Faults:

Water pump went at about 120,000 miles, but I don't know of any car where the water pump will last forever.

Wiring harness has the known problem. Was taken to the dealer where it was bought from, when we received the recall, and they said it was fine. Didn't notice myself, because we had an extended warranty and $12.95 oil change for as long as we owned the car; they cancelled that too. When I noticed the harness, the car had 109,000 and they wouldn't do anything about it.

Only normal maintenance besides that.

General Comments:

This has been a very good car, considering the way it has been driven. Beat the hell out of it.

For a V6, this car has lots of power still with 173,000 miles. Only more satisfied with our Lincoln LS V8 Sport.

Faults:

When purchased, the engine was blown; repaired, which was costly; $3200 including labour.

Brake problem after 2 years; fixed.

General Comments:

Great car, great mileage, and the engine still purrs.

Runs and handles like a top performance car.

Needs more room in the back seat.

Faults:

Timing belt at 140,000.

Electrical system.

Water pump replaced at 140,000.

Heater blower.

Transmission mount.

Both tie rod ends.

Broken right strut when purchased.

Exhaust manifold.

Radiator hoses.

Fan not working.

Starter.

Alternator.

General Comments:

Despite all the issues, this is a reliable little car. We only paid $800 and it has passed state inspection every year.

I would recommend this car to others. Also, it is not hard to maintain, nor expensive.

Faults:

The right window motor broke.

The heater switch dies periodically.

General Comments:

Pros:

This car is crazy reliable. I've owned this car for 8 years and 70k miles. In that time the window motor on the passenger side died and I've had to replace the heater switch twice. These are both cheap and easy replacements. Other than that, all I've done is give it oil and tires and the car just keeps going.

Very fun European sport sedan. I have the V6 and the manual transmission. This is a golden combination. I can't get over how fun it is to drive, and after all these years, I still have fun with it pretty much every day.

Good gas mileage for a V6. I've had gas mileage as high as 30 mpg on the highway, which is competitive with some 4 bangers.

The car seems designed with the autobahn in mind. At high speeds it feels solid and planted on the road. Road noise is respectably low. The car seems to really get home going 80 mph.

Cons:

The back seat is kind of small, and pretty much good only for kids and car seats.

The front seats are fun around town, but kind of uncomfortable on long road trips.

The AC system is kind of weak, so if you're not driving on the highway, forget about using the AC.

Faults:

Transmission was replaced prior to my buying it, and still broke within 10000 miles.

AC refuses to be fixed and hasn't worked since I first bought it.

Exterior chrome peeled and fell off.

Spews break dust, making "premium" wheels eternally black.

Cup holders broken (not that they were big enough to hold any cups anyway...)

Check engine light has a life of its own, and will come on and off as it sees fit.

Random warning lights will activate on the dash for periods of time before correcting themselves.

General Comments:

This was my first car and was in decent condition when I bought it. I pushed it hard (as all teenagers do) and it ran and looked good. That was until I had transmission problems within the first year. I don't know what it is about this car's transmission that makes it so bad, but no amount of work will make the transmission run well for any amount of time.

At least it looked good on the outside, until a tree fell on it.

As for good things to say, the interior held up nicely and is comfortable?