Faults:

Very little. Nearly all B4's ping on our 98 octane fuel-and a few have destroyed themselves. Even with quite high kilometers they still feel new. Nothing has broken. The main criticism is the lag between the first and second turbo coming on boost.

General Comments:

Excellent car- not sure why I'm getting rid of it. Almost the performance of a WRX with better comfort and less police/thief appeal. Excellent buying second hand.

With a few tweaks (thicker rear sway bar, brake pads) beautiful handling car (has standard Bilsteins).Only weak link is the problem with fuel and turbo setup.

Faults:

Very little. I used a mobile phone adapter in the cigarette lighter which led to a rattle. The service guys knew about this instantly.

A complaint about increased rolling noise was simply worn out tires (Bridgestone Potenzas).

I got caught in a hail storm. I don't recommend doing that with an aluminium bonnet!

General Comments:

Used a lot of fuel around town, but improved considerably when going on a trip. Overall I was happy with it.

Tires lasted 44,000 Km which I thought OK considering the grip and car cornering abilities.

Absolutely fantastic on a dirt road.

Now I have replaced the car and can compare with my new Toyota Kluger two issues become more apparent.

It had reasonable low beam, but high beam was hopeless. Compared to my previous Mazda 626 it was good though.

The other issue was the cruise control. No light to indicate active on dash. It was also clunky and imprecise. Maybe the Kluger is so good due to having an electronic throttle. Its worse issue was changing down two gears on highway hills that I could manually maintain pace on and remain in 4th (top).

The 4 speed auto a bit clunky. When I shopped for replacement I was looking for a 5 speed. Choice boiled down to a 6 cylinder Subaru or the Kluger.

I had this car via a novated lease and came out ahead unlike some cars even though the second hand car market has come under considerable stress in the last few years.