LH Platform opinions?

[SportFury70]

My stepfather ordered a Tinted Red Pearl Coat 2000 Intrepid ES new back in 2000 with @FURYGT's Intrepid as they have been friends for a very long time. Before that he had a '97 intrepid and a Chrysler LHS. My stepfather still owns the 2000 Intrepid today 20 years later and only uses it sparingly as it has about 150,000 miles on it. They are very good cars, but my tip if you plan on an Intrepid is to avoid getting a 2.7L as they had and were known for camshaft failure

 

[saforwardlook]

Renault/AMC designed a pretty nice car, didn't they?
My son drove one every day for about a year for work.
He said it was a nice car except for the transmission.
His boss, an Admiral liked it, too.

The chief engineer for the LH cars was Francois Castaing who was formerly with AMC corporation as their chief of product engineering and development. Their benchmark for the LH cars was the superlative handling of the Eagle Premier platform, but the design team of 700 engineers at Chrysler was also overseen by Bub Lutz who is well-known in the automotive industry as a real car guy (and he worked for Ford, GM and Chrysler in lead areas in has career among others). The LH design took the layout of the Eagle Premier at AMC that was derived from a Renault platform but Chrysler designers also extended the wheelbase and positioned the front wheels far forward of their usual location to create what was called a "Cab Forward" design. The actual styling of the LH cars was based, however, on the Lamborghini Portifino concept vehicle that was styled by a Chrysler chief designer and appeared at an auto show in Frankfurt, Germany in 1987.

This was the Eagle Premier design at AMC:

Here is the Lambo concept car:

So the LH cars that resulted were the result of a combination of AMC, Renault and Chrysler engineering/design influences and mostly using Chrysler styling team influences.

To say that the LH cars were just a Renault/AMC design is a very misleading oversimplification of the real efforts that went into making the LH cars that Chrysler produced using many individuals involved from various sources. I doubt that any AMC vehicle had the level of refinement present in the LH cars or many of the other qualities present in them either. And I am certain Bob Lutz played a very key role in the LH cars too.

I can assure you I would have never bought an Eagle Premier despite the exceptional handling nor does it make any sense to use a real life Premier as a predictor of how good of a used car the LH cars would be in terms of problems over the years.

 

[70bigblockdodge]

I agree with change the timing belt. If you do not get a receipt with the date and mileage on it when the belt was changed, it needs changed, period. Everything on the front of that engine that should be changed with the belt is no more than $200. Peace of mind priceless.
Trans problems are usually the valve body, speed sensors, wiring. That's on the later cars. The early ones, just wear out faster.

 

[PeugFra]

So the LH cars that resulted were the result of a combination of AMC, Renault and Chrysler engineering/design influences and mostly using Chrysler styling team influences.

John Herlitz, director of Exterior Passenger Car Design, said Chrysler wanted to mate the Cab forward design with something suitable from the past of automotive design. The search stopped at the Type 57 Bugatti from the 1930s. "It had an extremely rakish windshield for the time and a very rounded roof profile, both in side and plan view," he said:

 

[cantflip]

Steve and Graham are 2 of the better resources to weigh in, due to their seat time and product knowledge. Don't mean to short anyone else.

97 was the best IMO. IIRC first year for sequential FI, and whatever other debugging done up to the end of the first generation. 98 lost headroom, and if over 6', you should try one on for size before serious shopping. I always intended to own an LHS or Concord, but never go around to it. 95 -96 wouldn't hurt my feelings, I believe the 95 electronics are not vin coded for security, which means used modules can be swapped... could be a factor in keeping an old girl on the road.

Transaxle problems, watch out for two commonly misdiagnosed transmission problems. Battery failures, like a loose plate or a particle that can cause a intermittent shorted plate could throw off the computers, there is a relay for the TCM that could be making poor/intermittent contact. Lots of transaxle rebuilds ended with a relay replacement and/or a new battery. Not a bulletproof transaxle, but not so bad as folks might think.

I cant recall if 96 or 97 was the first year the vin number was programmed into multiple modules so that if a module was swapped from another car, it wouldn't start. If you have one from before that, a well matched junkyard processor would be close to plug and play. Now days, these modules are likely obsolete, and that will be the doom of some otherwise serviceable cars. Chrysler's wiring of the day was also not the best, lots of circuits made with no tolerance for corrosion or broken strands. May be a PITA, but wire overlays are easy and durable repairs, if done well.

 

[BIGBARNEYCARS]

The only issue I ever had with the '02 300M Special was the location "placement" of the battery. Without the Service Manual I'd have never believed the factory procedure for swapping it out, lol Those who know are smiling rite now, A real PITA. Jer

 

[Dobalovr]

The only issue I ever had with the '02 300M Special was the location "placement" of the battery. Without the Service Manual I'd have never believed the factory procedure for swapping it out, lol Those who know are smiling rite now, A real PITA. Jer

It hasn’t gotten any better Jer you should see where we stuff them in new cars now!!

 

[BIGBARNEYCARS]

It hasn’t gotten any better Jer you should see where we stuff them in new cars now!!

I'm laughing Graham. My fleet today consists of a Plum Crazy '83 G.T. Scamp TII Pickup(with an '83 DC Rampage Spoiler on the roof and rebuilt everything), An '87 LaBaron TI coupe W/ 72xxx on it that spent it's whole life in SoCal 'til I had it shipped back to North Carolina in 2015, and a 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan Braunability Conversion the has a bit less then 68xxx on the 3.3L az we speak W/"0" rust and I'll turn 81 come Memorial Day in about 4 weeks. I think my transportation needz are covered for az long az I'll be driving, lol. Stay well My Friend, Jer

 

[MoPar Maniac]

It cannot be denied the LH got its start as the Eagle, an AMC mod of a Renault design.

 

[saforwardlook]

It cannot be denied the LH got its start as the Eagle, an AMC mod of a Renault design.

Fine, but that is a far cry from what you said earlier no matter how you want to rewrite it here.

 

[MoPar Maniac]

It is in fact based on an AMC design, therefore they designed a nice car.
Chrysler modified it.

 

[saforwardlook]

It is in fact based on an AMC design, therefore they designed a nice car.
Chrysler modified it.

You still don't get it.

The LH cars were all new cars from the ground up but including use of the Premier platform concept.

It was not a modified rehash of a clumsy, dated exterior, a chintzy dated interior and dash panel and no use of their engines or anything else.