What else are they going to do with the PT platform. There is no point to keep it now they have the Caliber.

I still think the PT platform is a clone of the PL platform

Gee, somebody has a jihad to wage...

The PT Cruiser was a hit because people liked them and bought them. I guess someone at Chrysler actually did what they were paid to do, and did it well.

This elitist wanker can FOAD, for all I care.

Yeah? Well that's just like, your opinion, man.

That's a lot of anger, I'm guessing that she had to take the used PT off her parent's hands.

Really, that goes under the "Everybody has an Opinion" folder.

We needed more identical wedges? More bloated SUV's that look like beached whales?

At least it looks different.

But what i want to know is what kind of MBA geniuses are loosing money on Chrysler when most of the pickups on the road are Dodges, and they have some of the most identifiable styling on the road.

How does this make sense?

@Mad_Science: Leads? They got us working in shifts!

Anything that can get Americans to legitimately consider a smallish 4-cyl wagon can't be all bad. Likewise, turbocharged wagons can't be all bad.

Somebody should put her into a Gremlin.

I've never liked the PT Cruiser, but anything that pushes the envelope of what passes as a minivan isn't bad. And anyone who thinks that there is an inherent rightness and wrongness to aesthetic is a loon. There be beauty and there be ugly, but nothing's universal, baby.

The PT Cruiser is the Branson, Missouri of cars. A tacky shrine to a time and place that never really existed.

@theeastbaykid: Not bad!
But is this supposed to be a hot flash? Has the author seen TV in the last couple of decades? Had a stroll through a McMansion neighborhood? Seen 99.9 % of movies? Seen the latest musical and acting "geniuses"?
"A general softening of our collective perception of aesthetics" = pseudo intellectual B.S. What the author means to say is not the "perception" of the aesthetic, but the aesthetic itself has gone soft like a bad brain.
But this ain't news.

@JONNYLIEBERMAN & MADSCIENCE: You're lucky she didn't get chopped.

"A car that was designed based on the subconscious desires of American rejects"

Care to unpack that one for us?

Oh well.

i think the author got a new thesaurus and gave us an excercise in adjectives. of all the bad cars out there, this one was NOT that awful.

OK somebody tell me if I'm crazy, but losing = not winning, loosing = not tightening, right? - rented one of these once, could have been worse, of course the relief of getting back in my own ride was as strong as any normal post-rental experience.

I'm just curious if they feel the same about the HHR, cause GM copied ChryCo. on that one?

Homophobe!!!

So how many thousands of people is this person claiming are wrong...or mislead..or whatever for buying the PT Cruiser?

@NRBQLou: NRBQ as in Little Floater and Wild Weekend and Rocket and...?

My response to such things is to ask what the complainer drives that's to f-ing awesome and above reproach.

I'd guess the answer is a high horse.

Gresham's Law (Lowest common denominator of culture drives out all diversity and quality)

@Novaload: Good point. Someone who uses "psuedo-intellectual BS" to criticize the PT Cruiser has issues. And drives a Prius.

@kbarrett: Here! Here! The PT Cruiser is an homage to American Iron from the 1930s, 1940s, and the 1950s. You cannot get much more American than that. Now, you may not care for the look of those old cars, and that is fine. However, there are a lot of people that yearn for the days when originality factored into the engineering and design of a car.

If you truly hate and reject a design that pays homage to iconic American engineering, then in my opinion, you truly hate America and you are a COMMUNIST.

Go to Russia if you want to see cars that look the same. They are trying to resurrect the USSR there so you'll fit right in.

I hear a lot of people in automotive circles throughout teh Intertubes bash the PT Cruiser, which I don't really understand. A small economical utilitarian vehicle with a look that really stands out from other vehicles in its class (until the HHR came along, that is). Usually when a division such as Chrysler with lux or near-lux aspirations tries to make an entry-level car, it fails because it's not different enough. The PT Cruiser fulfilled its job quite well, I think. It hung around without any major updates far too long, but a useful econobox starting around 15K that doesn't look like an econobox is a good thing. It's not a performance car, but it was never meant to be. I can understand people not liking the styling, but it's not bad by any means...some people don't like the retro thing, and that's fine. But most people for whom the styling isn't their bag wouldn't call it hideous at all.

@Novaload: The One and Only NRBQ, who still think about us every time they're driving in their car.

There is a PT in the BRG[Biminitwst reality garage]and while I don't love the car the way one would love a Morris, a Fiat, or a 7even, it is practical, comfortable, and fuel efficient.
I second KBARRETS FOAD comment.

I've never understood all the PT Cruiser hate I see on the internet. The car itself isn't my cup of tea- I prefer something a bit larger and more powerful- but it's a nicely styled little wagon. It does a good job of looking different from other cars, and for its price range, that's pretty good.

The style is obviously a matter of personal opinion, but I don't see anything offensive about it.

This person is a bit late, as the PT Cruiser is dead, anyway...along with that beast the Pacifica and a third one, but I forgot which one. Might be the shorty minivan.

I've driven a couple-hundred miles in an ex-rental car my mother-in-law purchased, and while it's not my cup of tea, she likes it just fine. Buzzy, small inside, almost tippy-feeling for not being a bona-fide truck...odd. I will admit, the interior space was immense given its exterior dimension.

@bluegoose: But it's a shitty, shitty homage.

He is right. I speak from experience - I bought one when they first came out. What was I thinking? My seminal moment (revelation) came when I was almost t-boned in my PT, by an SUV that ran a red light. I realized that that I didn't want to die in a PT Cruiser. So I went to Skip Barber racing school, sold the PT and bought a Cayenne Turbo for myself and a Maserati Quatroporte for my wife. I feel much better now. No I can go out in style.

fuck him!

at least PT cruzers looks different

76 pacers are better than a shit-ass 76 toyada anything

why
because at least they are different

and all the shit on the road now looks so alike my brain goes numb...

hater.

@fpn1010: I dont think a lot of people realize, its just a chunk of metal.

@mckelly: To clear up what Chrysler is killing, they are as follows: The PT Cruiser Convertible (Only), the Chrysler Crossfire, The Jeep Commander, and the Pacifica.

I'm getting the picture lots of us didn't read the article before jumping to comment. She exposes some choice details that give substance to my unfounded opinion that the PT Cruiser is teh suck. Like this from one of the focus testing leads /designer /psychologist they hired:

"The code for the outside of the PT Cruiser is masculine: Mad Max road warrior, Al Capone gangster-it's a jungle out there."

Ugh, yeah... I totally think Capone and Mad Max with a PT. The videos are also quite worth it... the last one is nuts, I had never seen it before. Good article and obviously an opinion. So those of you with bad taste and like it, you're still sorta in the right, even though you're wrong =P

@wishnevsky: "most of the pickups on the road are Dodges"?! Do you have numbers to back that up, or are you just spouting "facts" on the fly? The reason I ask is that the Ford F-Series was the best selling vehicle in America for something like 30 years, and recently lost the pickup sales crown to- wait for it- Chevy. Also, I see lots more old Ford and Chevy trucks on the road than Dodges (old Dodges seem to rust away faster). That's why I'm having a bit of trouble with your statement. If you can back it up and make me look like a chump, please do.

@NRBQLou: FWIW, loosing also means "setting loose" or "unleashing".

"The PT Cruiser wasn't created in the mind of a young, visionary designer.." UM..yes it was. The guy who drew the lines for the PT was 26 at time.

@Dr. Spaceman: Says YOU. Another Civic worshipper.

@bluegoose: Wow, using 'you must be a communist' rhetoric in support of a PT Cruiser. I think you just hit rock bottom for a Jalopnik commenter.

PT Barnum, i call it.

there's a chrysler customer born every minute.

it could be worse - could be a pontiyuck. they sure build in the fugly, don't they?

@theeastbaykid: As a Missourian and one who has been to Branson several times (Kansas City) I fully agree. Branson is for old people, and i think the PT is also.

However, as mentioned earlier, anything to get american's to consiter a 4cyl hatch is not terrable, but god, its ugly.

However, my neighbor has one, and he just loves the thing (hes got a miata also so his taste is proven in automobiledom)

But god. Im glad its gone, but i dont like the caliber/ the Compass or whatever the hell jeep did with theirs.

I remember my first beer...

I think and hope that there may have been sarcasm in Bluegoose's comments.

The authors main point was that the PT is a soulless, focus group driven rip off from earlier great designs.

She drives a Civic now, although she did once drive a Dart.

Build quality issues aside, I always thought that the PT Cruiser was a remarkable piece of engineering - when was the last time an American car company had the balls to make a niche vehicle out of an economy car? Think about that one for a moment. This wasn't some 45 thousand dollar SSR "old farts with money will buy it, whee" experiment. They actually made a reasonably efficient car with a cool design, that they could even sell outside of the US.