It leaks oil.
Cruise Control doesn't work.
Front passenger side power seat dosen't work.
Ignition light won't light up even after a new bulb.
Front passenger side power window moter had a broken gear replaced for $20.
Have replaced several dashboard lights.
Cloth interior trim has not aged well...
Vinyl top has several holes on the roof.
Paint is badly faded.
The Good:
Driving the Fifth Avenue is like driving a couch.
Leather seats are in better shape then the seats in my mother's '00 Gr. Caravan.
The dashboard and gauge set up reminds me of some muscle cars.
Its almost fully loaded.
An old man owned for most of its life and baby-ed it.
The 318 will not die.
Theres almost no rust.
The TorqueFilte 3-Speed automatic shifts very smoothly even though the car is almost 20 years old.
Good on gas for a V-8.
Got it for free.
The Bad:
The vinyl top seriously compormises rear vision.
It dosen't have a sunroof
The 18 gallon fuel tank is too small for the engine and 2 1/2 ton body.
The driver's seat can be adjusted 6 ways, but can't recline.
2.5 tons is 5000 lbs. You must be fairly young to think that this is a big car. No way does it weigh 5000lbs= = more like 3400lbs. It is much smaller that the late 1970's monsters that my dad had...= = now that was a real full-sized New Yorker boat that indeed weigh 5000lbs. To a younger person who has seen nothing, but a fart-can muffler Honda, the car you mentioned may seem big, but the 1987 New Yorker was really only a mid-sized car if it is compared to the real big cars of the 1970's... Just wanted to correct your lack of knowledge.
Fart Can Muffler Honda... I like that. My term was Party Favor Muffler. Whatever, those things are really annoying...
He may be wrong about the weight, but it was well-reviewed. He was very specific on the details, and half the time these reviews are really vague. Maybe it isn't 5000 pounds, but compared to a lot of 90's and newer cars its pretty heavy.
It sounds like you've had the same good experience with the 318 and 3-speed automatic that most Chrysler owners have had. The 318s are virtually indestructible and are smooth runners, and it would be hard to name a better automatic transmission than the Chrysler 727 or 904. I don't know what happened after the 1980's when people started having trouble with Chrysler automatics. Somehow they lost sight of what made their 3-speeds so great.
Well according to the label on the door jam it weights 5035 Ibs which my friend said is a little more than 2 1/2 tons.
He's right: the '87 5th is a full-sized, chrome-bumpered boat -- *not* to be confused with the 3.0 engine mid-sized New Yorker.
Damn right the fifth avenue and diplomat,gran fury were built at a time when there was not so much greed in the world just like mercedes benz when they were all built in a more genuine era of engineering, but now all car companies are engineered by sleazy cost saving laywers.
The 5035lb weight rating on the door jam is the gross vehicle weight rating - which is the maximum amount of weight you can have in the car including passengers and luggage. The "curb" weight is in the 3600 to 3800 lb range, depending on year and equipment.
Oh, I didn't know that.
My 87 Fifth Avenue was rear-ended by an Oldsmobile Toronado going nearly 40 mph. It knocked the Chrysler up the road with a loud bang, but I was okay except for a stiff neck. I dreaded getting out of the car and seeing the damage, but when I did, it consisted of a pushed to one side bumper, a buckle on the passenger side fender and a cracked taillight.
The insurance appraiser opened the trunk and was astonished to see that the floor pan hadn't even buckled. He said the old Chryslers were built like bank safes, and I have to agree. The estimate for repair was 842.00, the Toronado was totaled. The appraiser mentioned that the car weighed about 3800 pounds of real Detroit iron and chrome. It had plenty of get up and go and got 16.5 around town on regular gas, too.
On May 9th 2006 I was forced out of this wonderful car. It had just under 110k and nothing wrong with it, minus what was written above, and also the brakes and oil pan. I can't believe it's been a year already, the 'Fifth is still very missed.
I have a 1987 Fifth Avenue and I have had not one problem with it; 150000 km on it and it still runs strong like the day it was made. It is my first car and I have had it for 5 years. The best car I could have gotten for $5000.
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