1991 Plymouth Acclaim Reviews

Air conditioner didn't work properly.

Paint was going away.

Power steering leaked like no other.

The trim was starting to fall off.

The steering wheel sounded like a dying cow.

Battery was starting to have problems.

The stereo system wasn't very good at all.

The rear window defroster didn't work.

This car was a pain in the butt!

It looked like crap, sounded terrible in both the engine and the sound system.

I was afraid to drive for more than two hours.

My friends hated my car.

During the winter it was hard to defrost.

The only good thing was is when I was in an accident with it, I walked out of it without a scratch on me. And I was T boned at 45 mph by an SUV.

To be fair most of the following happened during the last 5000 miles:

Tachometer broke at around 65,000.

Odometer at 89,999.

Drivers window motor burned out at around 95,000 easily replaced.

Paint starts peeling at around 100,000.

Oil leaks internal (blue smoke) and external around 110000 (a common problem with the 3.0 V6).

Right wheel cylinder starts leaking around 135000.

Now the last 5000:

Oil leaks extremely bad (a quart every 50 miles). Smoke flows forth from every orifice and crevasse driving with windows up is impossible.

Right front strut blows out (off roading).

Rack & pinion becomes very sloppy along with tie rods also caused by abuse (off roading...again).

Right wheel becomes noticeably bent.

Right front window breaks (closed door with tree at about 25 mph) along with door handle.

All front lights fail to stand up to assorted solid objects (except for right high beam).

Surface rust and dents have become the cars paint job.

The transmission pan collapses after catching a couple of feet of air over rail road tracks.

At around 169,750 miles piston shatters.

The engine explodes in a chaotic storm of noise, oil, fire, and parts a 1/4 mile long.. 169,784.

The car was my fathers first he took fairly good care of it at first, but being a technician he didn't feel like working on his own vehicle. So other than basic maintenance, nothing else was really ever addressed like valve seals... just basic maintenance.

The car was quite quick (won most races) and ran very smooth shifting through all its gears flawlessly.

The car was also surprisingly roomy inside, despite technically being a compact car.

It handled fairly well for a semi luxury sedan (it did great 180's) and got good gas mileage, about 26 mpg average.

As far as reliability, well what can I say, when the car came into my possession it was pretty worn out or so I thought. Even after 17 years (10 in are possession) of trips, bumps, learning to drive, and commuting. That car would not die, I drove it through hell and back twice. Off roading, racing, jumping, it seemed nothing would destroy it for months. The torture went on hitting trees, dressers, televisions, shopping carts, jumping tracks, 180's, burnouts until the tires exploded, the list goes on...

All this may leave one wondering well what finally killed it well the answer is... a simple road trip, it ran out of oil and I couldn't get more. causing one of the the pistons to basically explode. I made it to gas station on the five remaining cylinders, put 12 dollars worth of oil in it and tore out of the gas station at full throttle, and that was the end, it threw a rod out of the block along with wrist pin, and a huge chunk of the crankshaft, which sheared the oil filter and oil pressure sensor right off along with the starter... after this the check engine light came on for the first time ever... code 21 (Oxygen sensor signal doesn't change)

R.I.P. Acclaim, you will be sorely missed.