The later-model injected cars just refused to die. Anything from, say, 1986 onward. The 2.2 and 2.5 were appliances in every measure of the word, and damn good at it.

The Carbureted Ks with the 2.2, however, were crap. Everything was a kludge of electrified controls and feedback carburetors and air pumps that kinda, sorta, maybe worked to keep emissions in check. But, since all the systems were mechanical and required periodic adjustments and maintenance, everything would gum, sludge, and drift out of adjustment until the cars wouldn't idle, wouldn't start, and wouldn't run at a steady state.

The best early K had the Mistubishi 2.6 with the Mikuni carb, but even that had its share of issues, most of them surrounding Mikuni's use of plastic gears on the high-idle cam that liked to strip out when it was cold outside. Replacement, of course, required buying half of the carb new, which was $600 in the late 1980s.

It was the advent of the EFI models that made the Ks really, truly, durable cars. Not stellar, not fun, not any virtue that we ascribe to motoring, but *durable*.