Plymouth Prowler is the Factory-Fresh
American Hot Rod
By Vince Bodiford
The Plymouth Prowler is quite possibly one of the most beautifully
styled production cars to come out of Detroit.
I've evaluated the Prowler several times - and each time it was
a thrill.
Forget about low profile. If being noticed and standing out in
a crowd of cookie-cutter cars is your desire, look no further
than the incredible Plymouth Prowler. The car's looks scream "Hey,
look at me," and nearly everyone does. All the cool you can
handle comes in just a few eye-catching colors - including purple,
yellow and red.
This kind of cool costs just over $40,000 (new in 1997 prices) which made the Prowler
a bargain in the exotic segment. This is not a practical car -
it is not comfortable, and it's not fuel-efficient. It's just
downright cool. The only other low production American car like
it is the Panoz Roadster, which looks almost exactly like the
Prowler but costs about $20,000 more and is powered by a V8.
Prowler takes its looks from the chopped '30s-style Ford hot-rods,
but its power comes from a 214-horsepower, all-aluminum 24-valve
V6; plenty of power for this lightweight, aluminum framed two-seat
roadster.
Wherever Prowler goes, it draws a crowd. "Wow, cool car,"
and "Hey, is that a Ford?" and "Can you really
buy a car like that?" are the most frequent comments. Yes,
you can buy it. It's not a one-off show car or custom-built hot
rod. And Plymouth is happy with the image Prowler has brought
back to the brand that in the 1970's was famous for its Barracuda
muscle cars and Hemi engines. Prowler is doing for Plymouth what
Viper has done for Dodge and Corvette does for Chevrolet.
But all that glitters at Plymouth isn't necessarily gold, as the
future of the Plymouth brand in North America is uncertain. DaimlerChrysler
has already ditched the Plymouth brand in Canada, badging cars
they sell there either Dodge or Chrysler. Whatever happens to
the Plymouth brand, you can bet Prowler will continue to be marketed
for years, and those Prowlers with the Plymouth badge are certain
to increase in value.
Beyond its looks, there are some breakthrough engineering aspects
in this car. The most impressive and obvious is Prowler's open-wheel
configuration that not only resembles an Indy Car, it's almost
an exact duplicate. Open-wheel designs are very difficult, and
Plymouth has executed this feature well. Getting used to driving
an open-wheel roadster is a challenge, especially in the low-slung
Prowler. You cannot see the front wheels at all from the driver's
seat, so extra caution must be taken in tight spots so you don't
tear a corner off the car.
The suspension is very high performance,
which results in very aggressive handling and steering characteristics,
but a rather rough ride.
The shifting is fun. In the automatic mode, it shifts up and down
with a nice kick. Prowler's AutoShift provides the excitement
of manual shifting without clutching. It's very similar to Porsche
911 Carrera's TipTronic automatic shifting, though Porsche's version
is far superior and features memory and driving style modes.
I suspect the Prowler has great high performance driving and handling
- but I never got up enough nerve to push the car even close to
its known limits because I didn't want to bend the car. It's equally
content in its boulevard cruiser role as it is being a screamer
hot rod (well, okay, maybe I pushed it a just a little.)
Inside, there's room for two adults, six compact disc cases, one
drink and no luggage. The seats are more comfortable than the
Viper, but they suffer from limited adjustment, and legroom is
cramped. When the top is up, headroom is limited due to the chopped
roofline. But, who cares? This is a factory hot rod!
Prowler leads a very elite pack of street rods that just make
you feel good. It's fun to drive, fun to look at, fun to talk
about, and it puts a smile on almost everyone's face who sees
it.
