Faults:

Nothing, nothing and nothing, never paid a dime for parts, excluding filters and belts.

Minor oil leakage might come from the valve cap, opened every 50,000 kms to adjust the valve clearance. You might need to have the valve cap gasket changed sometime to fix that!

My previous car was the exact same model with 400,000 kms on it. Bought it in 2004 with 230,000 kms, and had it until the end of 2010, when I crashed it, also fault free!

General Comments:

Handles really good for a four door family car. Changing the springs with progressive H&R's, combined with the original Kayabas, makes it handle like a train. Really fast for a 1.3 liter car; overtakes 1.6 BMWs as if they are stopped. The air induction sounds great!

No rust at all, ever! Very cheap panel and bodywork parts (not original, but really good), and can find easily after market parts for it, because it shares the same body with EVO 1, 2 and 3.

Never changed any part of the exhaust in either of both cars!

Take my word, I had a Lancer like this before, and bought one again.

I must also say that I owned many other makes of cars before; Suzuki, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Seat, Volvo, Opel, Volkswagen, but none of them compare to the quality and reliability of Mitsubishi.

I still have the original seats, dressed in their original lining, from both cars, in excellent condition!

Faults:

Failed emission test after 155000 km, changed whole exhaust system incl. catalytic converter.

Engine repair because of Oil Leak...TWICE! (first after 155000km, second after 190000km) Expensive!

Fuel pump failed, probably caused by low oil pressure (190000km)

Water pump failed (200000km)

All four electric motors for the windows have broken down.

Interior mirror broke, replaced it with a third party.

General Comments:

This car has been in our family's possession for more than 13 years. When I got my driving license for three years ago this car was handed down to me as a gift, by gift a mean scrap. This car was in a terrible shape, the oil was leaking, electric windows started to fail one after another and there was no functioning stereo in the car! A much needed accessory for a young man! Things were looking bad but not as bad as when I got pulled in by the police and they gave me a hefty fine because the car was banned from the road. Apparently he did't take the car to the annual manditory inspection for about two years. And it showed.. So after I got a nice long list of different faults the car had I was keen to fix the car and do it the proper way, so I left it to the hands of the Mitsubishi Dealership and told them to mend everything on that list. And the cost for their wonderful service and expertise was the equivalent of 1500€! The car itself wasn't worth that much! Doesn't seem to be a good idea to use the dealers workshop when you got a car in this age and shape. So after that I haven't gone back to any official dealership and let my local mechanic repair my car and with used spare parts from the scrapyards the running cost dropped.

Now when the car was working well how is it to drive?

I'm going to be honest, it isn't going to win any races at the red light, even against a diesel station wagon it's a struggle. The pickup speed is good but as soon you pass 100km/h (60mph) the car seems like it lost most of its torque and acceleration is slow. When driving above 150-160 km/h at the freeway and there is an uphill it quickly loses speed.

So this car is no high speed racer, despite what your spoiler in the back indicates.

Handling is adequate, despite not sharing the Evos suspension it feels sharp and sporty. It tends to under steer most of the time but a dosage of hand braking and Swedish flick there is still some excitement on the road. The cars handling in the winter is superb thanks to its low weight and front-wheel-drive. Sometime when I see the snow coming down through the window there is a feel of excitement going through me because there is much fun you can have in this car in the snow. No traction control, no ABS means little interference of electronics, you have to be careful but this car is extremely easy to drive in the snow. During April there was a snow storm and I had half good summer tires on the car and I still managed to drive around in the freeway for four hours in 110km/h (65mph). There in no limit of what this car can do on so little, handed it down to skills and knowing the cars character. Despite no ABS a have dodged a couple bullets that would be devastating in a big heavy car, thanks to its sharp steering.

Comfort then?

Comfort is something that is not that should be expected from a compact Japanese car. But still the ride is rubbish! I can't stand sitting in the car after an hours driving so its not a appropriate long distance commuter. Neither is the fuel economy that good at high speeds since the rev meter exceeds 3000rpm at 110km/h (65mph) which makes it quite noisy in the cabin. Making a short A to B distance is excellent since it doesn't use up so much fuel and its small size and good visibility from the cabin makes it nimble and easy to park. But sometime I prefer to take the train rather the car when it comes to making those long distances.

And at last reliability?

Well despite its many failures and its faults there is only one place you can point your finger at, the owner. This car has been thrashed by first my brother and then me, it has been neglected and not served properly. This car had at one point almost no oil (!) in the engine and still it was going strong. I was impressed and so was my mechanic. When the water pump was leaking the same thing happened, the car was running without any anti-freeze coolant and the small tank that stored the fluid was filled with black substance. This car seems like it doesn't need any fluids to run! I'll have to try if the same thing applies to gasoline (I will post my results later).

This car has been in my possession for three years, it has been a mixed blessing and always looking over my shoulder for better alternatives. But despite its flaws it has served me well and still does and makes me a proud owner. I have also found joy in serving it as I have recently learned how to change oil, filters, ignition system, etc. You tend to build a relation to your vehicle after you start to mend it yourself.

Esthetically the car is in great shape, the metallic paint is still shiny with some scratches and the interior is as new.

But as time passes it deteriorates as the rust start to take its place in the car. Then nothing last forever and the time I've had in the car has been great. I'm going to keep this car as long as it runs but as soon the car fails again big time, I will leave it and go on. The car will be then handed down to my cousin and hopefully he'll put it to good use.