Faults:

Crappy clearcoat paint.

Torn driver seat leather from wear.

Leaky valve cover gaskets.

Okay, now that all the bad stuff is out of the way...

General Comments:

Low, sleek body. Quick and agile as a Cheetah. Huge sunroof. 7600rpm redline. 28mpg on the highway. Fits a 6ft folded table - with the trunk closed. Front seats that hug you on the corners and cradled you on the highway. Best visibility short of a motorcycle or convertible with the top down.

After careful consideration, this was the first car I bought out of college (1998). Just got rid of my third one at 280,000 miles - and it could still do peelouts. Unfortunately, brakes had a major problem, and some idiot hit the fender which caused the insurance company to total it out and give it a salvage title. Also, as this was a rare car, it is not the type of car (such as Muscle cars and exotics) where you will still find parts for it 20 years from now.

A big part of the fun of this car was the light weight and agile handling. The state I live in often had helpful signs at sharp corners indicating the maximum safe speed. These were very accurate: double the number, and that was the MX-6's fun-to-drive limit.

On paper, some other cars may get better handling numbers, but they still feel heavy (like the Mitsubishi 3000GT SL I test drove BEFORE buying my first MX-6). You can't fake a 2800 lb curb weight. The 205 width tires on this car give the same grip as much more expensive 255s on a 3500 lb "sports car." It also had a multi-link rear suspension and a double-wishbone front suspension, instead of the cheaper MacPherson strut suspensions common on FWD competitors.

To be honest, the car was not maintenance free. I've done plenty of work associated with high-mileage cars, such as brakes, exhaust, and water pump. However, I drove it hard (4000rpm once a month at least), and the engine was bullet-proof. I would also skip gears a lot (1-2-4, 1-2-3-5), just so I could rev the engine higher. Clutch lasted the whole time I owned it (150K+!!!), and still had no sign of slippage.

Faults:

After I replaced the motor. Nothing major has gone wrong so far. Current motor has 195,000 km on it.

Simple stuff that I can fix in the driveway.

Rust seems to accumulate on the bottom of the doors, and along the underbody below the doors. But those are the only places I've found rust.

Alternator died, but I blame Mitsubishi for making crappy parts.

General Comments:

Treat this car with love, and it will last you a long time.

Motor will easily last until 300,000 km.

The car just makes you very happy.

I feel like I was born to drive this car, and there are very few cars that would make you feel that way.

Most comfortable front seats ever.

About as fuel efficient as any 4 cylinder I have driven. Even Hondas.

Faults:

- CV boots (seems like a common problem)

- thermostat.

- brakes/rotors/calipers.

- my passenger side window exploded randomly (I found out the power window motor was screwed, so I went to a scrapyard and bought a whole new DOOR for $100 - best bargain ever!)

General Comments:

I just want to add my 2 cents, seeing as how I came to this site 3 years ago right before I bought my mx-6, and seeing a couple negative reviews, decided to take the risk anyways!

I've heard a lot about the distributor cap and the automatic transmission in general, but as soon as mine started shifting hard out of first gear (2 months after I bought it), my half-assed solution was to fill it with lucas transmission fix every 6-7 weeks, transmission flush every 5-6 months, and the shifting has remained smooth as butter since.

I have to state (besides the transmission thing) that I was an extremely neglectful owner, and this is not a civic hatchback... these cars need love and care. I drive TONS more than average, yet I changed the oil every 7-8,000km (!), use regular gas, and generally just turn my car on and go... preventative maintenance is KEY with this car. Take care of it, monitor fluids/small problems, and you will not have any issues whatsoever.

Hell, I bought it for $2,000 with 180,000km...3 years later I hit 285,000km, and what did I spend on maintenance, $1,000 total? Not too shabby in my opinion.