The squarish, utilitarian lines of the 1994 Plymouth Acclaim sedan may cause you to overlook this car in favor of the somewhat sexier, more aerodynamic lines of its competitors. What you'd be passing up is a roomy little sedan-and one of the greatest values in its category.
Chrysler brought out this basic design several years ago with the objective of offering one of the roomiest, most feature-packed, lowest-priced midsize sedans on the market. It is an objective that the 1994 Plymouth Acclaim continues to strive for in a highly admirable way. Our test vehicle sported a downright miserly-by today's measures, anyway-MSRP of just $14,154. And that amount bought us an AM/FM stereo, air conditioning, power steering, power brakes and a comparatively hefty 2.5-liter, four-cylinder engine.
What's more, six people can sit comfortably in the Acclaim's surprisingly roomy interior, and the driver can expect adequate-to-good response from this car's power train at most city and highway speeds. That, in plain and simple terms, is what we uncovered in this plain and simple-but very practical-sedan.
A bright, lustrous Sapphire Blue paint treatment covered our test vehicle. Front bumper fascia and vinyl side moldings were Spartan but functional. They also matched the body color quite nicely.
The chrome grille was, in our opinion, a little undersized and austere. The rest of the front end was just fine, though. Headlamps were enclosed behind impact-resistant plastic and integrated with amber side markers that wrapped prominently around the front fenders. A vinyl-covered front bumper protruded neatly from the grillwork, housing amber-lensed turn signals. A functional air scoop underneath completed the look.
A gently sloped windshield, a nearly vertical rear window and a high roof-line give this year's version of the Plymouth Acclaim the model's familiar boxy profile. On our test car, black vinyl door and window pillar trim was chrome-framed, and it complemented the paint in a pleasing fashion. The fixed side-view mirrors and recessed door handles were also covered with black vinyl.
In back, a full-width taillight assembly, interrupted only by the license plate recess, wrapped around the rear fenders to provide increased visibility. The trunk lid covered what seemed to be a spacious trunk (14.4 cubic feet, to be precise) for a vehicle this size. It also had chrome Plymouth and Acclaim insignia on the corners; in addition to the engine insignia on the front fenders, these were the only signs of corporate identification we found on our test vehicle. As for our impression of the wheel covers-well, they covered the wheels.
