1996 Plymouth Breeze Review (continued)
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Driving Impressions

The Breeze is the most recent of the new products coming from Chrysler Corporation badged for what their advertising calls the new car company--Plymouth." Though Breeze is classified as an entry-level vehicle, it has benefitted from customer feedback on its relatives, the Neon, Stratus and Cirrus.

Initial application of the engine in the Neon generated comments about the noise level at higher rpms. Breeze has addressed engine noise isolation. Engineering and tuning the transmission has made it responsive to the driver's needs. Gas mileage remains very good even though the Breeze is 600 pounds heavier than the Neon. Our test vehicle averaged 27.9 mpg over a week of combined interstate and town driving. MPG for the manual transmission is 22/31 and for 25/34 the automatic.

The Breeze is intended to be sporty but not a sports car. It is economical to purchase and operate so one should not expect Ferrari-like performance. The Breeze delivers solid performance for everyday commuting or kid-hauling. The engine power to car weight ratio does require the driver to stay alert in order to maintain constant speed on the interstate, especially when the terrain includes elevation changes. The optional speed control, available only with the automatic transmission, places controls fingertip-handy on the steering wheel and provides its speed maintaining function smoothly and reliably as indicated from our test vehicle. Power may not be instantaneous, but there is ample "oomph" to keep up with the flow of traffic and pass when needed.

Disc brakes in front and drum brakes on the rear wheels provide the stopping ability with ABS (anti-lock system) as an option for $565. The brakes on our test vehicle worked well in both wet and dry conditions similar to what most drivers would encounter. We did notice that on certain road surfaces, or over pronounced road seams, there was quite a bit of noise transmitted into the passenger compartment from the undercarriage. The engineers will, no doubt, refine suspension and road noise isolation in future iterations or generations of this vehicle."