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I think my son found an ideal next car to carry him through the end of college/grad school (except I have to help him pay for it more than I had planned, but I want him to get it so I can drive it sometimes). It is a 1994 Dodge Stealth (160K miles I think). It has a twin turbo 6, all wheel drive and all wheel steering. I am curious what people might know about these cars. They are basically a Mitsubishi 3000. What are common problems at high mileage? The complaints I have found are parts/repairs are expensive, it is cramped for more than 2 people, uncomfortable on long drives, and gas mileage is not phenomenal. It does not seem to suffer from Dodge disease (constant (weekly) small things breaking) - perhaps because it is really a Mitsubishi. Anyone have one or know what things need to be watched for at a more senior age? (the car is older than my son )
Kind of a cool car as a cheap weekend driver for a gainfully employed adult with a little extra discretionary income available to repair the little things that are guaranteed to go wrong with it from time to time.
I'd want to know how it has been treated and cared for and be able to see some service records/history if possible.
An all stock, unmolested example is going to have a far greater chance of being relatively reliable for you than someone who modified it, beat on it, etc.
That said, I am not sure I would recommend this kind of car for a college kid. Chances are, it has not been driven by granny to the corner store it's whole life, just based on the nature of this type of car and any repairs you encounter will not be cheap for someone focusing on college.
I'd avoid that car. As you've discovered, parts are a tad harder to find/expensive for this particular car. It's basically a 3000GT VR4 rebodied in dodge form (DSM). It's very mechanically complicated with it's AWD, and 4-wheel steering and twin turbo powerplant.
Given the age. miles, complexity, and rarity, this is more of an enthusiasts car vs reliable college transportation.
Plus my experience with 90's Mitsubishi's is they have their own electrical gremlins.
It is an expensive car to maintain with plenty of things that can go wrong. A n/a FWD model OTOH would look just as good and be far easier to keep up.
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Originally Posted by BostonMike7
I'd avoid that car. As you've discovered, parts are harder to find/expensive for this particular car. It's basically a 3000GT VR4 rebodied in dodge form (DSM).
Agreed except it is not a DSM. DSMs were made in Normal, IL...the Eclipse Talon and Laser specifically when it comes to enthusiast models. The Stealth was made in Japan along side its fraternal twin the 3000GT.
It is an expensive car to maintain with plenty of things that can go wrong. A n/a FWD model OTOH would look just as good and be far easier to keep up.
Agreed except it is not a DSM. DSMs were made in Normal, IL...the Eclipse Talon and Laser. The Stealth was made in Japan along side its fraternal twin the 3000GT.
Yes.. I believed they were like the Conquest and Starion. They were fun car from the late 80's.
That car is better left to enthusiasts who for some reason are obsessed with that particular vehicle.
Cheap modern cars are faster, handle better, and more reliable. How about a Mustang?
Mustangs are too expensive unless they are completely thrashed. Also terrible in snow and ice. A big appeal of the Stealth is the AWD (plus some rather amazing acceleration). Other AWD cars tend to be pretty pricey or really boring. The all wheel steering is neat sounding too. Not sure how much it helps handling. I am pretty sure Mustangs are not faster (the Testarossa is not faster), nor handle better, but they are too popular anyway. Same is true of WRX (another AWD choice, but they are crazy expensive unless totally thrashed). The awesome thing about the Stealth, it is an unknown, unpopular AWD that can 0-60 in under 5 seconds, only comes with a manual transmission, and does not attract too much attention. Where else can you get that for under $3000?
He may decide against it and opt for a boring car like a Civic or a Jetta when he looks at prices for parts and the frequency and difficulty of repairs.
I am having difficulty identifying likely failure parts (he has no time right now - engineering finals). Usually, you can find lots of owners rattling off the things that typically go bad for a particular car. Not this. I will look into the 3000s, maybe I can find more information there, I think they were more common.
While he is a good mechanic, the parts may be prohibitively expensive. He will mostly use it for driving home (220 miles each way) for an occasional weekend/holiday, work nearby when it is too cold or wet to walk, and sometimes driving to the other part of campus if he cannot take the bus for whatever reason (campus is 2/3 in a corn field and 1/3 in a city about 12 miles away). So he will not be using it a huge amount, but when it is broken (like his current car has been for several months), it is a PIA for us to have to go get him. The big plus to me, is I may get to drive it for the summer since he is likely to be out of state someplace.
I have to admit I am probably as, or more excited about it than he is (although I do not know how excited or not he is about it - he just found it advertised and texted the link to me). One of my dream play cars is a Mistubishi Spyder (basically the same car with a hard top convertible). I would like to try all wheel steering and it would be fun to have access to a car that fast again before i am too old to have the vision and reflexes to drive it aggressively and the flexibility to get in and out of it. However I do not want to saddle him with a boondoggle just so I can have fun.
Last edited by Coldjensens; 12-12-2016 at 01:01 PM..
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