Chrysler 300M, Epilogue

["Thomas Miller" <tfm@xxxx>]

Well, 

Yesterday was the day. After 63mos. of faithful service, the lease was
up on my '99 300M and I opted to walk away. I know there are a few
folks on the list that have 300Ms and some that have considered new or
used 300Ms, so I thought I would quickly share my overall experience
with this car. My 300M went into service in November of 1998. We've
put 75,000 miles of mixed in town and highway driving on her. My around
town fuel economy was rarely over 18 mpg, but I could approach 29 mpg in
strict highway driving. 

Being that this was a first year model, I opted to spend an extra
$750.00 and extend the warranty from 3yrs./36,000 miles to 5yrs./75,000
miles. I lost that bet. The only service I got under the contract was
about $150.00 worth of coverage for problems experienced with dry rotted
front sway bar bushings. 

Under warranty, Chrysler replaced the body computer at 18,000 miles
(had a weird anomaly, if you would push any button on the remote entry
key fob while the car was running, it would lodge an error in the
computer and close the warm air door in the heater system. Damned cold
"feature" in December....). At 24,000 miles Chrysler replaced all 4
tires on my car at no charge with Michelin "Z" -Rated Pilots to solve
balance issues with the OEM Goodyear tires. At 35,000 miles, Chrysler
replaced the hazard flasher switch on the steering column (on a really
hot day, it would pop up on its own and turn on the flashers!). 

Out of warranty I replaced the battery, changed the oil (5W-30 Mobil
1) and filter (Mobil 1 # 301) @ 3,500 miles, 17,450 miles, 38,220
miles, and at 56,525 miles (BTW, I NEVER had to add any oil between
changes), and bought another set of Michelin Pilots @ around 51,000
miles. (I still had about 5/32" all the way around on them @ 75,000
miles). 

So, outside of gas, insurance and the lease payment; I had out of
pocket expenses with this car of around $800.00. Not bad in my opinion.
All tolled including gas, insurance, lease payment and the above
mentioned incidentals, I spent around 41 cents a mile to drive this car
over a period of 63 months. 

Am I going to miss it? Yeah, I already do. But, I'm going to wait
around till next month to see what the 300N er I mean 300C looks like. 
But, I have a sneaking hunch I may try to find a deal on a nice used
black 300M special. But, then again 340 horsepower under my right foot
would make for a pretty righteous daily driver! 

So, there are the facts. Anybody else have an M story to share? 
Specifically, I'm curious if there are any high mile (150,000 to 200,000
miles) 300M owners on the listserv and what sort of maintenance you've
had to perform. 


Best Regards to All,

Thomas F. Miller
tfm@xxxx 

300C ('57)

Thomas F. Miller

tfm@xxxx
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