Our Daily Drivers
My Winter Daily Driver
My winter daily driver and all around grocery getter when the weather is bad is a 2002 Chrysler 300M Special. I bought this car for amount of value you get with luxury and performance. The Special package adds bi-xeon head lamps, heated
leather seats, big wheels/tires, ground effects, and 265HP V6 engine that is all standard. I had a 2000 Chrysler 300m in college that my dad bought new and it was dead reliable so when I got rid
of it I kinda missed it, so I bought another. The 3.5L Chrysler engine is built very well, its an aluminum engine with iron bores for durability and should easily last to 200k plus miles. I bought the car with 60k as a certified Chrysler car and plan on keeping it until it becomes a bare to maintain. I’m hoping for 250k so I can get that 911 Turbo I want!!
Below are some pictures of the car.
Maintenance History
Here you will also find the maintenance that I have performed on this car throughout my ownership. I purchased this car as a Chrysler certified car with 66k miles on the clock. This is also a online maintanence log to show how durable the 3.5L engine can be with proper maintenance. For this maintenance log I will not include oil changes
because they are done so often. However for this log I do oil changes every 5500-6000 miles using Mobil One Synthetic or Valvoline Synthetic. So far the car has been dead reliable the only hickup was a dead PCM in the middle of winter and the
car had to be towed to the dealer and was covered under warranty. Thankfully the car died overnight sometime at my house as I went to start it the next morning in the below freezing temps and it would start but
would burn out coil packs. Other than that just standard fluid changes and wear items such a brakes.
- 60k Miles dealer replaced transmission fluid and filter prior to ownership. - Dealership did work prepping for sale.
- 68k Miles I changed out the original rear brake pads and rotors. $100.00
- 70k Miles Car had to be towed to dealer as PCM was dead. - Covered under warranty. $0.0
- 76k Changed diff fluid with recommend non-synthetic.
- 88k Miles replaced transmission fluid and filter with Chrysler certified ATF+4 fluid. Also flushed out power steering fluid and replaced. $55.00
- 91k Complete 100k service done which includes timing belt, all drive belts, waterpump, tensioner pulley, and antifreeze. $533.90
- 95k transmission cooler line clamp failed and was starting to leak. To cold outside to fix to brought it into the shop and they replace clamp $55.81
- 100.5k Driver side wheel bearing started making noise. Replaced with with American made Timken unit. Passnger side was fine for now.
- 100.5k Changed diff fluid again with recommended non-synthetic. Also flushed out power steering fluid and replaced.
- 102k Replaced all the 02 sensors with NGK units $120 (02 sensor light came on decided to replace them all)
- 104k Flushed cooling system. $50
- 117k Replaced transmission fluid and filter with Chrysler certifed ATF+4 fluid. Also flush out power steering fluid again. $65
- 117k Stripped out oil pan bolt (common issue with these cars) so removed oil pan re-tapped oil pan for a Fumoto drain valve. Also installed new oil pan gasket. $60
- 117k Replaced sway bar bushings and driver side end link.
- 117k Replaced AC compressor, Receiver/Dryer, all new O-rings, and hi-side hose. Than had AC shop fill with R134a freon.
- 117k Replaced all the front idler pulleys with new ones. The cold start squeaky sound bugs me!! $70
- 117k Replaced spark plugs
2011 Update
So far I have had the car 3 years and it has been a delight to own. I put alot of miles on my car because of work as I drive all over the state so its nice having a car I can depend on. As you can see at the 117k mileage I did a major service as the original AC compressor was starting to die and I stripped the oil drain plug on the last oil change. Probably the best advise I can give to any car owner to make their car last is to do regular fluid changes, and I mean all fluids (trans, power steering, coolant, oil, diff, brake fluid). Alot of people forget that there is more than just oil changes that need to be done in order to keep the car running for meany years to come. Chrysler for example is very picky only put in ATF+4 fluid and change it at least EVERY 30k miles! Any other fluid could cause catastrophic failure. Over all the car has treated me very well with very little investment on my part (just regular fluid changes) and I plan on keeping it many more years to come.
Wifes Daily driver SOLD June 2010
When I met my wife she was driving a boring 2005 Pontiac GrandPrix that she was leasing. When she started riding around in my german made cars she kinda wanted one as well. When her lease was getting due
on the GrandPrix I asked her what she likes in a car and she stated comfort and style. I said a BMW 7 Series would fit you nicely, not only are they comfortable but there are extremely sporty.
After test driving a few bimmers she was hooked! We bought the car with around 68k miles and she just turned 115k.
This car also doubles as our long distane hauler. You can drive for hours in this thing and still feel relaxed and comfortable! The seats have fluid in them that help prevent fatigue. However, if you are a
person that has to take there car to the dealer to get worked on I would not recommend this car for you as the maintenance can be extremely expensive! But in my opinion this car is one of the easiest to work and
I have done all the major maintanence on it so far! This is a very rewarding car to drive on those long distant drives. We have since sold this car as the repairs were getting to be to much for me to handle and the car started to be unreliable. If you are in the market for a 740 do not buy one UNLESS you can do all the REPAIRS yourself otherwise you are in for a real shocker.
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