Faults:
1. Door stuck until 145,000 until it jammed shut. I go through the passenger side and climbed over the gear shift... not fun!
2. Driver side window (manual) is broken. Needs to be popped back in whenever moved.
3. Fuel line broke for about 3 days until I noticed. I got out of the car while it was running and the gas was spilling out like a garden house! Self-repair.
4. Heavy car... bottoms out easy. Replaced the oil pan once.
5. IT LEAKS. Leaks by the driver's door in the cabin. Leaks in the trunk. Leaks a lot of air too. Makes it very loud at highway speeds.
6. Repaired the exhaust pipe twice due to large holes from rust.
General Comments:
OK, the car has no pickup. The only reason it moves AT ALL is because it is a manual transmission. But even that sucks because it is a cable clutch.. not hydraulic and it takes some muscle to push it down. Shifts pretty rough because of it too.
The outside is falling apart and the whole car looks awful to begin with. It gets 20-23 MPG on average. Reallym really sucks on gas.
The car runs fine. Burns no oil. Has no engine problems etc. Few other problems system wise. But it has a lot of annoying problems. Leaks, doors, windows, shifting, power, loud, butt ugly, etc.
It's very heavy but built like a tank so it's pretty safe. It gets me from point A to point B. That's all that matters at the moment so I put up with it. But if you are looking for a car to buy... this is your last resort (with the exception of a Metro LOL).
28th Apr 2001, 21:39
I don't know if anyone realizes this, but these cars were not built for performance. If you wanted performance from one of these cars you went with the 3.o V-6 in an ES or you got one of the special ones that Carrol Shelby got his hands on; the CSX. They are strictly point A to point B cars. There are some inexpensive mods that you can do to get better performance out of the stock 2.2 and 2.5. As far as comparing it to the Civic, it weighs aprox. 800# less than a Shadow. If you can shave weight, you will always perform better.