Faults:
Noisy wheel bearing, leaky steering box, a leaky rear brake slave cylinder and the clutch release bearing; all replaced without quibble under Network Q warranty. Cambelt failed twice, fortunately it didn't harm the engine.
Alternator failed due to ingress of water and mud in serious off-road wading; I guess I take the blame for that.
General Comments:
I like it a lot. It's vastly underrated by the mainstream motoring press (their reviewers only care about car-like road manners, which is missing the point.)
It's perfectly adequate on the road, and very nimble off-road. It's a fine compromise in cost, size, comfort, utility and ability between the "street only" trucks like the RAV4 and the uncompromising off-road vehicles like the Defender.
I guess I go off-road more than 98% of owners. Nothing's fallen off yet. The chassis and running gear are off a pickup truck, so they are very tough. The trade-off is less on-road refinement than you get from a monocoque vehicle like the RAV4.
The real downside is the dealers. I've used two and they've been bad, verging on incompetent, at maintaining the vehicle. Most of the trouble I've had has been due to this, not the vehicle itself.
22nd Aug 2001, 03:44
Following up to my own review... 4 years later and still enjoying it. Just sailed through yet another MoT test with no work needed.
It had yet another cambelt failure about a year ago - but the old 2.0 is a "safe" engine so no real harm done. That, and a couple of wheel bearings, is about all.
It's now almost 10 years old and only a few tiny spots of rust. Paint still looks great despite my best efforts to scrape it off on the undergrowth of green lanes.