1996 Mitsubishi Lancer Reviews

Brakes had to be replaced.

A hole in the exhaust system.

Interior lights don't switch on when the driver door opens (they do when any other door opens).

Driver's seat heating doesn't work.

Car cost 10,000 SEK. Spent 6,000 on repairs after it failed annual inspection.

This car is certainly more comfortable than my previous car, a communist-era Skoda, but also much less charismatic. AC takes a while to get the heat up, but once it does, it works fine. Seats are fine.

At highway speeds, the engine revs ~3500 RPM and makes quite a lot of noise. There's also way too much wind noise. Fuel economy is not as good as I had expected.

A decent car for its price. Good for short trips; noise levels gets tiresome on longer trips.

Dashboard clock did not display digits when purchased.

Driver's side electric window regulator failed at 240,000 kms.

Air con condenser bearing needed replacing at 250,000. This may or may not have been related to driving through 4 ft deep water during a flood; happened 1 week after.

The CE Lancer MR edition (1.8 L engine instead of the GLI's 1.5L) is a top car. The only real downside is the side impact collision results as can be viewed on youtube under "Lancer crash test".

Being a small car, I found it comfortable to drive. I'm 6'2ft tall, and I had plenty of leg room and never felt squashed in.

The Lancer has never left me broken down, apart from when the car battery deciding to die after parking at a garage once, although this does happen with batteries, and is not related to the car's reliability.

As mentioned above, I drove through 4 ft of water in this car and it handled it very well :) The air intake is positioned so that it would not take on any water in the engine, but I would not advise doing this deliberately :)

The car is light, and handling is responsive. Being a front wheel car, I'd advise using decent tyres, as cheap tyres turning under wet conditions can send you towards the curb, especially around roundabouts.

Overall, if you are looking for a first car, or a cheap reliable car, I would highly recommend this or a later version of the Lancer range, as they have a reputation now of being reliable and cost effective, with no major mechanical problems.

Crankwalk.

Alternator stopped charging.

A word of warning to people buying Lancer Evolutions, I learned about this problem the hard way! The engines suffer from a design fault with the crankshaft main bearings; the crankshaft will eventually wear and cause terminal engine damage, which can only be rectified by fitting a new or later engine block. For more info Google 'crankwalk'.

Important note: Only the Evolutions 1 - 4 and very few 5's have this design flaw, the Evolution 6 and onwards has revised crankshaft main bearings.

Driver's electric window motor stopped working.

Passenger central locking actuator stopped.

Tore the back cover off the rear diff on a particularly high bump.

Some slop in drivetrain after 200+Ks, which causes a front/rear jerk between acceleration and engine breaking.

The inner wheel arch splash guards contact the wheels, and get melted by friction if you lower the car.

Replaced the shocks after 150km, but had disappointingly little difference on the handling.

Reverse gear synchro very crunchy after just 120km.

Sun fades the fabric on the tops of the rear seats.

Crap sticks to the clean carpet like velcro, making them very hard to keep clean.

Driver's window glass makes a clunk noise at the bottom of its travel.

Engine bearings stuffed after 230,000km, even with regular oil changes every 10,000km and careful driving.

Fuel economy approx. 9.5 liters per 100km, which is pretty reasonable for a medium performance sports car of this age.

Very little rust, even though it's never garaged.

Perfect balance of every day economy and occasional spirited driving.

Quite reliable, but dealer spare parts are extortionate.

Air con still cold.

Clutch still had some material on it after 230,000km.

Rebuilding the engine costs more than the value of the car :(