Faults:

The bearings in the water pump seized at about 143,000 miles.

The oil pan had a minor leak. That was easily fixed.

General Comments:

I received this car from my parents when I first got my license on my 16th birthday. I am very surprised that the only real major problem was the water pump. It burns no oil at all and is really an amazing car.

Again I am surprised because my Mom never really took very good care of the car. She would forget to have the oil changed and the engine would run for almost 10,000 miles without an oil change. There was one time when the lid for the oil opening on the engine was accidentally left off. The car had about 2 quarts left in it by the time my Mom figured out what had happened.

The gas mileage isn't that great, but I figure that's from the V6. It gets about 18-20 miles to the gallon.

Faults:

Transmission died upon driving car off the dealer's lot, but they did fix it for free. ($1000?)

Barely visible small dents on hood, trunk, & roof of car - maybe due to hail from previous owner? Doesn't affect drivability so I haven't paid to fix it.

Paint (clear coat) is flaking off in certain places, mostly on the roof & trunk -- looks like wind streaks.

Air conditioner does not blow cold air, heater does not heat. Can't fix it without converting the system from freon to the new stuff.

($150 for conversion, then $40 for fill/charge)

Exhaust system rusty - the pipe would hang then eventuall drag & fall off; replaced twice since I've owned it. Roads are salted in winter here so that doesn't help.

(1st replacement was DIY - $25 & only the half that was rusty, from tail to midway. 2nd time was thru a mechanic & the entire pipe from catalytic converter to tail was replaced - $126.)

Coolant reservoir has hole on the side so it can't be filled past that point. (Not yet fixed/replaced due to next complaint.)

Coolant in reservoir turns brown within 24hrs of cleaning/replacing it. I thought it was oil, but the oil looked/felt clean, unlike the gunky brown coolant.

(Not yet fixed, I estimate it to be pricey - possibly a headgasket.)

Trunk gets wet - I think the door or seals are worn & lets water in. The same goes for the seal around my front windshield - which lets water in & the roof (around the visors) gets wet.

Driver side window keeps coming out of tracks so I can't roll the window down without losing the glass. This has been fixed several times.

Fixed fuel line leak a few weeks ago June 2004.

($156 to replace hoses)

Replaced alternator 1 week after fuel line probs. The voltage indicator would be low, plus the "Check engine" light would come on.

($150 for new alternator parts, $100 for repair mechanic)

Leaking oil, looks like thru valve cover gasket. Hopefully nowhere else. Leak is getting worse as the engine is soaked & smokes when hot; the smoke smells like burnt oil & occurs only around oil-soaked parts - not from anything else I could see.

(Not yet fixed, I got an estimate of roughly $100)

General Comments:

There's lots of room in this car, which is great when you've got a tall hubby & 2 kids (bulky carseats) in the back. No probs with head touching the ceiling or knees hitting the dash, etc.

I bought this car (with tax & all) at about $1,330 because I had lost my previous one in a fire that engulfed my home. I just needed something cheap, but would get me to & from work (reliable). I didn't want to have a car pmt when I needed my $$ for replacing other basic necessities such as shelter, beds, etc.

In general, the car rides fine, minus the problems mentioned above. I'm not a car expert so I can honestly say it could probably be better cared for. It does handles abuse/neglect well.

It had a lot of miles (120,000) when I bought it & I didn't expect it to last longer than a year, just enough for me to get back on my feet & buy a newer car. It now has 146,000 miles & I'm surprised that I have yet to have engine failure or something huge/pricey that would cost more than what I paid for on the car itself.

The heat seemed to work better when I had a piece of cardboard between the car grille & radiator during the winter, but it still took 20-30 minutes to warm up. The coolant or A/C probably needs work.

I've had a 94 Nissan Sentra XE & a 97 Chevy Cavalier in the past. The Nissan was reliable, but small & blew a headgasket in 2000 - which I then replaced the car with the Chevy. The Chevy was so much trouble from Day 1, from engine to transmission, so I didn't miss it when it was burnt. My Acclaim didn't look as sporty as those 2 cars, but it is very reliable & roomy, & also comfy.

The red interior is in excellent shape & is fairly clean, without any sign of fading. The exterior on the other hand has gone from maroon to almost brown, with portions of the paint flaking off. There's also quite a bit of rust on the underbody, with road salt not helping much in that department.

It came with a radio only (no cass.) so it's a pain if I ever decide to install a CD player instead, which I doubt I'll do.

Other than that, it runs great & gets me to where I need to go. I don't know about really long hauls, but I've gone for 2.5hrs each way to another city without having any problems. (Going to work is about 42mi round trip a day.) It starts right away even in cold weather every time, although it rough idles until the engine's warmed up. It also handles well around turns & such.