What's to become of the 3S platform?

[Spyder95VR4]

Have you guys ever thought about the incredible depreciation on our cars. Extreme example is a VR4 Spyder. In 95 dollars it was $66,000 without tax or destination charges dealer fees ect. In todays dollars it would be $103,347!!!l A 95 VR4 was around 46k and todays dollars its about 72k. Think about what kind of car you could get now with 70 to 100k? Easily a used low mile GTR, Corvette Stingray, BMW M3 or M5, ect. That's the type of car this was designed and priced to compete with back in the mid 90s. A high end luxury sports car that rivaled anything the Europeans had. They threw every technology avail at these cars then.

Sad to think our cars get nearly no love from auto enthusiasts. Weight and perceived unreadability have held us back I guess. Still a supra doesn't weigh much less (maybe 200lb difference.) and these cars can run for well over 200k if taken care of. My first stealth rt/tt had over 225k bone stock and it was the probably the best one I've owned. It was owned by a Carquest manager and was well serviced and documented, never should have sold it.

[j2k4]

A little off topic but,,,,,. If these cars had the same trim levels, and engine setups as the skylines it would be a differnt universe for the 3s. Rwd based platform, base models would be 4g63 turbo rwd, with vr4 staying awd twin turbo.

There are two many of these cars out there for the community to dry up. There is still a great galant vr4 community, starquest, colt/mirage gt, and those cars are all way lower production than the 3s cars.

Very true - it's plain, from a marketing POV, no one was looking too far down the road, vis a vis the range of offerings and their effect on value.

Take your garden variety pony cars - the differences between the top and the bottom was a mere stone's throw, relatively speaking - 6-cylinder grocery-getters, all the way up to an SS/Mach I/Trans-am.

By comparison, low-end Stealths and 3KGTs were run-of-the-mill, but the TTs and VR4s were in the technological stratosphere.

[guido1205us]

You have two fine examples. Can't go wrong keeping either one!

Thanks!

[Spyder95VR4]

Very true. A base stealth is a turd on wheels. Always hated the base models. Odd that the base cars had a simple spoiler and the straight across tail lights, almost looks like a different car.

[stealthee]

The base Stealth had the same spoiler as the RT's and RT Turbos. The one in that pic has had the spoiler swapped.

[Spyder95VR4]

I am not sure that's accurate. Kind of off topic but I had a stock 91 ES and it had a simple spoiler. I think the early base models didn't have the banana... I could be wrong but I've seen too many of them and they all couldn't be spoiler swaps.

stlth3.jpg

[Ange]

Have you guys ever thought about the incredible depreciation on our cars. Extreme example is a VR4 Spyder. In 95 dollars it was $66,000 without tax or destination charges dealer fees ect. In todays dollars it would be $103,347!!!l A 95 VR4 was around 46k and todays dollars its about 72k. Think about what kind of car you could get now with 70 to 100k? Easily a used low mile GTR, Corvette Stingray, BMW M3 or M5, ect. That's the type of car this was designed and priced to compete with back in the mid 90s. A high end luxury sports car that rivaled anything the Europeans had. They threw every technology avail at these cars then.

Sad to think our cars get nearly no love from auto enthusiasts. Weight and perceived unreadability have held us back I guess. Still a supra doesn't weigh much less (maybe 200lb difference.) and these cars can run for well over 200k if taken care of. My first stealth rt/tt had over 225k bone stock and it was the probably the best one I've owned. It was owned by a Carquest manager and was well serviced and documented, never should have sold it.

Supra is not awd. Probably makes up for about 120 lbs of that 200lbs difference atleast.

But, they did have better lightweight parts used for their cars. Like plastic fuel tank, aluminum suspension arms etc. Add to that the 3s had alot of gadgets like RWS, ECS, AA etc that added weight.

[stealthee]

I am not sure that's accurate. Kind of off topic but I had a stock 91 ES and it had a simple spoiler. I think the early base models didn't have the banana... I could be wrong but I've seen too many of them and they all couldn't be spoiler swaps.

stlth3.jpg

The early base Stealths either had a banana or no spoiler. A lot people probably added a spoiler or it could have been a dealer option.

[sohcstealth]

My wife's car is a '92 SOHC (single turbo conversion) it was factory equipped with the banana spoiler.

I've never seen a SOHC car without the banana up here in Canada. Perhaps there were different options for different markets?

[UTRacerX9]

Why have most of you guys stayed with these cars considering all the problems the OP mentioned. For me it was the only car that I could afford that had my bucket list of features. Twin turbos, awd, all wheel steering, potential for big power on a budget, and I got the convertible too. Also considering how many they made it's still rare to see one on the road. I've been asked over and over what is that, what year is it ect. Always get a fun reaction when I tell them it's a 20 year old car.

That's precisely why I loved these cars, aside from the styling. It was a Porsche 911 Turbo that cost half as much and was nearly as fast. Twin turbo and awd is what I wanted, and in the early 90's, the choices were limited. Stealth/3KGT, 911 Turbo, Bugatti EB110... the other options weren't exactly feasible.

But eventually, there came a point where I realized I was only keeping my car for nostalgia, and for all the time and money I'd spent on her, not because I really enjoyed driving it anymore. I had 3 Stealths, one an NA, the other two were TT's. (I had 4, if you count a beat up Stealth ES that my dad bought for a song at a police auction as a beater car for me. Spun bearing. Scrapped.)

Total, I owned a 3S for almost 20 years of my life. As far as the problems go... my goal from the start was to make the car the way it should have come from the factory. Less weight, beef up the drivetrain and turbos, and make it easier to work on and as reliable as I could. For me, I only ever had three issues that stranded me. The first was a spun bearing back in 1994/1995. Fixed under warranty. Took Dodge almost 3 months, too. The second was about a decade later, my aftermarket timing gears slipped a bit and the valves hit the pistons. Just barely, thankfully. No significant damage done, but those two cylinders had 5-8 psi less compression than the rest from then on. Third time was something simple, intercooler hose popped off my DSM intercoolers.

A fourth issue was cracking a transfer case at the track, but I was prepared for it and brought a spare in case that might happen, so no big deal. A fifth, my ECU caps were leaking, car started running rough, and fuel trims went nuts. Limped it home, had caps replaced.

Not bad over 20 years, if you ask me.