I believe it is time for us to make a change in our thinking. For years, DSM people have hated the dealership network in regard to service. This has trickled over to Evos, and at times rightfully so.

But I think we need to start caring about Mitsubishi as a brand more. In the past, I have been one of the first to concede that Mitsu is a bit lackluster, but I have a ton of Evo pride. I believe that the Evo is front to back better engineered than an STI, but have given Subaru more props as a company than Mitsubishi.

My point is that there are a lot of Mitsubishi dealerships failing. I live in a metro area that supports around a million people, and at one time, we had three Mitsu dealers here. All of them failed and closed, unfortunately, so we went around 8 months with no Mitusbishi dealership at all. Finally, another one opened up, but they are not doing well.

While I do believe that a revitalization of the rest of the product line would help, I think us Evo lovers should stand up in support of the company that engineered and built these cars we spend so much time with. The 4G63 was a masterpiece, and still humiliates newer cars even though its a twenty year old engine. The 4B11 is awesome: Square, great head design, loves to rev, holds 25psi stock internals without breaking a sweat. Try this in other factory forced induction cars and see what happens.

I guess that I am trying to say that the Evo is a very special car, its why we are all here, and because of that, Mitsubishi has done something VERY right. Lets try to reel in some of the negativity toward the brand and pour one out for 'em instead.

 

Couldn't be said ANY BETTER! Good job!! I totally agree with YOU!! They have been making great cars for a long time!! Please don't forget the 'Starion! -Howard

 

Preach on!!! I'm with ya brother. My Evo is my second Mitsubishi. My wife really liked the Evolander Concept at the car show so we may have another mitsu in our family one day.

 

I've had nothing but Mitsubishis (97 Eclipse, 2 Evos) except for my Nissan Silvia when I was stationed in Japan. I like Nissan also.

 

If I can afford it I will buy a dealership and sell mitsu products. Have been a mitsubishi fan since my A76 lancer which was like what the evo is today. light, agile, NA long stroke and small bore 1.6L engine and you can feel torque/tire chirp from 1st to 3rd stock. still own my 1988 sigma which was a blast from the past but a technology marvel. too bad, no dealership can properly maintain it that is why I do it myself-air ride suspension, climate control, speed sensitive steering, 6G72 engine what else? Better made materials than Honda and Mazda(except the evo!) products.

 

I dont relly hear people knocking Mitsu cars, Just people knocking there unwillingness, and the dealers unwillingness to fix legit problems. Well aside from the tranny's with my 5 different mitsu's I love the cars.


As a brand name everyone loves mitsu.

 

The two closest dealers near me pulled up stakes so now I have to drive into town. I hope that somebody, in the future, will open a mitsu shop in North County again within a year, but i don't see this happening because you can make a lot more money with a Hyundai store.

Go to any other continent, and you'll see more Mitsubishi representation than in NA. they are doing fine, but when you let your Korean competition move you out of the market, you aren't going to get very much back. At least they are selling powertrain tech to their competitor, but MMNA is going to have to just be smaller.

They need to launch a couple of small car models-maybe one smaller than the lancer and bring the L200 mini truck here since nobody actually makes a mini truck anymore. They should be able to avoid the same fate as Isuzu's extinction. I think they could even sell some Pajeros if they put the right engine in them. Mitsu is sitting on a few models that are quite a bit smaller than models currently available here- i think it is just a problem with North American emissions- but bring those and they will come back.

 

I find it hard to rectify this statement with a company who puts plastic pedals in a $40k car.

The idea of loyalty to a corporation is laughable at best, and naive at worst.

edit: just to elaborate on my original statement... I'll make it a bit more clear. Car dealerships/manufacturers aren't out there to make you feel all warm and fuzzy, they're out there to provide a competitive product at the lowest price that they can while maximizing their profits. Even though you may want to deny it, automotive manufacturers are in the BUSINESS of cutting corners to save pennies. The plastic pedals thing is just one of those examples. What about clearcoat fade on calipers and wings, and the refusal to honor warranties on this problem, as well as electrical systems when a car has a completely inconsequential turboback? These are the all-too-common examples of dealerships (and car brands as a whole) trying to nickel-and-dime you for everything you're worth. JM2C.

 

Naiveness is the epitome of your first sentence. Its called drive by wire throttle, and several other OEM manufactures use plastic gas pedal stems, including Mercedes Benz, Audi, and even Subaru. Here's a genius idea: Don't use sixty pounds of force to operate a pedal that requires two pounds of effort and it won't break.

The idea of loyalty to a corporation is one of the many things that make capitalism work. But this is a lot more simple: I just have some brand loyalty in support of a company that produces a vehicle I like. If you can't understand that concept, you probably wasted your time posting in this thread in the first place.

 

I'm sorry, ive been a dsmer to long to have any loyalty at all to them.

Its very unforunate that a car I love is run by such a f'ed up bastard company.

I've never been one to side with the people who think that mitsu should honor warranties with people sidestepping clutches at rev limit, however, the fact that they will go out of their way to try to dick you over, seeing a k&n intake as your only mod is excessive.. theres no happy medium.

The overwhelming majority of dealerships are jackasses, the cars are ****heaps with a nice engine and trans.. and then they take the X and just run in the completely wrong direction by making it weigh damn near as much as a 3kgt.

F mitsu, the GM of japan.

 

Porsche, Audi, and BMW use plastic pedals in their cars. With the modern drive-by-wire systems, they don't need to be as heavily supported as the older cars. To think this is an issue is naive at best.

 

While I appreciate mitsu as a brand there is a huge disconnect between MMNA and the dealers themselves. Your only interaction is with the dealer and therefore you get a bad impression of the company as a whole. In the end, everyone at a dealer is a salesman. They are all trying to get the last dime from both you and MMNA.

I had a great experience with the parts department in dekalb, IL. Service department... not so knowledgable. Sales staff.... horrendous. If I didn't love DSMs and know what the evo could do the impressions i got from the other departments would have been enough to turn me off to Mitsubishi completely... forever. Guess what, that dealership closed. Surprised?

You are trying to charge me $500 over msrp after $1500 in rebates, have a 16 year old drive me car to me from 400 miles away, and can't remember my name after numerous times I've come in. That's your lead salesman teaming up with the owner of the dealership? Your other salesman know NOTHING about your cars and you put an OZ rally on the showroom floor and leave the evos out in the rain? You talk to me like I'm some ricer when I'm trying to buy a car and clearly don't carry that attitude? The local dealership where I bought my evo tries to say my coupon from MMNA is not valid for a free oil change and inspection on the evo and try to charge $90 for it when it has my VIN on it?! ... then you don't even do the inspection or give me the time of day?

That's the experience I'm talking about, and it rings true with 98% of the dealerships. MMNA as a whole is great, but the people you interact with are horrible. In either case its a business relationship. I love the car, but the brand is just a brand to me.

Some other company releases an affordable evo killer that gets better gas milage, performs better, is more comfortable, cheaper to service, etc you bet I'm going to jump ship. If nothing else I would do so because the interaction I have with dealers has been horrible and way negative overall.

The sad thing is that if MMNA was a financing company they would probably be better off overall. Do you know how the big 'merican companies make their money? ...the car brand is generally barely making margin, its the financing department the pulls in the real bucks.

 

I've actually had zero issues with any of the service departments I've dealt with for either of my Evos save for Delaware Mitsubishi which went out of business. The only reason I won't continue to use the network is that they gouge for basic service items.

 

really? My 04 Jetta 1.8T DBW had metal pedals.

 

To be more precise, the idea of loyalty to a firm is what makes monopolistic competition/oligopolies work. When you product differentiate, it allows companies to charge a markup. That's their way of giving back to you