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Buying Used Mitsubishi Outlander

mmccreadiemmccreadie Member Posts: 2
edited August 2014 in Mitsubishi
I just bought a 2004 outlander with 100,00 kms . Paid 13,999. was that a good buy. Have 7 days to se if I like it. Have driven it a few times. Is in great shape.

Comments

  • emtjdeemsemtjdeems Member Posts: 2
    no take it back for that price you can buy a lot better fuel milage
  • mmccreadiemmccreadie Member Posts: 2
    are you saying the mileage is too high??. I have searched all over alberta and anything with less mileage is 3 or 4 thousand more. Im retired and dont do a lot of highway driving so I thought this was a good buy as it is in great mechanical shape and brand new tires.
  • emtjdeemsemtjdeems Member Posts: 2
    well if your retired and not going to be driving alot it prooly is a good buy. But if your planning a lot of travle you can get better milage per hour. Ive had my 03 for three years now no mecanical probs. the milage on the highway this last jan from ga to In. was 22 mpg. Just over 400 miles each way make your own determination.
  • outlanderbuyeroutlanderbuyer Member Posts: 1
    New to this forum-looking at buying a 2006 Outlander LS FWD. One owner vehicle with 50,000 km on it (Canada).Have a couple of questions:

    1. Any major concerns or areas I should look it.

    2. The asking price is $13000 (Canadian). How does that sound? I looked on Autotrader and the average price for these 2006 Outlanders was about $12,500.

    3. It was bought in November 2006, so should have warranty left on it (both 5 year and 10 year). Has anyone has to transfer a warranty on a used one or make a claim and have any problems?

    I drove it yesterday and it looks good and drives nicely. Outlanders weren't really on my radar-looking for a small SUV and had looked mainly at RAV4s and CR-Vs but the Outlander looks good.

    Any advice you can give would be appreciated.

    Thanks,

    Greg
  • qdogg29qdogg29 Member Posts: 4
    edited June 2010
    Greg,

    Although it may be profoundly different than what you intend to buy, I have an '07 Outlander that has been great for me. I don't know much about the Outlanders before the redesign in '07, but from what I gather, outside of '03 (the first yr: abysmally weak engine), they are a competitive used car choice. But, I hate to inform you that, as far as I'm concerned, the great 10-year powertrain warranty is not transferable. I wish, for your sake, it weren't so. Good luck.

    -Dan
  • elgatolocoelgatoloco Member Posts: 92
    I have two Outlanders. An 04 and an 08 SE. My wife uses the 08 now so our oldest daughter has pretty much taken over the 04. It's AWD and very minimal with the gadgets but still a very good and solid performing vehicle. Great handling in crummy weather. The Mivec 4 cylinder was put in the 04 - 07 Outlanders, has about 165 hp and with a few upgrades is still being used in the Galant and Eclipse GS. I follow the maintainance schedule from Mitsubishi and change oil and filter every 3k. Just passed 82,000 miles on the odometer and still going strong. I'm hoping to pass it on to my younger daughter someday as it is very easy to drive.
  • possiblepossible Member Posts: 2
    My wife wants an Outlander like the one we saw at the auto show here in Phoenix with all the bells and whistles. /leather.
    All I want to do is compare it to my Plymouth mini van as I have 170K on it and only had to replace a fuel pump early this year. Pretty good for 10 years. I am worried as some Mitsubishi dealers have gone out of business and others are far away. Two, Mit. only sold 54000 total units in the US last year and I feel getting parts might be difficult as dealers won't stock many parts. Also resale would be weak due to, who has heard much of these as they don't advertise much.
    But Bottom line, I am looking for a vehicle to equal or better serve us as did the Ply Voyager who was only in once for that repair. Only draw back was over steering.
    I personally would go for a Prius or another Van for the milage as the Outlander gets less MPG than my 3.3 ltr. . van. But it is the wifes vehicle.
  • fushigifushigi Member Posts: 1,459
    Mitsu has repeatedly said they're committed to the US market. They're rolling out the Outlander Sport in the next few weeks and will be bringing their electric car to the US in 2012. They have a plant in Bloomington-Normal, IL that builds Galants, Eclipses/Spyders, and Endeavors that are exported to 32 different countries.

    Individual dealers may come and go but I don't think the brand is leaving our shores anytime soon.

    I had a '99 Galant until last December when I replaced it with a '10 Outlander GT. I've no problems with the vehicles or the brand.

    I don't think you should be concerned about resale value. Since you own your cars for a long time & lots of miles, all cars are going to see their value whittled down to very little. And as I've said before, the higher resale isn't always a good deal. When I bought my Galant the equivalent Camry was $2K more expensive. After 10 years & 152K miles, for fun I ran the numbers on trade-in values and the Galant was worth $1000 less than the Camry. So that vaunted resale value would have actually cost an extra $1000 had I gone with the Toy.

    If you've any questions about the Outlander, ask away. We'll be glad to fill you in.
    2017 Infiniti QX60 (me), 2012 Hyundai Elantra (wife)
  • martin53martin53 Member Posts: 1
    I planned to drive an outlander across the country from san francisco to virgina (for school). should it be necessary to be a 4X4? I am in the san francisco bay area. here are not much options for outlander. can anyone tell me some good place to look for cars around bay area?

    well. i checked online. found one:
    here are some sepcs of the car:
    Air Conditioning, Alarm System, Alloy Wheels, AM/FM, Anti-Lock Brakes, Automatic Climate Control, Aux Audio Jack, Bluetooth, CD, CD Changer, Child Seat, Driver Airbag, Heated Seats, Leather Seats, Memory Seats, Mp3 CD Player, Navigation, On-Star, Power Locks, Power Mirrors, Power Seats, Power Steering, Rear Air, Rear Airbags, Rear Defroster, Satellite Radio, Side Airbags, Sun Roof, Third Row Seat, Traction Control

    mileage is 30677, 3.0L V6, but it is FWD

    well, consider thanksgiving is approaching and I can pay in cash what will be the BEST PRICE I can get? the dealer says 16000 online, never talk to the dealer berfore. dealer is around san francisco.

    the things I don't like are: color, 2wd,Navigation is not necessary for me.

    also I want to ask when is the good time to buy, thanks giving or christmas?
  • batman47batman47 Member Posts: 606
    My opinion on buying a second hand car (or pre owned, that sounds much better) is that every car ought to be replaced every 5-years or 60,000 miles for customer peace of mind. Changing engine oil and filter according to schedule will keep any car in good working conditions until 60K miles, however other parts of the car will undergo wear and tear that are not obviously visible. If you use the car to go shopping or visit your grand children miles away 1 or 2 times per year then the criteria above is not valid. If 50% of your driving time is driving in rough terrain then it is most advisable that you swap your car for a new model at 60K miles.

    The parts that need inspection or replacement or adjustment for wear after 60K miles are:

    (1)- Front suspension bushes will most probably be cracked and dried producing unexpected noises
    (2)- All car fluids need to be replaced for new ones: brake fluid, ATF fluid, steering fluid, & differential fluid
    (3)- Door trims when exposed continually to the sun are easy to crack or split.
    (4)- Body paint chips are showing eating into the pure metal
    (5)- Leather seats showing their age
    (6)- Bolts and nuts from the muffler exhaust pipes are at this stage welded to the exhaust joint that if anything is wrong with the exhaust it will require drilling into these nuts and bolts at high labor cost.
    (7)- Disc/rotor will need to be changed. Disc thickness close to the tolerance limit
    (8)- Brake pads will need to be replaced (including shims and clips)
    (9) Timing belt will need to be replaced as well as driving belt and other accessories (expensive)
    (10)- Gasoline filter (petrol) will need to be replaced as well as the PCV (exhaust gas recirculation)
    (11)- Platinum plugs may need to be replaced
    (12)- Engine tuning or engine valve clearance adjustment
    (13)- Doors start showing funny noises when closing or when driving off tarmac.
    (14)- Four-wheel alignment
    (15)- Door electrical switches reaching their live expectations
    (16)- Headlights transparent plastic start showing fogging spot due to age
    (17)- And so on

    In summary, if you want to keep your car above 5-years you will need to be a pretty good DIY mechanic or access to “faithful and honest” local mechanics.

    Car, with few exceptions, need special care after 5-years or 60K miles (which is usually very expensive). You may look at the warranty given to an Outlander GT and to a BMW X5:

    Basic drive train Road side Rust
    Outlander 5 year/60K miles 10 year/100K miles 5 year/unlimited 7 year/60K
    BMW 4 year/50K miles 4 year/50K miles 4 year/unlimited 12 year/unlimited

    Mitsubishi is generous with the warranty with the exception of rust. The drive train comprises usually the engine, transmission, drive shafts, and differentials. Owners are better off with the Mitsubishi than BMW in this respect. BMW provide better rust cover which mean (if that can be enforced) that all metal parts will start corroding after 12 years 5-years after the Mitsubishi metal started to corrode. BMW is oriented to customer replacements of parts/components (e.g. drive train) after 4-years (costly). For example the whole exhaust system pipes and muffler will be replaced cost free if corrosion starts to show before the 12 years in a BMW.

    The drive train rests on metal frames and the Outlander GT can have the drive train OK but the metal that supports it can start to corrode which is a bit contradictory.

    All the above consideration may support the idea that cars should be replaced every 5-years (as a car factory default expectation). The price of 5-years old car could be 1/3 of its value when it was new which may imply to shoulder 2/3 of the value of a new equivalent car. If the price paid for a new car was $30,000 then a 5-year car will have a sale price of $10,000 which will require another $20,000 in order to buy a new car. The old car has loss $20,000 which is equivalent to $4000 per year or $340 per month. If a lease is less than this figure then leasing is a good prospect
  • comem47comem47 Member Posts: 399
    Batman I respectfully disagree. Cars are much better on the whole now than back in the 60's or 70's and every car I've owned has gone over 100k miles (most cases approaching 125-150K). Maybe you have more money to throw around than I do but the past few cars I've owned I have paid off in 4 years giving me 3-7 more years use after that. The money I've saved maintaining the car is far less than if I were to jump back into another new car loan after just paying it off. My resale may be pretty low at the time I'm finally trading in the car but if you look at the big picture I've put a lot more money aside that would have been car payments for the next vehicle even after the cost of maintenance and depreciation of my trade in (most of the depreciation curve on cars is up front). You must be a car salesman dream to replace cars at 60K or you get bored and want to move on to something new (I can understand the temptation, but I fight it because a new car means I have to sacrifice other things in my life that are more important.). Not having that kind of money and willing to think of my car as an expense that is a drain on my total financial situation I strive to get the most out of every vehicle and essentially drive it into the ground while doing what I can to maintain it (use synthetic oil every 5K miles). Once upon a time back in the 60's when cars cost $3k or so it was easier to flip hem more often, but with cars approaching 10X that in cost with salaries not going up 10X the picture has long changed and people shifted to better quality cars that would last them past their car payments (GM has made tremendous strides from the crap they had in the 80's, for example, to be competitive with the "Toyotas" of the world.). I often hear of people with Mercedes diesels going more than 200K.. So if you don't get bored , there is a lot to be saved staying with car until the cost of repair exceeds it's value. If people are that insecure about breakdowns , then perhaps leasing is the way to go (but you have no equity built up at the end for that choice of trading often ). Of course one reason I chose the Outlander was the great warranty giving me essentially the best of both worlds,. I get to drive it to 10 yrs or 100k with the drive-train covered and 5 years or 60 k bumper to bumper. I really don't expect keeping my 2007 Outlander for 10 yrs will cost me anywhere near what having 2 new vehicle loans in the same amount of time. I own my home for the past 3 years and I don't think I'd be saying that if I kept flipping cars at 60K.
  • batman47batman47 Member Posts: 606
    Car manufacturers expect you to buy a new car usually after 5-years, so they may continue selling cars and doing business with a profit. I started my comment by indicating “if and only if” you use your car 50% off of tarmac. It is not the same to do 60K miles on tarmac than to do 60K on rough road (30K miles out tarmac). I think there isn’t way to find out how a second hand car with 60K miles got that mileage. My comment was directed to members that expect to buy a second hand car.

    In my case, for example, it is a valid prospect to trade my 2010 GT when it reaches 60K miles, regardless of the years needed to accumulate that mileage. The Mitsubishi dealer will never know how I reached that mileage. The dealer will likely to offer me the quoted value from his blue book. I may have, as well, $1000 loyalty and $1000 cash back. Equally a second hand car buyer will never know how the 60K mileage was reached.

    BMW, Mercedes, Volvo, etc are oriented to have their cars with 10+ years rust warranty because if the cars are not swapped for new one after 5 years then they may still make a profit selling car components. For example, the manufactures of the hundredth of car sensors are built to fail progressively after 5-years. Suspension bushes, suspension and steering ball joints are designed to deteriorate substantially after 5-years regardless of the car use. This assertion is also valid for the myriad of car components.
  • comem47comem47 Member Posts: 399
    edited November 2010
    The other thing I forgot to mention in the great "suck your wallet dry" State of NY I live in, one pays a sales tax (8% in surrounding counties and 7.5 % my county). You do get to subtract the trade in value before applying the tax if you have a trade vs having sold the car privately. In my case this means another few thousand less dollars I am giving to my state in a 10 year period by hanging on to my vehicles longer and I love that!!! (that alone could pay for a lot of repairs) ;)
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