A Newer Version of a K-Car.

[ReliantLV]

no matter how wonderful the k car was in its day, the fact remains that now it holds the stigma as being an old lady car or a relic being driven by an unfortunate 3rd class citizen living in a trailer park.

LMAO!! I'm so glad we don't have these stereotypes here, due to the fact that there ARE no K-cars here and in their best days they could be counted on the fingers of both hands perhaps. It simply looks weird here today among all the cute little egg-shaped grocery carts, LOL, and that suits me just fine.

[capev86]

even later k based cars like the spirit and dynasty are not regulars on the road anymore....its sad but times change. thats why i'm not only keeping my k wagon, i am doing a compete tear down, restoration and doing every subtle chassis/brake performance mod i can to make it unique. its going to be daily driver capable and serve as my summer ride and occasionally as a show car up here in new england!

[88 aries]

i know what you mean, i hardly see any dodge dynastys on the road, same goes for the dodge omni and plymouth horizon, i still see some spirits and acclaims hanging around with oil burning 3.0 v6's, The only way i would by an spirit or dynasty is with the 2.5 litre engine.

[Special K]

spirits are way common here. cheap cars for poor college students

[1of10K]

I remember when I bought a '95 Neon new, I got out my '81 K brochure and compared it to the K. Lots of similarities, both were marketed in their first year as the best thing since sliced bread, and in many respects they were! I know that many cars from the early 80's have all but vanished. There are almost none in the junkyards, only the strong ones have survived. The extensive use of plastic, nice and brittle now, will greatly impact the total lack of most '80s cars at car shows in 40 years or so. I restored an '78 Concord DL 2-dr recently, had to search the absolute worst parts of town for any hope in finding parts cars or parts. There is only one other early K around here besides mine, seen an '82 that has floors hanging down almost to the ground, but it is still being driven!

[Hemi-Dude]

i know what you mean, i hardly see any dodge dynastys on the road, same goes for the dodge omni and plymouth horizon, i still see some spirits and acclaims hanging around with oil burning 3.0 v6's, The only way i would by an spirit or dynasty is with the 2.5 litre engine.

I see you tend to look down at the 3.0L Mitsu. V6. These engines are rock solid and the only oil burning condition is due to valve stem seals.
I am driving one with 240K miles on the odometer and had valve guides installed around 120 thousand miles ago.
Beyond that it is even more reliable than the head gasket eating 2.2/2.5L engines.
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the 2.2/2.5L engines and build them for myself and customers more than any other.
Just wanted to defend the 3.0L which is equally great!

[ImpK]

Yah i've had pretty good luck with my 3.0 as well. If anything the transmission is the downfall of most 3.0 cars. Though once again i own 3 A604 cars and havn't really had a problem with any of them, other than a strange feeling shift from time to time. Dynastys also had the 3.3 which is also a pretty decent motor as well, and was still being built up till a few years ago. (maybe it was just the 3.8 version)?

[MoparDan]

'82 that has floors hanging down almost to the ground, but it is still being driven!

Now where did I put the duct tape?

[juniorhoss]

The biggest problem with modern cars (and the largest benefit to K-cars) is all the crap they add. Give me a 2010 or 2011 model year car that seats 6 with a respectable trunk, and gets decent mileage. Not needed is Super-hot acceleration (14 seconds 0-60 was fine in the 80's and it's fine now), can do without an MP3 palyer or a DVD on board. No need to add the 5,000 dollar navigation system, if needed I can use the 99 dollar Garmin from Wal Mart. Don't need even a CD player. Hell, even the AM radio I had in my 83 Aries was a little much. Gimme a radio delete option. Make Air conditioning an option again, instead of standard. I can lock my doors by pushing the little lock lever with my hand, and unlock them with my key. Lose the damn expensive power locks and the remote entry fob. I can also adjust my mirrors by hand, crank my own damn windows up and down, and likely manage to keep an ice scraper in the car to clean the back window (instead of the wires in the back to defrost). Additionally, I need not have remote starter to start my car from inside the house. I can run out, start it, and run back inside just fine.

Oh, and cupholders. My 83 K-car had ZERO. I went to Wal-mart and bought a molded plastic "console" that sat on the floor-hump and had two cupholders and place for other junk. cost me 89 cents.

Also - my K-car did have carpeting but all three of my trucks had rubber floor mats instead. either is okay, carpet is not needed. I sure as *#)@ don't need leather seats. Vinyl or cloth is more than enough.

All the stuff I just described above could reduce the price of a current 27,000 dollar new car to damn near (or under) 10,000 dollars today.

[88 aries]

Damn finely a person that thinks like me almost, i will agree, take a ford focus and make a base model. new cars just suck in genral, plastic cheap metal and no stickshift as standard