Faults:

Dashboard clock did not display digits when purchased.

Driver's side electric window regulator failed at 240,000 kms.

Air con condenser bearing needed replacing at 250,000. This may or may not have been related to driving through 4 ft deep water during a flood; happened 1 week after.

General Comments:

The CE Lancer MR edition (1.8 L engine instead of the GLI's 1.5L) is a top car. The only real downside is the side impact collision results as can be viewed on youtube under "Lancer crash test".

Being a small car, I found it comfortable to drive. I'm 6'2ft tall, and I had plenty of leg room and never felt squashed in.

The Lancer has never left me broken down, apart from when the car battery deciding to die after parking at a garage once, although this does happen with batteries, and is not related to the car's reliability.

As mentioned above, I drove through 4 ft of water in this car and it handled it very well :) The air intake is positioned so that it would not take on any water in the engine, but I would not advise doing this deliberately :)

The car is light, and handling is responsive. Being a front wheel car, I'd advise using decent tyres, as cheap tyres turning under wet conditions can send you towards the curb, especially around roundabouts.

Overall, if you are looking for a first car, or a cheap reliable car, I would highly recommend this or a later version of the Lancer range, as they have a reputation now of being reliable and cost effective, with no major mechanical problems.

Faults:

Driver's electric window motor stopped working.

Passenger central locking actuator stopped.

Tore the back cover off the rear diff on a particularly high bump.

Some slop in drivetrain after 200+Ks, which causes a front/rear jerk between acceleration and engine breaking.

The inner wheel arch splash guards contact the wheels, and get melted by friction if you lower the car.

Replaced the shocks after 150km, but had disappointingly little difference on the handling.

Reverse gear synchro very crunchy after just 120km.

Sun fades the fabric on the tops of the rear seats.

Crap sticks to the clean carpet like velcro, making them very hard to keep clean.

Driver's window glass makes a clunk noise at the bottom of its travel.

Engine bearings stuffed after 230,000km, even with regular oil changes every 10,000km and careful driving.

General Comments:

Fuel economy approx. 9.5 liters per 100km, which is pretty reasonable for a medium performance sports car of this age.

Very little rust, even though it's never garaged.

Perfect balance of every day economy and occasional spirited driving.

Quite reliable, but dealer spare parts are extortionate.

Air con still cold.

Clutch still had some material on it after 230,000km.

Rebuilding the engine costs more than the value of the car :(

Faults:

Front left tyre blew out after some spirited driving into a gutter.

Car is starting to rust thanks to my cousin who crashed the car some years previously and didn't pay to get it fixed.

Carpet on passenger side is starting to come off.

Fan belt squeaks loudly on a cold morning if you have the air conditioning on, but this doesn't really bother me.

Car has a habit of moving left when on the road probably because of the wheel alignment.

General Comments:

I was very skeptical when first offered the Lancer from my aunt. She had bought the car when it was a demo model back in 1997.

The car came with full service history, but had not been driven in 15 months prior to me owning it, but thankfully it still started and still ran reasonably well.

It needed to be serviced though and also needed new fluids. It also needed new tyres, which set me back about $300, and the mechanical work a further $400.

The car, although rather battered and bruised body wise over the years, still remains very reliable mechanically.

As it is a GLXI model, it is the top of the line back in its day (behind the Evo of course) and has power mirrors comfy seats, ABS, tape player (very hi tech). OK, so maybe it isn't that top of the line by todays standard, but it does alright.

Has a large boot, but is rather cramped in the back if you're above 6 foot, as some of my friends are; it even is a bit cramped in the front.

Fuel economy is good considering the price of petrol today; you could fill the whole tank from empty with just $40. I'm glad I didn't go out and buy and Holden Calais.

The car itself is surprisingly fast; 0-100 in about 9.5 seconds, that just a rough estimate. The 1.8 litre engine has about 88KW and it does sound rather nice if you rev it.

I do however have a few problems with the transmission; when shifting manually there is quite a delay in the gears changing, and also when going down a hill, whilst braking, the Lancer shift down into a low gear, which often jerks everybody forward. Also, when climbing up hills, you have to manually shift to a lower gear, as the transmission gets confused.

It would make a good first car, I did my P's test in it and find it easy to drive and rather stylish for a mid 90s car.

It's not a race car, but you can get it up to a fairly high speed, but when taking corners at a high speed it lurches about and you can feel the body roll; you can be thrown around quite a bit at high speed cornering.

Overall it's a very nice, stylish and a good performer.