I'm new here - only my second post - and was hoping to get some feedback/information on the Lancer's. I'm considering buying a GTS, it's at the top of my list at the moment and I hope to have a final decision made by mid-May.

I did test drive one, nice car, the CVT and paddle shifters work well and it's a lot faster than it initially seems. The outside is definitely very attractive. The inside was fine, I like all the bells & whistles on the stereo and the GPS.

The main thing I'm worried about is the reliability of the car as a whole and the touch screen stereo/GPS in particular.

Background on me - I've been mostly a Ford man
72 Super Beetle
67 Ford Mustang (Inline 6 coupe)
80 Ford Mustang (Inline 6 coupe)
76 Jeep CJ-5
84 Ford Bronco II (the only Ford what was a piece of junk)
89 Ford Mustang (Inline 4)
95 Escort wagon
97 Escort wagon (was originally the wife's car)

But with the exception of the 67 Mustang and the Jeep, I've always bought cars based on what I needed & could afford. For the first time in my life I'm able to be picky, to choose what I want and to really get everything I need. But I've never owned a Mitsubishi and no one I know has either - so it makes me a little nervous to jump that far.

By way of consideration, the car in second place is a Mazda 3 hatchback. A lot more comfort there because Mazda's are basically Ford's.

 

The 2008 Lancer is an all-new design from Mitsubishi on an all-new platform so it's too early to know how reliable those cars really are (although Mitsubishi has been already using this platform since mid 2005 to develop the new Outlander in Japan).

From my personal experience I can tell you this, in 1980s my uncle has purchased a brand new small pickup truck from Mitsubishi called Mighty Max, the car went over 200,000 miles without any major problems, in 1991 my parents have purchased brand new Galant, again, the car was rock solid for over 100K miles, in 2001 my parents purchased another brand new Galant and although there has been no major flaws with it I can tell you that fit and finish are not what the 1991 was, for example the sunroof used to leak a bit, the oxygen sensor went out after about 35K, front breaks wear out very quickly, but again, they never had any major problems that would make them stuck somewhere in the middle of a traffic with an unusable car, in 2004 I purchased a brand new Lancer, car is rock solid, over 30K and no problems what so ever, in 2005 my parents purchased brand new Montero, although it's too new to have major problems, so far nothing negative has happened to it.

One thing about all the mentioned cars, I hate to say it but all cars except the 2001 Galant were made and assembled in Japan, the 2001 Galant was assembled in Illinois. Good thing about the 2008 Lancer is that it is made in Japan so it should be well made/assembled. As far as the radio/navigation unit goes, it's hard to tell how reliable it is, I've played with it at my local dealership and it looked sturdy enough, seemed the same quality as navigation units found in Honda or Toyota.

Mazda3 is a nice car but I prefer the styling of the 2008 Lancer plus Mitsubishi offers a better warranty if something bad does happen. Plus the new Lancer is larger inside with a larger trunk plus all the techno gadgetry. As far as complete specs go, just go to: http://www.mitsucars.com/MMNA/jsp/la...s.do?loc=en-us

 

I made the jump from a '95 Escort 5-dr to a '03 Lancer OZ... Never a regret! Never a major problem to speak of. 75k miles and still running like it was new!

You won't regret the change!!!

 

If I had the choice between the new Lancer or a Mazda3...Lancer for sure.

The Mazda3 doesn't have Navigation, CVT w/ paddle shifting, MIVEC, 10 yr/100,000 mile warranty, and it doesn't look as cool

Get the Lancer!!

 

The 3 is a nice car but it is nowhere near the looker the Lancer is.
My 12 year old daughter took one look at it and said one word: "Awesome"

Thanks for the input!

 

^LOL, daughter knows best!

 

Haha, yah that new lancer is siiiiick!My local mitsu finally got a gts in black in, and that thing is ridiculous, im about to jack it.haha.