Faults:

Clutch.

Exhaust.

Ignition coil.

General Comments:

Found my GTZ off a guy that wanted 900. Was my 1st time being taken by a private seller. Didn't know much bout cars then, didn't know how to drive a stick either, so I had my friend test drive. I still remember the sound of the quad 4 with NO exhaust system.

Later once I got plates, I learned the loud exhaust was from the manifold not the convertor as originally thought. The turn signals only worked if I flashed the stalk myself, 5th and reverse didn't work, nor did the brake lights. And I was lacking an air cleaner element.

Drove the Beretta for 5 months before the clutch went, partly due to me thinking I was in a Fast and the Furious movie. She'd go from a dead stop to 110 before I even got thru a freeway on-ramp. Garaged her for a year, fixed the clutch, shift linkage, & coil for the same price I paid. Drove her for a couple months til winter, then kept as a project car.

Eventually, my son was born and needed a bigger car. That and the clutch was going AGAIN. So I let her go for once again, $900.

Interior was crappy from day one, the car obviously wasn't taken care of by the previous owners. This being my only GM model car, I can't fairly base my opinion on the company off one small car.

Faults:

A lot. A bunch of things in the car have been replaced.

Light relay switch went out recently, tubes were loose so I accidentally ran the transmission dry, but fixed that.

It apparently is leaking oil. Not much, but enough to make me worry about it.

Paint is chipping off like crazy.

General Comments:

I LOVE IT. It gets me to where I need to go. It handles really quite well.

I love the black and red theme with the car.

Faults:

While I owned it: Crank Positioning Senson (CPS). Cheap part (hard to find it for the GTZ, but it's the same as Saturns, so I just got one from the Saturn dealership for like 17 bucks CDN), but it was impossible to install it on the side of the road where it quit. So I had to tow it to a shop, something almost NONE of my 9 cars ever experienced.

Needed front struts BAD, same with front brake pads (again...normal wear and tear)

Headgasket was replaced just before I bought it.

Paint was peeling, but I spent 45 minutes in a parking lot with some sandpaper and a can of spraypaint and it came out looking spectacular.

Power steering belt needed replacing, no biggie.

After I sold it, it threw a rod within a month, needed axles, the interior was pretty trashed (no fault of the car).

General Comments:

WICKED car. Fast as sin, handles great, looks beautiful with the factory bodycladding and 16 inch wheels. However, I'd never own it as my primary mode of transportation for many reasons.

1: for a 4cylinder it eats a LOT of gas (especially the way I drove it... the way it was intended to be driven).

2: the 2.3s are VERY quirky motors, and not the easiest to work on.

It was fast, comfy, looked great, and I had NO complaints for a car I paid $300CDN for. But I sold it within 20 days for two reasons. I realized the general upkeep of the car would leave me poor. And some kid offered me 1200.

Oh wait... reason number three: I sped like a maniac everywhere... the car just LOVES to go fast. The fastest I've ever gone in any vehicle was in the Beretta the night after I bought it. It's confidence-inspiring and fun. But an expensive toy in the long-run.