1982 Holden Camira JB SL-X review from Australia and New Zealand

Replaced oil pump

Replaced CV joints

Replaced rear wheel bearing

Replaced clutch

Replaced radiator hose when engine overheated

Replaced engine mountings twice

Paintwork on body bubbled and peeled off from bonnet, top and boot.

Rust on all four doors and boot, resulting in leaks in to boot space.

Fuel gage never worked.

Left side front passenger door window stopped working - replaced window lining.

Burnt oil which required topping up every week.

Exhaust smoked severely, due to oil consumption.

Having owned the car for 17000 km only, there were too many mechanical problems which results in my opinion of this car being unreliable and expensive to maintain. I spent $2000 buying the car, spent another $2000 on repairs when driving and owning the car for only 17000 km, and lucky to get $2000 trade in value when upgrading the car. The cost to km ratio works out to $8.50 per km, whereas my current car is a 1986 Toyota Corolla which I have owned after trading this car in, and I've now had it with the mileage on the odometer reading 370000 and averaging $24.50 per km.

I was the seventh (unlucky) owner, and the previous paint job was quite poor, with the blistering and peeling paintwork attesting to the poor workmanship.

Interior is acceptable, with the leg room comfortable. The dashboard looked nice, especially with the trendy vacuum gage. Nothing special otherwise.

In general, all subsequent professional reviews rate this car

as being at the bottom of the heap, namely being unreliable. As for those reviews, I concur with them.