Faults:

I bought the car with a blown head gasket and replaced it. I also replaced the water pump because all the fins were shredded off.

The ECU just broke, and it will cost $600 to fix. But from what I know, that's normal for these vehicles.

General Comments:

Replacing the ECU is a small price to pay for a vehicle this nice.

This is a great car! It's very fast and nimble. I can keep up with most Camaros and Mustangs. And my car is completely stock.

My car dyno'd at 224hp 247tq with a K&N air filter and Spectre intake. This car has great potential. I plan on making at least 350hp before I stop modifying it.

In my opinion, if you can find one of these cars, buy it! Parts may be expensive, but they don't fail often and it's worth the money!

Faults:

Balance shaft bearing failure resulted in timing belt failure, etc. requiring a full engine rebuild. Balance shafts have been eliminated as part of rebuild.

Upper inter-cooler hose split.

Rear wheel power steering lines were leaking and have been blocked off and removed.

General Comments:

This is actually a very good reliable car, given its age. The problem that resulted in an engine rebuild was something of a fluke.

Dead stock, the car has good performance with about 200HP to motivate its 3200 lbs. The all-wheel drive makes for confident handling in bad weather. In fact, I have come to think of rainy days as "VR4 weather".

The car has great tuning potential, given its engine and drive train which are shared with the US Eclipse Turbo all wheel drive GSX.

The interiors of these cars tend to hold up very nicely, a testament to the quality of materials used throughout. I have seen quite a few VR4s and in nearly all of them the leather seats are in very good condition, free of tares and heavy wear.

The seats are comfortable and very supportive. The driving position and outward visibility are first rate.

The styling is a bit dated, but still handsome.

The original paint on my VR4 is still in very nice condition, again indicating a good grade of materials in the car's exterior finish.

The previous (and original) owner of this car had it in Pennsylvania for the first 12 years of its existence. The body is remarkably rust free considering, although suspension parts, drive shaft components, and fasteners all show a good bit of surface rust.

The car has an unexpectedly small trunk, due to the changes required to the standard Galant layout in order to accommodate the drive shaft and rear differential, which, are absent on most other Galants. The rear seat back does not fold flat for trunk access, but there is a passthrough for skis, 2x4 lumber, and other long skinny objects.

The car has a lot of content that, while often standard on today's new cars, usually cost extra in 1992.

Faults:

The speedometor had some problems and was expensive to fix. After 206000 miles, I ended up having to replace the engine. Leaked oil and power steering fluid.

General Comments:

When I bought the car, I made a few good 100 mile or more road trips and it never gave me a sign that it was gonna die on me. Never a funny noise in it or ever did it shut down. I did have problems at times to keep it started because of idle troubles. The spedometer would start going fine and when it hit a certain mph, it would start to jump all over the place. Seats were very very comfy and it had very ample room in the back as well. It had the power of more than what it could handle I think. It was totaled and I wish it was still around. I really liked that car.

Faults:

The end clutch or fourth in transmission went, but was easily replaced by any back yard mechanic in 30 to 60 minutes. It was just over $400 in parts.

Other than the end clutch the car has been extremely reliable.

General Comments:

The four cylinder engine has adequate power. The cruise control and engine work wonderful together, especially on the long, steep uphills.

The handling is quick, much better now with alloy rims and lower profile tires.

This car is nice and comfortable on long trips with everything at your finger tips.

There's enough pockets to fit small items like cell phones, hand held computers and wallets.

One problem I have found is when the steering wheel is tilted down, I can't see the gages properly.