From the Might 1991 situation of Automotive and Driver.
Hearth vans are stealthy in contrast with this Dodge. And ambulances. Vise-Grips will not seize a bystander’s gaze any more durable. You’ve gotten a greater probability of passing unseen on a parade float.
On the head-turns-per-dollar ballot, the misnamed Stealth wins massive. Chrysler styling is into the wide-body mode today—witness the upcoming Viper. The broader the physique, the decrease it appears to be like. And the extra room there’s for voluptuous scoops and sculpts with out notching into the passengers’ elbowroom. The Stealth carries this concept to arresting lengths.
However forgetting the sculpting for a minute, this Mitsubishi-built, Chrysler-designed form makes a press release with its fundamental dimensions. At 72.4 inches, it is precisely Camaro broad however greater than a foot (13.5 inches) shorter. And 1.3 inches decrease. The result’s hanging proportions fairly shut in measurement to these of the Porsche 928S4.
Just like the 928, this Dodge’s inside is pure 2+2, and the +2 had higher be youngsters. Or briefcases.
The Stealth to die for, known as the R/T Turbo, packs a 300-horsepower twin-turbocharged and intercooled V-6 engine, four-wheel drive, four-wheel steering, and anti-lock brakes, to not point out a handful of gee-whiz gadgets like changeready shock absorbers and a now-youhear-it, now-you-don’t exhaust system. The window sticker runs to $29,610–$30,877 should you go for leather-based and a compact-disc participant.
Naturally, if you lay out that sort of cash, your coronary heart cracks a bit each time your neighbor says, “Yeah, somebody down on the workplace has one similar to it.” Likelihood is it is not similar to the R/T Turbo, however Dodge is intent on filling each pool with low-priced replicas. Nicely, low-priced if $16,636 and up qualifies. As a result of the well-endowed R/T Turbo is on the high of a four-tier Stealth line that begins with a no-suffix Stealth on the value above, strikes to the Stealth ES on this web page at $18,399, then to the Stealth R/T at $24,498. None of those appears to be like precisely the identical because the Turbo (though the R/T differs solely in wheels and tires—sixteen-inchers as an alternative of the Turbo’s seventeenagers), however they’re too shut for consolation should you’re signed up for 72-month paper on the actual factor. That is the unhealthy information.
The excellent news is that the one-rung-up-from-the-bottom Stealth ES is a pretty candy machine, though it too shortly migrates up the worth ladder should you’re uncapable of simply say no to the choice sheet. Our check automobile rang up $23,279 on the money register, because of a four-speed automatic ($813), air-con ($846), and Choice Group F ($3221), which incorporates energy locks and home windows, cruise management, a rear-window washer and wiper, a CD participant, anti-lock brakes, a safety alarm, electronically managed shock take iners, and flooring mats.
The ES, with its 24-valve V-6 (222 hp at 6000 rpm) and 225/55VR-l6 Good12 months gatorbacks on eight-inch-wide alloy wheels, simply rises above the common individual’s wants. And the sight of it as you approach within the parking zone all the time revs the spirit. But the automobile is sort of tame on the highway, even refined. Inside sound is muted, the engine is relaxed in its pairing with the four-speed automated and, as long as you do not bump the suspension change into Sport, the experience is merely controlled. Simply contact that rocker, although, and the motions can get nasty.
You do not want the exhausting experience to be reminded of the Stealth’s sporting perspective. The reasonably buckety seats with a intelligent, infinitely adjustable driver-side lumbar assist set the temper, reaffirmed by the massive, spherical devices proper the place you possibly can see them. The fifteen-inch leather-wrapped steering wheel appears a bit bigger in diameter than is acceptable for a sporting automobile, however its rim by no means blocks the gauges, even when its air-bag-stuffed hub does obscure just a few dashboard switches. Each the shapes and the textures of the encircling upholstery bespeak excessive style.
Now we have just a few gripes, after all. The automated has a console change for Energy or Financial system operation, in addition to a lever-mounted change for locking out high gear. Today, automated transmissions needs to be good sufficient to do the appropriate factor with out additional switches. That is why they’re known as “automated,” in any case. Andifferent gripe: the lighter socket is situated on the console in such a manner {that a} radar-detector twine tangles the shift lever. The R/T and the R/T Turbo have an additional “accent” socket in a greater location. C’mon. Any automobile with arrest-me appears to be like needs to be detector-friendly.
Discover that we’re again to appears to be like once more. Each dialogue of this automobile begins with its appears to be like and inevitably loops again repeatedly. Let the report present that the Stealth ES is excellent at what was known as grand touring—fast and energymuch less transit for 2—and even higher for grand entrances.
Specs
Specs
1991 Dodge Stealth ES
Car Kind: front-engine, front-wheel-drive, 2+2-passenger, 3-door coupe
PRICE
Base/As Examined: $18,399/$23,279
ENGINE
DOHC 24-valve V-6, iron block and aluminum heads, port gas injection
Displacement: 181 in3, 2972 cm3
Energy: 222 hp @ 6000 rpm
TRANSMISSION
4-speed automated
DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase: 97.2 in
Size: 179.1 in
Curb Weight: 3666 lb
C/D TEST RESULTS
60 mph: 8.5 sec
1/4-Mile: 16.4 sec @ 87 mph
100 mph: 22.4 sec
Rolling Begin, 5–60 mph: 8.5 sec
High Pace: 130 mph
Braking, 70–0 mph: 166 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft Skidpad: 0.87 g
C/D FUEL ECONOMY
Noticed: 21 mpg
EPA FUEL ECONOMY
Metropolis: 18 mpg
