Faults:
The dealer I bought it from said it was in "perfect" shape with that typical braindead "I'm-gonna-rip-you-off" jackass dealer look on his face. This man deserves to be shot in the head several times with a high caliber weapon.
I bought the car directly after a timing belt had been put in.
Oil leaks up the wazoo!!!
Timing belt blew at 98312 at 45MPH in 5th gear, making sure the pistons all cracked when they bent all 12 valves and cracked the head.
The pulley that runs the alternator belt had three big chips taken out of it, allowing the alternator belt to be constantly ripped through, and to make a really annoying squealing noise.
The door buttons that inform the car that its door is open barely work. One gets stuck in all the time, one fell out, one works perfectly (rear passenger side), and the other freezes solid at any unspecified point.
General Comments:
Oil. It's a never-ending struggle. I think it is impossible to keep this thing from spurting oil all over the place. I replaced the oil pan, and patched the old one at least four times, but NO, that wouldn't help. Everywhere I go there's a bigger oil puddle. I probably spent more money in oil than in gas. The lemon factor increases daily at a 2% rate.
Luckily I had a 1200 watt stereo system in it with 2 12" Orion NT2's (this car handles acoustics very well for a sedan), otherwise over 55 MPH the car sounds like a back-hoe crushing a cop car. Nothing you can really do about the earthquake that happens every time you get it over 50 MPH though.
On a good note, the vehicle had surprisingly stable design. After I slammed it into a tree at 65 MPH, it still gets me around. Of course minus a window and the use of two doors. But that's besides the point.
This cars' outward appearance was a trick, it looked so much like a nice car, but don't let that fool you.
1st Nov 2001, 01:42
Re: 1992 Eagle / Mitsibishi Summit Wagon.
I have a Summit Wagon and it has over 170,000 km. It is the most reliable vehicle I have ever owned (previous Ford Explorer; Mazda 626)
The only thing that has been a pain is a broken rear sliding door mount which was very expensive ($800 Canadian) to replace.
Other minor hassles involve body parts: turn signals don't always turn off automatically (cost to fix: $300) and rear wiper washer motor broken ($150).
But, apart from oil changes, she runs really fine. I am looking for another used Summit and may consider the All wheel drive version. Gas mileage is good.