3.6 Pentastar V6 vs. 2.4 4 Cylinder

1970FuryConv

1970FuryConv

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I am looking for a car for one of my kids who attends college about 4 hours away from home. I was trying to stay loyal to Chrysler, so I was looking at Chrysler 200, Dodge Dart, Dodge Avenger. The 2 engines that are prevalent in these cars are the 3.6 and the 2.4. I realize the 3.6 has 100 more horsepower. I believe the numbers are 283 hp for 3.6 versus 171 hp for 2.4. Does anyone have any experience with these motors? What is your opinion of them in terms of power and/or reliability?

Reason for question, current car is 2001 Chrysler Sebring 2.7 V6. Transmission went bad. To have it fixed with a warranty of one year is $2600-$2900. Car is hit on left side rear and current immobile. Not worth fixing. Thanks for any and all advice. Ben
 
The 3.6 is a far superior engine. The 2.4 in my jeep Patriot runs fine, but is slower, and does not get any better mileage than The challenger
 
My sister had a..2015? I think...Chrysler 200 with the Tigershark I4..and it was nothing but trouble for her...maybe she got a lemon but who knows...she got a Charger with the 3.6 for a bit and it was working great actually until she sold it when she had to move across the country...

or you know...just find a Toyota Corolla..or Camry...
 
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They are both good engines when well maintained, we had a 200 in last week with the 2.4 and it had over 200,000 miles on it. I have 2 Journey's ay the shop right now with 3.6's and both need rocker arms, lifters and a cam. I have never had to open a 3.6 in a van yet, van owners tend to be older and are better at maintenance
 
1970FuryConv said:
I am looking for a car for one of my kids who attends college about 4 hours away from home. I was trying to stay loyal to Chrysler, so I was looking at Chrysler 200, Dodge Dart, Dodge Avenger. The 2 engines that are prevalent in these cars are the 3.6 and the 2.4. I realize the 3.6 has 100 more horsepower. I believe the numbers are 283 hp for 3.6 versus 171 hp for 2.4. Does anyone have any experience with these motors? What is your opinion of them in terms of power and/or reliability?

Reason for question, current car is 2001 Chrysler Sebring 2.7 V6. Transmission went bad. To have it fixed with a warranty of one year is $2600-$2900. Car is hit on left side rear and current immobile. Not worth fixing. Thanks for any and all advice. Ben
Click to expand...
We’ve done around 50k miles in a 3.6 charger and it’s taken us all across the west reliably. I really enjoy the engine note and character, obviously it ain’t ludicrously fast or loud, it’s just a pleasant driver. I can’t really speak on long term dependability unfortunately.
 
65sporty said:
They are both good engines when well maintained, we had a 200 in last week with the 2.4 and it had over 200,000 miles on it. I have 2 Journey's ay the shop right now with 3.6's and both need rocker arms, lifters and a cam. I have never had to open a 3.6 in a van yet, van owners tend to be older and are better at maintenance
Click to expand...
I thought the 3.6 is a DOHC?
 
In the PT Cruisers that my wife has had the 2.4's seem to be a noisy engine and never got that good of mileage. She has a 2014 Dodge Avenger now with the 3.6. I really like the 3.6, more than enough power and nice and quiet. But the gas mileage is not that good.
 
Wife's dart has a 2.0 and 6spd and it's able to get 40mpg on the highway
 
What year range of car are you looking for? The 3.6 is a world class engine. I have one in a Town & Country, had a 14 Charger with one and have a 19 Cherokee with a 3.2. All provide great power and economy. If you're looking in the 5-10 year old range the 4 cylinders were solid, dependable performers though underwhelming. When I retired 6 years ago, there were many upgrades and improvements for the 4's in the pipeline. I drove a Cherokee with a turbo 4 that was very impressive.
 
DOHC rocker arms? There usually has to be some interface between the camshaft and the valves, whether "cam followers" or lash caps on top of the valves/valve spring retainers.
 
Anything with the Pentastar should be a solid choice imo.
My ‘12 Charger had the 300+ hp Pentastar with 8 spd. which ran flawlessly. 19 mpg city/34 mpg hwy.
 
Depends on the year of the car and what transmission is in it.

I've had 2 cars with the 2.4. One went 206,000 miles with only needing to replace the electronic distributor. The other one we still have with 174,000 miles and still going. Blew a head gasket when my wife kept driving after her radiator hose split. I don't hold the motor responsible for that. Other than that, not mechanical issues. We've been happy with both cars, a '96 Stratus and a '09 Sebring.

My daughter has a '11 200 S with the 3.6. It's a kick-*** motor in that small car that will spin the tires at half-throttle. With the 6-speed transmission in it, as opposed to the 4-speed in the two 2.4 cars, she gets the same MPG as we do. I'd rather have the 3.6!!

I recently rented a '21 Challenger with the 3.6. I'd like to have one of those!!
 
In terms of reliability the 3.6 power train is a much better choice. As an FYI, pay attention service records. A 3.6 w/ poor maintenance won't be reliable. A well maintained 3.6 car will serve you well.
 
I haven’t been impressed with a mopar 4cyl since the 2.2. They’ve had multiple attempts at a 4 banger and they’ve all been disappointing. Never came close to their contemporaries. Noisy, underpowered and poorly matched with their transmissions. imo
 
68 4spd Fury said:
What year range of car are you looking for? The 3.6 is a world class engine. I have one in a Town & Country, had a 14 Charger with one and have a 19 Cherokee with a 3.2. All provide great power and economy. If you're looking in the 5-10 year old range the 4 cylinders were solid, dependable performers though underwhelming. When I retired 6 years ago, there were many upgrades and improvements for the 4's in the pipeline. I drove a Cherokee with a turbo 4 that was very impressive.
Click to expand...
I am looking in the 5-10 year old range. I was looking at cars in the $6000-$8000 bracket, but most of the cars with less than 100000 miles are at the upper edge of that or higher. What new 4 cylinders are good engines?
Note if you see a car with a low price, It's even more important to carfax. I had one salesman tell me he didn't know the history of the car. Carfax then showed it had been declared a total loss by Virginia DMV less than 4 months ago.
 
I have had excellent luck with the Patriot 2.4. I bought the Chrysler extended warranty on both the the 2007 and 2013, and never once used it, so I passed when I bought the 2017.
I sell at 100k, and we got the last Patriot anywhere between Chicago and Denver, November 2017.My wife was retiring, and she loved her patriots. so this is the last one for us. Get a 2.4 Automatic with a good history, and you will be fine.the 2017 is up to 36k, and no problems at all, the Challenger is parked a lot, but I have managed 17k in 4 1/2 years.
 
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