Dodge Stealth - History, Major Flaws, & Why It Got Cancelled (1991-1996) - The Domestic JDM Failure

hey guys so today we are continuing the history flaws and canceled series with a vehicle that i see being requested all the time the dodge stealth if you're new to these types of videos the first part focuses on looking back at the history of the car and all the details and specs and then we jump to talking about the events that led to the car being cancelled and any flaws that it had make sure to check out my other episodes as i'm making my way through many of the mopar cars we've already done the dodge avenger dart caliber magnum nitro some chryslers like the 200 sebring and aspen and some jeeps as well the stealth was an interesting collaboration with just six model years from 1991 to 1996. so let's begin back in 1989. at the 1989 tokyo motor show mitsubishi unveiled their new gto sports coupe to compete with the likes of the mazda cosmo nissan 300zx subaru svx and the toyota supra with this gto mitsubishi would have a new flagship vehicle for the next decade however the executives of the company were concerned that the gto would clash with other prominent vehicles like the pontiac gto in north america and the ferrari 250 gto globally since they shared the same name so they decided the name should not be used outside of japan enter the mitsubishi 3000 gt for the us and canada and that's basically what the dodge stealth is mechanically identical just wearing a disguise to try to fool you into thinking that it was american and not japanese to understand the stealth we need to look at the partnership between mitsubishi and chrysler we won't go into too much detail here as i kind of want to make an entire video on that partnership but if we head back into the 1970s we do see the big american manufacturers partnering up with the automakers from across the globe everyone had a partner to dance with gm and toyota ford and mazda and chrysler and mitsubishi the goal here was for the americans to try to learn how to improve the quality of their vehicles while the japanese could increase their footprint in the us and sell more vehicles there so this relationship began in the early 1970s and went on for decades with badge engineering and tons of jointly produced cars isla had the specific need of good small cars and wanting to expand globally while mitsubishi wanted to make a profit chrysler even owned 15 of mitsubishi motors in 1981. it was definitely a rocky relationship as you might expect but that relationship created the vehicle for today's episode so enough about mitsubishi let's move back to the dodge stealth so the stealth was a front engine two plus two hatchback sports coupe and grand touring car with either front wheel drive or all-wheel drive the platform used was also shared with the mitsubishi eclipse and eagle talon with the exact same wheelbase but the stealth and 3000 gt were 10 inches longer and 6 inches wider chrysler officially stated that quote the stealth's design is the result of the collaborative effort between chrysler and its japanese partner mitsubishi motors corp end quote so chrysler did influence the styling and bodywork but not the engineering as all of these were made in nagoya japan and it was mechanically identical to the mitsubishi 3000 gt as i've said chester was aiming for this to be a high performance sports car that could compete with vehicles such as the chevy corvette mazda rx-7 and the toyota supra and it gave dodge a new flagship performance vehicle for the first model year in 1991 there were four trim levels available base es rt and rt turbo the base started at 18 438 dollars and as the technology and performance increased so did the prices all the way to twenty nine thousand eight hundred and sixty dollars for the rt turbo 1993 was the last year for the es model so from then on there were just three trim levels prices were up each year so by 1994 it would cost almost 38 dollars for the rt turbo if we look at inflation in today's us dollars this was not a cheap vehicle as you are well into the 50 to 60 000 range for the turbo model now if we take a look at the design the stealth was very sleek and gave off the appearance of this had some performance to it the body was quite aerodynamic with sculpted air dams on the side rear spoiler standard and a very small crosshair grille on the front fascia something that dodge of course would become well known for on many other vehicles for cooling the front end of the rt turbo had air dam intakes for the radiator and intercooler a few cool features were pop-up headlights and blister caps on the hood for the esc controllers on top of the strut towers one thing that was lacking here was the active aerodynamics as the mitsubishi versions had automatically adjusting front and rear spoilers not found on the stealth moving on inside as you might expect on a coupe the stealth had a cockpit design but was rather claustrophobic the dashboard wrapped around to the passenger side and the seats were decently bolstered with good side supports in either cloth or leather depending on the models the rt and up models had automatic air conditioning and a more premium stereo with tweeters in the dashboard 6-inch speakers in the doors and 6x9 speakers in the back of course due to the nature of the vehicle it wasn't too easy to get in or out and it had next to no space for the rear passengers or cargo room but that wasn't really the point of this thing anyways now we shift over to performance the engine was set up in three different states of tune with varying horsepower levels the base model got the 3 liter single overhead cam 12 valve v6 with 164 horsepower and 185 pound-feet of torque the and rt got the same thing with a dual overhead cam and 24 valves increasing the output to 222 horsepower and 201 pound-feet of torque at the top of the rt turbo would get a turbocharged version with 300 horsepower and 307 pound-feet of torque and that's the performance model that everyone talks about unlike the other models the turbo had a permanently engaged four-wheel drive and four-wheel steering which is a nice feature that turns the rear wheels the same direction at the front wheels at speeds over 30 miles per hour for the two lesser engines a five-speed manual standard and a four-speed automatic was optional a few notes for the rt turbo in 1994 there was a gain in power as the output was boosted up by 20 horsepower to 320 and up by eight pound-feet of torque to 315. the five-speed manual was also changed into a six-speed and there was no automatic offered the all-wheel drive system had a 45-55 front rear torque split and limited slip differential the posted performance times are shown on screen with the updated rt turbo able to hit 0 to 60 in just 5.3 seconds quarter mile 13.5 seconds and hit a top speed of 152 miles per hour pretty remarkable for the 1990s and still great in terms of today's standards it can easily keep up with a 5.7 hemi not bad considering that the curb weight was still hefty as well over 3 800 pounds fully loaded stealth had four wheel independent suspension with four wheel tow control extra wide tracks a dual isolation system and a sway bar on the secondary cross member the rear had a self-aligning toe and dual wishbone and trailing arm design there was also electronic control optional on any model above the base that controller would monitor the steering speed brake throttle and g-force data to control the shock absorbers giving you tour or sport settings this is a pretty awesome feature that a lot of cars today still don't even have as for the brakes all the models below the turbo got very decent two piston front calipers with huge 15 inch rotors up front and 14 in the rear the turbo improved that with impressive four piston front calipers with huge 16-inch front discs and 15 in the back with anti-lock brakes the tire sizes and rims slowly went up with each model 205 65 15 on the base 225 55 16 on the yes and rt and 245 45 17 on the turbo now before we look at the cancellation i want to quickly go over some other features and updates standard features on all models included dual airbags a rear window defroster spoiler power outside rear view mirrors am fm cassette stereo system and a leather wrapped tilt steering wheel as for the various changes over the years i'll display everything more in depth on screen but 1992 got an optional sunroof 1993 saw many new features get added to the es and rt 1994 brought more power to the rt turbo as we talked about up 20 horses and 8 pound feet of torque along with new projector headlights and fog lights and an upgrade to the sound system and the es trim level was dropped finally 1996 saw a new rear spoiler and 18 inch chrome wheels were available for the first time the largest size yet as for one interesting fact dodge tried to bring the stealth on board as a pace car at the 1991 indianapolis 500 but there was plenty of resistance from the united auto workers union because the stealth was japanese built and not american so it was shunned and a pre-production viper took over but not before there were a few pace models made anyways decal and all as you can see on screen in late september of 1995 chrysler corporation confirmed their plans to drop the stealth after the 1996 model year and that was the end of the coop so that'll bring us to the next part of the video looking at the reasoning for the cancellation and the flaws of the stealth i've come up with six different reasons and or flaws that refer to the car or christ their decisions so let's have a look first big factor was that chrysler wanted to start distancing themselves from the mitsubishi brand chrysler had heavily relied on the japanese automaker in the mid-1980s to add some small sporty cars and pickups to their aging model lineups and in fact in 1985 they imported twice as many mitsubishi made vehicles from japan as mitsubishi themselves did but over time that reliance decreased as chrysler worked to update their product line with their own vehicles chrysler spokesman mike rossino talked about that saying quote we basically feel we can produce products within the chrysler system that fill the lineup out and fit the dodge brand mentality without producing the stealth end quote so chrysler no longer needed that image boost that it provided them and without the stealth chrysler was only importing the eagle summit from japan and nothing else reason number two dodge also didn't need to use the stealth as their flagship sports vehicle once the viper was released in 1992 this was a more exotic more powerful and better performing car and dodge no longer needed the stealth name to carry any weight dodge general manager martin levine said quote viper is our brand icon viper is desperately needed even if it just sits on the lot end quote so viper in stealth out another important factor is that the stealth sold very poorly throughout its entire lifetime and if it wasn't making chrysler money then it's only a matter of time before they pull the plug some of the other reasons we'll look at why it sold so poorly but i was surprised to see just how bad it was for the six model years starting with 1991 and ending with 1996 the total sales were 65 474 cars moved with a peak of 18 352 in 1991 that's just way too low even for more of a niche segment and it had to go one major reason for the slow sales was that the stealth was constantly overlooked and it never got the attention of some of the other japanese vehicles of this era when you think of 1990 sports cars you probably don't think of the stealth right away the dodge name reminds you of muscle and hemis not of all-wheel drive turbocharged coupes tuners and enthusiasts went crazy for the likes of the mazda rx-7 nissan 300zx toyota supra and mr2 acura nsx and mitsubishi eclipse those names carry huge value and are members of an iconic era even though the stealth tried its best to fit in it had the high tech it had the two turbos on the v6 engine and it had the all-wheel drive it still quietly slipped under the radar part of this was because it was never truly better than what the other competitors were offering with a weight of over 3 500 pounds it was too heavy to be as nimble as something like a mid-engined acura nsx and it certainly didn't have the image and cult following of something like a supra one thing the stealth was better at was being a comfortable cruiser on the back roads but this coupe is not something people buy as a grand touring vehicle as there are way better options always hiding in the shadows the stealth made appropriate use of its name and quickly went into the dark as for reason number five when compared to some of the other 90s japanese cars the stealth had far more issues and problems that frustrated owners trouble spots included transmission issues with shifting dashboard lights door problems and the 6g72 v6 engine under the hood had all types of issues such as blowing head gaskets obviously the engine and transmission caused some of the most expensive and tedious problems so that helped to pull potential buyers away from the car all it took for me was a quick google search to find hundreds of owners complaining about the same issues to each other on various forums and websites there were also some pretty serious recalls for the rt turbo such as the all-wheel drive transfer case leaking oil causing bearing damage and increasing the risk of a crash although the poor quality certainly didn't kill the stealth on its own i wonder if there had been more sales there would have been more issues reported either way it wasn't as indestructible as something like the 2jz gte engine found in the supra as for the final reason you could argue that the 3000 gt and therefore the stealth was the product of the bubble economy in japan during the 1980s the definition of a bubble economy is a rapid escalation of market value usually at a growth rate which is unsustainable meaning a future crash is inevitable but during the bubble years corporations had tons of money and were pouring them into producing advanced sports cars such as this one when things were no longer financially sustainable the prices skyrocketed and that meant higher prices in export markets like the us hence a pretty steep price tag for the stealth that just kept on rising in the early to mid 90s this crash in the japanese economy was a serious factor in the 33 to 38 000 us cost of the rt turbo which remember is equivalent to 55 to 67 000 in today's usd these are nice cars but that seemed like a really high price to pay for them hence why sales were quite low there were just better deals to be had out there you could argue that this might apply to other japanese sports cars as well but that just means for those that really wanted a car like this most people would have preferred to buy more of an icon like the supra for a similar price tag and that has that cult following maybe if the cost was a little bit less the stealth would have been a little more popular so to conclude the stealth was a domestic supercar with a high price tag that nobody bought it brought the right parts to the table but the execution wasn't quite right and it was never able to make a name for itself the way that the others did always living in their shadows while there was early promise in 1991 the various factors that we talked about combined to stop the stealth sooner than anticipated gone by 1996. so that's the end of this video guys thanks for watching and hopefully you enjoyed it what do you think about the stealth did you ever own one and how was your experience and were there other reasons for this cancellation that i missed let me know down in the comment section below also if you want to see more episodes in this series just drop a name for which vehicle i should do next make sure to like and subscribe for more mopar content and i'll see you guys in the next video

Channel: Marspeed

Views: 28,474

Rating: 4.8900476 out of 5

Keywords: dodge, stealth, dodge stealth, mitsubishi, mitsubishi 3000gt, 3000gt, mitsubishi gto, 1991, 1994, 1996, dodge stealth major flaws, dodge stealth history, dodge stealth failure, dodge stealth cancelled, dodge stealth 0-60, dodge stealth reasons for failure, jdm, Japanese sports cars, why it got cancelled, failure, stealth rt, dodge stealth rt, 1991 dodge stealth, 6g72, history of 3000gt, dodge stealth r/t twin turbo, mitsubishi 3000gt vr4, 3000gt vr4, rt turbo, dodge stealth rt turbo

Id: _d5yAH6zkR8

Length: 15min 37sec (937 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 29 2020