[jwasbury]

'06 MCS here, 6 speed manual. Bought new, now approaching 80k miles. Other than tires and brakes, the car hasn't needed much. The only significant repair needed was a cracked thermostat housing (not uncommon, I understand). I did the serpentine belt replacement (60k mile service item) myself. Bought the tool to do this and the Bentley manual...much cheaper than the stealership wanted. The only other nit I have is the rear muffler hanger system is made of pot metal and has rusted through in multiple places, leaving the large and heavy rear section of the exhaust supported from only two locations, where it is supposed to be 4. I have subsequently broken 2 factory mounting brackets because they now carrying too much weight. Tired of the factory brackets failing, I have rigged up something using universal hanger bits from my FLAPS, but the muffler now rattles when the car rolls over our lovely NYC metro area bombed out streets. It's ok on the highway. I just can't bring myself to spend the $ on an entire factory hanger system, knowing that it will fall apart in 3 years.