Welcome back! This week’s finds all come from the Underappreciated Survivors group on Facebook. I haven’t gone through there in a while, and I found some fun stuff for us to check out, starting with these two late-K-era Mopars.
I admit it: on Thursday before the holiday break, I was messing with you, putting that Pontiac Phoenix up against a classic Mercedes. It was just too funny of a juxtaposition to pass up. Of course the Mercedes won, by a country mile, even with the price difference. You’d have to be nuts to prefer a malaise-era GM box to a finely-tuned German machine from back when they really knew how to build ’em.
But I will say this: if you leave the Benz out of the equation, the Phoenix is nowhere near as bad of a car as some of you make it out to be. It’s old enough to be exempt from emissions nearly everywhere, so you can make it run properly without having to worry about testing – and plenty of parts exist to wake up those old 2.8s. It’s a manual, which makes it orders of magnitude more interesting than the same car with an automatic. And it has that dogged never-say-die toughness that 80s GM products are known for. If you want a cheap car that’s more fun to own than Oh Look Another Camry, you could do a lot worse.
Even a Chrysler fanboy like me has to admit that the earliest iterations of the K-car platform were pretty much crap. They were light-years ahead of the old Aspen and Volare, but that’s a very low standard. A company running on fumes, asking for a loan from the government and using those funds to completely reinvent itself, is laudable, but that doesn’t mean the cars were all that hot. By the early 90s, however, all those early bugs were worked out, and by the end of the run, the K derivatives were actually really good cars – if you chose your options wisely. Let’s see how these two compare.
1992 Plymouth Acclaim – $2,200
Engine/drivetrain: 2.5-liter OHC inline 4, three-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Asheville, NC
Odometer reading: 120,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
Sometimes, you can tell a car’s demographic just by looking at it. A minivan isn’t likely to attract young single men as buyers, nor is a small, rough-riding sports car going to appeal to single moms. But a Plymouth Acclaim? That’s Grandma’s car, no doubt about it. It’s comfortable, but not luxurious or extravagant. It’s sturdy, economical, and has a perfect shelf on the back window to hold a tissue box. And it’s domestic, so the neighborhood mechanic won’t be scared off by it.
The AA-body Acclaim, and its sister model the Dodge Spirit, replaced the original K-body Reliant and Aries in 1989. The changes were evolutionary, though; this is still pretty much a K-car underneath. It’s powered by an updated 2.5-liter version of the old K-car four, and the same old three-speed Torqueflite automatic. Hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. This one has 120,000 miles on it, and the seller says it’s in great condition.
The AA body came in a few cool variants, like the fiery Dodge Spirit R/T and the cushy Chrysler LeBaron sedan, but the Plymouth Acclaim pretty much only came in one flavor: Plain. Yeah, there was an LE model, but it just had some more stuff on it. Most Acclaims looked just like this one on the inside – a split bench seat, a column-mounted gearshift, and not a whole lot else. It does have air conditioning, and the seller says it works fine.
Outside, it’s missing some clearcoat on the horizontal surfaces, but that’s to be expected. It’s rust-free, and doesn’t have any damage, not even any garage door scrapes. I always liked this shade of blue, too. It’s never going to be an interesting car on its own merits, but the fact that there aren’t many of them left makes it a conversation piece. Show up to a car meet with this thing, and you’re guaranteed at least an “oh, wow.”
1993 Dodge Grand Caravan LE – $1,700
Engine/drivetrain: 3.3-liter OHV V6, four-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Yadkinville, NC
Odometer reading: 234,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
The K car wasn’t the only savior for Chrysler in the 80s, of course. A whole new type of vehicle, the car-based minivan, took the market by storm in 1984, and it took a long time for other manufacturers to keep up. Chrysler didn’t rest on its laurels while the rest of the industry played catch-up; it made constant improvements throughout the first generation. This second generation is mostly an evolution, with the sharp corners rounded off for aerodynamics.
Drivetrain options carried over for the second generation, except no turbocharged option was available. Two V6s were offered, though: a 3.0 liter from Mitsubishi, and Chrysler’s own 3.3 liter, which is what this van has. It drives the front wheels through Chrysler’s four-speed Ultradrive transmission, which had a rocky start, but was much improved by 1993. Most of the troubles were caused by mechanics using the wrong fluid to top it up. This one was owned by a mechanic and has nearly a quarter-million miles on it, so it seems like it got the good stuff.
The second generation Caravan got a new interior, too. Features like “stow-n-go” seats and rear-mounted video players were still years away, but at least this generation ditched the fake woodgrain on the dash. This is the long-wheelbase Grand Caravan, with seating for seven, though the rear two rows of seats barely look used. The front seats are pretty worn, as are the door panels, but nothing looks damaged or torn up.
It’s showing its age and mileage outside. The paint is coming off the bumpers, and flaking off the window trim as well. And it looks like the tailgate was replaced – see the red rectangles around the badges? Someone painted a used tailgate to match and just masked around the badges. Quality workmanship, there. Hey, at least it isn’t rusty.
The most serious charge you can really level against either of these is that they’re boring. But when it comes to cheap cars, if you really just need something to get around, excitement is overrated. You can still get parts for these everywhere, they’re easy to work on, and you should be able to get a couple of years out of either one. And for the price, that’s about all you can ask for. So which one will it be?
had a ’92 spirit in high school. dad ok’d it because it was the only sh*tbox we looked at that had an airbag (no anti-lock brakes though). i wanted to get the snowflake wheels from the R/T, but the old man said something about polishing a turd, and that was that.
Did the internet start charging an imaginary ink charge or space charge? You used to have a headline in large print and bold font now you can’t tell where the recap switches to the 1st car and then switched to the 2nd car. Hey unless the Internet started charging by the column inch let’s make everything readable okay?
I’m wringing the last $1700 worth out of that minivan using it like a pickup truck.
I’m a grandpa and I like older women. The mileage indicates she’s only been around the block a few times. Acclaim.
Nothing wrong with renting a car but never buy a rental car.
I like older women too, but I want to take four or five around at a time. I’ll take the van so they’re comfortable. ;-}
You and Ron White make good points.
Acclaim vs. Caravan?! So easy…
“VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER!”
The Acclaim is a total piece of junk. We had this legendary van in blue as a family car growing up…it was great! Very useful and memorable. Plus DT has the one overseas! I’ll be “livin…in a van…down by the river!
(eating government cheese)” if anyone needs me…
Plymouth by acclaimation.
I’d spend the extra $500 on the lower miles, better condition, and probably ease of maintenance.
I see fewer Acclaims than Caravans these days, so I went for the sedan due to its relative rarity and condition.
My grandma had that exact Acclaim, but in Spirit form in the 90’s. It’s the car I think of when I think of “grandmas car.”