At 85,000 the ignition control module died.
At around 100,000 miles I had a roll pin slip out of the shift linkage in the transmission.
All other expenses have been maintenance items.
I bought this used in 1999, looking for something to replace my skittish and sluggish rear-drive early 90's Cougar. I expected to keep the vr4 for 2 or 3 years. I still haven't found a better car.
These are amazingly capable, solid cars. If you're looking for a used 3000 (the only kind) spend the extra couple of bucks and get a vr4. Performance is competitive even today, 12 years on. Strong acceleration and amazing brakes, especially for a 3800lb vehicle.
If I have any complaint, it's that the car is too competent. No matter how hard you push it, it seems to take it all in stride. With all wheel drive, I slap snow tires on it and cruise all winter. I've driven it without so much as a fishtail in conditions that were leaving SUVs on the side of the road. The braking is cartoonishly fast. For a 5 second car it's almost boring.
Problems have been minor to insignificant, especially when compared to other high performance vehicles. Maybe I just got lucky, but 120,000 miles on and the car still purrs.
The only truly annoying problem I ever had was with a dealer. I took the car in, and later in the afternoon they called to ask how to disable the after-market alarm system. Since the alarm system was stock, I told them to read the shop manual. I decided to avoid that dealer from then on.
What kind of problems did that cause when the roll pin slipped out? How did you fix it?
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