What's the earliest production date
 

you could have on your car if you bought in the USA? Mine was made in August so I hope they got most of the bugs out.

Look at the last 4 digits of your vin#. I have seen some as low as 800's. Mine is 4901, aug mfg, and I consider that to be earlier than I would have liked, but no problems so far.

Also there is a thread on MPG that people actually listed their vin# which is pretty interesting.

yea but what months were the first cars produced? In July?

May and June- mine was born June 26th, but I believe quite a number of people on here had build dates in late May.

US and Canadian cars had first deliveries in July - those cars were built in May. Deliveries in Japan began in May, those were April builds.

Somewhere on the forum from back then are threads discussing the first deliveries in Japan, and the announcement of the start of production.

Regards,
Gordon

My VIN is 1959 and the build date is June '03 - Elara, I didn't notice the day, just month and year on my door sticker. How did you figure out the day of the month?

As for working the bugs out - I did get the oilpan replaced but have not had any other issues whatsoever. (No flooding, no transmission or clutch issues, door sill metallic bits are still in place etc. etc.)

Simon.

VIN 1058, build date was 5/23/03. That is my daughters birthday so I figure that is a good omen. No real problems so far, other than the weak air.