Faults:

Door ajar issue.

Possible clogged EGR valve.

General Comments:

I just bought this car this week. Overall pretty happy with it, for what I paid.

It does have the 'door-ajar' issue. I'm wondering if I should wd40 the hinge, or the latch? Some people mentioned spraying the hinge, and some the latch. I tried both, but it still shows up. Could the sensor just be bad?

Faults:

First state inspection 10 days after purchase (at 113,225+ Miles, May 2008) :

- Rotors

- Front tires belt broke, replaced tires, balanced all 4

- Transmission oil and filter needed changing (brown oil)

- Upper manifold gasket needed replacing

- Tuneup (spark plugs and wires)

- Got oil changed

Not repaired (yet) :

- Air conditioning doesn't blow cold air.

- Brakes squeak when stopping.

August 2008

- Replaced battery.

November 2008

- Replaced alternator.

December 2008

- Key would not unlock doors very well. In fact, they turn but wouldn't unlock. Fixed with WD-40 in locks.

Ongoing problems with battery dead after around 2 months but I don't drive it much. So I am trying a solar battery charger to keep charge up. We'll see how it does through the summer.

General Comments:

Despite the problems, which I expect are normal for a car of this age, this is a very reliable and great car!

The ride is very comfortable. You can adjust the softness of the driver seat. I previously had a car with no seat adjustments, and crank-down windows, manual locks. So having power seats, power door locks and power windows is great! Except in winter when you want to open the window a crack and they are frozen! But they thaw after defrosting the car.

The handling is great. The car is powerful and can get in and out of a lot of traffic fast enough without hesitation. Very smooth steering, no vibrations whatsoever.

The squeaking brakes when stopping is annoying. But my mechanic assured me that the brakes are in fine shape and they pass state inspection. So I don't really worry about it. The car stops just fine, no problems.

The trunk is not as roomy as my Pontiac 6000, I don't think, but what I like is you can access the trunk by pulling down the back seat backs, which is very easy to do with pull tabs.

The interior of the car seems very roomy. That is, for a car that looks small. I guess because of the rounded contour and curves of the vehicle it makes it look smaller than it really is.

This car is good on gas, for a 200hp 6-cyl. 3.0L engine. I only get gas maybe once every other month (since I don't drive a whole lot).

I really can't pick nits with this car. It's a fine vehicle and it gets the job done. I'm very happy with it. She may have a quirk or two, but in the first year I've had her here, she's done very well for a car bought used from a private owner. I think I got a great deal on this one.

I've read of some of the problems others had and I haven't (yet) had any problems with the windshield wipers, once I discovered they have several settings which set them off at intervals. You have to just be very sure they are actually really turned off, and not on the lowest setting, I've found.

I also noticed if your "Theft" light on the dash blinks rapidly after you start the car, your battery is dying. Replacing the battery with a fully-charged one fixes the problem.

Faults:

Dome light is continuously on; I yanked out the bulb because it would stay on all night and run down my battery.

Passenger side seat belt catches more than it should. You usually have to put it ALL the way back in, then pull it out all at once to get it to work.

Have had the serpentine belt replaced 5 - yes 5 - times. One of the pulleys it wraps around has been replaced once.

I had the 'guards' put on the coil springs for that recall a few years back, they make all sorts of noise no matter how small a bump I go over.

The rear left door has problems unlocking with the automatic lock. I have to press it like 5 or so times to get it to unlock. Just once unlocks the rest of the doors.

I just found out today my alternator is bad and needs to be replaced.

I have 2 plug in adapters for charging electronics, and neither of them work.

One of the hinges on the center console cover (where you put tapes) fell off, making it hard to close.

My trip odometer thinks 1 mile is the length of a semi. About a 300 mile drive is 2500 miles in it's mind.

General Comments:

This car just keeps having more and more problems. With not even 100,000 miles I'm worried about how much I will have to spend to keep it running in the future. I generally don't fix things that aren't of immediate need for driving the car, but it seems every year or so I get another $500 or so bill when I least expect it, just to keep it running.

I really want to support American cars, but I'm not having the greatest experience... the poor reliability of this car will make me seriously look at a different manufacturer when I buy my next car.