K-cars

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by MadMan

Neat.



No, that was the Omni only. The Omni was pre-k car. I don't think the VW engine was ever offered in a K car. To the best of my knowledge, the K cars were entirely in-house, at least originally. Ah, the good old days.

There's a lot of information about the evolution of the various Mopar platforms on the website "Allpar". I generally follow it pretty close.

[mgross0]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

There's a lot of information about the evolution of the various Mopar platforms on the website "Allpar". I generally follow it pretty close.

The LH cars were the last of the 'in house' designs, even though the company was being controlled my Mercedes at the time. My understanding is that, in spite of what people claim, the current LX cars are really the old LH platform modified to accept the improved Mercedes suspension components and are not merely a warmed over Benz chasis. Of course, the dreaded NAG1 tranny is a Benz unit, and we all know how craptastic those things can be.

[MadMan]

Originally Posted by mgross0

The LH cars were the last of the 'in house' designs, even though the company was being controlled my Mercedes at the time. My understanding is that, in spite of what people claim, the current LX cars are really the old LH platform modified to accept the improved Mercedes suspension components and are not merely a warmed over Benz chasis. Of course, the dreaded NAG1 tranny is a Benz unit, and we all know how craptastic those things can be.

The LH cars were introduced in 93. I had a 94 Concorde, really loved that car. Huge, absolutely huge car for a fwd. I mean, you got in it, you were a mile away from your passenger, and enough headroom for Abe Lincoln with his hat on. Definitely prefer the interior to a Cadillac Deville, also fwd in roughly the same category. Anyhow, Mercedes takeover was from 98 to 08. And there are small but notable similarities between the LH and LX platforms. I'd say it's really an evolution. That having been said, they maintained their own teams of engineers and designers, I don't think it's entirely fair to say 'their last in-house design.' Maybe their last design that didn't involve Mercedes parts in any way, perhaps. Course there was a brief reprise when they were privately held and not associated with any other company. But Fiat had to ruin that.

Mercedes transmissions are actually usually pretty hearty things. But uh... in terms of performance... yeah. Craptastic sounds about right. In the late 80s - 90s, perhaps earlier, idk what possessed them to think that taking off in 2nd gear was a good idea.