2010 in Review: Worst Discontinued Car/2010 Chrysler PT Cruiser

By John LeBlanc The PT Cruiser was like a Mexican cockroach: you couldn’t kill the thing. On sale since the 2000 model year, how the compact wagon managed to survive four owners (Chrysler, Mercedes-Benz, Cerberus, and Fiat) with such poor build quality, wobbly handling, and a generally low-rent driving experience has always been a mystery to me. Chrysler’s tall 'n small wagon was supposed to be a Plymouth, designed to fall inline with the then retro-styled Prowler hotrod. But when the Plymouth brand died in 2001, the PT Cruiser survived with a Chrysler badge. There were countless special editions to keep up the interest over the years (i.e. "Dream Cruiser", "Pacific Coast Highway Edition"), and a convertible. But Chrysler never gave the Cruiser much engineering love. Based on a compact Neon platform dating back to 1994, even when it was “new”, the retro-styled Cruiser drove like an “old” car. Under Cerberus management, the Cruiser was supposed to die (again) in 2009. It survived (again), if only to keep the Cruiser’s rental car fleet buyers happy. But enough was enough. To make way for North American-bound Fiat 500s, the last Cruiser rolled out of Chrysler’s Toluca, Mexico plant this past July. Good riddance, I say.

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