I remember working on a lot of these C and Y body cars. The 3.3 was a pretty good mill. The 4 speed auto was plagued with all kinds of electronic problems at 1st, but by 93 they got it right. That A604 was used well into the mid '00s in various cars and minivans and proved to be pretty good. The air suspension was terrible, and I recall changing many of them out to regular struts, shocks and springs after the warranty expired. The ABS units were also problematic. But that interior was top notch. Fit and finish were excellent and the seats were so comfortable, even in cloth trim. Chrysler also had the fastest updating most reliable digital dashes on the market. These Imps were extremely $$, costing well over $20k in 1990 money. That turned a lot of buyers off. It's a rare treat to see 1 on the road today!
I sold Chryslers in 1988, They really worked hard as a manufacturer to make a quality product that edged out the other US auto makers with many convenience features and Extra steps to provide reliability. I would love to have one of these today ....This would be a car I could see Lee Iacooca drive himself.
My parents had one , they bought a new one in 1992 my Dad was a Chrysler man . Velvet covered seats and all the bells and whistles . The ride was very quite and comfortable. Back seat leg room like a limo .
People who immediately dismiss that this car is junk has never really drive or own one. I had a 1992 Chrysler New Yorker 5th Avenue that I bought on Ebay with 149,000 miles on the odometer. It had plush velvet pillow seats and it was one of the most comfortable and reliable car that I ever owned (had it for 7 years). If I had the money and space I would not hesitate to buy another of that vintage. I now own a 1997 Lincoln Town Car Signature and it's just as reliable. I gave the Chrysler to my nephew so we could "keep it in the family", but unfortunately, he wrecked it a few months later.
Cars from the '90s are my favorites - I own two, both good drivers - and they never disappoint me. Two reasons: 1) they got over the styling issues of the '80s, and 2) you can work on them yourself. You don't have to take it down to the mechanic every time it starts to stutter or won't start like a more recent car. Great all-around cars, good mileage and comfortable rides.
Everybody that I knew that has ever owned one of these Chrysler Imperial or New Yorker cars built in the 1990's,they went to junkyard HELL before a hundred thousand miles,they had the cheesiest electronics and wimpiest engines & transmissions in the auto industry.
@@4gauge10 Honestly, the Ultradrive transmission was junk. Personally, I would have opted for the similar Dodge Dynasty with the old school Torqueflite 3 speed instead for longevity. But I do like these cars a lot.
@@LakeHowellDigitalVideo They are the same and this is what ALWAYS put Cry-slur Corp.dead last in nearly every category.Quality isn't part of cry-slurs goals.
@@4gauge10 Not true. The 3.3 Liter V6 was bulletproof and so was the Torqueflite. Chrysler was the most reliable domestic manufacturer in 1990 according to Consumer Reports at the time.... Their reputation began to sink because of the Ultradrive which was rushed through development -- it really was the beginning of the end. They had a great reputation in the 1980's -- and had the longest powertrain warranty at the time at 7 years / 70,000 miles. Eaton ran them into the ground with all his cost cutting which is why quality collapsed. They may have been stodgy and ugly, but the cars were well built when Iaccoca was in charge.
This shows how there was a gradual death of 80s styling in a general sense. 1990 was really like 1989+1. Clothing, styling, sharp corners on cars, etc.
1990 Chrysler Imperial is the most amazing car, I have ever seen since I was 18 years old. it is wonderful, stylish, a work of art, I would like to see this model car again on the streets. 2000 cars, no matter the brand , they seem to be bored,cold,riduculous, they don´t have an elegant style, they are not even comfortable. Enjoy watching and driving 1990 Chrysler Imperial.
Personally; I love the Chrysler vehicles made from 1990 to 2004. My personal favorites are the 1999 Chrysler LHS, 2000 Chrysler 300M, 2001 Chrysler Concorde, 2003 Chrysler 300M Special, and the 2004 Chrysler Sebring (sedan, coupe, and convertible.)
I just bought one for 500.00.The fuel rail has a leak but this is a clean little car for the age.Can't wait to get it home to do the repair and general maintenance.
This has to be one of the most beautiful cars ever made.The view from the front with all that glass like finish and the sharp edges of the back a masterpiece.
Man, I think these things and anything else like them from this era are absolutely hideous. The GM G-Body is as far as I'd go. Anything more, like this, is not appealing to me in any way lol
+Rockwood Joe Well I don't think it share too many body parts ! I mean the dimensions and style is different. I know that the platform is the same but for me it is a great looking car !
Back in the day Chrysler had better features and Ritcher & plusher interiors than compared to Lincoln & Buick & Cadillac & Oldsmobile that’s my personal perspective
Has the same feel and styling of, say, a '74 Cadillac Brougham. Styling in the luxury-car segment barely budged from 1970-1990, but then it quickly changed to the more rounded look we know today right after this. This was like a Triceratops left over into the Iron Age.
I honestly perfer this styling language to the hyper modern shapes of today. I don't think luxury when I see a cadillac, bmw or mercades, I see sportiness, which is fine I guess, but they seem geared towards performance over comfort too, which is unfortunate.
A sharp car I want one I used to have a 1988 caddy that had a lot of these features - felt like you were driving on the most comfortable balanced car... didn’t feel any bumps the car was the smoothest ride I’ve ever had
Wait.... shouldn't I get a certificate or something for completing this?? I have been obsessed by American luxury cars from the '20s on up since I was a kid. One of my favorites was Imperial. When I was 23, this car came out and I was bowled over by how beautiful it was. If you've never seen the dramatic photos in the original prestige catalog, they are not to be missed. It really was something special.
American Luxury cars are generally great but NOT THIS ONE. The bigger earlier ones are what it's all about. This one has so many electronics it just ages like a computer.
Despite the success of its branch divisions Chrysler as a brand has had its foot in the grave for awhile now. Never to recover since the 'merger of equals' massacre
I consider myself a Chrysler imperial historian although many of the comments below are true may I point out that the 1990 imperial was the only year in history that imperial overlapped the competition in resale value ( continental ) and beat the continental town car and brougham 307 in acceleration
Of that era I can vouch for the 3.0 Mitsubishi V6, 3 Speed torqueflight and exhaust system .....our 88 Dodge Caravan in 200K miles never an issue with those, nor PS or PB. The AC compressor and system was crap however and power windows failed a lot. Not the motors but the rails and guides.
These cars are very rare now look how much room it had in the back, kind of like this car. I wish still saw some on the roads guess they were ate by the crusherseven the styling wasn't bad see some Dynasty and New Yorker style.
Too many so called drivers, bitch about NY ERs are nothing but K cars, let me tell you, they are bullet proof, true luxury cars of that era..I had 6 NewYorkers, all got up to190 thou mi. So, GM sweethearts, cool it..
@@MyerShift7 of course GM and Ford too had similar things. I dont think its a bad thing that the cool 80s styling stayed into the 90s, compared to the blob stuff American designers would be pumping out for the rest of that decade
I remember a lady I worked with had a Cadillac and her husband wanted to turn it in, as the warranty was up, and he wanted to get one of these, but I saw her later and she had a new 1990 Cadillac, she did not want one of these Imperials
"Ultra drive transmission offers improved fuel economy and consistent shift patterns." Consistent if you like shifting into neutral for 100% of the time 😎😁
This right here to me signified the end of big american boat for luxry cars not that imports helped at all Now its all sports sedans thats a fusion between the two, why not focus on one thing and quit trying to be so "Sporty" ? If you want a sports car buy a sports car Whatever it may be I still love my imperial, shes quite reliable to the contrary, I hope to one day gut it and drop a Tesla battery in it once the engine dies.
the engine and transmission were designed and developed by Mitsubishi chrysler having a relationship with Mitsubishi since the early 70'sthey were a great combination.they later replaced the 3.3 with a spirited 3.8 but its competition Cadillac,had them beat with the 4.5 v8.a redesigned version of the not so good 4.1 that was introduced in the 1981 coupe deville marketed as the 4100 digital fuel injected v8.an engine that sounded good and looked great with its chrome valve covers but a real dog plagued with problems
Damn that Ultradrive transmission. They were terribly unreliable. And the ABS caused a lot of headaches, too. And you can't get parts for the air ride suspension anymore. And yet, having said all of that... I want one of these cars!
This is nothing more than rebranded New Yorker. This is the reverse of what Chrysler did in 1976 when they took the Imperial name off and stuck the New Yorker name on. In 1990, they did the reverse.
A mechanic friend of mine got one of these in running condition, with decent interior, but in need of a partial repaint. But the owner had died and it wasn't worth doing the paperwork for a title via a mechanic's lien, so to the crusher it went.
Would think that is rare today,. Sounds like trim package was only difference from the New Yorker. Air ride sounds good, but Lincoln was a better choice.
Chrysler should have let the imperial name rest.this training video claims superior advancements, i watched this video to the end and i didn't see or hear any thing that supported there advancement claim.most of what they claim as superior has been available before this car was introduced.its a stretched version of the new Yorker/dynasty platform little effort went into distinguishing it from its sister cars.the only possible advancement claim to superior might be the transmission.
“Technological superiority.” Yeah, a computer-controlled transmission that would give you so many headaches that you’re scrambling to trade it in on a Cadillac.
147 horsepower for a car this large is nowhere near enough!! This car needed chrysler's 3.5 v6 that was developed for the LH platform, it had 215 horsepower which would have really helped this car!
The car was supposed to come out 2 years earlier whiskey dynasty And new yorker but they had stretched the k car platform too far and the car literally would buy would buckle during testing. The former president of GM once laugand wrote in his book that once in a real world test the 2 rear doors flew opened after after passing over train tracks
I know, isn't that right. just like the Cadillac Seville smelling like a Nova, and the Cadillac Cimmeron smelling like a Cavalier and the Lincoln Versailles smelling like a Granada. you need a bigger nose my friend
IMO if it had been progressively styled rather than yet another rehash of the 1975 Cadillac Seville it would've sold better. Not that Lincoln or Cadillac weren't selling cars like that, but they already existed and had largely amortized the tooling costs of their brougham-era offerings.
NO. The 3.0L was the Mitsubishi (and the four was the 2.6). I swear. Everyone online seems to state every engine used by Chrysler was a Mitsubishi. I'd love to know where this erroneous assumption originates because I see it everywhere on any Chrysler video/forum thread.
It was comfortable, technology-forward, and interesting, though it could never beat the prestige of Cadillac or Lincoln, the sportiness of Mercedes or the technology of Lexus.
The Imperial has style. I like the front with the concealed headlights. And it looks real roomy and comfy. Unfortunately its just equipped with a totally underpowered engine (and of course the built quality is far from great). Nothing for German Autobahns, where going 120+ mph is standard. I drive a 99 Cadillac STS and regularly go 155 mph with it. One of the nicest engines ever built in America. I'm sad that America doesn't have Freedom of Speed like in good old Germany...
Giorgio M. Make sure you drain and fill that Dexcool every 4 years with the factory recommended bars stop leak powder. I am the original owner of a '96 deville with the same northstar engine. I never had a problem practicing an aggressive maintenance schedule for fluids and filters.
Actually this was during Chrysler profitable years as they were cruising on the profits they made off of the successful k-car trilogy/ minivans/ other fwd platforms of the 80's. I would say they were full of themselves but not desperate. And this 'imperial' was basically a long wheelbase K car.
