1996 Mitsubishi FTO GR review from UK and Ireland

1. Central locking not working or working intermittently... not checked yet, but think it's the door motors.

2. After about a month, the alternator packed up, and also the brush pack in starter motor burnt out on one side! You can get brush pack 4 starter motor from Lucas UK! Like £25 rather than £125, and it's been fine since!

3. Removed the immobilizer also, as it did play up couple of times, but could have been down to the starter; I'm not 100% sure!

In general the electrics are bit rubbishy, I'm but still confident in their reliability after they've been fixed!

Other common problems:

- Rear arm bushes knocking/perished.

- Cambelts need doing at 50k; a must or at 50,001 it will go bang.

- Needs undersealing or they will rot!

- Brake judder/warpped discs.

Bought the car for just 2 grand; admittedly it needed an alternator and had starter motor faults, but was worth it, as despite it being a great looking car and the faults I had, it is actually a very reliable car!

Only being a non-mivec v6 with no mods done to it, it pulls quite nicely when you need it to! Mine is a semi-auto, which you do get used to, but I would like to try a manual due to the fact that you do have to let it wind up a bit before the power comes in, when I think a manual would give you bit more enjoyment!

As for the handling, it's not too bad... push it a bit and it'll start understeering obviously.

I replaced the front brake pads for green stuff ones. They are definitely recommended; I was really surprised at the performance when warmed up!

As for modifying, mine has still got the standard exhaust, but FTOs are renowned for sounding awesome with a good system there. A de-cat and mongoose from eBay.

At first I didn't really like interior, but it grew on me after a while. The cloth seats are OK; not really comfortable, and the Japanese CD player might not like copied CDs, but has got aux port for iPod etc!

Love the climate control; the display looks very 2008 for 1996!