Faults:

Nothing went wrong during my all too brief time with this car. It was destroyed by being rear ended while I was sitting at a traffic light by a lady in a station wagon that was going maybe 45 mph when she hit me.

General Comments:

Wonderful handling. A fast car with good torque from the big 4 cylinder, and good power when the turbo kicked in. Combine that with great highway mileage and a 20 gallon fuel tank. I once went over 700 miles across Kansas on a single tank of gas, getting 37 MPG at 70mph.

I've owned at least 30 cars from many major manufacturers (Ford, Chevy, Dodge/Chrysler, Jeep, Jaguar, Toyota, Honda, Subaru, Kia, Saturn, etc.) and this Starion is by far my favorite. I wish I still had it.

Faults:

I swapped an old running Nissan PU for the non-running Starion which from a relative. I made the trade just so I could take it out of my yard and down to the junk yard. But, after I got it to run and drove it a few miles I was hooked on its performance. Wow!

General Comments:

I liked it so much more that the new 2003 autos of all major makes that I decided to rebuild my Starion and have a brand new 1986 Starion. New non-jetted head, mild upgrade on the cam shaft, balancer eliminator, bigger turbo and all new suspension wear parts made a super performer. The sport handling package was original which counts for the low comfort score. Its noisy and rough riding and a thrill to drive on narrow winding mountain roads nearby.

Faults:

The Lower Rod Bearings caused the engine to be replaced.

Both fuel injectors clogged.

General Comments:

Incredibly fast and agile car! I have had the luxury of owning several high end vehicles and when a friend brought me this Starion ESIR I laughed at him because of the name Mitsubishi. Reluctantly I took the car for a drive and I have to say 3 hours later when I pulled it back into my driveway I was definitely all smiles. Needless to say I immediately bought the car on the spot and have since made it my pride and joy. It will definitely outrun my '85 IROC Z, my '90 Nissan 300Z and even the new Mazda RX8 that I just bought.

I would like to recommend to anyone considering buying a Starion that you remove the jet valves from the head immediately upon purchasing as this will help you to avoid overheating.

Next make sure the vehicle has had the lower rod bearings replaced, this is a Mitsubishi recall and they will still perform this job at no cost to you. This is an expensive repair job which you do not want to pay for if you don't have to.

Another recall they are still performing is on the catalytic convertor.

Lastly, some manufacturers will try to sell you the tall skinny batteries for this car, Do Not Instal Them, this car takes a short fat. The tall/skinny batteries positive terminal will rup the vacuum diagram on the bottom side of the hood and cause a large short which will result in an extremly hot battery fire. A sign that this is happening is you will notice the electronics in the car coming on and off as you go over bumps.