My daughter is considering buying a 2004 turbo pt cruiser. The dealer just replaced the turbo charger with a rebuilt turbo charger. Is there a way to tell if the problem was in fact the turbo charger and not possibly a problem with the engine, like loss of compression in the cyclinders?

I have tremendous respect for tennisshoes' knowledge. He is one of the few on this site that really knows cars. I just feel compelled to add Toyota to the options. A Corolla or Camry.

Tennisshoes and FordNut, thank you kindly for your answers. I really appreciate the insight from people with more knowledge than me.

You are welcome from me also, and I agree, please don't hesitate to come back with any questions. And tennisshoes, that Celica probably had the 'T' series engine... a 1.4 or 1.6L. Not one of Toyota's best efforts. Put out a whopping 86HP

OK, that is a different car than I was thinking of. I jumped to conclusions and didn't even go look at them..... the Celicas. of that time. My bad.

I would not recommend a PT Turbo for reliability long term for a lady. My wife has had 2 PT's both have been reliable over 100,000 miles of daily use.