Faults:
What has gone wrong, where should I start...
A month after buying the car, the engine blew a head gasket and somehow took all the internals with it. The dealer covered the costs of the labor for the rebuild, but I had to pay $2400 CAD for the parts. I bought the car for $3000. What a joke, but what do you expect, right?
Then, two months later, I got my car back! Hah, and then about a month later the engine died again. Dealer covered all costs under warranty with the rebuild engine.
Engine ran great for four more months, then once again, proceeded to kick the bucket. Dealer, again, rebuilt the engine. The engine finally stopped destroying itself after that.
The front brake rotors warped, and the brake pads would abnormally wear even after the rotors were replaced. Turns out the calipers were messed up too.
The front trans-axle needed replacing shortly after.
The driver side window switch was intermittent, and I had to take it apart and fix it. Sometimes I had to take the control box out of the door panel while at a red light just to roll up/down my window.
Then the driver side window motor went, and I had to replace that.
The oil sending unit killed itself twice, and would piss out my expensive synthetic oil while driving down the road. Replaced the part twice, after the second time, it was fine.
The car leaked more fluids than I knew a car could house. Transmission fluid needed to be topped consistently, as did the coolant, the oil, and the power steering.
The struts just gave out one day, no warning whatsoever... these were brand new OEM struts when I bought the car.
The transmission was very sloppy and was probably on its last legs.
The gas tank developed a moist spot and I knew it was time to get rid of the car.
General Comments:
The car was probably a real gem when it first came out of the showroom. But whoever owned it since then had obviously beaten the hell out of it.
The digital dash worked very well, and was probably one of my favorite parts about the car.
The car was a little quicker than stock thanks to the fresh rebuild and the K&N filter, but not exactly 'fast'. A whopping 150 horsepower TOPS after the rebuild. Not that the transmission was doing a good job of putting it to the wheels.
The interior was, by far, the nicest part of the car. The steering wheel was a GNX style wheel with polished aluminum spokes. The car had quad bucket seats (two in the front, two in the back), both the front and back had dual cup holders and dual arm-rests. The seats were cushy, yet sporting.
If you can get one that's been taken care of with low miles/kilometres, then go for it, they're great cars IF they've been maintained. This one had not been, and I happened to buy it, and pay the price.
