1986 Dodge Daytona Overview

Crude But Effective. Fun To Drive (five-speed). —

Daytona Turbo CS, 5-speed It was not well-built, and lots of things broke over the 7½ years I had it, but it never stranded me, even when the transmission lost the use of some gears. For its time, acceleration and handling were strong, yet it was easy on gas if you weren't on the turbo a lot. The five-speed was a bit clunky at times. Chrysler couldn't be bothered to engineer a proper handbrake, so the car had four pedals on the floor. Dumb, but then again, most people bought automatics (even dumber). The seats were comfortable and held you in place in spirited driving. Hard launches required a good hold on the steering wheel to deal with the torque steer, even though the car had equal length halfshafts. My car was cursed from the day it rolled off the line - on a Friday afternoon. You know what people say about Monday and Friday cars. On top of that, it was signed off the line on April 1. Only months into owning it, it suffered thousands of dollars of hail damage. The aftermarket paint job was not very good, so the color faded. Tire wear was light, and I certainly enjoyed Driving the car. I would be remiss if I did not point out that the only time I ever had to add oil between changes was when one mechanic forgot to tighten the oil pan bolt. By the time the oil level started to get down, it was time for an oil change. The hatch was huge, especially with the rear seats (which were really parcel shelves at best) down. I was always amazed at what I could stuff back there, especially when I was moving. I think this car had the best sounding four cylinder engine exhaust burble that I have ever heard.

She Can Smell Your Wallet — The performance of this car was held back by its own wieght. I had a bit of a problem with this car, cause it could smell my paycheck. The repairs on this one car over shadows all the repairs made on the rest of my past cars. And I have had a few. It did have a style all it own though, and I rarely see any anymore.

1986 Dodge Daytona Turbo Z — White w/ ground effects, I thought it was a beautiful car, and it was pretty damn fast too, for a 3 speed auto. 2.2 turbo 16 valve.