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2007 Mitsubishi Outlander Quality Problems
prostock
Member Posts: 2
I purchase a 07 Outlander LS from Courtesy in Attleboro Massachusetts. I had the clunking sound in the front end, the wind noise from the mirror which both problems were addressed and repaired in one day. After repairs were made, I had a terrible wind noise from the top of the drivers & passenger doors which they could not diagnose. Also a clicking sound coming from the windshield where it meets the dash area sounding like the windshield was not seated properly. I also had a squeeking sound coming from the suspension which they could not diagnose either. This vehicle only had 1900 miles on it. At that point, they had the Mitsubishi rep come and go on a test drive with me. The man played deaf and dumb. He said whatever I was hearing was a characteristic of the vehicle. Well, I told him that the vehicle was a lemon and basiclly a piece of junk. I got no where with that so I went to another dealership, East Providence Mitsubishi and traded that clunker in. Ended up having to pay $3000.00 dollars more for the new one which I added sun & the rockford fosgate stereo to. Nicer truck but developed the same problems but this time added a new problem, sunroof rattle & the right rear window clunking when opened a quarter of the way. Needless to say, this dealer ship can't fix any of the problems either. I am fed up with Mitsubishi's and will NEVER buy another one of their products and have also Recommended to all my friends and collegues to stay clear of all of their products. They are nothing but junk boxes with incompetentservice departments and un-caring personnel. A very dissatisfied customer.
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My vehicle seems really solid, quiet and rattle free. Especially compared to the Mercury minivan I traded or the 1995 T-Bird I still use to commute every day.
I don't have any rattles or squeaks and it's normally quiet inside. I, too, RECOMMEND this vehicle to anyone shopping this segment.
My dealership experience was pretty good too, but of course I didn't go to your dealerships and I maintain a friendly relationship with the dealership personnel. I also called Mitsubishi Canada and I had a very pleasant conversation with the guy I spoke with.
At this point, I don't see your experience being representative for the car, dealership or Mitsubishi.
One thing struck me from your post: you traded in your first Outie few months old and with 1900 miles on it, to a different dealership, and you only took a $1,420 depreciation hit (the sun&sound is $1,580). :confuse:
Altghouh some current incentives might've helped lower the depreciation, it is still pretty good for a Mitsubishi if you ask me.
I also would highly recommend this vehicle. I only wish I has sprung for the XLS instead of the LS.
I guess it comes down to every person's perception and expectation.
The original issue with that wind rattle was an abnormal condition and it was fixed.
One more thing, when I fixed the wind rattle issue on mine, I did pad the cavity of the plastic cap on top of padding the two tabs (the official fix). Maybe that helped a bit more?
I empathize with your frustration. I also had to agonize a lot with the noise issues and I hope to avoid a mistake again when I buy my next vehicle. I opted for Outlander in the first year of built itself, so as not to be seen as "Toyota", "Honda" or "Hyundai" herds. But now I realize that there is a reason for the large and growing following for those brands.
See the review below by consumer reports. Ride and noise are among the lows for outlander.
*Consumer reports rating for Outlander*
Highs: Powertrain, handling.
Lows: Ride, road noise, fit and finish, radio controls with optional navigation.
I think some Outlander owners in this forum are getting blind sided with features like FastKey (a great one), paddle shift (not much use) blah blah... and forget the factors important for MOST of vehicle buyers. A reliable vehicle with a comfortable ride. And in survey's of customer satisfaction, a quiet cabin has been consistently rated as one of the most important factor.
In this forum some starts talking about "relative" noises to defend Outlander. The unfortunate truth is, among NEW vehicles, Outlander has one of the higest noise level inside the cabin. Has anyone test driven any NEW American brands lately? They have improved their quality drastically and you will know the difference.
btw, another good vehicle with a quiet ride is 2007 Santa Fe. See consumerreports review below.
Highs: Ride, quietness, transmission, fit and finish, controls, optional third-row seat.
Lows: Fuel economy, head room for tall drivers.
Do you have any hard, relevant data to support your claim? I'm thinking sound level measurements on a Outlander manufactured after February 2007?
One very important aspect that is constantly overlooked (ignorance?) is the majority of the reviews have been published early this year and most likely they tested early built vehicles (some stated they tested pre-production vehicles) and most likely without the "wind noise" TSB performed on them. Therefore, their noise ratings are flawed due to a temporary condition (issue) on early built vehicles, fixed after February 2007.
My vehicle HAD the wind noise/rattle issue and after fixing it, it made a big difference. Now I have a decently quiet vehicle which I'm very happy with.
As for the ride comfort, it is a NON issue for me. By definition, the Outlander is NOT a SOFT riding vehicle. Any educated buyer should now that from the get go, plus, it's easy to assess during a test drive. Buying the car and later on complaining about the ride quality, just doesn't make sense.
"Has anyone test driven any NEW American brands lately? They have improved their quality drastically and you will know the difference."
LOL, I was just reading this blog few minutes ago:
Link
JD Power or for that matter none of the survey captures vehicle quality on a month to month build basis. Then manufactures will come up and say, after April, we have highest quality and so on. It's an yearly thing.
And the so-called fix after February is just an application of foam like thing on the two tabs of the mirror cap. Which probably is done by a dealer and not a production fix. btw, if you search these forums, you can find that I had first posted the so-called mirror cap fix back in Jan. See link below. And I did not see much improvement.
disappointed12, "New Mitsubishi Outlander Owners Give us your report" #184, 30 Jan 2007 9:49 am
Now, I agree with you that ride comfort can be assessed during test drive...but sometimes people cannot evaluate everything in a short test drive. So the advantages with the complaints getting posted here is that a potential new vehicle buyer can learn about it and avoid pitfalls. None of us who complained in this forum is complaining thinking that we are going to get our money back.
I think making this clear for the potential buyers is helpful.
I understand that you are still not satisfied with the noise level in your vehicle but this could be due to an additional issue with your vehicle alone (or a small number of vehicles). Another thing that could make a difference between the noise level in your vehicle and mine is the fact that I went an extra mile and I filled the mirror cap with adhesive (doesn't move) weather stripping foam in addition to wrapping up the two tabs. I used different size foam for each application. On the side note, I went to the dealer to perform the TSB, but when I took the mirror cap out, I didn't like the way they did it and I did it myself again - I think better.
Ride quality - I believe you are aware from older discussions on this forum, that the cars are delivered with the tires over inflated - mine were at 38-39 psi. We all know that the tire pressure makes a bit difference in ride quality. No review mentions if they adjusted the tire pressure to the spec (32 psi) before their test. Could you assume that they did that and make your case on this assumption? I don't think so.
While I don't mean to suggest that the Outlander is a perfect car, the wind noise and ride quality are non issues as far as I'm concerned. My complains are on the interior materials and some fit and finish shortcomings. But then again, the price I paid for the Outlander is thousands less then similarly/lower equipped vehicles from the competition (RAV4, SantaFe, CRV). This helped a lot to overcome the little things I picked on the Outlander.
However, none of these shortcomings would stop me from recommending this vehicle or regretting my purchase. I also know that I'm a very picky person when it comes to details and not everybody is like me.
Just because you brought up Santa Fe, and I can add the RAV4 and CRV, the dedicated discussions on this site show that they have problems too, including wind noise and ride quality, some of them in larger numbers and more serious than what has been reported so far on the Outlander boards.
What magazine X or Y says is less relevant to me than what the actual OWNERS say. Your opinion may vary.
If you'd like a copy of your removed post, shoot me an email.
Mine's an LS with the Yokohama Geolander tires.
I'm going out of town this weekend, I'll have over 3K miles when I get back.
I'm going to schedule it's first oil change and have the dealer listen to it.
At any rate, at would check your CV boots to make sure they are intact. :confuse:
Both of the issues you mentioned have been fixed at the factory by now (I would guess your car has been built on or after May). From my experience, the dealers don't do any TSB upon delivery unless you specifically ask.
Of course the "wind noise" debate still remains, but it has nothing to do with the TSB.
Please post back your impressions.
I think the sound from my front end is just tire noise. I'm not sure if these tires are just loud when turning at low speeds, if they will get quieter when they get more miles on them, or if I have a defective tire.