Plymouth Prowler

I think it was a well planned engineering exercise. It used all cast aluminum suspension components as well as composite aluminum rotors during development. Quality requirement were quite high. They intended to build a retro looking car but still had to comply with all the safety, crash, fuel economy federal requirements. Plus I’m sure internally they had to please the bean counters and corporate lawyers. What’s not to like?

I was told by a dealer all were sold for above sticker price. Because dealers were allotted Prowlers based on sales not every dealership got one and there were not a lot to go around. They pretty much took offers on the one they got and let it go with the highest offer. 

Vigo said:

They basically took an Intrepid transmission and put it in the back with a torque tube. 

One of the caveats that people don't talk about when they call the Prowler 'slow' is that it has super heavy 20x10s with 295s on the rear. Put reasonable size/weight tires on it and it would probably drop about 4 tenths in the 1/4 and land in the mid 14s, which is right where an auto trans Mustang GT was in 2001 and faster than one was in 1997 (the Prowler production years). 

Did some make it out with the 4.7 or am I misremembering? There was a “truck” version at a show not to long ago with the 4.7.

pirate said:

I think it was a well planned engineering exercise. It used all cast aluminum suspension components as well as composite aluminum rotors during development. Quality requirement were quite high. They intended to build a retro looking car but still had to comply with all the safety, crash, fuel economy federal requirements. Plus I’m sure internally they had to please the bean counters and corporate lawyers. What’s not to like?

I was told by a dealer all were sold for above sticker price. Because dealers were allotted Prowlers based on sales not every dealership got one and there were not a lot to go around. They pretty much took offers on the one they got and let it go with the highest offer. 

Above sticker was the norm when the launched not near the end of production as you would expect. I really wanted a Inca Gold in 2002 and was not able to get the one at the local dealership due to the insane 15K markup they had at the time. This is 2001/2002 and Chrysler. Passed and got a used yellow 99 a year or so later. Got the exact same Inca gold from the same dealership in 2011ish or so for a song and drove the wheels off it.

They sound really good FYI as someone pointed out. I am not sure why they do but man to they have a wail when you get on them and they like to rev high. Greatest thing is the motor is darn near indestructible. I have seen cars with 170K-200K miles still ticking with standard maintaince. They need timing belts every 70K miles or so but that really is the only thing that they require that is kind of out there.

chandler said:

Vigo said:

They basically took an Intrepid transmission and put it in the back with a torque tube. 

One of the caveats that people don't talk about when they call the Prowler 'slow' is that it has super heavy 20x10s with 295s on the rear. Put reasonable size/weight tires on it and it would probably drop about 4 tenths in the 1/4 and land in the mid 14s, which is right where an auto trans Mustang GT was in 2001 and faster than one was in 1997 (the Prowler production years). 

Did some make it out with the 4.7 or am I misremembering? There was a “truck” version at a show not to long ago with the 4.7.

I'm fairly sure that the production cars were all v6/auto. The "Howler" concept replaced the v6 with a 4.7L v8, and ditched the auto transaxle for a more traditional 5 speed manual:

My dad worked at a Chrysler dealership back in the late 90s and can remember drooling over a red one and a black one that they had in the showroom.  I got a short ride in the black one, and to me it was one of the coolest cars I had ever seen/ridden in.  Still love the looks of them, and think they would be great for just cruising around.  Saw a yellow one for sale along the road on vacation last month and was very tempted to stop and see what they were asking.  I must admit I have not ever looked at what they are going for in the used market, but I do remember them being quite a bit over sticker when new.

STM317 said:

chandler said:

Vigo said:

They basically took an Intrepid transmission and put it in the back with a torque tube. 

One of the caveats that people don't talk about when they call the Prowler 'slow' is that it has super heavy 20x10s with 295s on the rear. Put reasonable size/weight tires on it and it would probably drop about 4 tenths in the 1/4 and land in the mid 14s, which is right where an auto trans Mustang GT was in 2001 and faster than one was in 1997 (the Prowler production years). 

Did some make it out with the 4.7 or am I misremembering? There was a “truck” version at a show not to long ago with the 4.7.

I'm fairly sure that the production cars were all v6/auto. The "Howler" concept replaced the v6 with a 4.7L v8, and ditched the auto transaxle for a more traditional 5 speed manual:

That’s what I saw, cool.

6.1 hemi swap

Ls3 swap

https://youtu.be/uTGoKQKDCGU

wearymicrobe said:

Appleseed said:

Wearymicrobe has owned a few. He is pretty knowledgeable. Hopefully he'll chime in. 

Love mine. I have had 6-7 of them over my life. Anybody who questions the performance in the real world has never driven one. I love the work that came out of there engineering departments at the time, the Viper was a monster, the Prowler was getting off the ground. The ACR Neon was amazing for the time.They did that all aluminum Neons well that was great.

Anybody locally who wants to drive one is free to take mine out for a half and hour. You will come back sold on the concept or hate the car with a passion I can say that. Nobody is neutral on them.

Now i wish i was local to you lol

This thread is making me nostalgic for a 99 Chrysler LHS with that same engine. I will always have an irrational soft spot for post-K Chryslers.