1997 Mitsubishi Lancer GLXi from Thailand - Comments

Air conditioning hose, spark plugs.

I have a 97 Lancer GLXi, 1.5 liter engine, and this is the slowest car I have ever had in my life... so slow it is dangerous, attempting to accelerate onto a freeway on ramp is a nightmare, no worthy climb in speed or torque whatsoever... Mitsubishi has been clouded in scandals recently, as well as covering up customer complaints... I understand why now.

This car eats gas very badly and with no power to boot. If it was more powerful and ate a lot of gas that would be OK... but the opposite is dominant... turn the air conditioning on and expect a 25% loss in power... so for a family looking for a new family car this is not it... there is NO POWER to get you out of a bad situation, so if you love your family stay away from this car. It's so underpowered it's dangerous. Seriously.

Another thing is the cheap carpet, you'll have to wipe off the interior weekly due to all the dust produced from the cheap carpet, so all of you that suffer from allergies and stuffy noses, this will be a nightmare for you... sometimes I wonder what I am breathing in as I drive down the road...

You might wanna try replacing the lub oil with something more slippery, like maybe a good SJ quality 15W-40 oil. I find that using this oil gives the car a little more power.

Additionally, a bigger exhaust muffler and sport air cleaner might clean up the overall torque a bit.

The problems about Mitsubishi only relate to the Galant & Town-Box. I don't think I've really had much problems with my Lancer except for the power of the car.

CORONA27@apartment107.com.

I have a 97 1.5ltr Lancer myself, but can't fault it.

Granted I have modified it as suggested, i.e. high flow air filter, sports exhaust system, etc. But without these mods I was surprised at the performance, well compared to what I was expecting from a 1.5ltr 12v engine.

Though mine is a 5 speed, but I have driven a couple of other Mitsubishi's and found that the auto ones had no guts. I found this especially with the Galant, both 2.0ltr DOHC 16v engines, but they felt like totally different cars to drive.

So maybe the problem is related to the auto box.

I have a 1.5 liter manual coupe. Its not a fast car, but it defiantly does not feel under powered. Autos always sap the power from the engine because they work so differently to a manual - that's why you should avoid an auto in a small car (especially a 1.5!) if performance is important to you.

The auto box is definitely your problem. Why would you bother with a four cylinder auto anyway? I would say a six is the smallest motor you can get away with in automatic configuration. Try the five speed manual and let the motor rev and you'll be surprised at the results.

Maybe if you buy a new one, it will be a lot better! when you acquired it, it has run a lot of miles already. I own a 97 lancer and it runs great although I acquired mine from another country.

My 1997 Lancer is great. It has a manual transmission and the power in the 1.3 ltr engine is superb.

The car handles the road well on 14 inch alloys.

The consumption is excellent. One litre for 11 kms. You can cruise at 140km/hr and the car is surprisingly stable. It competes very well with other bigger cars.

Theres nothing wrong with galants, only the ones from 96 downwards, I have a 1997 galant glxi and its runs awesome, doesn't guzzle, and acclerates quickly.

I own a 1995 Mitsubishi Lancer 1.6 Glxi...This car accelerates like a 2 litre car in my opinion. The engine at high revs and low gears is amazing for a 1.6 unit and the fuel economy is approaching 55 k per gallon. I would say any automatic car needs to be at least a 2 litre to get any benefits. I also owned a 1.4 Nissan sunny auto, this seemed reasonably powered and fuel efficient. Yet it had an auto box on a 1.4 litre engine. Perhaps your Mitsubishi lancer has a serious fault somewhere or the engine has had its day.

I own a '97 lancer coupe, and for only a 1.5 litre engine this car certainly does not lack power compared too many other similar nature small cars. My sister has a 1.5 litre automatic nova, and whilst being a newer car than mine it struggles considerably accelerating and up hills. I think some of the previous comments are completely correct, for an automatic car, a reasonably powerful engine is a necessity, whereas the 1.5 litre engine is perfectly suited to a manual transmission. If you are looking at an older model family car, I think for that age you would be better off with something larger like a Toyota Camry (old, but still safe) or something solid like a Holden Commodore (which certainly does not lack the get up and go to get out of sticky situations).