The Plymouth Laser is an American compact class car in the body of a Plymouth sports coupe from the Chrysler Corporation. Produced in the USA from 1989 to 1994. The name of the car was borrowed from the previously manufactured Chrysler Laser model. Each production year brought the car some changes in the exterior, chassis, drivetrain, or interior. For 5 years of production, only 115,980 copies of the Laser model rolled off the assembly line.
The Laser design was based on the Chrysler D proprietary platform. The car body was a 3-door 4-seater liftback with dimensions of 4389/1694/1306 mm with a wheelbase of 2469 mm and a track of 1465/1450 mm. The standard volume of the luggage compartment is 290 liters, the maximum with the rear seat backs folded forward is 730 liters. The curb weight of the Laser was 1148 kg. The minimum ground clearance is 160 mm.
Interior equipment included a CD player. The top-of-the-line RS could be purchased with a limited-selling “gold” package that included gold-painted alloy wheels and moldings.
The engines were located transversely in front. Three types of 4-cylinder gasoline engines were offered, all of them were from Mitsubishi: the base 8-valve 4G37 I4 with a volume of 1.8 liters (92 hp, 102 Nm), 2-liter DOHC 4G63 I4 (135 hp, 125 Nm), the top version RS used a turbocharged 195-horsepower 4G63T I4 engine with a maximum torque of 271 Nm. In 1993, the power of the turbocharged engine was reduced to 180 hp.
The maximum speed of the Laser with the base motor was 175 km/h. The RS version could accelerate to 230 km/h.
The engines were aggregated with a standard 5-speed manual or 4-speed automatic transmission. Automatic transmission was offered as an option, with the exception of cars with supercharged engines (since 1991), where it was standard. It should be noted that the gearboxes were also produced by Mitsubishi.
The drive of the base model is front, but since 1992, buyers have the opportunity to order a full one for an additional fee. Coil springs were used in the suspension of the front and rear wheels. The steering was of the rack and pinion type with hydraulic booster.
In 1991, Laser began to be equipped with ABS, by 1993, all modifications except the basic one had this security system. In addition, standard equipment included Brake Assist. The front brakes were installed disc ventilated, rear – disc. The standard tire size is 185/70 R14.
The 4G63 engine is one of the most popular four-cylinder in-line engines, which was designed by the specialists of the Japanese company Mitsubishi. This power unit has about a dozen different modifications that have been installed on many Mitsubishi models.
2.0-liter Mitsubishi 4G63T turbo gasoline engine was produced from 1987 to 2007 and was installed in many of the company’s sports models such as the Lancer Evolution and Galant VR-4. Some modifications of this unit for the English market developed 411 hp and 481 Nm.
