Ok, so we've had our 2015 O.Sport for 2 weeks and 800 miles. Here are a couple of thing that we have both noticed and both agree that for a new car are kind of concerning? And have earned a visit to the dealership tomorrow…

Hard Start:
A few times we have both experienced our O.Sport cranking much longer than one would expect for a new car, even as much as returning the key to the off position and reattempting to start.

Stutter feeling:
While at all speeds but applying light pressure on the accelerator, a stuttering feeling is felt almost like the transmission is having an issue figuring out what you are trying to do, my wife even pointed it out to me today while driving in town. I figured she wouldn’t notice it but she said it “Why does it do that? It feels like the car is going to die on freeway sometimes”.

I know it’s probably the CVT but I would think that a brand new car with an “Improved CVT transmission” would be smooth and not have that sputter feeling, so far I’m not impressed and truth be told, it’s really starting to **** me off…

 

My '14 had a similar issue with the stuttering feeling when it was brand new. Went away around 2k miles or something.

My dealer explained it as the "gears" not being fully oiled/greased coming from the factory. Since its a CVT and doesn't just have actual gears, it takes longer to break-in than a normal automatic transmission. Essentially said that stuttering is when the CVT hits a part that isn't as lubricated as it should be.

I'd see what your dealer says though, my issue resolved itself with time so personally, I'd say that was my issue. I'm not very mechanically inclined though, haha.

 

Either of those issues Would bother me also.
And, it would worry me even more if it then concerns my wife and the safety of my family.

The last thing I want to have my wife stranded somewhere in a brand new vehicle.

I would suggest you try to document both issues by videoing it. (If it's possible, I know trying to capture that "stuttering" while driving and working a video cam may not be easy or safe, so be extra cautious. Have your wife to vid perhaps.)

**************

The starting problem, may just be a weak battery though.

Not sure about the stuttering..
Keep us posted.

 

I can add in some comments as well.

I'm currently 4800Km in...

The battery issue seems to have improved on my unit. It hasn't given me an issue for a while now.

I have also noticed the "sputtering" effect. It's almost as if the RVR is confused as to what to do when you hit the gas. However, this too has improved somewhat over the past 1K so I don't know if it is some sort of "break-in" period or not.

I'll keep an eye / ear out to see if these issue crop up again.

 

Any news/update from the dealership?
I'm interested in what they found out or said about your concerns.



****************

Neither of the two O.sports (2013 models) we had/have shown any signs of shuttering/hesitation when lightly depressing the gas pedal, at any speeds.
We drove both of them fresh off the lot too (each with less than 20 miles on ODO). So, can't imagine why newer 2015s would suddenly develop such a problem.


.

 

Mine does the same with "hard starts". It only happens about once every 20 or so starts, usually when I turn the key quickly. I usually slowly turn the key now, maybe half the speed I would normally, and when I do this it never gives me an issue. If I quickly turn the key to start sometimes it will literally crank for 5 seconds, I'll release and try and again, then it will fire about 3 seconds into the second crank.


I've chalked this up to our iridium plugs, with their lower flash and virtually indestructible burn tip to last basically the length of our warranty, so Mitsu can advertise less trips in for servicing. It would be interesting to see if you threw a set of copper plugs in and whether they made a difference. There's so much debate on spark plugs, but I have a set of stock iridiums on my second vehicle, 2003 Nissan Murano. It's an 8 hr job to change them because of the shoe horned engine, but at 160K mileage it still runs like brand new.

 

Interesting.
I've not consider/thought of slow-Hard starts caused by these iridiums...
Can this be a source of some sort of problem? - in extreme low temperature conditions.

 

I'm curious to see if the hard starts go away whenever we get rid of the winter blend gas. That coupled with the iridiums may be the issue. I still think it's something fuel pressure related also.

 

I don't know if it's quite weather/season related. I first noticed this about 2 weeks after I bought the car last summer. So it does it all year round for me. I've never noticed any hesitation or other performance issue so it's just a start up problem. It could definitely be a injector, fuel line or lazy fuel pump (delivery) issue as well. It always fires up on the second attempt, though after cranking for another few seconds. The next time it doesn't fire on first attempt, I'll give it a quick shot of gas, to see if it fires immediately afterwards. Who knows, maybe we could all use an extra psi or two from the fuel regulator.

 

I haven't had a chance to make it to the dealership yet but it seems like I'm starting to notice more little things/noises, engine rattles etc... I'm probably just paranoid or maybe not.

 

That's not unheard of..


We've learned that these "base" Mitsu motors are kind of like soda cans > they do kind of knock/rattle/ping when they first start up in the mornings, or when you try to give it some gas to make it scoot.


Plus, the plastic panels aren't very well insulated/isolated from the sheet metal**. So they start making squirrel noises after you put some mileage on the vehicle.

********************

Once the weather improves, I'm going to get around to doing all those dynamat install that I've been planning/thinking about..






** In fact there's practically no insulation in the doors and floor pan, other than a few scraps/bits of cotton pads.

 

Yea I noticed a small rattle around where the passenger a-pillar meets the dash. I don't think I've had a vehicle yet that doesn't have a rattle somewhere.
I was surprised to see some insulation behind the plastic wheel well liner. I found it when I put the front mud flaps on.

 

I don't have the start up issues with the 2.4L but I do have the stuttering I think its just the tranny breaking in.

 

I don’t know but mine is still doing it and it seems that that is all I notice while I’m driving it. I made an appointment with the dealer and he seemed kind of annoyed about it, saying “yea it’s just the CVT, it acts weird. we've had a bunch of people say the same thing but we can hook it up and run a scan..”

 

I Had starting issues as well.
finally had a code show, turns out it was the OSS module.