Faults:

When I first bought the car, I had to put a 50.00 throttle sensor in it. A throttle sensor helps your overdrive on your transmission to work.

Then about a month later, I replaced the rear suspension, struts, mounts etc... I still get a clunking noise, then the brake lights went out, lord help me it was connected on top of the blinkers, and that's why my blinkers didn't work; there goes another 60.00 down the drain.

The water pump went out twice within a SIX MONTH PERIOD! There goes 25.00 for each time.

I don't recommend this car at all to anyone, no matter what year. My aunt had a 1992, and it was almost identical in problems; after about 150-180 thousand miles the head gaskets will go! Sell them while you can!

General Comments:

It's a real smooth ride, comfortable! But the gas mileage sucks real bad!

Faults:

Well, here's the whole story. The family that owned the car before me treated it like it was indestructible. As a result, many problems arose. They replaced the engine with a used one in 2002, but still had problems. They finally got frustrated, and sold it to me (a mechanic) for only $300. From there, it cost me $200 to replace the radiator, and as far as drive-train goes, it's been smooth sailing from there for the last 23,000 miles.

The electric switches are unreliable. Only the passenger in the back left seat can roll their window down and the front passenger has to manually unlock their door.

The paint is chipping - no - peeling in large sheets off of the bumpers. All the other paint is fine. I don't know what they did different with the bumpers, but they shouldn't have.

General Comments:

This is a generally good car, especially for the price.

It handles as you would expect a full size four door sedan to handle. I drove highway 17 in Santa Cruz once a week for three months with the use of only one arm with no problems. It accelerates quickly and responds to the gas pedal immediately. It does only make 160hp, but it uses all of them quite efficiently. I was able to reach 114 mph on a flat, straight highway before the computer stopped me.

I only got about 21 mpg even on constant highway driving at the speed limit with cruise control. I'm afraid to even check what I get in the city.

The cabin room is amazing. Three full size adults can fit in the back seat with ease. Plenty of headroom. The front seat fits three also, but the middle person must be very small. The wind noise is very low (even at 114 mph), and very little road noise comes through too.

The trunk is gigantic. I fit my snowboard in it flat sideways. It had enough space to hold all of the luggage for five adults for a three day weekend trip even though I had installed an amplifier in it.

That brings me to the stereo. I'm a fanatic, so I replaced every and all stereo components, however, beforehand, I was very impressed. For a stock stereo, it was quite satisfactory. Also, even with eight speakers, a subwoofer, and a 1000 watt amplifier, not one piece of that car inside and out vibrates. The sound insulation is phenominal. With the stereo at ear-piercing volumes, virtually no sound can be heard outside the car.

Since the initial fix, the engine has been nothing but reliable. I change the oil regularly (every 3000 miles) and I have not yet once had to put in a quart of oil outside of the changes.