20th May 2014, 04:37
I wrote all the above, I sold the car yesterday, 19 May 2014, for $800. There was nothing more to add, it had still been used from time to time, had done about 206,000km. It had been used to tow a trailer and had made a few 500km trips carrying building materials and furniture in the last few months; not heavy loads, but bulky. It was manufactured in September 1990, one of the first KF Lasers. The interior was still in VGC despite it having been rarely garaged. Extremely reliable.
12th Aug 2017, 04:43
The purchaser told me that the radiator needed replacing soon after he bought it from me, and then a year or two later it needed a new alternator. He still has it in July 2017, happy with his purchase.
23rd Jan 2023, 05:32
I wrote all the above. Two things I miss on the Laser are:
a) The window washer low level warning light, something I think is still unusual on cars today.
b) The clock reset button set the clock to the nearest hour. When the ABC Radio on the hour time signal was broadcast, the clock could be synchronised with the push of a button. Other car digital clocks have been more of a hassle than this.
5th Jul 2013, 03:14
I still own this car, it is 23 years old and has done just over 200,000km. I am not the usual driver, but I did use it today 5 July 2013. Today I carried 4 three-metre 125x75mm hardwood fence posts in the car. I wound back the passenger seat, one end in the passenger footwell, the other hanging out the back. The great majority of the weight of these posts was on the back seats, which were not folded down. It all worked fine.
The drive-shaft rattling has returned and needs to be done again; it seems to be a once every 100,000km problem. It only rattles when accelerating around corners. The air conditioning stopped working about a year ago. The interior is still in excellent condition, especially for a car that has seen a lot of sunshine, and that has rarely been garaged.
The original muffler rusted out after maybe 17 years, then the replacement only lasted a few years. Oh yes, the windscreen lets water into the car, no attempt has ever been made to repair it. The windscreen was replaced twice, years ago.
Still very little rust, as per my earlier comment.
This car has always started easily and run perfectly. I'd have to give it 99% for reliability.