Reliable Used Car which seems Accident Proof

My dad purchased a used 89 Plymouth Acclaim a few years back. It had about 50k miles on it. For us it was one of our first late model car purchases at the time and we loved the car. The car was extremely reliable and never broke down or had any problems( except for one) for about the 9 years that we had it.

One of the best things about the car was the visibility from the front and the back windows. As a
result it was very easy to back up the car or switch lanes without fear of an accident. The car was rather roomy inside for both the front and rear passengers. It was also very comfortable. The trunk was rather large. Under the hood it was easy to access all of the engine parts. I changed the oil the car myself a few times and found it to be very easy. The car is also very easy to get in and get out for both front and rear passengers. The car handled well and had enough speed for a mid-sized car. The car has a reputation for being a senior citizen’s car because of all of those reasons(reliability, visibility, and easy egress. I had a lot of faith in that car and took it for very long distances. It never failed me.

One of the negative attributes was that the car had paint peeling off the roof. Not a major problem but it was a concern since some rust was forming on the edges. I bought some touch up paint but it did not match perfectly. No matter since it was a used car.

Another problem which happened once in a while was that the key in the ignition would not move to the start position. Something was wrong with the mechanism. I would try jiggling the key but it would not move until several tries. I never did figure out what the problem was but as long as it eventually started, what the hey? It probably would not be a great get-away car.

In cold weather the transmission would sometimes stay stuck in 2nd gear until the transmission warmed up. I have noticed this problem with others cars as well so not a biggy. The best thing to do is to drive slowly and not so abruptly until your transmission warms up in cold weather.

A screeching noise came from the steering wheel when it was turned left or right in the heat of the summer. Probably the covering of the steering wheel expanded and rubbed against something. Again not a big deal. My dad tried to blame it on me saying it was because of the anti-theft club which I put on the steering wheel. Not true because the problem went away in winter when I still used the club.

Here’s an interesting story about the car. When my dad was working, he used the car and the people he was working with were mean. They told him that he can save gas on the car by putting the transmission on 2 while driving on the expressway. Being that he didn’t know much about cars, he did that and the acclaim always made a loud sound whenever it was driven even if it was put on D. The only solution was to take it to the dealer, which we did, and the problem was resolved for about $300 dollars. Nevertheless it shows how reliable the car is. It was still able to run after all that.

Eventually the headliner ripped and a part of it fell down. We just taped it back up again. This happened because the headliner was loose and I drove the car on the expressway with the windows open.

Another story I have regarding this car is how it survived two hits in one day. During one wet day, the car was rammed in the back after stopping at a red light. It was a woman who was talking on a cellphone. She quickly put her cellphone away when I looked in the rear-view mirror. It felt like she hit the acclaim really hard and I expected to see some damage in the rear area. To my surprise, there was no damage whatsoever. I told her to wait there as I called the police. Well, she waited for about 10 minutes and then drove off. I called the police again who advised me to wait there. I did so and then was side-swiped by an older women. This time it also felt like there would be damage to the car. The older lady past the light and waited on the other side. I check my car and the trim was hanging off. I beckoned her to come back but she drove off. Unbelievable! I called the police again and waited some more. Anyway, the car survived all that.

Overall I found the 89 acclaim to be reliable car. We had a 4 cylinder blue acclaim. If you find one in good shape and need to buy it, I can recommend you make the purchase.