Faults:

Wheel bearing replaced in September.

Serpentine belt replaced in October.

Muffler replaced in December.

General Comments:

This car could have been a great car. It's a solid, generic drive, which is great for most people. It gets reasonable fuel economy for an old car with a good-sized engine (about 22mpg mixed). It's comfortable and quiet and rides decently.

It COULD have been fantastic if I weren't always worried about what was going to break next on it.

Overall, a decent enough car for being the same age as a brontosaurus.

Faults:

My original article was "I hope I didn't buy a lemon.." but now I know this car is one.

Originally after 80,000 miles is when all these problems started happening.

Car was eating a quart and a half of oil every 1,500 miles. (the car didn't smoke either and no visible leaks)

Car idled high (1500 Rpms) when it was cold and the engine would whine when it was cold too.

My belt also squeaked on start up but I replaced that.

Car is also sluggish and can't maintain speed well going up an incline. Engine would have to be at 4,500 Rpms just to go 55 mph and very rarely 60 mph.

And now to top it off the car is losing coolant (no visible leaks). I think the heads or the head gasket is going bad (a common problem with this 3.8L engine).

My check engine light won't stop flashing (especially when I am taking off).

General Comments:

I liked the car until I started having major problems with it. I changed all my fluids, spark plugs and wires, air and fuel filter when I first bought it. I change my oil and oil filter at least between the 2,500 to 3,000 mile mark. Obviously the guy who sold me this car didn't maintain it well, because it is having problems at low miles.

I have a 1989 Jetta with over 400,000 miles on it that still runs and drives pretty well (that's just with regular oil changes and tune ups too). I am not sure if this car is even worth fixing.

But yeah it is comfortable and I will be driving around town only. I will now use my Jetta to commute the 100 miles to work every day.

Faults:

All power windows quit working - motors seized up, never knew if the windows would roll up or not.

Brakes ALWAYS made noises, and faded pretty badly during harder stops.

Handled very poorly on icy roads, put it in the ditch like 4 times in the winter.

Headlights were always very dim - even with super blues.

Car blew a radiator bypass hose, then always overheated after I changed it - never was right again.

Eventually cruise and speedometer quit working and the car wouldn't shift when cold. Was a transmission gear, cost $400 to have dealer fix.

Then the transmission started skipping through gears when slowing down, so I traded it in for an 2004 Toyota Corolla S.

General Comments:

I got this car from my grandparents who kept it in their garage and didn't really drive it. So I thought it should be good for a long time.

The 3.0 does have a lot of power though, I smoked some punks trying to race me.

The A/C was really cold, and the seats were pretty comfortable.