I still own it. Reliability is okay. Just normal maintenance items so far. I just don't like it because it's too rough and the seats are way too firm and the function of various things feel clunky and of poor quality. After having Chrysler products for years with the Ultra Drive series transmissions, this rides completely different than the four speed versions. The shift quality is very inconsistent. Sometimes it's rough, sometimes it's reasonably smooth, sometimes it just feels kind of jerky. I've had flash updates to improve it but it's just not as consistent as a four-speed versions. The pentastar engine is very torquey down low compared to the engines from Toyota and Ford. I can't remember for sure how the high feature V6 from GM feels from that era. It has about 104,000 mi on it so far. I keep toying with the idea of getting rid of it. The obnoxious thing is the cost of the maintenance as doing the spark plugs requires removal of the intake and something else which makes it a maintenance headache. The job cost about $800 (versus my Viper cost about a third of that despite having 10 spark plugs replace versus just six so that should give you an idea how labor heavy this is) and with the fact that all these different parts are made from plastic I don't trust myself with it. They just use so much plastic on the engine that when they get to be about 10 years old, it's probably a wise idea to replace a lot of the cooling system. The other common problem is the hengst oil filter housing which is very brittle which I had to have replaced immediately after I bought the car. When it comes to those plastic parts, go with dorman. Also the batteries in the wheel well so enjoy replacing that.
Overall the pentastar is it okay engine, the 62TE like with all ultra drives is going to have to have the fluid replaced every 30,000 mi with ATF + 4 as the only smart choice. If you like a car that has modern handling and seats with an element harder than diamond for padding, it's okay.Most of The people I know personally with this combination have done okay in terms of reliability. There are certainly engines I trust less than this. The 2.4 cylinder from everything I've ever seen seems to be pretty reliable and there are certainly engines I trust less than it. You don't have to worry about direct injection with either of those engines, they seem to be pretty invisible to thieves If you have to drive into cities with car theft problems as my city does. The biggest item you got to wash out for is probably the totally integrated power module. I haven't had problems with it so far. If the car had a softer suspension more found during the '90s, '90s quality seats, and had the ignition switch, turning signal switch, gear shifter, and other such parts that Chrysler Corp used from the '90s, I would be perfectly happy with the car. Just everything feels clunky and cheap. But no real breakdowns.