Faults:

At 70000, the heater core o-rings went bad, causing anti-freeze smell and leaks into the passenger carpets. It cost me $1450 to have it fixed.

At 75000, the power antenna refused to go down. I had it replaced for $250.

At about 78000, I noticed the TCL OFF warning light illuminates. The TCL switch cannot turn the traction control back on. But then, sometimes it will go off, and the TCL switch works.

In general, the rotors wear out a lot more often than any other car I have owned.

Unfortunately, around town gas mileage is only 14 mpg, no matter how easy I drive it.

General Comments:

On the positive side, the car rides great, is very comfortable, has more than adequate acceleration, and looks terrific.

Faults:

Power antenna no longer works. Makes for bad radio reception (I don't listen to the radio anyway, so I just push it down and leave it).

O2 sensor kept going bad, figured out the problem was actually one of the three catalytic converters going bad, which messed up the O2 sensor. Removed the cat and never had a problem with it since.

Over head upholstery started to sag in the back at about 150k miles.

Rear struts went bad at about 170,000 miles.

Noticed the stock transmission starting to slip a bit when shifting between gears (accelerating from a complete stop). This only started happening within the last couple thousand miles.

General Comments:

I bought my Diamante from a wholesale lot for ~$3k with a little less than 120k miles on it. I knew there were a couple small problems with it (the antenna and the O2 sensor), but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle.

I loved the luxury of the car and the somewhat sporty feel. I also liked how the 02 was the only one with the different front body style, so I didn't see many other cars like mine.

Beyond those problems, the car has been great to me. I recently was in an accident (I was rear-ended) and am in the market for a new car. I'm looking at finding another Diamante.

Beyond things like the heater core that everyone is having a problem with, and the antenna, nothing else should go wrong with this car if you take care of it. Just like with computers, if something is wrong with the car, 90% of the time it's because the of user-error. Smart people don't have that many problems.

Faults:

The heater core is an extremely dangerous problem. The windows in the car fogged up so bad I couldn't drive the car... had to pull over and wipe the windows down. But the thing is... I didn't know what the problem was... until I realized the windows weren't just being fogged by the cold etc, it was a TOXIC mist from a heater core problem... I pulled over 2 times because I got sick... I noticed a mist coming out of the vents... so all in all, I called Mitsubishi and they refuse to do anything about this. Unless we all do something about this... I am gonna start a CLASS ACTION lawsuit against them... the heater core can lead to accidents, sickness, and other expensive problems in the car!

Faults:

I bought my 2002 Mitsubishi Diamante LS (30k miles) during the summer of 2007 from a used car dealership. The day that I purchased my Mitsubishi, the check engine light was on, however, the car salesman stated that they would take care of the light. During the very first week of purchase, not two days after I drove away with my car, I began to feel a delay in the take off. I'd be completely stopped at a light, and when I placed my foot on the accelerator, it would drag or delay until I reached above 10-15 mph. I took it to a Mitsubishi dealer and they diagnosed it as a B Sensor or Sensory B issue, and replaced the sensor.

Not even a year later (2008), I began to have heater core issues where the fluid was leaking into my passenger seat floor panel. This did indeed cause my windows to fog up every single second of the day, whether I was in or out of the car.

During the beginning of February of 2010, I began to experience problems with my car shifting into gears. I would stop at a light or stop sign, and upon acceleration, the car would jump 3 times before it drove smoothly. This was absolutely abnormal of my car (aside from the Sensory B issue), and I took it to a shop only to find out the I have to get a new transmission.

Yesterday, I finally got my car back from the mechanic and I seemed not to have any issues that night. However, this morning I began to experience the same issues as before; the transmission was replaced and the Neutral light is still flashing while it's in drive.

Some one made a comment about having experienced a problem identical to mine, and I was amazed to see that Mitsubishi has quite a history of problems.

General Comments:

When I first purchased my car, I was elated! It was black, sleek and quite classy... it was too good to be true. Leather heated seats, all automatic, sunroof... simply gorgeous. But as I am experiencing a great deal of issues with this car, I've grown to be very disappointed with my purchase.

I wouldn't recommend this car to my worst enemy. =(