Faults:

I've had the car two years and am now about to give it away because the cost of repairs exceeds the value. I've spent about $200 on repairs, mostly maintenance, but now the ABS system has failed. Unfortunately, when the ABS fails, all the brakes fail. They say it could cost $1,000 to $3,000 to fix. From now on I am going to stay away from ABS. Who knew it was like having another engine in the car, in that it cost just as much if not more to repair or replace as an engine. I didn't realize that if the ABS pressure fails, you lose all your rear brakes and are left with 10% of front braking power.

I can live without A/C (which still works fine), but you gotta have brakes.

General Comments:

Worked fine until the ABS went out.

Faults:

Minor problems like you'd expect from a car with 150,000 miles. The car used to be my father's (he bought it used with 25,000 miles) and he made sure to have all maintenance done on time, one of the reasons this car held up so well.

During the time I owned it, I replaced the radiator and hoses, alternator, water pump, ball joints, and engine computer. That's about it for repairs. Repairs were cheap and parts very easy to find.

General Comments:

I loved this car and still miss it. It never stranded me and always started easily, even in 20 below zero weather up here in northern Wisconsin.

It had very good power from the 2.8 L V6 (a great engine in my opinion).

Inside it was comfortable, roomy, and quiet. I loved the red night illumination on the dashboard!

At 206,000 it still ran great and the transmission worked like new. Even the A/C was still blowing ice cold. Gas mileage was around 19 MPG in the city, 26 on the highway.

Routine maintenance included oil changes with synthetic blend oil, two spark plug changes, new transmission fluid, new coolant, and a brake job.

Overall, the cost of upkeep for this car was quite reasonable. I loved the distributor-less ignition - it really made tune ups easy.

Faults:

Well, it finally died. Just plain wore out. If I wanted to fix it, it would have needed a ring-job and crank trigger.

The distributorless ignition is ingenious. No timing adjustment.

The throttle-body fuel injection system has just one fuel injector, and it lasted all 200,000 miles.

When I got the car, it had lousy performance, but I replaced all the sensors with Bosch replacements, installed Bosch platinum spark plugs (for 2 bucks a piece why not?) and replaced the oil with Mobil 1. The oil pan never leaked a drop. I also upgraded to a K&N air filter, which is washable and is guaranteed for 1,000,000 miles.

The transmission was good as new with 200k miles. What killed it was a crank trigger failure. Before I could fix it, the wacky timing hammered through the rings. This engine has no timing belt or chain. The cam timing is done by a set of huge gears, which were perfect when I tore it down last week. the only repairs it ever needed were the fuel and water pumps, both of which died within the last 10,000 miles.

I was rear-ended by a Honda Civic 2 years ago, and the car was officially totalled, but I drove it another 50,000 miles, having been paid for its total loss. My car didn't even crack a tail lamp. The Honda Civic is rotting away in a junkyard with a totalled front end.

This is a great car. Buy one before all of them are gone. The 2.5L "Iron Duke" engine is famous for its great design and reliability. Unfortunately, GM doesn't make the "duke" anymore.

Faults:

I can't fill the tank to full, every time I do it, leaks.

The clutch is very high and is hard on the foot, and I had to exchange it.

The car sensors are failing, and the heating system won't turn off and constantly blows on your feet.

My wipers don't go fast, everytime I put them on fast they stop totally.

General Comments:

It's a fast car for a family comfort car, I was surprised to see a 6000 in standard. I took it for a test drive and fell in love with the car... it's a great first car.