This was the last of the good times for Chrysler. They were never the most reliable, but they were genuinely innovative, affordable and fun in the 90s. The first gen Neon was exquisite... Free revving engine, low price and slick manual transmission. Also has a cute and happy face. The LH cars and Cloud cars were very roomy for their size and the LH cars, especially the intrepid looked like the future when they launched in 1993. The 3rd gen minivans had the first driver's side sliding door, the Viper was every kid's dream car and the Ram was the sexiest truck on the road. The TJ Wrangler is probably the best Wrangler of all time and the XJ Cherokee holdover from AMC was itself an all time SUV great, so was the first gen Grand Cherokee to a lesser extent. What Daimler did to Chrysler was absolutely criminal.
DaimlerChrysler gave us some incredible vehicles, including the 2005 Chrysler 300 and Dodge Magnum, '06 Charger, Neon SRT-4, Grand Cherokee SRT-8, Viper SRT-10, and a freaking Ram SRT-10, oh and the Crossfire/Crossfire SRT-6.
I agree with all of that. I keep hearing that Mercedes shit on Chrysler when they owned them and the quality took a dive, what specific examples are there that shows that?
Chrysler's cloud cars were good handling, larger than it looks good sedans with a large trunk for its size as well. We had one for 9 years. It was the first car I ever drove.
My uncle had the dodge version, the stratus. It was in the shop all the time with engine issues and the trunk filled with water when it rained. I had the same engine in my 97 neon. 5 headgaskets later, I got rid of it.
I had a Breeze as a rental car for vacation in Colorado and New Mexico. It was the best rental car I have ever had. It was quite impressive for interior comfort and ride/handling.
Watching the tail break loose slightly looks fun. So rare to find fwd cars that can even do that. Tossing one of these around corners was probably more fun than one would expect.
I had a Breeze. They had a pretty fast steering ratio too -- so you could definitely wag the tail pretty good. Really low center of gravity too -- probably the best handling midsize car I ever drove.
Chrysler had big plans to reinvent the dying Plymouth brand, but Daimler - Benz didn't care about the Plymouth name and decided to discontinue the brand, which is a shame because Plymouth had some cool concept cars that Chrysler wanted to actually bring to the market. The Plymouth Pronto, Pronto Spyder, Howler and Backpack to name a few. The PT Cruiser was supposed to be a Plymouth. Sadly, the Prowler was the last stand alone vehicle Plymouth had.
Indeed, you can see the similarities between the front end of the Prowler and PT Cruiser and that they would have come from the same make. Chrysler was certainly making waves with their cab-forward and cloud car series. The designs for an American car company at the time I thought they had among the best looking cars of the domestic brands.
Chrysler had plans to make Plymouth have the fun,sporty cars without breaking the bank..Shame they merged with Daimler,that ruined them! Mercedes stole technology that Chrysler had and stole Chrysler's money..Chrysler was the most profitable car company in the 1990's until Mercedes stole it!
I’m impressed that Chrysler even bothered with double wishbone suspension at all 4 corners. They could have easily cheaped out with standard McPherson strut Suspension at the front and twist beam axle on trailing arms with struts at the back and saved some money. I’ll bet that this car was fun to drive with the manual transmission.
I had a 97 Stratus 2.0 5-speed manual. It great handling car and great on road trips. Lots of room and I always thought the gauge and control placement was perfect. I got better than 40MPG on numerous highway road trips.
I had a Plymouth Breeze and really thought it was a great car. Perfect for a family car and cheap to run/maintain. Due to our growing family, we shuffled the cars and the Breeze was traded in to make way for an SUV. I still miss it and wish I'd never let it go.
Such a shame Daimler came in and killed Plymouth. They were finally heading the right direction getting unique brand-specific styling with the retro look, eggcrate grille and value-based product portfolio. If only they knew how successful the PT Cruiser would turn out to be (designed and originally intended to be a Plymouth, as can be seen by its egg crate grille) they probably would have kept it around at least a few years longer. The PT always stuck out like a sore thumb in the "near luxury" Chrysler brand line up.
I saw one a couple of weeks ago. I see Chrysler Cirruses even less. I see Stratuses the most obviously but all 90s Mopars other than the full size trucks are dwindling fast. Try finding a decent first gen Neon or LH car.
I had a 96 Dodge Stratus SE new as a company car back in the day. Loved everything about it. The sportiest car I could have convinced the boss was appropriate. The only problem I had was with the Sport Auto-Manual transmission. It was constantly being used by coworkers during the day and every once in a while, someone would return it and say the engine revved incredibly high on the highway. They accidently drove it in the manual mode and therefore the lowest gear possible.
@@ixevaztyan you have Sebring GTC, that was a special option pkg for only 2 or 3 model years, and those newer models like yours are not related to the mid 90s models they're completely different. The 2.5 that was optional in the Stratus/Cirrus & Mitsubishi built Avenger/Sebring Coupe were not available with a manual in the USA.
1 of my teachers in middle school had a green Breeze. I thought it had a real modern look to it at that time. Now I know how it was in that care and how it rode
The Breeze was a hell of good value back then. It's main competitor were the, then new, Ford Contour GL 2.0. The Breeze got you more car for the money and it had larger everything inside including fuel capacity and driving range, but the Contour would outperform it in all aspects regarding driving. Funny thing is they both cost the exact same price when new. The Breeze felt like a good value packed American family sedan. The Contour felt like a very solid well built German sedan made for small families, it did not feel like an American car in any way.
Loved the cloud cars and wanted one, especially the Dodge and/or Plymouth. Il liked the crosshatch grille on the Dodge and the eggcrate grille on Plymouths of the time.
I have often wondered why this cars sold so poorly compared to the Acclaim which was the last Plymouth to put sell Dodge. The conclusion I came to is the lack of a V6. At this point, I really wish Plymouth would have diverged from the everything has to be overhead cam direction and would have put in a 3.3 V6 from the minivans as the optional engine. I know they likely would have had to enlarge in the engine bay to do this and there'd be some downsides to go with it, but I think having a Plymouth being more directly focus on competing against General motors while letting Dodge focus on the "imports" and Chrysler on luxury would have been a better strategy. The car is as they were were just too much alike in the end.
After owning one for 10 years and putting 130k miles on it, there are only two issues I have. 1) Not having the 2.4 liter available with a 5 speed. 2) not having a 60/40 split rear seat. For some reason when I bought mine, it had the optional first gen Neon ACR 15” wheels on it. It corners so much better than the standard 14” wheels. Surprisingly well actually. The 2.0 is totally gutless in this car, but the 2.4 is great. I just inherited another Plymouth Breeze 2.4 with 43k miles so I will be driving these JA cars for years to come.
The 2.4 was much smoother than the 2.0. I know this sounds crazy, but I bought a Status (slightly used) after having one as a rental car. I was on a ski trip in the Canadian Rockies and was really impressed with the mountain road handling and the room. Also, I got over confident on a snowy road and got into a skid, but the car was easy to correct and recover. It was an "oh crap" moment, but I'd describe the handling reaction as "poised" and left me impressed with the overall balance and solid feeling of the car.
I had the 2.4 in a Caravan and it lasted 243k miles. Very nice engine with suitable torque for a small passenger vehicle. I'm sure it's a lot more fun in the Breeze than a Caravan.
Chrysler Corporation was so close with the cloud cars... So close! They might not be perfect or even the best in class but they were a good effort from Chrysler.
I've heard complaints about handling of cars today like a Camry or accord for example. So it's curious 30 years ago Chrysler could design a comfortable and great handling family sedan. If it was done 30 years ago why are some of today's cars worse?
The Cloud Cars were really sporty and roomy. But there were problems. Stuff started breaking around 60,000 miles. And the cab forward design meant "engine out service" for nearly every accessory that would eventually break. Very expensive to fix.
It wouldn't be a value leader if they did offer it. The Breeze did get the larger 2.4 four cylinder eventually and that improved the performance significantly. It made about 90% of the power and torque of the 2.5 V6 but it was only available with an automatic. It ran 0-60 in 9 flat vs almost 12sec for the 2.0 automatic. It's amazing what a little low end torque will do for an automatic lol
Plymouth was on its way out of existence by the time the Breeze came to market. All across the range, trim levels were being eliminated as were options. Chrysler had committed to fully etching Plymouth in the minds of consumers as the value leader on its way to the automotive graveyard.
@@texan903 that's not true, Plymouth and Eagle were axed suddenly, they weren't phased out. Back then, Plymouth took on the role of being a value leader for Chrysler the same way Chevrolet filled that role for GM. If they were going out in phase, they wouldn't have planned for the Prowler.
@@nolimitsnuttbusts4u with the downward sales trends that were happening at least since 1979 and continued for the next couple of decades, into the new millenia, Plymouth was on a downward trend. In the last few years of production, they had roughly three to four models in the lineup, all Dodge and Chrysler rebadges. Prowler was a unique car that came too little too late. Automakers and other businesses continually review their plans; when existing products and future projects don't have a market for profitability, it gets axed. So, yes, Plymouth's demise was the result of years of unprofitable returns, not just one or two years.
Kind of crap they didn't offer the "hot" DOHC Neon motor that made about 150hp in the Breeze. Also these "cloud cars" of the 90's had a short shelf life, you really didn't see them past 2010 or so. I dunno if it was they were crap mechanically(did these have the horrible "Ultradrive" automatic??) or the owner base just beat the absolute hell out of them and never did oil changes, etc.
1990s Chrysler Motors vehicles were spacious, great handling and fuel efficient cars that started falling apart within a couple years of purchase. Durability, reliability, and build quality were flat-out appalling. The Clouds and LHs had the infamous four speed automatic that would reliably blow up every 40K miles or so, and Chrysler’s finance people juiced the profitability of these cars by using the absolutely cheapest materials. That meant that your AC compressor would often fail, interior and exterior plastics would crack and warp, and the foam rubber window seals would warp, ripple and leave little bits of foam stuck on the windows. Brake rotors warped, suspension components would rattle and fail, plastic engine manifolds would get brittle and crack due to cheap plastics, dashboards would crack/squeak/rattle, spot welds on C pillars would break, and on and on. 1990s Chrysler was a bit of a flash in the pan. It went from the dowdy but reliable K car based products of the 80s to flashy, gorgeous cars that were durability and reliability nightmares. One reason Chrysler struggled in the 00s and 10s is owner loyalty - owners would excitedly buy and drive a Cloud, minivan or LH and have so many problems that they’d flee the brand screaming. It’s tragic because these cars could have been really exceptional if the cost accountants hadn’t squeezed all the quality out of them. By the time the 2.7L self-destruction sludgemaster V6 was out in the wild, the second generation of this platform (Stratus and Sebring) was perhaps the worst reliability sedan in America. The engine was all but guaranteed to sludge and fail catastrophically, the transmission was on borrowed time from the day it was driven off the lot, and everything was built to an absolute minimum of quality to not last far beyond the warranty or lease. The high price of the repairs needed to keep these cars running send them to the junkyard in less than ten years of ownership. Sadly, by the time Chrysler had embraced much higher quality and reliability with the all-new 2008 Sebring and Avenger that replaced the Clouds, it was too late. The damage to the reputation of the company was severe.
@@Sl1pstreams those transmissions we're not known for that, idk where you got your information from but that's incorrect. Most of the people I know who bought these never had any significant issues with them. They used the cars as a stepping stone to build credit and then trade it later for the vehicle they really wanted. Once they go second hand to used car lots that's a different story. Any cars that have low resale value will disappear from the roads in 15-20 years. These are no exception. All it takes is one airbag deployment or a tiny little fender bender to total one out and send an otherwise perfectly safe good running car to the scrap yard.
@@Sl1pstreams the LH cars were especially not known for that. Now the earlier K cars did have some issues with the UltraDrive yes for sure bud but not the LH.
@@nolimitsnuttbusts4u Both my 94 Concorde and my 2001 Sebring suffered from typical Chrysler transmission failure. The Ultradrive got recalled several times for being unreliable. There’s a reason you don’t see these cars on the road anymore - they weren’t reliable.
what they should have done was make plymouth focus on tech. chrysler - luxury dodge - sportiness plymouth - tech because they made plymouth the cheap brand people associated it with cheapness. It became embarrassing/uncool to buy the plymouth version in the late 90s. that's why plymouth failed
And five years later, Plymouth would be thrown to the breeze. What was Plymouth even supposed to be, anyway? Chrysler's other nameplates have an identity somewhere...luxury for Chrysler, performance for Dodge, and going literally anywhere for Jeep. And when the Dodge Ram became its own nameplate, uh, big trucks? Plymouth seemed to have none of that. Don't get me started on the Prowler...
The reliability was there. It's unreliable owners that were the problem. It's a phenomena typical with cars that have low resale value. Someone buys a decent used car for a very attractive price and struggle to maintain it properly then somehow it's the cars fault. That's how it happens every time.
The last year for Plymouth was 2001. These cars weren't bad if looked after. The 2.0 liter engine had head gasket issues, but, once fixed, they were fine.
Авто/Мото
This was the last of the good times for Chrysler. They were never the most reliable, but they were genuinely innovative, affordable and fun in the 90s. The first gen Neon was exquisite... Free revving engine, low price and slick manual transmission. Also has a cute and happy face. The LH cars and Cloud cars were very roomy for their size and the LH cars, especially the intrepid looked like the future when they launched in 1993. The 3rd gen minivans had the first driver's side sliding door, the Viper was every kid's dream car and the Ram was the sexiest truck on the road. The TJ Wrangler is probably the best Wrangler of all time and the XJ Cherokee holdover from AMC was itself an all time SUV great, so was the first gen Grand Cherokee to a lesser extent. What Daimler did to Chrysler was absolutely criminal.
DaimlerChrysler gave us some incredible vehicles, including the 2005 Chrysler 300 and Dodge Magnum, '06 Charger, Neon SRT-4, Grand Cherokee SRT-8, Viper SRT-10, and a freaking Ram SRT-10, oh and the Crossfire/Crossfire SRT-6.
I agree with all of that. I keep hearing that Mercedes shit on Chrysler when they owned them and the quality took a dive, what specific examples are there that shows that?
@@hakeemsd70mthose were in the works before Daimler came in. They just reaped the benefits.
Chrysler's cloud cars were good handling, larger than it looks good sedans with a large trunk for its size as well. We had one for 9 years. It was the first car I ever drove.
This Plymouth Breeze is with small block
My uncle had the dodge version, the stratus. It was in the shop all the time with engine issues and the trunk filled with water when it rained. I had the same engine in my 97 neon. 5 headgaskets later, I got rid of it.
Sheesh. Expensive.
I had a Breeze as a rental car for vacation in Colorado and New Mexico. It was the best rental car I have ever had. It was quite impressive for interior comfort and ride/handling.
Watching the tail break loose slightly looks fun. So rare to find fwd cars that can even do that. Tossing one of these around corners was probably more fun than one would expect.
Had one for 3 years, handling is deceptively fun
I had a Breeze. They had a pretty fast steering ratio too -- so you could definitely wag the tail pretty good. Really low center of gravity too -- probably the best handling midsize car I ever drove.
Chrysler had big plans to reinvent the dying Plymouth brand, but Daimler - Benz didn't care about the Plymouth name and decided to discontinue the brand, which is a shame because Plymouth had some cool concept cars that Chrysler wanted to actually bring to the market. The Plymouth Pronto, Pronto Spyder, Howler and Backpack to name a few.
The PT Cruiser was supposed to be a Plymouth.
Sadly, the Prowler was the last stand alone vehicle Plymouth had.
Indeed, you can see the similarities between the front end of the Prowler and PT Cruiser and that they would have come from the same make. Chrysler was certainly making waves with their cab-forward and cloud car series. The designs for an American car company at the time I thought they had among the best looking cars of the domestic brands.
Chrysler had plans to make Plymouth have the fun,sporty cars without breaking the bank..Shame they merged with Daimler,that ruined them! Mercedes stole technology that Chrysler had and stole Chrysler's money..Chrysler was the most profitable car company in the 1990's until Mercedes stole it!
I’m impressed that Chrysler even bothered with double wishbone suspension at all 4 corners. They could have easily cheaped out with standard McPherson strut Suspension at the front and twist beam axle on trailing arms with struts at the back and saved some money. I’ll bet that this car was fun to drive with the manual transmission.
The suspension on these cars has to be experienced. It rivals the setup on the "new Accord" back then, with a more supple feel.
I had a 97 Stratus 2.0 5-speed manual. It great handling car and great on road trips. Lots of room and I always thought the gauge and control placement was perfect. I got better than 40MPG on numerous highway road trips.
I had a Plymouth Breeze and really thought it was a great car. Perfect for a family car and cheap to run/maintain. Due to our growing family, we shuffled the cars and the Breeze was traded in to make way for an SUV. I still miss it and wish I'd never let it go.
Such a shame Daimler came in and killed Plymouth. They were finally heading the right direction getting unique brand-specific styling with the retro look, eggcrate grille and value-based product portfolio. If only they knew how successful the PT Cruiser would turn out to be (designed and originally intended to be a Plymouth, as can be seen by its egg crate grille) they probably would have kept it around at least a few years longer. The PT always stuck out like a sore thumb in the "near luxury" Chrysler brand line up.
I have not seen a Breeze out in the wild for years.
They all blew away
I saw one a couple of weeks ago. I see Chrysler Cirruses even less. I see Stratuses the most obviously but all 90s Mopars other than the full size trucks are dwindling fast. Try finding a decent first gen Neon or LH car.
@@honkhonkler7732 I have a 276,000 mile 2002 Intrepid. It runs like a goat.
I have a neighbor down the street a couple of miles has one parked in their driveway. It's in mint condition too.
@@terminallygray Its like a rare dinosaur these days. I have seen a few cirrus around here. The Chrysler version of the breeze.
RIP Plymouth ❤
These were great and affordable cars. Looked good and handled good with decent interior room.
I had a 96 Dodge Stratus SE new as a company car back in the day. Loved everything about it. The sportiest car I could have convinced the boss was appropriate. The only problem I had was with the Sport Auto-Manual transmission. It was constantly being used by coworkers during the day and every once in a while, someone would return it and say the engine revved incredibly high on the highway. They accidently drove it in the manual mode and therefore the lowest gear possible.
cute review. I miss plymouth
If these had a V6 engine option with the 5 speed, it would be kind of Fun to drive and fast for what it is.
I have a 2003 convertible with the 2.7 and a 5 speed manual
That’s why they made the exact same car, dodge stratus, I believe it had option for a v6.
@@ixevaztyan you have Sebring GTC, that was a special option pkg for only 2 or 3 model years, and those newer models like yours are not related to the mid 90s models they're completely different. The 2.5 that was optional in the Stratus/Cirrus & Mitsubishi built Avenger/Sebring Coupe were not available with a manual in the USA.
@@prestoncheapbtheadphoneste3010 yes it and the Cirrus, but the 2.5 V6 was not available with a manual.
They are the same car is just "refreshed". The 1 gen and 2 is the same car. Plataform and structure is the same but updated
1 of my teachers in middle school had a green Breeze. I thought it had a real modern look to it at that time. Now I know how it was in that care and how it rode
We need a part two with repaired capacitors, an AGP card, and decent sound card! The ultimate boring PC. 👍🏻
These looked pretty good for the mid 90s. Better than what GM was putting out or Ford for b that matter.
I had a 98 stratus with a 2.4 4 cylinders, i really liked that car.
A much better time to be alive. Cars could still be interesting.
These were nice-looking, well styled cars.
The Breeze was a hell of good value back then. It's main competitor were the, then new, Ford Contour GL 2.0. The Breeze got you more car for the money and it had larger everything inside including fuel capacity and driving range, but the Contour would outperform it in all aspects regarding driving. Funny thing is they both cost the exact same price when new. The Breeze felt like a good value packed American family sedan. The Contour felt like a very solid well built German sedan made for small families, it did not feel like an American car in any way.
These were so light
It's the first car you get to drive in GTA 3.
My brother had this car in ruby red, it was roomy and comfy.
I loved my 96 stratus...had over 200, 000 miles
Loved the cloud cars and wanted one, especially the Dodge and/or Plymouth. Il liked the crosshatch grille on the Dodge and the eggcrate grille on Plymouths of the time.
Ditto for me too. I could never find one that wasn't a total POS or rusted out badly. But I was looking for the V6. Didn't want a 4 cyl. model.
I have often wondered why this cars sold so poorly compared to the Acclaim which was the last Plymouth to put sell Dodge. The conclusion I came to is the lack of a V6. At this point, I really wish Plymouth would have diverged from the everything has to be overhead cam direction and would have put in a 3.3 V6 from the minivans as the optional engine. I know they likely would have had to enlarge in the engine bay to do this and there'd be some downsides to go with it, but I think having a Plymouth being more directly focus on competing against General motors while letting Dodge focus on the "imports" and Chrysler on luxury would have been a better strategy. The car is as they were were just too much alike in the end.
I always thought these were good looking cars. I’ve never saw one in black. Every one of these I’ve ever saw was green or red.
Man, I used to see these and the dodge variant all the damn time in the early to mid 2000s.
After owning one for 10 years and putting 130k miles on it, there are only two issues I have. 1) Not having the 2.4 liter available with a 5 speed. 2) not having a 60/40 split rear seat. For some reason when I bought mine, it had the optional first gen Neon ACR 15” wheels on it. It corners so much better than the standard 14” wheels. Surprisingly well actually. The 2.0 is totally gutless in this car, but the 2.4 is great. I just inherited another Plymouth Breeze 2.4 with 43k miles so I will be driving these JA cars for years to come.
The 2.4 was much smoother than the 2.0. I know this sounds crazy, but I bought a Status (slightly used) after having one as a rental car. I was on a ski trip in the Canadian Rockies and was really impressed with the mountain road handling and the room. Also, I got over confident on a snowy road and got into a skid, but the car was easy to correct and recover. It was an "oh crap" moment, but I'd describe the handling reaction as "poised" and left me impressed with the overall balance and solid feeling of the car.
I had the 2.4 in a Caravan and it lasted 243k miles. Very nice engine with suitable torque for a small passenger vehicle. I'm sure it's a lot more fun in the Breeze than a Caravan.
Chrysler Corporation was so close with the cloud cars... So close! They might not be perfect or even the best in class but they were a good effort from Chrysler.
I've heard complaints about handling of cars today like a Camry or accord for example. So it's curious 30 years ago Chrysler could design a comfortable and great handling family sedan. If it was done 30 years ago why are some of today's cars worse?
I drove a Dodge Stratus in 2000 and thought I was so cool
They put the battery in an interesting location.
All the second gen Cab-forward cars battery were locate under the front passenger side wheel well.
I still drive a Cirrus daily!
I AM A DIVISION MANAGER IN CHARGE OF 29 PEOPLE!!!! I DRI- I DRI- I DRIVE A PLYMOUTH BREEZE!!!!!!
My first car. I thought it was a peace of shit but I loved it. Now I think I would have style with it
36 mpg highway?!!!! Why can’t we still have decent, simple, affordable cars today?
Your precious government..
The Cloud Cars were really sporty and roomy. But there were problems. Stuff started breaking around 60,000 miles. And the cab forward design meant "engine out service" for nearly every accessory that would eventually break. Very expensive to fix.
When Chrysler was actually trying to have good product, now it’s just the same charger on a 25 year old Mercedes chassis
And we know now, the Breeze was not enough to blow wind into the sails of Plymouth.
Still see them on the road!
I don't get why the V6 was never offered on the Breeze yet they were on the Stratus and Cirrus.
A V6 option was probably above the price point they were aiming for but the 2L 4 that's in this car isn't really a slouch.
It wouldn't be a value leader if they did offer it. The Breeze did get the larger 2.4 four cylinder eventually and that improved the performance significantly. It made about 90% of the power and torque of the 2.5 V6 but it was only available with an automatic. It ran 0-60 in 9 flat vs almost 12sec for the 2.0 automatic. It's amazing what a little low end torque will do for an automatic lol
Plymouth was on its way out of existence by the time the Breeze came to market. All across the range, trim levels were being eliminated as were options. Chrysler had committed to fully etching Plymouth in the minds of consumers as the value leader on its way to the automotive graveyard.
@@texan903 that's not true, Plymouth and Eagle were axed suddenly, they weren't phased out. Back then, Plymouth took on the role of being a value leader for Chrysler the same way Chevrolet filled that role for GM. If they were going out in phase, they wouldn't have planned for the Prowler.
@@nolimitsnuttbusts4u with the downward sales trends that were happening at least since 1979 and continued for the next couple of decades, into the new millenia, Plymouth was on a downward trend. In the last few years of production, they had roughly three to four models in the lineup, all Dodge and Chrysler rebadges. Prowler was a unique car that came too little too late. Automakers and other businesses continually review their plans; when existing products and future projects don't have a market for profitability, it gets axed. So, yes, Plymouth's demise was the result of years of unprofitable returns, not just one or two years.
Is it enough to breathe enough life back into those sagging sales?? Obviously not since Plymouth died 4 years later
Kind of crap they didn't offer the "hot" DOHC Neon motor that made about 150hp in the Breeze. Also these "cloud cars" of the 90's had a short shelf life, you really didn't see them past 2010 or so. I dunno if it was they were crap mechanically(did these have the horrible "Ultradrive" automatic??) or the owner base just beat the absolute hell out of them and never did oil changes, etc.
1990s Chrysler Motors vehicles were spacious, great handling and fuel efficient cars that started falling apart within a couple years of purchase. Durability, reliability, and build quality were flat-out appalling.
The Clouds and LHs had the infamous four speed automatic that would reliably blow up every 40K miles or so, and Chrysler’s finance people juiced the profitability of these cars by using the absolutely cheapest materials.
That meant that your AC compressor would often fail, interior and exterior plastics would crack and warp, and the foam rubber window seals would warp, ripple and leave little bits of foam stuck on the windows. Brake rotors warped, suspension components would rattle and fail, plastic engine manifolds would get brittle and crack due to cheap plastics, dashboards would crack/squeak/rattle, spot welds on C pillars would break, and on and on.
1990s Chrysler was a bit of a flash in the pan. It went from the dowdy but reliable K car based products of the 80s to flashy, gorgeous cars that were durability and reliability nightmares.
One reason Chrysler struggled in the 00s and 10s is owner loyalty - owners would excitedly buy and drive a Cloud, minivan or LH and have so many problems that they’d flee the brand screaming. It’s tragic because these cars could have been really exceptional if the cost accountants hadn’t squeezed all the quality out of them.
By the time the 2.7L self-destruction sludgemaster V6 was out in the wild, the second generation of this platform (Stratus and Sebring) was perhaps the worst reliability sedan in America. The engine was all but guaranteed to sludge and fail catastrophically, the transmission was on borrowed time from the day it was driven off the lot, and everything was built to an absolute minimum of quality to not last far beyond the warranty or lease.
The high price of the repairs needed to keep these cars running send them to the junkyard in less than ten years of ownership. Sadly, by the time Chrysler had embraced much higher quality and reliability with the all-new 2008 Sebring and Avenger that replaced the Clouds, it was too late. The damage to the reputation of the company was severe.
@@Sl1pstreams those transmissions we're not known for that, idk where you got your information from but that's incorrect. Most of the people I know who bought these never had any significant issues with them. They used the cars as a stepping stone to build credit and then trade it later for the vehicle they really wanted. Once they go second hand to used car lots that's a different story. Any cars that have low resale value will disappear from the roads in 15-20 years. These are no exception. All it takes is one airbag deployment or a tiny little fender bender to total one out and send an otherwise perfectly safe good running car to the scrap yard.
@@nolimitsnuttbusts4u Chrysler Ultradrives are the worst in the business. They kept AAMCO going for years in clouds, LHs and minivans
@@Sl1pstreams the LH cars were especially not known for that. Now the earlier K cars did have some issues with the UltraDrive yes for sure bud but not the LH.
@@nolimitsnuttbusts4u Both my 94 Concorde and my 2001 Sebring suffered from typical Chrysler transmission failure. The Ultradrive got recalled several times for being unreliable. There’s a reason you don’t see these cars on the road anymore - they weren’t reliable.
Prefer Chrysler Stratus, never understood same car, several brands...
It was the Chrysler Cirrus, Dodge Stratus and Plymouth Breeze
what they should have done was make plymouth focus on tech.
chrysler - luxury
dodge - sportiness
plymouth - tech
because they made plymouth the cheap brand people associated it with cheapness. It became embarrassing/uncool to buy the plymouth version in the late 90s. that's why plymouth failed
It was a hard mold to break, Plymouth had been the “cheap” car since the 30s. The focus really should have been “value”
trying to copy Honda of the era with the suspension specs
And five years later, Plymouth would be thrown to the breeze.
What was Plymouth even supposed to be, anyway? Chrysler's other nameplates have an identity somewhere...luxury for Chrysler, performance for Dodge, and going literally anywhere for Jeep. And when the Dodge Ram became its own nameplate, uh, big trucks? Plymouth seemed to have none of that. Don't get me started on the Prowler...
Plymouth was supposed to be an "entry level" brand
Plymouth=parts bin cars😂
It sucks that Chrysler didn't put any reliability into the JA platform. They were comfortable and nice looking but absolute poo for reliability.
The reliability was there. It's unreliable owners that were the problem. It's a phenomena typical with cars that have low resale value. Someone buys a decent used car for a very attractive price and struggle to maintain it properly then somehow it's the cars fault. That's how it happens every time.
I so donots care fors the Plymouth Breeze or the Dodge Stratus at all as they are cheap by so fars.
These were junk, terrible brakes and build quality. Plymouth did go the way of Desoto and Hudson in 1999, Olds followed suit soon after.
This lamb concurs.
The last year for Plymouth was 2001. These cars weren't bad if looked after. The 2.0 liter engine had head gasket issues, but, once fixed, they were fine.
A great looking pile of crap, not even pleasant to drive with that terrible sounding engine.
@@new2000car I used to work at a car dealer and we got a couple in on trade, junk.
You’re all over the place Plymouth and Desoto where Chrysler products. Hudson was American Motor and Oldsmobile was General Motors.
I would do a 1995 Chrysler Cirrus over the others JA Cloud cars of the 90's by so far so as of now.