Other than the fact that my oil pipe leading to and from the engine keeps coming off, now to add insult to injury my rear driveshaft actually fell out from under my car, damaging my exhaust on the way out. The seats are quite badly worn on the front and back, the oil light doesn't come on until the very last drop of oil is nearly used up and the rust on the wheel arches is so bad you can actually see daylight through them. Damp and cold mornings are like trying to turn a donkey into a racehorse and uses insane amounts of petrol as you need the choke on for quite a while as the RPM will drop below 2000 and the car will stall if you don't have it on. In my first week of ownership of this car (I am the 13th owner by the way) it broke down 3 times and I needed to be recovered.
The car isn't that fast, 70 MPH at the very best (downhill with a force 9 gale in your back) and it will roll if you go around a corner too quickly, but once the hood is down and you are going convertible the car is quite a bit quicker. It is not the most aerodynamic car (it looks like a brick) but without the hood it goes!
It is a noisy car, but that is part of the charm, and once it gets going it is fine.
Getting parts for it is a different matter all together, it is quite difficult.
Inside is very gloomy and seats are uncomfortable after 18 years of wear and tear, but that is easily solved by a car cushion on your seat.
You sound like a martyr to it! Get some advice about the pipe- it is curable. It sounds like this one is past its best and needs to be turned into an off road hack, but glad you're happy with it!!
Perhaps you could find an early cheap Jimny next, as they do wear better, handle more tidily and rust is less of a problem.
The SJs are a great laugh though.
Good luck.
Note: A Comments RSS Feed is available. New comments appear in the Members Area before the main site