Bought the beast August 1995, so it'll have its 14th birthday this August. Last week I replaced the battery, only the second replacement since new. Car has now done 215,000 km. I was asked about my service history (thanks hako ), so here goes: 1000 km gearbox replaced due to gear noise in 5th gear, no further problems since. 46,000 engine partially rebuilt with new pistons/rings/bearings. On a trip around Australia, we had a horrible rattle on start up, which turned out to be piston slap. The car was about 5 months out of warranty, but GMH paid for the complete job! The dealer argued for a new short motor, but the motor was rebuilt instead, and it's been very sweet ever since. :thumbsup: 150,000 changed oil in transmission and differential 160,000 replaced most of the front end consumables, struts, tie rod ends, bushes, due to a misdiagnosed noise - turned out to be an unbonded steel in rubber bush at the top of one of the struts, only discovered after I'd spent about a grand, but the front end is tight as new, so all good. Actually, that's about it! The rest has just been the usual consumables - brake pads, plugs, have changed leads once, brake fluid and coolant changes. Most of the maintenance I have done myself for the last 7 years or so, the car is pretty easy to work on with a Gregory's manual on hand and a decent tool set. No rust at all, despite being on Bribie Island for the first 4 years, in a salt air environment. Some corrosion around the battery tray area that I repaired and has not reoccured. Still have the original windscreen. Economy has been sensational, as high as 37 mpg, regularly 36mpg on trips. She likes a drink around town. 700 km on trips, down to 450km just around town. My only modification was a set of white alloys (15" was okay in 1995!!!!!) because I didn't like the silver S pack mags. An aftermarket cruise control helps ease the pain in my right leg ( two episodes of multiple compound fractures from motorcycle crashes, that's another story...) I bought the car with the intention of keeping it for 15 years, but I can think of no reason to sell it.
That's the beauty of looking after these cars from new - they come out the other end flawless I always look for a car with a good, transparent service history. I've been lucky with the two I've bought That car should give you another 15 years of trouble-free motoring with any luck ^_^ Probably change some of the "known issues" at around 250-300,000km, like the harmonic balancer, all the sensors, fuel pump... but they're damn good cars if you treat 'em right ^_^ Congrats to you - she's still a looker after all these years! (and so's the car).
Great report Pjay - your fuel usage is much better than mine....I was thinking of changing the O2 sensors but you can buy a lot of fuel for what they cost. Regards.
VS II V6 Manual Long Term Report Interesting reading. I bought a VS II Manual V6 Executive with Dual IRS, ABS, IRS and AIRCON in early 1997. Had cruise control fitted straight away. Also fitted a Level 3 cluster some years later. I have since moved on to a VY II Exec and now VE SV6, but the VS is still in the family. It has covered well over 200,000 Km. Warranty problems: Just one. One of the pulley wheels for the serpentine belt was replaced. Later problems: 1. Pressure plate gave out around 9.5 years. Replaced the dual mass flywheel and put a clutch kit in. Total cost was $1,400. Considered moving to a solid flywheel (would have cost $1,100 and so cheaper), but decided to stay standard. 2. AIRCON compressor gave out at around 11 years. Replaced with a new one. 3. Around 10 years, the power steering pump started to leak. This was fixed for a matter of dollars by replacing seals. While I was driving it, I would get between 7.4 and 7.8L/100KM on the open road, including heavily laden going on holidays. This figure was achieved by driving at the speed limit where ever possible. Best that I got was 6.8L/100Km travelling from Tenterfield to Sydney with only a light load. Around town, I used to get between 9.5 and 10.5L/100Km. It remains one of my favourite cars, and I see no reason why it will not continue on for many years to come.
