Growing up I would see the PT Cruiser EveryWare. Now 20 years later you don't see them at all. My wife and I have been looking for a cheap first car for our daughter. Yesterday I stumbled on a listing on Craigslist of all places. 2003 PT Cruiser Sport, 84,450 miles in Excellent condition asking $4,000. The pics looked too good to be true. I called and found out this was a single family-owned car. It was purchased in 2003 buy the mother of the seller. She hated leather so got the base model. Garage kept, the oil, radiator, and transmission fluids look clean. There is no rust on this car, there is lot of dust, however. The tires and brake pads were replaced in 2022, 3,100 miles ago. My wife and I test drove the car in the snow and ice covered back roads of Seymour IN. It drove better than my 2013 rear wheel drive sport sedan on those roads. LOL.

I am completing the sale tomorrow; banks are closed today. I am taking it to my local mechanic to have it fully inspected. What should I be looking out for with this car being 21+ years old and having 84,500 miles on it?

 

As a note, gas mileage may not be as expected for a 4-cylinder. Do not expect 30 mpg on the highway. Running around expect 18-24 mpg.

If the PT has fog lamps, suggest pulling fuse #8 (blue 15 amp) in the dash fuse panel. The multi-function switch on the steering column has been know to fail in this area and allow the fog lamps to drain the battery.

Other than that, routine maintenance is called for.

Suggest replacing the spark plugs and wires to be certain they are good. Plugs are champion copper (no platinum, iridium, etc) every 30,000 miles. Note the plugs and gap called out by the emission sticker under the hood may not be correct and superseded by a TSB (technical service bulletin) Wires should be replaced every 60,000 miles.

Also suggest having the cooling system flushed, a frequently overlooked item.

Another suggestion is to drop the transmission pan and replace the filter. Refill with licensed atf+4 only, no universal fluids - no additives.

I have found 'allpar.com' to be a good resource for general PT questions and maintenance issues.

 

Ones I get it checked out by a mechanic, cleaned up, and licensed... I will add some better pics.