Usually when people talk about the Prowler’s shortcomings and disappointments, the first thing they talk about is the engine, but I’m here to be controversial. The Prowler wasn’t an underpowered hot rod, it was a great looking sports car. Like a hot rod.
2,900 pounds, 250 horsepower, RWD, near-perfect 50/50 weight distribution, extensive use of aluminum and other lightweight materials, the transmission used was also a transaxle, and performed very well in handling tests for its time. It also demonstrated excellent performance in a straight line. It was not something to be underestimated. If you talk about it in the context of something like a Nissan or Honda sports car, it probably sounds like a car that many enthusiasts would be drawn to, but once they know it’s a Prowler, most people don’t understand those statistics. Everything will be unpleasant.
Even if you can ignore the seemingly audible V8-like exhaust note and the fact that it’s designed to appeal to paranoid old men, there’s only one major drawback (at MSRP It’s next door). It’s the transmission. Sure, they used a transaxle for weight distribution purposes, but the only transmission they offered the thing was an absolute dog of a 4-speed slushbox. I really think if they had offered this with a 5 or 6 speed manual it would have been a dynamically better sports car in theory. I really think so, as long as I can forgive the design and the V6 under the hood. The Prowler was limited to a terrible automatic, which left it with a lot of potential.
My friend, you are an enlightened person. Would it have been cooler if it was a V8? Indeed, the power was fine. What the Prowler really needed was a proper manual transmission to hold it all together. But who knows if Chrysler had a manual that could be converted to a transaxle and still maintain that kind of power?