First, I love this car. I've had a Nissan 300ZX and an RX-7 (for 14 years, driven every day) and this car continues a great experience with sports cars. I drive it nearly every day to/from work for about 30 miles round trip, generally at highway speeds of 70-75 mph. 127 mph was my personal fastest - just getting old and nervous. As I pass 52,000 miles, here's a summary of significant maintenance events:

1. Heated seat controller failed and, in turn, caused the failure of both seat heating elements ($807). I'm most unhappy with this issue as the failure of the heating elements is simply due to very poor design. Who designs an electrical system that doesn't fail open?

2. RH front wheel bearing replaced ($169). Given the super soft Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 tires, the bad bearing led to a misalignment that rapidly wore the tire, leading me to change to Pilot Sport AS Plus.

3. Speaking of tires, I got nearly 36K on the first set of PS2's and only 16K on the second set.

4. About three weeks ago, I started hearing some sort of electric motor or pump run for about 15 seconds when I locked the car or opened the door after driving any distance. Quickly found out that the rear hatch would not lock (neither would the gas cap access door). Removal of the cargo area interior panels showed the air or vacuum tubing that is part of the locking system had abraded on part of the unibody and was leaking. The shop removed the damaged section and spliced it back together to avoid replacing the integrated tubing/wire harness ($5000 in their estimate). Total repair cost was $300.

Again, I really like this car and enjoy it every day. I do think it suffers from some poorly designed features. As an aerosapce engineering executive with 30 years of experience, I know a bit about good design. Hope this report helps a few of our higher mileage friends anticipate future events.

 

Sorry for the troubles you're having. Mine has now 47.500 miles and besides doing oil changes and being on my third set of tires I had no problems with the car (besides the little anoiances).

 

42000 miles on mine now with no issues at all and only serviced for front brakes.
I do my own oil changes and air filters etc.

 

I am approaching 30k soon. Original mileage when purchased was 6K. Like you I bought my CF to drive , not store in a garage and drive it on the weekend. Only problem so far was the "famous" tranny fluid leak from the seal. No big deal. I am now beginning to wonder if I should extend my already extended warranty after my remaining 9 months is up. It's pretty pricey,although a serious repair could be big $'s. Before I bought a CF I did quite a lot of web searches in terms of reliability/repair issues. The CF came up as one of the best used cars to buy for reliability.
The other three cars I was considering had horrible repair/reliability ratings. I made the right choice.
If anyone reading this has a good recommendation for a extended warranty carrier, please let me know. Mine is rather expensive. Thanks in advance.

 

I'm new to the forum - what "famous tranny leak"?

 

It's a seal on the tranny body that can wear out. TM fluid starts to leak in small amounts (drops). Usually see a few drops on the garage floor. It's a $100.00 repair at a Chrysler dealer. May never happen to your CF, then again it might. Really no big deal. This forum has lot's of info about this. Do a forum search for transmission leak.This forum will be your best friend and source of CF information. Best CF forum in the Country with some of the most knowledgeable owners anywhere. Welcome to the forum.

 

Welcome to the forum ! Your Home for Perma-Grin Support !

 

I am at 43K and no problems really at all

My mother's 2005 limited roadster has almost 80K on it and she has put ZERO money into it other than tires, oil, etc.

I am keeping my fingers crossed I do not have any strange issues :-)

 

I apologize from post #3
I didn't notice you have just joined the forum so I would like to welcome you here.

Gary

 

Does this happen on both manual and auto transmission cars?

 

Ouch.... I am only on my second set of tires (the first set was the original). I have 53K miles and still lots of rubber left!

 

Great post. $5k seems a little steep to fix a trunk-not-locking problem. Glad there is a cheap work around. I'm at 32k on my roadster - summers only - with original everything other than the radiator fan TSB work. Rear tires are showing some wear but should be good for this season and fronts have a lot of tread.

If car companies had the FAA looking over their shoulder like the aeronautical industry, quality would be higher. But prices would be much much higher. I remember years ago GE created the equivalent six feet of paper documentation for every aircraft engine they built. Material trace results, test results, etc. Imagine if you had to have that for a car.

 

Only had to replace the hood prop at 63,000 miles. Engine idles so smooth that without the Ansa muffler I wouldn't know it was running.

 

I recognize the differences in regulation and certification between automobiles and aircraft but that doesn't drive good design practices. Routing a vacuum tube without sufficient clearance or support is just "bad", as is designing an electrical system that is not fault tolerant. It's hard for me to ignore this stuff as engineers LOVE to critique each other's work !

 

Lantana, why am I not surprised to see that you had to replace the hood prop, probably because you are in and out of there every 5 mins trying to shoehorn a V8 in there, excellent work, please continue....

I am sure a new hood prop is the least of your worries

 

The automatic with automatic trans fluid.

 

I have an '04 coupe with the auto trans and 54K miles. The Chrysler mech pointed out what he said was a common issue, that being the beginning of a leak in the trans pan gasket. We discussed the issue, and I will be doing a trans service at 60K, which will include replacing the filter, the fluid, and the pan gasket. Also, Im still on the original brake pads, which are only half worn.

I'm very pleased, given the service I've gotten from other cars.

 

As opposed to the manual tranny that's filled with ATF.

 

Yea, I probably use my hood way more than normal

 

My experience is that aircraft parts are triple in price, but not necessarily more reliable. An argument can even be made that aircraft parts are less reliable due to the lack of competition. Granted aircraft operating conditions are far different and generally more stressful than that of automobiles; but still, I've seen numerous parts that are poorly thought out or have fail prematurely.