I bought mine in May of '04 and have 12,000 miles. Have had no real problems except one: check engine light that comes on for a couple days then goes off for a couple of hours only to come back for a couple of days, and so on.... About the 4th day after it came on I got hesitation coming from a stop on two different instances on the same short 2 mile trip, then nothing until two days later, only one instance. Both occurances were within minutes of starting the car.
Anybody else have this issue and can shed light on it? I'd like to have some info before I go to the dealer, so I don't get the runaround.
Otherwise no real issues just the same seen here:
- Airbag Sensor, got the recall letter, just haven't taken it in yet.
- Brakes squeak, but only in reverse when I first start the car on a cold morning or evening after the car has not been driven for a while.
- Brake dust on the rear wheels (haven't had the breaks done yet)
- Transmission shifts rough on a cold morning form 1st to 2nd. Otherwise it just shifts sloppy occasionally when warm. (I recommend the 5spd if you have any sporting intensions. 4 speeds is simply not enough for this engine. Car and Driver magazine says its one the best shifting 5spds you can find on an entry level car)
- Rear wheels have a certain amount of negative camber, but I see this on every other 3 I've seen. Anybody know anything about this??
- Glove box rattles sometimes, left side hangs down slightly
- Auto down doen't work on very hot day, 90+ degrees usually.
- Noticed the whining on the power steering, thought it was an issue, but apparently not.
- Groaning/squeaking like sound when turning the wheel either direction at slow speeds. Almost like a bad bushing. Haven't seen this one mentioned, anybody have this too??
Regardless, I absolutely love driving this car (except for the AT) and would whole heartedly recommend it to anyone considering a Hondo or Toyota.