I have seen quite a few of those on the roads here in CA. Most driving faster than I would feel safe in a car with those skinny tires. I have to admit, I would probably not fit in the Geo Metro demo either.
I used to have a Galant as my handle indicates and it wasn’t much different in reliability esp considering it wasn’t well maintained in the 1st 100K miles of its life. Right now, the closest Mitsu dealer to me is 36 miles away, so that is a deterring factor.
Yeah, some of the issues above are all very valid. The issues with the possibility of them leaving the US market as well as the distance to the dealership are my two largest concerns. I talked directly about these concerns with several owners of the cars. Although there is nothing I can do about the distance to the dealership, there are 3 in opposite directions but all the same distance from my home. If one goes away then there are others as backups.
As for them leaving the US market, those who have researched and purchased these cars seem to have a strong feeling this won’t happen. It sounds like they are starting to rebound in terms of sales. Also someone pointed out that even if you are losing money short term, you are better off to try and rebound and stay in the US market since it is the largest auto market in the world. Also, it costs a lot more to try and re-enter the market down the road if you want to try again as there are costs and efforts involved in rebuilding a dealer network, etc. Basically the only car company to ever do this was Fiat.
As for reliability, the owners of these cars are quite happy with them. That was one of my concerns too. They have a forum (I am not a member but some are on the Geo forum) and most have never needed to take their cars in for service other than basic routine stuff. Two of the people made mention of seeing a couple issues. One person needed a new engine but it sounded like the owner of that car drove it with an issue for quite some time which caused massive amounts of fuel to wash down the cylinders. Another person had a CV axle go bad in a short period of time. Even though the first situation is partly the owner’s fault for continuing to drive with whatever issue and could have been prevented, the company made to attempts to get out of either warranty claim.
I will admit that my opinion of Mitsubishis from years past is pretty poor and had written them off as an option much like it would take a HUGE turnaround for me to ever consider a Chrysler product. They were NOT good reliable cars and they were hard to work on. The engines and other systems used in Chrysler vehicles were much the same at this time.
Most of the complaints/bad reviews about these cars are because they are CHEAP and use CHEAP materials. I am not expecting a BMW or anything but they seem to be a decently reliable car. I am sure it would be an upgrade from the beatup Geo Metro I drive around. Yeah, it starts each time I turn the key and has been reliable but there is at time when it won’t be worth repairing.
I am not saying I will buy one of these cars but will at least give it a look. I have my pickup trucks but want always want a small efficient car for work purposes as I drive all over creation quite a bit.