1988 Dodge Shadow car review and reader feedback

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Reader feedback

Edward J. Kelly wrote in 1996: “After having spent a few hundred miles in a 1993 Accord, I found it had some nice features, but handling and power were about the same as my base-model Shadow. The Accord lacked the fun to drive feeling that my Shadow has, despite my Shadow being 6 years older and having a 100,000 more miles, it was the hands down winner between the two cars! My Shadow has never ever left me stranded and has only had a few minor repairs except for the clutch, which wore out in only 125,000 miles.

gez wrote: I own a 1993 Plymouth Duster V6, 2 door, 5 speed, with a few performance modifications. Last year at New England Dragway, my Duster went a 15.3 @ 89mph, on street tires. I expect to go mid-14s this year. (The car in the other lane was a 1995 Firebird Formula V8 automatic, and it did 15.8 @ 96 mph.)

Phyllis Costello wrote: “I have owned my 1990 Dodge Shadow since new and it now has 173,000+ miles.  Although I drive the car hard, I have had only minor problems with it. I just replaced the timing belt for the first time!  The timing had never been adjusted previously, and  the timing belt cover had not even been removed before.  All of the gaskets and seals were original, along with most everything else.  This engine it will go before it needs a rebuild, if I live that long.”

Dodge Shadow car review (by Justin Emory)

I loved my parents' Shadow. It was a great little car all and all. Cornered great and had a different style then most cars of the road (especially after they stopped making them). The trunk was huge for this size of the car and it was even better with the hatchback instead of the small opening of a traditional trunk. To top that off it had seats that folded down which made even more room.

The interior had a great look to it also and everything was in easy reach and easy to read. There were no cup holders in mine because my parents had not gotten that option. I believe they replaced it with a cigarette lighter (even though we are all non-smokers) and an ash tray (to keep stuff in). I put a cover on the steering wheel when I got the car because after 8 years of use the original covering was wearing off. I didn't have power windows, but it did have power locks which are more important to me.

The P-Bodies had great ground clearance with a stiff suspension, but they also had a stiff ride which is why some people didn't like my car. My grandfather said once, "It rides like a hay wagon." Basically he meant that you felt every bump, but liked it that way though. Stiff suspension mean less body roll. To tell you the truth I would have liked to have put a stiffer set of springs in the back to help even more. Now don't get me wrong, I am not some speed demon, but when I need to get out of something quick I like to know my car can do it.

When the car was purchased, my parents got the ES package which added the better tires (205/50/15s on 6 inch rims). [Webmaster note: ES cars had a much stiffer suspension than the standard models, which did not ride like a hay wagon!]. These tires also helped the car stick to the road alot better, get the motor power to the road and help eliminate some body roll. For a while after we first replaced the tires went when to a skinnier set on a different set of rims. The tire height was about the same but its just seems to handle different. Also the it had a center hub instead of a solid 6 inch rims (pizza rims and my friends called them). This proved to be very annoying. The screws never seemed to never hold right and the would crank and your drove down the road. That seemed to be a trend though with every P-Body I came across. Either the hubs were missing or loose.

The back seat was a little small though. I looked at the car as like a cheap solution for a single guy/girl who wanted something to drive that want a gas killer yet had some speed to it. I don't know if that what they wanted, but I take it as that.

My car also had something in it that disappeared in all cars, automatic seat belts (early models only). People said that these were unsafe because the door would open and people would fall out. This was mostly because people didn't wear their lap belts. Also some of the other cars that had auto seat belts were attached to the car door itself. These were a love-hate thing for me though.

Sure it was great that I could start the car and while I put my lap bet on the shoulder would come back to me. Then when I stopped and opened the door the shoulder belt would return to the parked position and let me out. Some people that got into my car would have trouble with these. Mostly the ones that were no smarter than the seat belt itself. They would forget that the seat belt moved and push it behind their head then open the door. Well, I think you know what happened then.

The hate part is that the drivers side seat belt broke three times and the passenger broke once. The last time the drivers side broke we never fixed it, because it was stuck in the locked position and it was a bit expensive to fix.

Other then the head gasket going and cracking the head we only had one other problem. The distributor pick up went bad which caused the vehicle to loose all power while driving and then suddenly start back up. Cute, huh? Well to make a long story short after many parts it ended up being a problem with the Hall effect sensor.

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