Faults:

I bought the car with 113,000 miles on it, and the one time I've had to spend any real money was for a new clutch at around 128,000 miles. Anything else has been extremely minor - like burned out dome and tail light bulbs.

General Comments:

I love this thing and would happily buy another. I used to own a '91 and it was outstanding. Now I have a '94, and just like the '91, it's absolutely solid. Generally speaking, these Dodge/Plymouth Colt Vistas, Eagle Summits, Mitsubishi Expos (all the same car with different badges) are frowned upon, but my only guess is many of them were abused, because both of the ones I've had have been utterly excellent in terms of reliability.

I like the tall seats (so that you drive sitting up, like you're in a big truck), the amount of space in the back is astounding for a "small" van-type thing, the performance is amazing for a "grocery getter." With 130,000+ on my vehicle, the 2.4 liter engine and 5-peed manual transmission still lets the car zip away at lights.

Faults:

Front CV joints replaced twice.

Undercarriage rust.

Alternator replaced twice.

Non-smooth ride from torque converter.

Standard maintenance stuff - brakes, muffler pipe.

Oil pan rusted through.

Heater core went bad, a big job to remove dash and repair!

AC finally went last year with a leak somewhere and couldn't find parts to fix it.

General Comments:

Love the Colt Vista. I have had five. Love their versatility, decent gas mileage, reliability.

Three have had to be junked around 95,000-105,000 miles though due to burning oil, engine going bad. This one still going strong though with 110,000 miles. I have less than 65,000 miles on another '88 Colt Vista I own.

They all rust at the same place, along the undercarriage under the back doors in front of the rear tires. Also, the spare tire "lowering screw" rusted and broke.

Interior still pretty much looks like new, just normal carpet wear.

Mileage is between 21 at its worst, and 25 at its best -usually on trips with a cartop carrier.

Faults:

Leaks huge quantities of oil from Rear Main Seal and Oil Pressure Sending Unit (1.8L).

Sliding door fell off once when opening it: easily attached, but not covered by warranty or by extended warranty!

General Comments:

This little van gets 30 MPG consistently!

The rear seats have more than enough leg-room for children in car-seats and 15 years later when they grew to 6'-3" (This is the model with the single sliding passenger side door).

The floor is flat back to the rear door and large enough to hold bicycles or for 6'-2" owner to sleep in (diagonally).

I purchased specifically for optional anti-lock brakes.

Faults:

Replaced all brakes

Replaced all brake lines (they were rusted out)

Replaced shocks

Replaced computer

Now... something with the motor.. and muffler..

General Comments:

For a 1992, this car took a serious beating when I took it over. It went from driving about 10 miles a week by an old lady to driving 100 miles a DAY by me. I put about 25k miles on the car within 10 months and it was running GREAT until last month. (OK, it never ran GREAT. It was awesome for my long commute, but in city stop and go it would stall a lot, not from overheating).

Last month my brakes just went and got me into a minor accident in the rain. After spending almost $1000 on those, the car started stalling constantly at every stop light and stop sign. Mechanic told me it was probably a loose ground to the computer, couldn't find it. Started suddenly burning oil like crazy, and had to refill the oil WEEKLY!

When I thought I had finally gotten it all fixed, I got into my car and it started roaring. Some part of the exhaust. I didn't even bother looking. I bought a new car.