Chrysler launched the Lazer XE in 1984 as a high tech version of the Dodge Daytona. Steve explores what gave the Lazer XE “a voice” – literally. And did Chrysler really charge more for a 99 horsepower Lazer than Ford asked for a 175 horsepower Mustang GT hatchback? Watch and discover!
Hey steve mignani here at burnison auto wrecking and burnist and mass doing the junkyard crawl with a 1984 chrysler laser xe now you might remember 1984 was the first year for the laser and it’s dodge brother the daytona now you got to remember too that the early 80s was when chrysler was committing itself to front-wheel drive k-car platforms and the laser essentially
Was chrysler’s version of the daytona but how would chrysler differentiate itself from the daytona well they focused on high tech and the laser xe included a bunch of high-tech now here’s the thing the base price on the xe was 1898 bucks more than the base laser but for that you got that high tech which we’ll get into in a second but here’s the punch line for 10
546 bucks this car right here without the turbo engine was a full 772 dollars more than an 84 mustang gt 5-liter hatchback what would you have taken well the crazy thing is and total twenty five thousand eight hundred and eighty two people selected the laser xe now here’s the thing most of these had this two-tone paint and again we see the laser name here all done
With graphics and tape but befitting the high-tech nature of the xe they all had electronic fuel injection logos right there in bright red so you couldn’t miss it again 1984 was the first year for the laser and it’s daytona cousin and also the first year that chrysler went with fuel injection instead of a two barrel on the 2.24 banger so they were bragging loud
And proud about electronic fuel injection which was a big deal in 1984 as detroit moved from carburetors into the world of fuel injection for fuel economy and emissions reasons and power uh let’s see if it’s still here yeah and there it is the uh the mighty transform 2.2 liter now again for 1984 this went to 99 horsepower thanks to that throttle body in 1980 or
Yeah 83 this would have had 94 horsepower with a two barrel carburetor again five horsepower thanks to the electronic fuel injection now for 872 dollars more you could get the turbo 2.2 which would bring this thing up to 146 horsepower about a 50 improvement with that said here it is man the basic xe engine of course same engine used in the base laser and the dodge
Daytona air conditioning here probably sapped a good eight horsepower from that 99 horsepower but again this is how things were and this whole front structure right here is basically the same as you’d find under a dodge aries or a plymouth reliant k car in fact the minivan was also new for 1984 a big year for chrysler 1984 and the minivan used similar bones up front
That same engine a lot of the same suspension parts kind of weird now this of course is a hatchback the only version the laser was only only sold as a two-door hatch there were no convertibles no four doors same with the daytona was strictly a personal specialty car if you will to open a door and if you look inside of this thing you’ll see the xe came standard with
That digital dashboard it was extra cost in the lesser standard laser but look at the staircase tachometer one two three four five six seven and all those gauges and it says chrysler electronics to the top left and they were bragging about their high-tech nature look at the center stack and there’s the the systems check and up top the elapsed time chronometer in
Other words a stopwatch and let me come around to the other side uh and again the seats on the xe on the driver’s side had this air bladder for lumbar support this little puppy right here so you can make like a uh you know a chiropractor and pump up the thing and fill it and whatnot but that’s standard equipment lumbar support on this thing and uh here’s the thing
In 1984 this is auto test right here this is the review of the new car so that’s a dodge daytona right there but notice the four lug wheels same thing here 1984 only four lug wheels 85 they went to five lug wheels so again kind of a weird thing 84 was a year of initials if you will but here it is right here this is the uh the re the review of the chrysler laser
Turbo with all the pricing and stuff and their comments on it were standard equipment on xc models included an electric electronic digital dashboard but it can be deleted for the regular instruments which our test car had the model we had was a pre-production prototype laser that had seen some hard miles before we got to but again press cars quite often bounced
Around motor trend car life car and driver and sometimes they’re not so fresh from you get them but here’s right here we’re gonna talk about this in a second uh there’s an annoying voice alert but it can be easily turned off by a switch in a glove box with the graphics with a voice still you still get the same warnings with chimes and graphic displays what are we
Talking about that well you remember those cars from the 80s the door is a jar etc it was no joke uh here is the owner’s manual to this car right here and in here it describes that very item and here it is right here electronic voice alert if so equipped it says here a verbal message is delivered through the radio speaker nearest the driver whenever an abnormal
Condition is detected before the message is given the system first interrupts the radio if it is playing and sounds three short tones to get the driver’s attention it says here please fashion your seat belts and it says all monitored systems are functioning and there’s even more i mean it wasn’t just one message it would say all these things there it is a door
Is a jar your parking brake is on your washer fluid is low your fuel is low your engine oil pressure is low prompt service is required your engine is overheating prompt service unless you have tokyo rose you know where is your wife tonight joel anyway with that said that was very real but here’s the deal you could actually delete that it says right here if you
So desire the volume on the voice alert can be adjusted by your dealer also it is possible to mute the system through the use of a switch located near the upper corner of the glove compartment pull this rich to the rear of the vehicle so inside of here is a switch we can’t show you it’s buried in there but you pull the switch to the back and it mutes the annoying
Voice now chrysler had that feature as did a lot of other car makers i think the 300zx even had a voice tone it was considered high tech back in the 1980s type of voice that talked to you some cars may still have it i don’t know but it was considered kind of cool but if you ask me it’s kind of like how the computer from 2001 space odyssey i don’t want to hear the
Car talk at me with all that said it is interesting to hear some sort of hidden details on this thing if you look down here the fascia cover here is removed but in here a message to service people if equipped with automatic transmission gear shift indicator must be disconnected through the right side access panel before removing console so that’s not something you
Or i would see but if this thing came in for service and a guy was pulling this thing apart he’d have to see that otherwise you might do some harm to the cable kind of weird but other things about the xc that are kind of bizarre are the rear seats are buckets and they kind of match the front seats but even weirder are visors sun visors up here for the rear seat
Passengers you see them right here and look at this if the sun’s in your eyes i’ve never seen this on a car before but kind of weird sun visors for the back seat passengers again that’s something you found on the laser xe perhaps optional on the standard laser but again just over 10 000 bucks and again 700 bucks more than a mustang gt hatchback you know the laser
Was not an inexpensive car so chrysler again they must have made a lot of profit on these things because the bones of the k car were amortized many times over again remember too 1980 was when chrysler got that 1.4 billion dollar loan the bailout from uncle sam and by 1984 they were well on their way to repaying in fact uncle sam got a 500 million dollar profit
Out of that deal and cars like this and the profits they generated were a big part of how chrysler pulled out of the hole and if you love mopars today you can think cars like this 1984 laser xe for continuing chrysler’s ascension to the top of course now we have stalantis and dodge the electric charger banshee uh the hornet these are things that we’ll see how the
Future holds out now the electric thing’s kind of coming i dare say that we’ll see gas and electric as we get into 2030 etc and we’ve heard this before the hemi program it may not really be dead hold your breath literally on that one because the hemi ain’t gone but we’ll just leave it at that for now but back in 84 this is about as cool as things got no vipers no
Hellcats no hemis no nothing front wheel drive lasers and daytonas like this but again without these cars we wouldn’t have the hellcats we love today so that’s the story of this front-wheel drive dodge quasi sports car a chrysler quasi sports car and if you like this video be sure to subscribe to the steve mags youtube channel give us a thumbs up and come back
Tomorrow for even more junkyard calls here at burniston auto wrecking foreign
Transcribed from video
The Door Is a JAR… By Steve Magnante
