looks – I think it is essentially a “love it or hate it” scenario. The interior design of the car is perfectly satisfactory, however, some of the positioning of the controls is awkward – to adjust the door mounted mirrors it is not a simple reach to the conventionally placed armrest controls. The mirror control is located near the dashboard on the left side of the steering wheel and cannot be reached while looking into the mirror (I’m 6 feet tall) this is a minor if niggling complaint though.
The electric window controls are in the middle of the car, which, to be objective, is probably a more sensible area for the controls to be located, however, after decades of controls being located on the driver armrest it is not the first place your brain on autopilot decides to move your fingers towards.

As mentioned earlier, the overall build quality is very much to my expectations, however, the car scores a few minus points in the rear door closing sound/feel department. You have to close the door quite firmly for it to fully engage with the lock – minor complaint really.

Visibility of the car is very good when looking forwards, however, it is somewhat poor when looking over your shoulder to check for vehicles coming up behind you – the positioning of the door mounted mirrors helps to compound this feeling of rearward blind spots.

Fuel economy of the car is not wonderful at an average of 23mpg during the last 4 weeks but I’m sure it is generally acceptable for a powerful 200+hp 4-cylinder engine. Most of my driving has taken place on the highway so this figure is probably higher than what many can expect to see running around town. Then again it has been driven fairly hard (*grin*).

One aspect of the car that would need to be sorted out is the overall handling. The car corners reasonably well on a smooth surface, however, when you hit a variable road surface the suspension does not inspire confidence in the least. The lower specified non-turbo version of the PT Cruiser is a terrible handling car on rough roads, however, the GT Turbo, although a significant improvement is still very far short of what I would expect from a car of this rated power output.

In summary, I would happily own one of these cars if the handling was sorted out. Other than that, there is nothing about it that I could not live with.

Condition: Used
Model Year: 2003
Model and Options: GT Turbo