Mark Hubley

Last week I hit the 100K mark with my 2008 Lancer ES.



I purchased the car new in July 2007. It's my daily driver. I don't drive it like a race car (I have other cars for that), but I don't drive it like a wuss, either. I have been meticulous about keeping the car clean and properly maintained. I've done all the service myself. Search my username and you'll find some relevant how-to's. General maintenance on this car is pretty easy to do with a set of jack stands and basic tools.

Here are some thoughts on my experience with the Lancer:

Reliability
The car has been wonderfully reliable. I have not had a single problem with the car along the lines of reliability. The only work done on the car, other than normal maintenance, was a recall for an airbag sensor. That's the only time I've had the car serviced by a Mitsu dealer.

I'm still on the original clutch. I've changed brake pads once--fronts at about 60K miles, rears at about 85K.

I'm on my second set of Yoko tires, and these have maybe another 10K miles to go.

Performance
The car is what it is: a compact economy car. It's not a sports car. That being said, having owned a 1983 Nissan Sentra (69 HP) and a 1988 Dodge Shadow (93 HP), the 150 HP Lancer ES can at least get out of its own way. Merging with traffic and passing can be done with confidence, and the motor works well enough with the 5 speed transmission. Cornering is definitely competent for an economy car, but again, it's not a sports car.

In normal driving to and from work outside the Wash. DC area (something between city and highway) I consistently get 28 MPG. On a road trip I'll get something in the low 30's. I think the 5th gear is a bit on the short side. I think Mitsu could have gone with a slightly taller 5th gear to get a little better mileage.

Exterior
The paint has generally held up well. There are a few rock chips on the front, in keeping with 100K miles. I wash the car frequently and wax it twice a year. Unfortnately, it appears that one day one of my barn cats must have been on top of the car, and my two young Labrador retrievers apparently were trying to get at it. So, there are a bunch of scratches on the front fenders and edges of the hood. I tried buffing them out, but that didn't totally remove the scratches.

Interior
When I bought the car, I noticed that while I thought the interior looked reasonably nice, the materials seemed very cheap. In particular, the plastic of the door pulls is pretty bad, as is the thin cloth that covers the armrests. The fit of various interior panels is a bit off.

I would have bet $1,000 that by now various bits of cloth would be torn and bits of plastic broken. Well, I would have lost that bet. To my pleasant surprise, the cloth armrests are still intact. So, while the interior looks cheap, at least it has held up.

Stereo
I've still got the original RF stereo with a satellite subscription. I'm not all that thrilled with it, but it works, and I haven't been motivated to change it. Perhaps I would change it if it weren't for the slightly odd shape of the dash. When I first bought the car, there wasn't much in the way of quality adapters. I guess there are more options now, but at this point I'm just not going to bother. I am disappointed that the Bluetooth doesn't have the A2DP profile for streaming music.


Would I buy another Lancer?

Well, ownership of this car has been a pretty good experience. When I bought this car I could have afforded something higher-end and with more power, but I have a son who is about to turn 15, and I figured this would be a car that he can drive when the time comes. I didn't really want my son's first car to be an EVO or a WRX. Sorry. The next car I buy for myself will not be an economy car.

Would I buy a Lancer EVO? A few weeks ago I was at an autocross and I had a conversation with a guy with a new EVO. He really likes the car. I may consider one when the time comes, but will probably go with something else. Granted, a car's interior is not at the top of my reasons-to-buy list, but if I'm going to pay over $30K for a car, I don't want an interior that looks cheap in a car for which I paid just over half that.

However, I have to give Mitsu an overall