Faults:

The vehicles paint job has deteriorated badly The vehicle went through two sets of struts during the time I owned it The emergency brake cables went bad on the car. There were also problems with the poor quality of plastics on the interior, which lead to several busted out screw holes.

General Comments:

This vehicle looked impressive when I first saw it. But time and experience proved otherwise. The car is underpowered for its appearence and not always easy to drive with a manual transmission. The ground effects look impressive, but run aground when pulling out of driveways very easily. These ground effects also trap dirt and debris behind them which leads to serious rust. Also this was one of the first years for base coat/clear coat and it's obvious that they weren't experienced judging by the way the two layers separated and flaked off.

Faults:

- minor rust.

- fallen head liner.

General Comments:

I love this car when I first laid eyes on it I fell for it the body style the engine all it needed was a little more power, after a long and expensive upgrade to the engine and transmission it was ready.

Major problems when I got it was some minor rust here and there, it needed a tune up, but I just rebuilt the whole engine so that was done then, but with well over $3000 into the engine alone and another $2500 into the actual looks and stereo this was not a cheap custom job, but they never are.

If I were to ever buy another car I would definitely buy a Daytona before any other car, these things are just so nice and even after the big engine upgrade it still gets some pretty good miles to the gallon.

Faults:

Had to have the brakes re-milled at 70,000 miles.

Had a full set of brakes (drums, pads, disks) replaced at 200,000 miles.

Heater blower motor replaced at 205,000 miles.

New radiator installed at 175,000 miles.

Left rear speaker no longer works. Have no idea what the problem is with it.

Need to add power steering fluid about every three months.

Burns a quart of oil every two months.

Head gaskets replaced at 110,000 miles.

Head gaskets replaced at 209,000 miles.

The pressure cylinders for the hatchback don't hold the hatch up.

Inside light doesn't come on when the door is opened.

General Comments:

Despite all the issues listed above, I've been extremely pleased with the car overall.

I've owned the car for 15 years, putting close to 210,000 miles on it. I'm hoping to keep it running for another 5 years and get it to 300,000.

I still get 30+ mpg highway driving.

I don't mind the regular repair bills. Spending $1500 / year on maintenance is still a lot cheaper than new car payments.

Faults:

The only problems I have had with this car is having about 5 different head gaskets blow. I had all these fixed under warranty 5-10 years ago. I have since learned that it was the dealerships fault that I kept having blown head gaskets. I changed my first head gasket 5 years ago and have since not had 1 blown head gaskets. The trick is to not re-use the head bolts like the dealership did. I have street raced this car hundreds of times a year and I have almost had no problems with it even with it approaching 400hp.

General Comments:

This is one of the cheapest cars to own based or reliability and performance. Not many cars can get 32 miles per gallon and easily outrun a mustang gt or cobra.