Faults:

Cam seal started leaking at 130k miles, replaced.

Turbo bearings failed at 142k miles, replaced.

Valve seals are leaking slightly, causing an occasional puff of smoke at startup.

General Comments:

Extremely fun car to drive. The SVO isn't a straight-line car like the V8s. This car was designed to compete against touring cars like the BMW 3-series. Twisty-road handling is incredible, 4-wheel disc brakes, Koni shocks, and 16" aluminum wheels all from the factory makes this a serious road car.

Not a large aftermarket for the 2.3 turbo, but parts from other cars can be adapted to work. Fairly easy to make good power from the small engine.

If you drive one, be prepared to answer a lot of questions from curious people. (main question is "Does that have a 5.0?").

Faults:

Muffler, and a bit of an oil leak, that's it.

General Comments:

I bought this car when I was seventeen, I drove the heck out of it. I had it for four years. I mean, I even took it 4x4 many times. Nothing went wrong. It was red, with some 5L fat rims. Now you might thing it's kind of an ugly ride, however when I was seventeen the ladies liked it, and I'm only twenty-two now. This car is good for city driving, highway driving and 4x4 driving. You will get a bit of an oil leak from your valve cover gaskets and the manifold in the front, but no big deal. Also the tranny is very strong. In the end, I sold it to a good friend, and he had to replace the water pump and radiator, no big deal. He also is still driving it every day.

Faults:

This is a car for someone who wants to collect, not to use. When it runs, it is incredible fun. The major issue is the availability of parts specific to this SVO Turbo model. Major parts like timing belts and core engine components are no problem, but things like wiring harnesses, and exterior trim parts are impossible to find outside collector clubs. I started having electrical problems with harnesses that were going to have to be hand made and wired, which was going to cost at least a thousand dollars to do. I sold it to a mechanic who could never identify all of the misterious electrical grounding issues it had after rewiring. For the most part, mechanics will not even take on these cars because of the wiring problems they had.

General Comments:

A great car when it runs, but don't count on it as dependable transportation. If you find one, have it professionally restored, and then store it until it becomes a collector's item. Definitely a head turner though. I would always find crowds around it in parking lots! Very fast, and incredible pickup when the turbo kicks in.

Faults:

The only problem I have had with the car is the first time I took the car over 5,000 rpm, the heater core started to leak. Also I had a problem with the stator in the distributor with wouldn't let the car start.

General Comments:

The car is otherwise excellent and performs great for a vehicle that has nearly 200,000 miles. I take the car to the drag strip all the time and it goes 13.7's at 102 mph with an off road H-pipe, flowmasters and 3.73's.