Hey I'm looking into buying a 03 or 04 coupe 6MT in the near future and I was wondering how easy these cars are to work on? How cramped is the engine bay? I don't usually let mechanics or other people work on my car, and I would be doing all the maintenance and everything myself. What am I getting into? Thanks.

 

For a modern car they are not bad, but its all relative. What are you used to working on in comparison?

 

Good question... IMO the engine bay isn't too terribly cramped, especially for a Japanese car.

 

I drive a 1g AWD Talon at the moment, which I think is pretty easy to work on. I'm used to easy maintenance for the most part. How hard is it to change the plugs/wires and do oil changes and stuff? Any of these things in hard to reach areas/does a lot of stuff need to be removed?

 

plugs arn't much fun. Some people say they can do them with the plenum still on, but I tried it and it took just as long as it would have if I would have taken the plenum off. It was also much more frustrating with the plenum in the way. From now on I'll always take it off to do plugs.

On a positive note, changing the wires is easy on this car, thanks to coil on plug!

 

So every time you change the plugs you have to change an intake gasket as well? Any other little things like that that you have to do to do other easy stuff?

 

I changed mine with the plenum on, but as stated, its a little more difficult. But if your running stock, plug changes are not very often. Oil changes are easy, personally, I find this car a 5 out of 10 to work on. Not too cramped, but some things just require a little patience.

 

I have never changed the intake gasket, and I've had the plenum off at least 5 times. As long as you are careful with the gasket it won't need replaced.