Bulletproof drivetrain, fragile everything else

Owners repeatedly report 200k-500k mile lives from the 8V and 16V engines and their gearboxes on routine maintenance alone, and the 16V in particular is celebrated as an unsung twin-cam that big-power builders still favor. The failures that actually plague these cars are peripheral: sagging headliners, stripped odometer gears, leaky sunroofs, throttle cables slipping off the pedal, fuel pressure regulators, wheel bearings, power steering pump seepage, and Westmoreland or Puebla build-quality gremlins. …