V8 reliability

[Gfbourcier at aol.com]

Chris,
I've had my V8 for about a year and will give you my experience.  To preface, 
I'm a fleet manager for Budget Rent a Car and review maintenance for a 2000 
vehicle fleet, so I see a lot of different cars and trucks screw up.  The 
previous owner provided the last four years of service records and he spent a 
bundle paying list price for all OE replacement parts.  Between 100k and 120k 
miles, in short order, he replaced the rack, elec.rad. cooling fan, high 
pressure PS line, ign caps and rotors, alternator, and then the timing belt 
broke.  Your first job should you buy this one is to replace timing belt and 
all the stuff you would do on the MC, except you have 3 idlers in the 3.6 PT 
engine.  When I bought the car, I knew the bomb was dying and the O2 sensor 
was toast.  Parts are expensive, but which model has cheap parts?  It has 
never failed to start, nor has it left me stranded.  Normal maintenance is 
required, and I had to buy a much bigger oil drain pan (10 qts of oil can 
make a huge mess in a 6 qt bucket {Honey, the toilet's overflowing NOW!!!!})  
It's no stoplight racer, great roadcar, and accelerates from 80 to 130 way 
too quick.  It's a trip to watch A4 owners ride by scratching their heads 
saying what the h$%l is that?  If you can get some history on the car, you're 
in good shape.  If not, you may have a short term expense to have a good car 
for another 100k miles. 

Gil Bourcier
Columbia, MD USA
90 V8Q-142k
87 4kcsq-93k