It may sometimes seem as if this series is predominantly focusing on defunct brands but they do tend to be interesting and sometimes produce oddballs that seem like they should have achieved more success than they did. The Eagle Vision was one such car; while at its most fundamental level a rebadge of a more mainstream sedan, it really would have been the connoisseur’s choice, however, being branded with a badge that had little history and even less promotional backing, it itself had little long-term chance to soar.
Of course the Vision is a derivative of Chysler’s hugely popular LH-series cars such as the Dodge Intrepid and Chrysler Concorde which however were developed based on the even less well-known Eagle Premier, itself essentially a mixture of the Renault 25 and 21. So the Eagle Vision basically completed the great circle of developmental musical chairs.
While obviously very similar in size and amenities to the Intrepid, the Vision was considered the sporty choice by those in the know, only available with a 3.3l V6 in ESi trim and 3.5l V-6 in TSi trim. Automobile Magazine named it their Automobile of the Year in 1993 and it made Car & Driver’s 10 Best List in 1994. Our example is a TSi version which was the higher level of the two.
First launched in 1992 for the 1993 model year, the Vision sold just over 105,000 examples until the end of production in September 1997. Pricing started around $20,000 for the ESi and just over $24,000 for the TSi. My impression is that the ESi was the volume seller and that there were comparatively few TSi examples sold.
Despite being mainly a “bottom-breather”, this Eagle logo with the perforated grille recessed into the front end was a nice touch. In fact the front does have sort of a beak-like look to it, but in a good way.
The Vision was the only one of the LH cars sold with a stiffer “Touring” suspension and was also sold in Europe, as the Chrysler Vision. While not exactly popular over there either, it was probably the most mission-appropriate vehicle to make the journey across the ocean. It also had the amber turn signals its whole run, to give it more Euro cred over here as well as a wide opening to accept any format license plate without needing modification.
As mentioned above, the engine is the 3.5l 24V SOHC V6, producing 214hp and 221lb-ft of torque, mated to a 4-speed automatic. While there was no manual transmission option, starting in 1996 an “auto-stick” feature did become available. The engine was certainly capable enough, at the time my brother had a company Dodge Intrepid with the same 3.5l V6 and it was no slouch, accelerating briskly and smoothly to easily exceed any speed limit and time has shown that this ended up being a very good engine design.
Inside is where the age is starting to show a bit, in 1992 that was a fairly good interior for an American car, if a bit plasticky, but by 1997 it was simply outdated. While the leather was durable, it was also far too plastic in feel and look, and the fit and finish as well as the textures chosen were all not really up to par anymore. Of course the second generation would have been ready soon had Eagle been continued as a brand past 1998, but it was not to be.
The cab-forward architecture did make for a spacious cabin, with a roomy back seat, of course the car was also on the wide side which helped to create space. TSi versions got leather seats, rear HVAC vents, and a center rear armrest.
Back in front, in the TSi both seats were power-operated, the shift knob was leather covered, as was the steering wheel. In addition ABS was standard as well as speed sensitive power steering and automatic climate control. At first glance the dashboard looks the same as the Intrepid but it isn’t, although surely a lot of the components are shared (In fact it is the same dash as the Concorde instead, thank you, readers!) The cupholders, just visible, were a fold-out design which was fairly novel at the time and adjusted for different sized drinks.
This view is a little better, one of the things that always bothered me was the shift indicator, the PRNDL had these little raised areas with the lettering stamped on top of them. It seemed okay for something like an economy car, but not something like this, especially for someone used to import car interiors. There’s also an overwhelming sense of grayness here, sometimes making every little part match colorwise just ends up looking cheap while costing more.
199,875 miles, missed it by THAT much! Wow. Those gauges look quite nice though, that was something Chrysler did pretty well in the LH series across the lineup. It’s interesting how everything is lined up to the left, often you’d see the temp gauge sweep reversed but this is nice and obviously done due to the fully horizontal nature of all of the needles.
This example was produced in June of 1997 at the Brampton, Ontario, Canada plant, and production of the 1997s was extended all the way into September of that year in order to supply Eagle dealers with enough inventory to hold them over into 1998. The Vision along with the Talon ended up being the only cars left into 1998 before the marque was binned entirely.
Perhaps it’s because there never was a second generation, but these don’t look as dated as the first Intrepids due to those having a newer version. The car that was slated to be the second generation Vision ended up becoming the Chrysler 300M (also with amber turn signals). But as a result this has stood the test of time quite well.
Allpar lists this 1997 model as one of 8,742 produced and that was in a very extended production year so obviously buyers weren’t lining up for these, if they ever did. The best year was its second (1994) with over 31,000 sold, about the same as the first and third but then it dropped in half for 1996 and again in half at the end.
The tagline at the end of the video is: “Eagle Vision – Not Intended For The General Public”. Sometimes I think one needs to be careful what one says, lest it come true…Eagle never really got much promotion or a cohesive line-up besides being sort of vaguely Euro-flavored odds and ends but considering that the name came from the AMC Eagle which is about as far from Euro as possible, the whole thing was sort of an oddity. Or someone had a serious vision problem.
Related Reading:
Brendan Saur’s excellent CC on the 1997 Vision
JP Cavanaugh’s just as excellent CC on the 1993 Vision
RLPlaut’s COAL on his 1995 Vision TSi
David Saunders reviews a Junkyard Eagle Premier
Great looking cars imho
I always thought of these as the “sporty” version of the LH sedans. My family had a 94 Concorde with the 3.3 and then a 96 Concorde LXi with the 3.5. That was no slouch of a motor! I still miss our 96, and the dash of the Eagle was identical to the Concorde dash. The only differences were the Concordes has plastic wood trim around the vents compared to the grey plastic pictured here. I certainly liked these cars at the time, and for quite a long time after that.
I’ve always really liked this car ever since I was a little kid. Someone who lived one street over from us had one they used to park on the street a lot. As a little kid I didn’t even know what Eagle was except that it was “like a Chrysler”. Indeed it did look a lot like its badge-engineered Concorde sibling, but to my eyes it always looked much better.
I’d like to think that had I been of car buying age in the mid-1990s, I would have considered one of these. More likely, a used one of these probably would’ve been a consideration of mine as my first or second car. It fits into the same category of vehicle as the Acura TSX I owned as my second car, and my attitudes towards Chrysler were much more positive in the 1990s.
With regards to the interior, I agree with you Jim that it was just a tad too plasticky and monotonous grey to receive any compliments. The leather doesn’t look very supple either; definitely not European-worthy. As with some other cars of the era, it bothers me that even when equipped with leather, the door inserts were still cloth.
On a related note, the Vision shared its interior and dash design with the Concorde, which received cheap looking faux Zebrano-look wood dash inserts to at least liven it up a bit. The Intrepid got its own dash, and interestingly like the Concorde, offered a front bench seat and column shifter option.
The leather is pretty durable on the LH cars. I’ve owned three of them — all with leather — and the leather has held up very well. I will say that I am OCD about using a cleaner/conditioner, but I’ve seen LH cars with leather where the use of leather cleaner/conditioner was not evident based on the shape of the rest of the car and the leather in those still seemed to be in reasonably good condition.
The OEM leather that was in my 2006 Ram 2500 was more delicate, it seemed, even if cared for. It is why I replaced the OEM leather seat covers with Katzkin leather seat covers (that was an interesting project!). It was a shame since the Ram logo was embroidered onto the front seat backs, but the door-side seat/seatback bolsters were starting to split open and not necessarily at the seam. The rear seats were fine, but I figured I had the whole Katzkin set and I replaced those too. It’s been almost two years since I’ve had my truck and the Katzkin still looks like new.
The leather in my 2013 200 is a perfect balance of suppility and durability. Still looks new after 140k miles.
I just wrote a really long comment but for whatever reason it didn’t load… oh well 🙁
From it I’ll add one small tidbit… the Vision shared its dash with the Concorde, while the Intrepid received its own.
I owned a 1994 TSi, bought new. Was attracted by the appearance and performance of the car. Very spacious and comfortable, and popular with my carpool mates on our daily commute. I recall that very few people I interacted with had any idea what an Eagle was. But a distinctive vehicle that attracted a number of compliments.
As already noted, the leather was clearly low-grade, but otherwise the interior pretty good. Mine had a tan interior, which may have helped a bit. If I recall correctly, Chrysler had 3 interior colour choices available on the TSi, with a blue in addition to the tan and black / gray. So they were trying even though volumes were very low.
The car ran flawlessly for the 3 years I owned it. Only repair I recall was a power antenna that snapped off when it wasn’t retracted properly in a car wash.
I had an Eagle Vision as a company car for awhile. At the time, LH sedans were the new thing and people would ask me what it was because it was fresh and they liked the looks. When I told them it was an Eagle, they simply had no idea what that meant, and the fact that I bought mine at the Jeep dealership muddied things up even more. “You mean it’s a Jeep??” I put well over 100,000 miles on it. It was the last of my company vehicles that was a sedan. All SUV’s after that.
Another great find. You are batting 1000 in finding genuine junkyard gems Jim.
At the time, Chrysler designers and engineers did a great job creating cars that were very appealing to the new car buyer. This Eagle was, and remains, very attractive. With many great features. It was the Chrysler business model then (and now), to build cars that shone in the short term, and fell apart with age, that has destroyed so many designs with excellent potential.
Shame, as these could have lead to a brighter future for the car maker.
Easily my favorite of the original LH cars. The Vision simply looked good from every angle; this one still looks good and is in a great color. Likely a combination of age and some mechanical hiccup brought it to the bone yard.
The second generation LH cars just didn’t work as well visually although an ’03 Concorde my in-laws had provided my only seat time in any LH. The 3.5 in theirs was a sweetie.
The second-gen Intrepid was the better-looking out of the other second-gen cars, though I thought that the second-gen Concorde looked better when it was refreshed in 2002 and had received the design elements from the LHS.
I never really liked the 300M’s front end.
Agree that the Eagle was the best looking of the group. The other two were let down by some weak details (Dodge in back, Chrysler in front) but this was spot-on. Plus the floor shift.
I drove a relative’s Intrepid 3.5 and that engine was a beast!
Had one of these Tsi growing up my dad bought new in 93-96. Kept it until around 2008. By then the gauge cluster was dead, heat was permanently blowing, mirrors inoperable, power antenna stuck down, leather cracking along with all the plastic vent louvers, but it still ran great. Just about everything electrical failed and I want to say it had way less than 100k miles. Still was a cool car.
I used to see another Esi around town until a few years after that. I’ve seen a grand total of maybe 4 of these out in the wild.
“Just about everything electrical failed and I want to say it had way less than 100k miles.”
Didn’t I mention it was the most Euro-flavored one of the bunch? 🙂
I may have seen a Vision or 2 in the wild but I did live in Detroit from 2000-2002, American cars of every type were more common there.
I remember the introduction of the “autostick” transmission selector but only because I was at the NAIAS the year that Eagle had a display with a Vision cockpit set up with the autostick to let the public play with it. Simulated engine noise of course.
My favourite of these cars was the Chrysler Intrepid (not Dodge up here). A colleague got one in dark green, and it was sharp looking. Very few people I know ever got the Vision model, Another associate at work got the Premier, and everyone looked at it sort of funny.
I felt destiny would bring me to an Intrepid, alas, it was not to be.
I always thought it was interesting that Eagle got what would be considered the most desirable version of this platform. I suppose it leads some credence that, at least in the beginning, that Eagle was something that Chrysler was taking seriously and was trying to build up the brand. Alas, it was not to be. I’ve also always liked the styling touches of the Eagle version the best too, not to say the others were bad looking cars.
There’s still a red one running around in my area, I think it’s an ESi.
The interior looks warn but is otherwise very clean. I’d say someone took very good care of this one.
There were actually three suspension options on the first generation LH sedans: Standard, Touring and Sport. In 1993, Standard came on the base Dodge Intrepid and the Chrysler New Yorker. Touring came on the Intrepid ES, Chrysler Concorde and LHS, and Eagle Vision ESi (base). Sport came on the Vision TSi. If you special ordered you car, you could upgrade from Standard, but not downgrade. In 1994, and from then on, Standard was dropped and Touring replaced it.
Another great junkyard article, Jim! Still loving these junkyard finds.
Before I started reading the comments here to reinforce what I was thinking, I was thinking that this is still a really attractive car and something that one would have bought back then to make them feel prestigious and perhaps a bit more unique with a different flavour. The low sales volume and the ensuing mortal end of the Eagle brand would seem to verify that…..Eagle was an aspirational brand that never really quite fully got off the ground, and if Chrysler had developed it, maybe it would have got into a Lexus sort of territory. Though as we’ve found out, bigger sport luxury cars have died off (ie: Mark VIII, Thunderbird, Taurus SHO, etc)–SUV’s and trucks became the status symbols.
Oddly enough, if Eagle had stuck with it’s AWD/ 4WD layout that AMC had initially developed and had positioned it as a luxury/ premium Jeep, I’d like to believe that it would still be around today.
One design feature of the 3.5 engine that I really like here is the long rectangular shaped runners–it would give it a really nice torque curve that you can feel throughout the rev range. Eagle/ Chrysler engineers really knew what they were doing when designing this with a SOHC, 4 valve per cylinder layout. Also, a 7000 rpm redline, this thing would just keep pulling. For a heavier car, this would be fun to drive.
The 3.5 engine’s intake runners were two-stage, and “ram-tuned.” Long and short runners were automatically selected according to engine rpm and load. A switchable valve inside the intake directed airflow one way or the other.
Really? That’s pretty cool. I know that Ford had IMRC (intake manifold runner controls) in the split port 3.8 engines after 2001 or so, and my 2005 Mustang GT has a similar system, which is like an additional throttle plate inside the runner where it shuts off airflow to one valve at lower RPM’s and opens it up at higher RPM’s.
Thanks for the posting on the Eagle Vision (love the name!) one of my favorite cars that I’d forgotten about. I always liked the styling and the concept of a Euro flavored American model. Chrysler was on a roll at this time and their bigger New Yorker (love the name! ) was also a model I enjoyed seeing on the road. GM had a couple of Euro flavored cars at the time also. The original Olds Aurora and Olds Intrigue. I’ve read articles that stated that buyers didn’t know who built these cars, since the division badge was some small and nondescript. So interested buyers didn’t know here to purchase them! Maybe. At this time I was feeling kind of flush so I chose an all black Nothstar Cadillac STS. That was gorgeous car for the times. I saw one just yesterday, and my opinion remains the same.
I’ll bet that a bad tranny killed that Vision. Rebuild one once, shame on you Chrysler, rebuild one twice, shame on me! Knowing the weaknesses of these cars keeps me from buying one now. My Town and Country mini van was a great cruiser but suffered at the end with tranny problems. The Seville suffered from a litany of problems at the end, the worst was probably the oil leaks. The Aurora, though another great beauty, suffered the same problems as the Cadillac. Maybe the Intrigue?
I guess that you could keep a nice Vision on the road if you wanted to. You don’t see many on the road but they share a lot of mechanical parts with other Chrysler models. It’s just that tranny that would scare me.
My ’93 Concorde is living proof that an LH car could be kept on the road. It’s my “classic”, as is my ’91 LeBaron convertible. I’ve had three LH cars and none have given me transmission issues across over 100k miles (combined) of driving them. No slippage, hesitation or a even a clunk across all three. I will say that I was/I am OCD about changing transmission fluid every 30k for the 42LE in my Concorde and the 41LE in my LeBaron vertible (I do it every 60k for the 62TE in my 200 and the 48RE in my Ram 2500 CTD).
I guess I’m lucky, though I am thinking about buying a spare 42LE just in case — unlike the 41/42TE Ultradrives which were found on all sorts of cars (many of which are still on the road today), the 42LEs are specific only to the LH cars and the Prowler. The LH cars, especially first-generation LH cars, have just about vanished both on the roads and in junkyards and the Prowler…well, nobody is going to junk a Prowler unless it’s totalled for good in an accident.
A very ironically named car; it (like all the 1st-generation LH cars, both small and big) had terrible headlamps. Cheap junk that barely met the bottom of the legal requirements.
The export headlamps were a shade or two less minimal—still nowhere near great, but not quite so completely inadequate.
We have a ’96 New Yorker with the same problem. Will different bulbs help ? Which do you suggest ?
You can make the headlamps somewhat less useless by a combination of attention to the condition of the lamps themselve, very thoughtfully selected bulbs—there’s all kinds of junk on the market all hyped as an “upgrade”—and circuitry improvements. I’d rather not go pointing at products and such here; it’s not an appropriate place for it. Shoot me an email (find me at Daniel Stern Lighting).
Haven’t seen one of these in years!
Always thought it was interesting that the LH series, though FWD, had a longitudinally mounted engine, sorta like the older V8 Toronado.
I did a COAL a few years ago on a bought-new 1995 Eagle Vision TSi and can say with some authority that most of the comments above are quite accurate, e.g., fragile transmission, weird electrical gremlins, poor fit and finish inside and out, silent TSBs, and weak head lights.
Having said that, when running well it was fast and nimble and reminded me a lot of a 1957 Chrysler Windsor that I drove when I first got my license. The Eagle’s [perceived] low nose and high rear made me think it had big tail fins back there (though obviously it did not), probably my mind playing Chrysler-like memory tricks.
We traded the Eagle in at the same Jeep/Eagle dealer where we bought it (by then it was a Chrysler/Jeep dealer) and got a 2001 5 speed PT Cruiser which was a much *much* better car in every measurable way.
Ooh, sorry for that oversight, I added it to the “related reading” list. Thank you for the reminder.
Wow, my car in high school was a ’97 Concorde LXi, built the same month as this Vision (6-97), which was the last of the first-generation LH cars as Brampton went down for retooling until September ’97 for the second-generation LH cars.
In my second year of community college, my Concorde was sideswiped by a box truck while parked on the street. That was probably the first time I cried since the age of 12. I still have the keys to it. An ’04 Dodge Intrepid ES replaced it, which I had for five years before I had given it to my cousin when I purchased my ’13 Chrysler 200.
I still drove my first-generation Dodge Intrepid on an almost-daily basis until an injury to my leg made a taller driver’s seat in a different vehicle a better fit since I could operate its accelerator pedal with the immobilizing boot on my foot. That injury is hopefully temporary.
“Almost-daily” was due to having too many cars to drive the same one every single day.
Photo of my Intrepid:
I liked the look of the Vision quite a lot, I consider the Concord the Badge engineered variant as the details seemed better resolved and more in tune with the body design than the more plastichrome laden Chrysler. The Eagle brand seemed like the Visions biggest fault, either nobody knew what the hell what Eagle was, or those that did knew Eagle as lifted 4×4 AMC sedans, not sleek luxury sport sedans and DSM sports cars.
The attractive amber taillamps were very distinctive on such a large car for the 90s, with most full sizers coming to terms as being distinctly American by this point, with no attempt to aspire to European sensibilities like that. So these really stood out in traffic to my young eyes and their rarity made them exciting sightings for many years. I also have a soft spot for the first gen Intrepid with its first gen Viper like front end design, but I have to admit that the Vision aged the best, better than its pseudo successor 300m as well.
An excellent precis, Jim. I will also agree that the Vision looks less dated in 2019 than its other LH platform-mates due to there being no successor.
I don’t know… I’d say this article was visionary, but not quite a Precis 🙂
That’s one of my junkyard holy grails right there…a coworker in college at the sandwich shop I worked at in the late 80’s had one and that might be the last time I’ve seen one…
Dad strongly considered one of these in 1995. He didn’t bite because the interior seemed too cheap. He was likely right, as every person I’ve personally known to have owned an LH, granted used by that point, had issues in that department. His company car Neon also played into that; we owned it the same time he was shopping around, and that car’s AC abosolutly reeked of musk within the first year. Surprise surprise my acquaintance’s Concord of this generation shared that trait… Great cars on paper, not in practice.
Chrysler was attempting to compete in various classes of cars they hadn’t been competitive in for a long time. Especially if you match them up against the standards of the imports. It is absolutely remarkable what they were attempting, considering the cars these replaced. It was truly a Cinderella story, as the long term durability of Chrysler’s products during this era proved their undoing.
The ’94 Ram pickup being the one game changer from that era that managed to succeed in the long term.
I recall reading that the engineers specd a larger than normal capacity a/c system but that the numbers guys couldn’t see why the standard components wouldn’t work. Problem was that these had way more glass area than normal.
Great cars done in by cost cuts in too many areas.
Which came first with this front end, Honda Prelude or Eagle Vision? Nice design though, Eagle Vision and Dodge Intrepid were the only two LH’s to arrive in Brazil by independent importers.
If these interior photos are of the car in the junkyard, the previous owner(s) kept it well because the seats and dash look in really good shape for a 20+ year old car with nearly 200K miles on it.
All pictures are of the same car.
It’s too bad that these LH cars had so many quality related issues. What looked good on the outside lurked many electrical and mechanical demons on the inside. From an architectural standpoint the LH cars were very pleasing to the eye and had incredible interior and trunk proportions. That said the sad fact is Chrysler is renowned for cutting corners all too often and bringing vehicles into production that fall apart faster than a loaded freight train tumbling down a hillside. I can attest to the fragile nature of these cars after owning a new 1998 Chrysler Concorde that ate up 3 transmissions in 4 years, and later the horrible 2.7 V6 that puked oil sludge and died at 63,000 miles.
Though it’s been one year since this article was written when I am making my comment,
I feel that this example here is really in pretty good condition and should be saved. I hope someone did have the foresight to save this car.
My mother’s 1995 Eagle vision esi with 155000 miles runs and drives like a Cadillac. Still in november 2022!
Do you have any front and rear interior vents and a console box available?