29th Jul 2005, 07:15

I've never owned a more reliable car. only problems were caused by my modifications.

22nd Aug 2007, 10:21

I had a 96 G20 that I purchased at an auction. It idled hard, but that was fixable. I could tell that the previous owner didn't love it as much as I ended up loving it, because it was abused and neglected inside and out. The creep even used the cig lighter to put a burn in the dash. After three years, the tranny went up. I paid very little for a very good car. I'd buy another.

25th Feb 2009, 13:33

I bought my 1996 G20 a few years ago with 41 K and it's been the most reliable car I've had since my Celicas back in the eighties.

I did fork out the extra money to have dealer maintenance up to now (125,000 miles). I had one non dealer experience with a national chain and it was a nightmare. Unfortunately I don't think the mechanics at the dealers know how to deal with the higher mileage cars. They must be used to people with 6 year and younger vehicles or something.

The Write a Check Engine Light came on and the dealer recommended a tune up and new belts. I reminded them that the belts had been changed only 8 months prior. They went ahead and did it anyway, and when I complained they discounted the price.

Then the Write a Check Engine Light came on the next day. Dealer assured me that nothing was wrong and advised I just ignore it. Well, I'm not comfortable driving around with an orange light constantly on.

While looking for a lower mileage car to replace it with, I lucked out and met a good honest mechanic that repaired the problem. The manifold had a small build up of carbon and some rubber valve connectors were so old they were shedding pieces. You'd thing the dealer would have known at their prices.

Anyway, the G20 is a great car and I highly recommend it. I also can recommend dealer service if you can afford it up to about 75K, but after that I became increasingly unhappy with their service solutions. Their fix for everything was to change the belts. Find a good grease monkey mechanic that owns his own shop. Avoid the national chains at all costs.