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Junkyard Gem: This 1987 Dodge 600 SE Sedan is suspiciously Benz-ish

The K Platform, introduced for the 1981 model year, saved Chrysler from certain bankruptcy. By 1983, a stretched-out K chassis had been developed; the Chrysler version was the E-Class, while Dodge had the 600. These cars have become all but extinct now, so this '87 600 sedan in a Denver-area wrecking yard is a noteworthy Junkyard Gem. Ford explicitly compared the appearance of the late-1970s Granada to that of the Mercedes-Benz W123 in their advertising, and so the ground was broken for Chrysler to make the allusions to Stuttgart machinery even more obvious a few years later. The name of the Chrysler E-Class was about as subtle as a tire iron blow to the kidneys, and the badging on its Dodge 600 sibling left little to the imagination. 600s came from the factory with several variations of the Chrysler 2.2/2.5 engine, as well as the Mitsubishi "Hemi 2.6" four-cylinder. This car has the 2.5 Chrysler engine, rated at 97 horsepower. Base price was $10,553, about $23,500 in 2017 dollars (the cheapest new Mercedes-Benz E-Class cost $38,600 in 1987, so there wasn't much customer overlap between the two cars). The 600s weren't bad cars for the price, though the build quality wasn't quite up to Mercedes-Benz standards. You'll find this thumbtack treatment on most K-Car headliners that still drive today. The interior is all tan and brown, with plenty of tough industro-velour upholstery and not-so-convincing artificial wood. Aluminum-faced home audio equipment was all the rage during the 1980s, and the trend spread to automotive controls. No cassette in this car, but at least it had AM and FM radio (even plain old mono AM radios were still expensive options on many cars as late as 1987, so the standard AM/FM stereo rig in the 600 was an attractive deal). This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. You can't beat the 600!

Buick takes top spot in 2022 J.D. Power Initial Quality Study

People, economies, and supply chains weren't the only things continuing to get sick over the past year. The 2022 J.D. Power Initial Quality Study (IQS) is out, showing the average rate of problems per 100 vehicles (PP100) during the first 90 days of ownership increased overall. The average figure for the 32 ranked manufacturers in 2020 was about 166 problems per 100 vehicles. In the 2021 IQS, that dropped to an average of 162. This year, the average jumps to 180 problems. J.D. Power says that figure is a record high over the 36-year history of the study. Buick leapt to the top of the rankings this year with the fewest issues, at 139 problems per 100 vehicles in the first 100 days of ownership. After Dodge became the first American automaker to lead the IQS in 2020, followed by Ram in 2021, this year marks a three-peat for U.S. carmakers. Dodge took second this year at 143 PP100, Chevrolet third with 147 PP100, Genesis the first luxury maker on the chart in fourth with 156 PP100. Between February and May, this year's study gathered responses to 223 questions from more than 84,000 new 2022-model-year car owners and lessees. The questions are designed to zero in on real-world problems new owners encounter with nine categories of vehicle features: Infotainment; features, controls and displays; exterior; driving assistance; interior; powertrain; seats; driving experience; and climate. As has been the case in the past few year, infotainment has proved to be the most problematic bugbear making scores worse. Considering features individually, six of 10 of the worst problem areas dealt with infotainment, causing infotainment's score of 45 PP100 to be 19.5 PP100 worse than the second-placed feature. Consumers ranked getting Android Auto and Apple CarPlay to connect reliably as the most troublesome.  GM didn't just score with Buick, which was one of only nine of the 33 ranked brands to show improvement this year. The conglomerate earned first place with the fewest PP100 among all the automaker groups, and scored the most model-level awards with nine, ahead of BMW with eight and Hyundai Group with three.  This year's study again showed a gap between luxury and mass-market makers, thought to be down to the amount of tech in luxury vehicles that consumers aren't properly informed about or that doesn't act as expected — that latter issue exacerbated by the chip shortage.

Are you the Dodge Dart SRT4?

Dodge has just confirmed that it will be bringing its newest Dart variant, the Dart GT, to Detroit next week, but we're still in the dark about when we'll see a truly hotted-up SRT4 version. But now, by way of the rumormill anyway, we've got at least one proposed, potentially Dodge-based rendering to light our way.
Seen here is what would appear to be a design sketch of the SRT4 Dart. Obviously the image that has surfaced is of rather low-resolution, but there's at least some evidence to support that it may be legitimate. In the original picture, one can just make out the name Tim Doyle in the lower right corner. As it turns out, Tim Doyle's name is also watermarked on the final design image for the 2011 Dodge Durango Citadel Black & Tan, a model that was shown at SEMA in 2010.
Of course, even if this really is the work of Doyle, there's nothing to say that this image isn't one of a great many potential looks for the future SRT4. In fact, the departure of the cross-hair grille from the Dodge's nose seems like it could be a hard sell, though we do, naturally, dig the sleek hood scoop and the bulked up wheel/tire combination.