1986 Dodge Diplomat SE from North America - Comments

24th Mar 2004, 21:12

"VERY reliable cheap transportation"

What things have gone wrong with the car?

Headlight went out.

Battery died.

Starter works intermittently, hasn't stranded me yet.

General comments?

I am very impressed all told with the Dip. Decent gas economy for a larger car, 15-20MPG around town, and absolutely nothing in the way of major items has broken in the year I have had the car. Most interesting is that being an SE it has most all the neat luxury features, like power door locks, power seats, power antenna, and tilt wheel. I am a bit baffled that this, the most expensive Dodge you could get then, doesn't have a power trunk lid release or telescoping wheel. The 318 runs great, doesn't leak or burn ANY oil. It is just gutless. All in all, though, this has been a VERY reliable car and I would definitely recommend one in this shape for a teenager's first car. It's reliable as they get, and it's not fast enough for a 16-17 year old to get badly injured in. Only reason I am looking at something newer is they are talking about smog inspections here, and you can't find smog parts for cars that old. Everything's there, but that's no guarantee that it all works.


18th Jun 2004, 21:47

Update: Finally replaced the starter, VERY easy to get to if you can raise the car. Sits too low if you don't have a jack. Put a 2.94 gear in and that helped the performance a bit. Went to Atlanta last weekend and got 23 MPG on the way back and 20 on the way down.


27th Jul 2006, 20:37

The Chrysler Fifth Avenue was luxury one of the bunch. I know, I had one that was nearly fully optioned... aside from the sunroof (one of 4 options missing in my 'Fifth) being a more common option. Today a new luxury car has nothing.

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