Faults:
The weak four cylinder engine struggled to climb the tall hills where I live and often tried to overheat, especially during its last days.
Had to replace the alternator at 195,000.
Engine had been replaced a year before I purchased the car. The 2.0 liter engine had only 16,000 miles on it when I purchased it.
The driver's seat had a tear in it.
The seat adjustment knob on the side of the driver's seat broke off.
The vehicle caught fire (under the hood) after a 50 mile drive one day after I had gone into the house. The vehicle was a total (though not a great) loss. Cause of fire unknown.
General Comments:
The car handled fairly well, was very comfortable, and attractive. The controls were user friendly and the seats held up well for a car with 200K miles on it.
The engine was weak, even though it was a replacement engine with only 16K miles on it. It didn't like big hills and the automatic transmission was continuously down-shifting to attempt to pull the grades. Fuel economy was only around 24 miles per gallon, a miserable output for a tiny four cyllinder.
The car often tried to overheat and had a lot of engine knock when it got hot.
After the fire that mercifully claimed its life, no salvage yards were interested in purchasing the remains. They all said that the Plymouth Breeze/Dodge Stratus had been having engine problems and that there was no demand for the body parts, since nobody was repairing their cars. We had to give the body away to get it out of the driveway.
25th Feb 2007, 18:52
I bought a Breeze one year old and 27000 miles! It now has 212656+ miles and still running just fine. I have performed all the recommended maintenance and the car has yet to let me down --- not bad for a 10 year old car!! I am happy to report there are American cars out there as good as any of the others in many aspects!