WELCOME TO CEG!
as opposed to you standard Honda.. or Toyota... they really dont compare. but if you are talking within a budget, like right next to a cavalier or something else along those lines that is domestic. Really its the best bang for your buck, especially with an SVT. Lots of fun to drive, decent mileage, comfy seats, plenty of space... How can you go wrong? There are a few minor issues. One being the water pump, if you get this SVT, check on that. If it has a white plastic impeller... its the old pump and is ready to go, and supposedly a new water pump is a pretty... Simple fix on the duratec, just a pain in the butt because its in a hard spot to get too. Aside from a water pump, you probably will need a new IAC. Which is REALLY easy to do on the duratec. Thats about it for common problems.
Things to avoide though are HARD right turns followed by gunning the gas pedal, the duratec has an issue with these kind of turns causing oil starvation, which in turn leads to failure of a rod bearing, which leads to the dreaded rod knock. A good way to avoid this is overfilling the oil by about... half a quart to 3/4 of a quart. This certainly helps a lot. The 3rd gear syncro isnt very friendly either, nor is the weak differential in the trannie. Dont be causing a lot of wheel hop, though any car's Diff will blow if you hop the tires all of the time.
This may sound like a lot, but really it isnt. The bottom line is... Just treat the car with respect, give it some spirited driving on occasion (not TOO often) and the car will treat you with respect. Simple as that. That is a VERY nice SVT on autotrader as well, but ask the owner if the struts are the stock SVT ones, with the Eibach springs. If that is the case, you wont be waiting long before the SVT struts will be dead.
I have seen plenty of duratec's go way past the 100K mark. With the proper treatment, I personally think they could easily make it to 200K.
Last edited by MAYBE aliasfriend; 10/08/05 05:22 AM.
