Love Hate Relationships are the Best
Pros:
Comfortable, Spacious, Good Power
Cons:
Design flaws make repairs more frequent than average
The Bottom Line:
I love it for its comfort and power. I hate it because it breaks down a lot...but what can you expect? It is old and was used hard.
|
|
Overall Rating:
|
 |
|
Author's Review
I bought my Acclaim in 1997. It was a repossessed jobbie that my dealer had driven to PA from NC. It had 101,000 miles on it then. 5 years later it has 156,000 miles and has driven all over the East Coast and once across the country and back.
I was in college when I first bought the car and used it only half the time the typical person does but drove it 3 times as hard when I did (during summer vacation and breaks it went on frequent road trips...the most stressful, for the car, was 4600 miles in 4 days). But the car generally handled them well.
However, as a result of its age and my (and the previous owners) less than gentle care, it has left me sit a couple times, broken tubes, the transmission (like every other Acclaim), the distributor, fuel pump etc. I also found that the brake calipers were poorly designed and wear faster than better designed ones. But overall it takes me where I want it to and it does it smoothly, comfortably and quickly.
I've since learned to baby it more and it did not have any serious problems from the end of 2000. Although now it appears that the computer chip controlling the automatic transmission is going bad. Occassionally it will drop into 3rd gear and shift no more until you turn the car off and on again. I've heard that this is one more design problem from chrysler; the computer chips are unreliable.
In sum I love my car when it runs. It's big enough (i'm 6'4") has plenty of room for my "things" and can get me up to highway speeds fast enough so I don't have to fear being run down. Plus, after 5 years I've gotten attached to it.
I hate my car when it doesn't run. This happens often enough that I always have in the back of my mind a notion to sell it. But then the two of us have a talk and I threaten that I will sell it to the junk yard if it doesn't behave. This tactic usually works, and after a small cash incentive (usually $300) it decides to work for me again.
