Faults:

Window seals have gone, however, it is unknown how long they were leaking for.

Boot became off-line - a washer to stop the frame stressing had fallen off, only required the boot to be tugged and pulled to re-align.

The rear-end sits quite low, because of the suspension tuning.

Ran out of clutch fluid at 146,000km, small leak however car still ran enough to get home, starting was the only issue without a clutch.

General Comments:

Seats take a bit to get used to and the cabin is quite bland.

Performance wise, you need a bit of a run-up when passing but that's to be expected with this type of car.

The model designates the suspension was tuned by Chris Amon, a famous New Zealand racing driver, it handles well and never felt if the car was about to lose its footing.

Reliability wise, it isn't rivaled, services are easy, being a slant-4 most things are within easy reach.

They used to be used as taxi's, it wasn't unknown for them to exceed past 500,000kms.

Faults:

Timing Belt Broke at 158000, did well to get that far I reckon, obviously wasn't replaced near 100k. Put a new one in and away she went. Have had a recurrent problem with radiator clogging despite using 'green stuff' all the way through. Probably due to long periods remaining dormant.

General Comments:

Best car I've ever owned. very reliable and has served me well. With a regular maintenance schedule I reckon this car will last for at least another 20 years (if we still have petrol then).

Faults:

To get the road worthy I had to fix the following.

-Rust around the windscreen

-rear shocks were leaking

-drivers seat belt needed to be replace

-radiator was leaking.

Other things

-clutch needs to be replaced

-just replaced the cold start cylinder

-interior is ugly :P.

General Comments:

Great car, goes really good for the price and the fuel economy. there is a tonne of low end torque with the 2.4litre model thanks to having an engine out of a Hilux. problem with that is there is no top end power. It's a very smooth ride, but not so much as you can't feel the road.

Try to get one that doesn't have any rust as most of the mechanical things can be dealt with rather cheaply.

Faults:

Left electric mirror broken.

Electric antenna sleeve has come undone.

Window washer pump broken and replaced ($5)

General Comments:

This is a fantastic first car

Nothing mechanically has gone wrong.

The air con is freezing and works great on warmer days. This car is cheap to repair and can really take a good thrashing. The St141 2s engines are bulletproof.

I'm 6'2 and there's plenty of room, Avante seats hug you when cornering.

I'd recommend this car to any 1st car buyer.

Faults:

Apart from reconditioning the motor at 220000 Kms I have had a water pump fail at 175000 Kms.

The Radiator had a small leak that was fixed at 175000 Kms as well as above.

Diff was noisy and so it was changed at 190000 kms

Misc rubber pipes have been changed as prevention rather than cure as pipes only last about 10 - 15 years. Brake pipes also have been changed for new ones.

Master cylinder at 224000 kms.

General Comments:

A tough car that initially has a hard ride being a wagon. Installing Avante or CSX seat frames make a big improvement in comfort. Installing a 2.0 anti roll bar at the front helps the ride comfort and makes the suspension more supple which is better for out right handling (French philosophy a la Renault/Citroen)

Rear suspension bushes on the wagon are too hard as well and changing to car bushes helps with ride and handling. Flat corning is great on a smooth road, but with hard suspension meeting potholes on a corner is dangerous in the wet. Softer settings are the answer without being soggy.

The cabin is fairly spartan by todays standards, but is ergonomic in practice.

The seats are OK as long as they are raised up an inch at the front as they don't have much support under the thighs. After they are raised up they are almost excellent when they are in good condition.

Seats are easy to rebuild when dismantled by somebody even with limited mechanical knowledge.