Danemod is right: the Premier and Monaco are front wheel drive cars, not four wheel drive. All of them had the German made ZF four speed automatic transaxle - nice smooth shifting but not durable at all, and very expensive to fix when broken. It should be remembered that although the Premier had French design content - the suspension was based on the large Renaults and the engine was the French made PRV V-6, the car wasn't a French car at all. It was made exclusively in Canada, and every single one was made under the corporate umbrella of Chrysler. From my family's experience, the French parts (like the engine) were very good, but the North American built parts were terrible, and often had to be replaced repeatedly (wiper switches, fuel guage sending units, alternators etc.). Parts supply, even under warranty, was just appalling, and I can guanrantee nobody in my family will ever, ever buy any Chrysler product because it is a complete crapshoot as to whether or not they will support your car once it rolls off the dealer's lot.
Sudsmaster - your friend's DS would have been either a DS19 or DS21 if sold new in the US. There were also DS20 and DS23 variants not sold here. By the standards of the day, those cars weren't particularly high maintenance, and boy were they tough and long-lived. The SM is mostly the same except for the engine. The Maserati V6 which is unique to the SM and Maserati Merak is very, very picky about maintenance indeed. A DS can have lots of stuff slightly out of whack and still run pretty well, but if everything on the SM engine isn't spot on (like all three carburettors synchronized both left to right and to each other, both sets of points synchronized as well, all four camshafts dailed into the proper timing) you will know it instantly by the spastic idle.
