1988 Dodge Daytona Shelby Z Review: Hot Hatch, Pony Car, or Both? 

My Mom inherited a 88' Daytona and was going to sell it because she couldn't drive stick. I wanted it so bad. She told me I I stay out of trouble, she'd sell it to me cheap that summer. I went to jail the next day for 6 months lol. When I got out I tracked down the guy she sold it to and bought it off him using ever penny I had in my name! Only had 7k miles, I drove it for the next 10 years man I loved that car.

Great review great car! I have an ‘85. The Daytona as your title points out tried to check a lot of boxes for what market it went after for buyers. I’ve found a lot of American car fans didn’t like the 4-cyl turbo with front-wheel drive, and sport compact fans didn’t like that it’s an American car. It’s a unique car that tried to appeal to both groups and did a pretty good job in hindsight. The Daytona seems to be getting more recognition lately which is nice to see.

I remember with much fondness my 1988 Dodge Daytona Shelby Z with the Turbo II engine. It was a great looking car with just the right balance of performance go fast features and comfort. Even the admittedly awful shifter was still fun. Sometimes cars can capture you even if they're flawed. I always felt on top of the world getting into that car and waiting for that turbo to spool up. Now I have a pair of Corvettes. I love them both, but that Shelby Z was like my first girlfriend and will always spark a feeling when I think about it.

I just bought an 87 Shelby z a few months ago and it is very fun, pushes 20lbs of boost and is very nice for its age, glad to see a review of one, they're not too popular.

I had one: 1988 Shelby Z Turbo II, red exterior, hard top, grey fabric interior. My first car. It was a very versatile car: I once opened the rear hatch and carried a couch sticking out the back. You can't do that with any kind of trunk. It was faster than I needed it to be, and the one time my friend with a 5.0 Camaro insisted we race off the line, I was amazed that I kept up with him just fine. It was good on gas for its time, once hitting 40 mpg on the highway (though only one time). It cornered wonderfully. I used to cruise at a reasonable speed, never in the fast lane, and when tailgaters in mini vans and other random vehicles would sit on my tailgate and we were heading into a corner, I just didn't slow down. I saw more than one pair of headlights wobble in the rear-view mirror as the person behind had to slow down. It's long-gone now: I sold it to a collector in the hopes that it would live on in some glory.

Great to see the Shelby Z get some love, thanks for this video! So few people still have these unlike the fairly wide assortment of same era Mustangs, Camaros and Firebirds still available. I had a white 88 Shelby Z back in the 90s... long gone now. But I did find one of these unicorns again last year. Your pricing comments were interesting to hear and very similar to what I saw as I was trying to find one. I purchased my veryy clean, white 87 Shelby Z in May for $6,800 with 67,000 miles. I have a few videos on my channel of my find, but nothing like your video here - well done!

What a great looking interior, gotta love that colour. I'm surprised the leather has held up this long. Looking forward to more reviews, they're great fun, include great cars and they're definitely deserving of more views!

My older brother had an '84 Daytona Turbo-Z and an '87 Shelby Z back when they were relatively new cars. I thought his Shelby Z was an absolute rocket ship when I was around 10 years old, and I credit these cars with turning me into the gearhead that I am today. I absolutely love these things, and I really want a 1st gen Daytona, but as you said they basically never come up for sale. I see a lot of similarities in the design of the 2nd gen Daytona to a 1g DSM...

I love this. I wish it was more popular for youtubers to do stock and well kept 80s and 90s oddities

I owned this car in 1987. Exactly. Same color, T-tops, pop-ups. I loved it dearly.

I had a 92 shelby iroc daytona in 98. I was 18 and loved that car. This video brought back so many memories.

The K-car hatchback. Dodge didn't "opt" for anything. The FWD 2.2 liter four was all Chrysler had. The same platform was stretched into a minivan. Pretty clever engineering, but I'd rather have a Mustang.

My 88 Shelby Daytona was royal blue with the five speed getrag. With the addition of a fish tank valve in line on the vacuum operated waste gate I was running thirteen pounds of boost and the car destroyed any V8 from that era! I miss that car!

I had an 87 Shelby Z. Awesome interstate car. You could cruise all day getting great mileage, but it was just off boost so a touch of the pedal gave you oodles of power instantly.

lovely review, being able to hear that turbocharger spool as you put your foot in it was exactly what I was hoping for. you've got quality and great automotive taste. I'm glad I found your channel, keep it up.

One of these with a Neon SRT-4 swap in it would be pretty cool. Love the rare somewhat forgotten car reviews!

Those headgaskets put these in the heap with shocking regularity. You have to find one that wasn't raced around or hooned at anytime, because they can't take a hard beating without upgrades. That said, upgrades do exist, but front wheel drive torque steer was already pretty scary from the factory (according to my research). It's still a cool car. I'd take it completely stock, with t-tops, and I'd drive it like i wanted to keep it.

I loved my Daytonas. I had an 85 Daytona Turbo and traded it for an 87 Daytona Shelby Z. Mine was black with gray cloth interior, no T Tops. The T Tops probably added to the weight with all that glass. If I recall, magazines tested 0-60 in the low 7s if launching from a good RPM. It would definitely spin the front tires. I would chase 300ZXs and Trans Ams of the era with the Shelby Z and keep up. Oh, I could get 35 MPG on highway trips. Not bad....

Car held up! It was 10 yrs old when I got rid of it. 178000 miles. Car never failed me. And I beat the hell out of it.

Had the 1st year 1984 daytona turbo z, maroon over silver. Absolutely gorgeous to look at, but with the auto trans it was all show and no go.

Still have a 1992 IROC R/T I purchased in 1999. Thanks for the honest and well thought out review. There's an appreciation to be had for these cars coming from the bare bones heritage of the Reliant/Aries K-kar era, and the K-frame cars did many things - the Caravans (also came in turbo 5spd) - convertibles - family cars - and some great sports cars. They aren't luxurious and they have MANY flaws, but they (and their price tags) don't set false expectations. Great bang for the buck then, and now

MY IS 1989 DAYTONA 2.2 TURBO SHELBY STD BLUE/GRAY 125,000 MILES BEAUTIFUL CAR

Look at that Plymouth Acclaim, Chrysler Lebaron dashboard! Gotta have the leather too. This is very nice.

The model below the Turbo Z's were the Pacifica's with a 2.2 Turbo. Those were a hoot to drive and handled like it was on rail even with just 15 inch rims and tires. Surprised the odometer is working in that Shelby Z.

It's almost weird when you realize 1988 doesn't feel that long ago, so when we're talking about what's "still left", it's hard to imagine the same term being used on cars that were produced in high numbers today, dwindling in number years from now and potentially seeing a video talking about what's still remaining.

You are wrong about the interiors. They held up quite well. I have an 86 Turbo Z and only refurbished the interior last year. Plus, the Daytona started out in 84 with either the 2.2L turbo or the 2.5L normally aspirated which which made 110 HP. The 2.5L NA was used throughout its production run. It was essentially the same engine as the 2.2 with a longer stroke which produced a generous amount of torque. I had an 88 Daytona with the 2.5 and while not as fast as the turbo, it was still quick enough to get up and go. I took it on a trip to California and it got an amazing 39 mpg hwy at 70 mph.

Just bought a 91 shelby black on black turbo 83k miles beautiful shape I paid 2k I got a crazy good deal

Wow! What an example. I bought an almost identical white Shelby-Z (tan cloth interior) in '88. It was a great car to take to college out of state, since lots of room with the back seats down. That engine pulled hard and was fast. It would yank the wheel out of your hands under hard acceleration with torque steer. The T-tops leaked like a rusty bucket at the A pillar. I only had it for 3 years and had to have the K frame replaced twice due to the steering bolt tearing out. It was fun and got lots of looks back then, just Dodge quality was low.

I had one of these for exactly 10 weeks. That's how long it took me to hit a deer with it at 75mph. The slant-nosed front pitched that poor deer into the air like a giant 9-iron.

Nice Video, great car👍👍👍

The 2.2L in 1984-1985 were electronic Lean Burn BBL carb rated at 88 hp and the 2.2L Turbo 1 was 146 hp. By 1986 the Daytona had the 2.2L electronic Fuel Injection with 93 hp and the 2.5L Inline 4 had EFI had 100 HP and the 145 hp Turbo 1 and then 1987 Shelby Z Shelby 2.2L had 165 HP and in 1988 They had the Daytona Base C/S Carroll Shelby ES Sport package(2.5L 100 HP inline 4 was the base engine by late 1988.) Then 1988 added the Pacifica Daytona too the model list which had the Turbo II Shelby 175 HP engine. Ten 1989 came with a rare option on the ES model was the VNT Turbo. 1989 had two models the Base and the ES/ES Turbo. 1991 was the interior design dashboard came out the the 1990 Lebaron came with only two engines the 2.5L 4 cylinder bumped to 115 hp and the 156Hp Mitsubishi 3.0L V-6 also used in the Eagle Talon/galant models used the same engine for years and those engine choices were only available with the horrible 4 speed ultra drive trans mission. The Mistubishi V-6 3.0L and the 2.5L I 4 115 hp lasted until the 1993 model year.

15.1 second 1/4 mile is what it should run. Zero to 60 in 7.1 stock.

i got a na 2.5L 1990 for my first car, 700 bucks running and driving

I worked for Chrysler in 1985 test driving in cold weather conditions. We had a couple Daytona turbos I got to drive. One was stock, I thought it was a real turd at the time. The other had an experimental turbo on it and it was faster then anything I drove up to that point in my life. It would scare the living daylights out of anyone I gave a ride too.

I had an 89 Daytona Turbo Shelby, blue with grey interior and no tTops. Miss that car so much

Great video! I definitely wanted one of these back in the day. I like the older body style though. They scream 80's which is a good thing in my opinion.

That is a nice unit there . I love those cars still

Had an 88 T1 daytona and a 90 daytona shelby vnt cs (as wells as a turbo van, 88 sundance, and some others), the interior in the 90 was awesome! It was like you were sitting in a fighter jet. I wish i still had that car

I love the name more than the look.

Nice review...I too took a ride in an original 84 Turbo Z when I was younger which sealed the deal for me on Turbo Dodges. I eventually grabbed an 87 Shelby Z (Very worked over T2), added an 85 GLH-T2, then an 87 Shelby Charger (which is going to get a drivetrain out of an '04 SRT4), and finally an 86 Turbo Z C/S (Also worked over CB 2.5-T2). The one that got away from me was an Emerald Green '93 Daytona IROC R/T, was a poor college kid when I came across it, but currently keeping an eye out for another 92-93 IROC R/T to purchase...hopefully soon!

My first car was an 86 turbo Z, loved that car... Great review...

Beautiful car, I always loved them, I had a 1987 Plymouth Sundance turbo same 2.2 4 cylinder turbo, kind of a sleeper, because everyone thought it was the basic 4-Cylinder Sundance and would underestimate it at a traffic light 😂

I was obsessed with the Daytona/ Laser twins when they came out in 1984. I currently own a 1990 Daytona ES V6 with the 5 speed manual which was rather rare for the year. I am the second owner and have owned it since 2001. I bought it in Fairbanks, Alaska and it moved with me to Canada, back to Alaska and now to California. I put about 40K miles on it during my 22 years of owning it, in Alaska all summer miles, obviously. The 3.0L V6 still runs with only normal maintenance and the expected wear and tear repairs and I had it repainted in 2005. It need work now, struts and ball joints, clutch cable (it still works but I can tell its getting worn out), brakes- they still work but the salty coastal California air has rusted the discs. The interior is perfect, its pretty amazing how its held up- not leather, they grey cloth interior. Ive had a few different stereos in it to replace the original Infinity-II that died back in 2006. Its held up amazingly well aside from a few things like temperamental gages, the passenger power window that doesn't work, the passenger door handle and passenger power lock- they all must be connected! I love it, I'd never sell it! 94,039 miles.

I have three of them now. easy to work on cars. fast little beasts

Both!

Nice interior and the car is good looking too, the Laser was 👌🏽

Cool car, I remember them in high school, T-top one is really neat. it has to be pretty rare

Very cool review. I have a 87 glhs charger #790 they are fun cars.

Had friends years ago that were huge in these cars. Turn a few wrenches and put high flowing parts on it, they were a monster. Bad thing, it put a lot stress on the head gasket and the half shafts. They were constantly changing out the gasket from the extra boost.

i had 1 new in the 80s while in the army, i use to race irocs, mustangs etc... the shelby held its own

My dad has the 87 daytona turbo all digital dashboard. Nice cars!!!

The first car I bought was a 93 Daytona ES. Handled incredibly well at 130+mph. Just saying

just to show you how rugged the engines are,me and my brother needed to do a job in upstate ny,we left kc in a new le baron gts 2.2 turboed,1500 miles on it,picked up a toyota supra in indiana and we went head to head at 115 all the way across two states,we get to ny i pull in for gas he pulls up smoking,he said what is that thing,i said mopar turbo ,he said i want one

Great show 😊 ! I remember these growing up in the 80s . I liked the car but wished it wasn't fwd based on the humble K car . I preferred the Ford and GM pony cars back in the 80s over the Chrysler equivalent .

I prefer the looks of the first generation..... But the test car looks well taken care of....

highkey slept on, jdm nerds don't know what's up. The Shelby Z walked so the SRT-4 could run. O7

Hardly see these anymore. I bought one in 88, my first new car and only manual I ever owned.

Had two of these almost identical to each other, one in 2008 and another in 2011. Both were '88 Chrysler Daytona Shelby Z 5-speed's with the 2.2L (Canada). I wish I had never got rid of them. I occasionally search local marketplaces for another but they are becoming pretty rare. Also briefly had an '89 Dodge Caravan Turbo 2.5L Automatic, and 89 Dodge Shadow 2.5L 5-Speed.

Owned an 88 as my first car. Really miss that thing

I had a 85 Dodge Daytona Turbo. The first car that I planned to drive forever, then somebody hit it. 🤨 I liked it but if you revved it and dropped the clutch you got lots of wheel hop.

Cool review, if a little "over the top" on the marketing stuff. You mentioned "rattles" during the test drive...as someone who drove a base 88 Daytona for 6 years and 140k miles, I didn't hear any that weren't supposed to be there. It's an 80's Chrysler product...quality was somewhere, but not always where it needed to be...so some noises are expected. More so for a T-top car. You were nice when talking about the shifter...that was my only complaint about my 88 Daytona (and later 89 Daytona)...heavy shifter/pedal...but you do get used to it. This 88 Shelby Z is in wicked awesome shape!! Owner is very nice to this ride.

I thought the claimed factory quarter mile was around 14.4 sec for the stock Shelby-Z. Its been awhile since I was big into the late 80's to early 90's turbo dodge cars. Definitely miss my highly modded '87 Shelby-Z.

Your acceleration times seem slower than I remember. You can upgrade the turbo, and some other tricks to add even more power. The Getrag 5-speed is pretty robust for the era.

I saw one of these at my local gas station last night and I literally freak the f*** out it was a 1988 all black turbo and the gentleman who I spoke to he's had it for twenty-five years iterior was all brown leather one of 1200 made in Canada

They're ok. Look a little closer at this one though. It literally looks like two different cars. It's like Chrysler forgot to update the rear ⅔ of the car. The front is more modern, like something you'd expect to see in the 90-s, but from the cowl back, it looks like every single other 1981 - 1987 Dodge Charger, and even as far back as the 1979 Omni 024 or Plymouth Horizon TC3 with its very distinctive 80s square styling.

my grandparents had one back in the 80s

Cool

Same 2.2 engine only fuel injected turbo. Same platform as the Plymouth/Dodge Horizon.

I aldo forgot that after 1990 the manual 5 speed was dropped after 1990 model year do to poor sales.

Mine was an 85 Turbo. Some good memories.... A lot of breakdowns, lol.

You need a go in a 92-93 Daytona IROC R/T with the TIII turbo. 224hp

It's literally a hot hatch in a pony car costume.

I'm currently presented with a chance to buy a bit of a project Shelby Z. 1988, straight body, no rust, did run, just needs stuff sorta put back together after a turbo rebuild and a wiring issue with the fuel pump. No T-tops, which I actually prefer. $350. I've had an 89 Dayton ES before, so this isn't my first rodeo. 135k miles. Should I?

I miss my shelby. Car would eat any gm 5.0 . Mustangs would get me but not bye much. But boy I loved messing with camaros and montes.

I saw a one with a 5.7 Hemi.

Bring them up to 300-400 hp and they’re a blast

I have the same exact car except mine has sunroof. Has 53k miles, and just as nice as this one. Bought it new in 1988 in Southern California, and spent many a day carving up the Angeles Crest Highway. If you learn how to drive it properly, it will turn much better performance numbers than what you were able to achieve.

👍👍

I know the car sold, but did you have any parts left behind on the shelf? I have an all matching numbers 84 Daytona 2.2L /135 Ci. 99HP Bosch single point TBI NHRA EF/S Stock Elim. Car single family owner since new, and just dieted the car legally of 171.7 lbs net wt. Legally removed, and will be 2,475 lbs wet (without driver), but last raced in 1997 in GF/SA at 110HP/4,763 Lbs plus 170 lbs driver/helmet (was mis classed)...Am looking for a few things like a cam closer to the allowed max .448/.448 lift, Pizza or Swiss cheese wheels in the 4X100 or 5X100 14"x6" or 15x6 and a couple of interior parts to replace a couple of cracked ones even if I need to paint the pcs in Charcoal Gray.

I have two of them. lol

Nice car, how easy is it to remove/install the T-rop?

Hey step on that thing man

I was told the ac units went out alot on these

Was supposed to be a Plymouth with a Twin turbo SS ... But you got a Eagle Talon and Mitsubishi

Bring it back 2024

Is that a cobra radar detector

Is that Corinthian leather?

A hybrid car between a Chrysler LeBaron & a Dodge Shadow... so not a Hot Hatch nor a Pony Car... just a typical US sporty car that passes away.

If anyone is looking for a "left side outter" power mirror for this car i have one brand new in the box. It's an original Mopar part....just saying

I want the car. Is it still for sale? I can be in Florida in Monday give me a call.

Uniden

Only the GLHS was worthy.

I used to steal these cars all the time in the 80’s they were quick and the handling was very tight

Dodge Z .... Nissan Z Nikola Z

Probably using California gasoline which you cou extingie the wild fires with its so shitty probably didn't help