Faults:

Aside from rock chips and normal wear, nothing.

General Comments:

Very fast with minimal lag. Handles great, looks great.

Insurance is a tad high, while running costs are surprisingly not as expensive as most Evo owners say. Shop around for good prices (obviously).

If you plan on keeping the car forever, do the general maintenance (oil changes, tire rotations, spark plugs, timing belt) yourself instead of wobbling off to the dealership or mechanic. Keep a record of receipts and document maintenance.

Faults:

The exterior paint on the inside of the handles of both front doors has begun to wear off, and the dealership refuses to cover the cost of repainting the handles, even though in my opinion it should be under warranty.

General Comments:

I love my car. It handles beautifully, feels great to drive, and has lots of get up and go.

I do wish, however, that I had a slightly bigger engine, and also I don't like certain design elements that come into play when you are moving, or trying to put a TV in the backseat. The back doors don't open quite wide enough, and the separation between the cab and the trunk is a pain to put in more than two snowboards, or pack anything longer than ordinary. In short, I guess I wish it were a little bit bigger.

Faults:

At 35000 miles I noticed a minor oil leak. The dealer blamed the aftermarket (Bosch) oil filter, which was complete nonsense. I had them replace it with a Mitsubishi filter, and came back a month later still leaking. They changed the oil pressure sending unit (I told them that was what it was).

A mysterious clunking and rattling began at about 43000 miles. The dealer couldn't hear it, and could find anything wrong. The noise has mysteriously gone away since then.

The trunk lock stopped working at about 45000 miles. The dealer replaced the cylinder under warranty. When I got home, I found new trunk keys in the cup holder. I now needed to carry 2 keys with me? I was livid; they hadn't told me! I removed the new cylinder and had a locksmith re-key it to match the original key. This only cost $10 and is what the dealer should have done. Unfortunately, I live an hour away from the closest dealer. So, as a mechanic, I wind up doing some of my own repairs despite the generous warranty.

General Comments:

I love this little car! It's not perfect, but I like the ergonomics, interior room, big trunk, styling, and fit & finish. I love the imitation charcoal cherry wood dash, it complements the gray interior and silver exterior nicely. The stereo sounds great. Also, it kept its new car smell for 3 years.

With the dealer discount, factory rebate, and Mitsubishi Loyalty rebate (I also had a Montero at the time) I only paid $10,995 for it, and it came with power windows & locks, a/c, and CD. It was the cheapest new car available in the bay area at the time.

It has strong acceleration around town due to the short first gear, but is severely under powered on the highway. I sometimes have to downshift from 5th to 3rd. Flooring the gas in 5th or 4th gets no response from the engine. It gets good mileage, though; about 29-31 in mixed driving. I've never gotten more than 33 or less than 28 on any tankful.

It has been pretty trouble-free, other than the minor oil leak and the trunk lock failure. I was not pleased with either of the 2 dealers I went to for warranty service. They were not thorough in my opinion, and somewhat nonchalant about my troubles. It took them well over a week to fix the trunk lock and oil leak.