last night i purchased a 2003 durango sxt 4x4 from carmax. i drove it around their test drive route (in which you cannot get up to highway speed) and everything seemed ok except the blower for the air and vents did not work - that was just soem relay or something like that - they fixed that. but then, after having it for a night and taking it out on the highway i could tell there was something wrong with the brakes and the alignment was off, the brakes feel soft and pull to the right. the alignment also pulls to the right (but it has more pull when breaking).
so today i took it back to the service center at carmax and the are going to check it out and do the repairs next week.

my question is this: i just bought this car and now it is in the shop within the 1st 24 hours of having it. carmax has a 5 day money back guarantee on their cars. they also have a service guarantee for some length of time in that anything repaired that goes bad in something like 9000 miles will be re-repaired at no cost. so....are these common problems with the 2003 durango? i'm thinking of taking carmax up on the money back guarantee. any opinions are appreciated.

thanks

 

Well, I have a 2003 Durango R/T. I have had two problems with it so far, one was the central timing module which was NOT covered under the warranty because the 3/yr/36,000 mile electrical warranty was expired. The other was exactly what you had wrong with your truck, it is the blower resistor pack which I replaced myself in about 10 minutes and 11 dollars. Other than that, it has been as loyal and head turning as can be! What trim level and what engine do you have? How many miles? Post some pics!

 

it's the 2003 SXT 4x4, 4.7 8 - in the bright red color - it's a beautiful suv but since i purchased it thursday and didn't even have the opportunity to drive it for more than 24 hours before there were obvious brake and alignment issues and it had to be held in the shop because it's unsafe to drive. i'm very dissapointed that they would let a vehicle out on the lot that is supposed to have a certified 125 point inspection with a broken blower, mis-aligned and with bad brakes. and they risked my safety to sell a car - i suppose i'm lucky i didn't have an accident with the brakes - they're very soft and it tough getting it to stop on time.

so i think tomorrow i'm going to take carmax up on their 5 day return offer. the truck is amazing and i wish there were no problems - but out of principle i need to return it - they risked my safety and that's not ok. if it were just the blower i'd probably keep it. but oh well, there are a lot of trucks out there, i'll find another.

 

the durango got returned today. it was disapponiting to have to let it go because it looked so good but if it's got problems from day 1 then i cannot keep it. so......instead i took advantage of employee pricing and tomorrow i pick up my new dodge ram 1500 st, flame red with the 4.7 8, it has a few upgrades like cd player and a/c and cruise, and carpeted interior and cloth seats - but i figure i can always do add ons myself as long as i have a good truck to work with - after all, i wasn't after a luxury vehicle to begin with, i wanted a truck - and this 1500 is just that.

premo

 

I was gonna say to check your durango to see if it had the ball joints replaced. May have something to do with the pulling to the right issue. But you are correct, if someone like Carmax let a vehicle with problems like this get thru their inspections, it's a bad sign that they may just want to get rid of the car without the new owner noticing it until it is too late.

But glad that you still stuck with a Dodge product and got a truck instead of a SUV? Did you get the extended or club cab version?