What happened to the cab forward designed sedans?

[WylieCoyote]

Very comfortable, good riding cars, but I can't say it would improve handling by moving the cab forward, and therefore moving the engine far out in front of the axle. I drove plenty of these cars while working for a dealership I, but never got to put one through its handling paces, so it might have been fine, but real performance sedans are built the opposite way, doing everything possible to get the engine moved rearward. That said, the LHS is one of my favorite cars, style-wise.

 

[Allaned]

The Intrepid was an excellent design that was poorly executed. Our '98 had the 2.7 and I loved everything about that car until it hit 60K miles. At that point it started burning oil to the tune of a qt every 500 miles. I changed the oil and filter every 3K miles and used nothing but full syn since new. The 2.7 was a garbage engine, but the car itself was wonderful. Like you said, it was nice and roomy with a huge trunk. I actually got 36 MPG with that car once on a trip. I would buy that car again if it had a decent engine...

Ours was the 3.2 liter engine. It never used oil. I had read that the 2.7 had problems.

 

[meep]

We had an LHS with the 3.5. Man, there were so many great things about this car. Handling was superb for its size and it had power, handling and grace. Dual intakes and TBs sounded superb and the torque curve was perfect. Good mpg too.

unfortunately, the Chrysler in its DNA made it quirky. It lasted a long time, including seizing up on I-40 when a family member ran the oil sump dry. It never idled right after that but soldiered on another 100k.

but.

it absolutely had the infamous steering bushing failures on a repeat basis that required super-quick and fluid reflexes to keep the car on the road when they‘d fall out of the joints. It was a repeat offender. It also threw belts regularly. There was quality skipped in the rubber bits under the hood which aged and leaked before the competition. Seats didn’t age well and became uncomfortable. And it was impossible to work on. how they engineered that much stuff into that little space was beyond me. We knew better than to keep this thing long term.

 

[eljefino]

Cars that had the CF design clearly had more interior space than than those that didn't. It wasn't just an advertising gimmick...

If that space is a six inch wedge between the windscreen and dash that you can't reach with your seat belt on, how useful is it really?

The secret is thanks to computers, 90s cars sucked much less than 80s ones.

The newest cars have pedestrian safety requirements, so you get high grille lines, big fenders, and big tires. Look at how the dodge neon, nice looking, was replaced with the repulsive Caliber.

 

[grampi]

If that space is a six inch wedge between the windscreen and dash that you can't reach with your seat belt on, how useful is it really?

The secret is thanks to computers, 90s cars sucked much less than 80s ones.

The newest cars have pedestrian safety requirements, so you get high grille lines, big fenders, and big tires. Look at how the dodge neon, nice looking, was replaced with the repulsive Caliber.

The CF design provides more useful interior space, I don't know why you would say it only provides more space between the windshield and the dash...

 

[D60]

Around 2017 I worked on a '96 Intrepid with 30k miles. Was a literal grandma special.

All I remember is the power steering pump leaking profusely from the front seal. I guess you could attribute seal failure to sitting a lot.

And the inner tie rod bushing was thrashed. Maybe this is the same failure as mentioned above in the LHS?

I just thought if this is what 30k looks like, I'd hate to see 100k. The car was lost to a house fire in 2018 and I figured good riddance