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Mitsubishi Galant

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Comments

  • ultratechultratech Member Posts: 142
    What did you ended up doing with your car after all?

    I believe even if you go with carsdirect, you still get dealership support. I've been to several mitsu dealers around here, and It seems they all give you the same kind of service, regardless if you bought it there or not.

    About warranty, it should be cheaper to buy the extended somewhere online, or at least tell the dealer and print a couple of quotes so they can match it or come close to it.
  • sebring95sebring95 Member Posts: 3,241
    The rotor problem is far from Mitsu only. Many many other models have premature rotor wear, and I believe it is just cheap manufacturing of the rotors. I had a Chryco Sebring with constant brake/rotor problems (needed a new set of both every 15K miles at best) and around 60K miles I bought cross-drilled rotors and good pads. Those lasted and worked flawlessly until I sold the car with 85K miles. My past Camrys went over 150K miles on the factory rotors, and 80K on the pads. I know a couple people that put cheap (NAPA, autozone) pads/rotors on Camrys and had problems with them. So in a nut shell, many rotors are inferior, but the problems can be aggravated by other issues as well. Luminas, Jeeps, most Dodge products, F-150's, etc. I'm familiar with all eating rotors long before the pads are worn.
  • vadim_stvadim_st Member Posts: 13
    Just a note to those concerned about getting dealer support after purchasing on-line: US auto dealers have arranged for legislation that permits car sales only through dealerships. That's why you can't buy directly from a factory. This also means that when you buy on-line, you eventually take delivery from a real-life dealership, just like the rest of the crowd. So there is no conflict here.
  • sebring95sebring95 Member Posts: 3,241
    Buying from one dealer and getting warranty service at another can be problematic. I'm not sure how Mitsu is, but Chryco had incentives for warranty work from the delivering dealership. In other words, the delivering dealership got paid more for warranty work on a vehicle they originally sold. So, if you take your car to a Chryco dealer that did not sell it, they certainly aren't going to put you at the top of their schedule. This may not be the current policy at chryco, but it was a year or so ago when a relative worked for them.
  • vadim_stvadim_st Member Posts: 13
    The discrepancy in payment for warrnaty repairs is on the verge of being illegal. At least one can make a pretty stong case and grab another couple of million of dollars of damages. But my general opinion is that a crappy dealer will do a crappy job no matter how much you pay him.
  • mpevznermpevzner Member Posts: 41
    No matter where in the US you buy the car, the dealer HAS to perform warranty repairs. The problem with Mitsubishi dealers is that the quality of their work is far from acceptable. I have some mechanical experience myself, mostly with the engines (overhauling Porsche engines, converting them for use in an aircraft, overhauling radial aircraft engines) but why the heck should I do somebody else's job? Mitsubishi is not going to pay me for it.
  • marcinmarcin Member Posts: 64
    What did you ended up doing with your car after all? What do you drive now?
  • handsomeplzerhandsomeplzer Member Posts: 1
    Its a very peppy car. I went from an 1996 Eclipse to a 2001 GTZ and I must say the Add peppy is appreciated. I enjoy this 4door car very much. I have had an air bag (SRS) light come on and the service department determined it was the passenger side airbag module which will soon be replaced under warranty. They have already experienced that problem with the 2001 Galants and Eclipses. Well I noticed that it would come on and off when I adjusted the passenger seat. I looked underneath the passenger seat (front of seat) and noticed a yellow wire cover. Assuming this to be the wires for the module I simply made sure that the taped up connection was in properly and since then I have not seen the (SRS) light come on since. From that morning until now (7pm). I have not seen the SRS light come on although when you start it does take 1 second longer then normal to go out. Does this deter from my purchase? Hexk no! It's a very good car and its everything I need and more.

    I have tested drove a Honda Accord V6 and the peppines is not the same. The Accord was very sluggish but does pickup speed once you give it more gas. However with the Galant GTZ all you do is touch the accelerator and it goes. Now one thing I liked about the 2001 Accord is that it had a 6 disc cd changer and very bright headlights. The sound system itself sucks. The GTZ headlights are very dull (Shame on you Mistu. how am I to see at night!). I bet the 2002 will come with 6 disc cd changer but it's not the end of the world!

    The ride is more stiff and responsive on the 2001 Accord v6 but the 2001 GTZ is very bounce and rolls with plenty of body lean. Nothing that a strut tower brace for front and rear can't cure (Mitsubishi Motors of America....hint...hint).

    What sound me was the peepiness, the comfort of the ride and the low level of noise at red lights. You don't even know the engine is on or not! Impressive but I have to tell it striaght.
  • truckdude1truckdude1 Member Posts: 88
    ok the 99 Galant we have has "ONLY" 63,852 MILES NOW. and its already needed a timing belt and guess what???? the stupid TRANSMISSION is going out the dealer said. It takes always usually TWO times to start it, and then it makes alot of noise, gosh this car is only 19 months old and has only 63,852 miles on it, why does this sucker have soooooo many problems gosh? and look we used to have a 95 Galant ES and it only had 169,020 miles on it, and the MOTOR BLEW UP!!!! these are trash not cars.haha...bye.
  • drobinson19drobinson19 Member Posts: 11
    What do you mean only 63k plus miles! That is a lot for only a 99. That's the highest I've ever heard in only 2-3 years. What do you expect putting 30-40k plus miles a year on a car. It sounds like you drive your cars to death. Timing belts go out between 60-70k miles so that is normal its just that you usually hit 60-70 after at least 4 years of ownership. As for your 95 thats not bad to last 169k miles. None of the American cars I owned before my Galant made it to 100k without big issues ie tranny, motor electrical. 169k is good for any car especially when you put that many miles on it in only 4-6 years. I wouldn't put that much on my car in 12 years. Your problems are obviously operator caused.
  • cgacga Member Posts: 23
    In the spirit of give and take here’s a review of my 2000 Galant ES-4cyl, (13,100 miles), which I bought new about sixteen months ago. I live in western NY and firmly believe you can’t honestly judge a car before driving it through all four seasons. Also, I believe leasing a car is not as big a commitment as buying it, so I tend to pay more attention to a buyer’s evaluation. I’ve been driving for over thirty years and have owned and driven many cars.

    THE GOOD:

    Good price/performance/style value. High government crash test rating. Good all around gas mileage (I get 26-29mpg in the warm weather with no highway and no real city driving). Stylish looks—people notice this car. Quiet at idle and at steady speed with windows rolled up. Unusually responsive standard 4-cyl(6-cyl is marginally better and not worth it, in my opinion). Stops comparatively quickly. Good trunk size and usability. Good visibility. Large glove box. Good (poor treble) sounding radio. Good heater. Good headroom. Gauges and controls well laid out. Pleasant and easy to drive. Fairly comfortable front seats.

    THE BAD:

    Insufficient room in the back. Driving in snowy, slippery conditions, the car sometimes exhibits a dangerous lack of control when exposed to even moderate crosswinds. I’m very sensitive to this and others may not notice this quirk until they slide into a ditch, or worse. Also, overall slightly vague steering response. (The dealer has checked out the car and claims it performs up to specifications.) Slightly higher revving engine than one would expect. Head-scratchingly stupid velour material covering the armrests, which have already begun to wear. A/C often ineffective below 40 mph. I HATE the position of the emergency brake lever. Painfully high depreciation rate, which may be improving slightly. Poor headlight design. Some spare parts hard to find. Amazingly unresponsive and uncooperative dealer.

    The zero percent three-year finance deal at the time of purchase forced me to take a look at the Galant – also the dealer’s willingness to sell it for about $450 above “true invoice.”

    Frankly, were I shopping for a comparatively priced new sedan today, I would probably not put the Galant at the top of my list, but would definitely consider it, and depending upon market conditions, might buy a Galant again. However, there are lots of surprisingly good new car deals as I write this, and I would check them all out before committing.
  • ultratechultratech Member Posts: 142
    In my opinion, any car that can go above 100k miles without much majors deserve my respect ..
    Timing belt at 60k is normal, especially since it's been like working non-stop ... Transmition at 60k maybe a bit early, but doesn't mitsu have that 5 yr or something like that warranty on tranny?
    Well, anyway, for everyone else .. warranty gold has this $450 off on their extended warranty.
    --------------------------
    www.thegalantcenter.com
  • rodmcpodrodmcpod Member Posts: 3
    If your 95 Galant was so bad, why did you get another on in 99? I think the stats on both your cars are impressive. You should be happy.
  • mpevznermpevzner Member Posts: 41
    The Misubishi engineers screwed up the design of transmission cooler lines. Overheating is the #1 cause of failure of automatic transmissions. Mitsubishi has issued a recall on these faulty transmission lines, but if you've put enough miles on your car already, the transmission is probably damaged. Too late. Most people in this conference are in the $30K -$40K range, so we've got more horror stories coming :(
  • cbnearlacbnearla Member Posts: 28
    Why are you trying to scare people with your message? The recall states that, due to a fault in the manufacturing process, the transmission cooler lines COULD leak, which would damage the transmission due to lack of fluid. If your transmission cooler lines are replaced before they begin leaking, there is NO damage to the transmission because of this manufacturing problem. I realize you apparently had a lot of problems with your car; fortunately most of the rest of us haven't. You have a right to your opinion as to the quality of Mitsu vehicles, but no right to try to scare people with INACCURATE info.
  • jdbtensaijdbtensai Member Posts: 122
    Where are all the Galant owners?
  • jdbtensaijdbtensai Member Posts: 122
    Just wondering why people picked the Galant? As opposed to a Maxima, Camry, Accord, or whatever. Price? Handling? Quality? Appearance? Etc.
  • marcinmarcin Member Posts: 64
    just read the posts in this forum. there is plenty of pros and some cons. btw, Maxima is not in the same category as Galant. if you want to compare Nissan then you have to go with Altima.
  • marcinmarcin Member Posts: 64
    has any1 purchased an extended warranty from the on-line place called warrantygold.com? with 49k on my '99 Galant I was wondering if it would be a good investment if I would by their best package for about $1100. I think this would cover me to 100k.
  • jdbtensaijdbtensai Member Posts: 122
    if you are talking pre-2002 then the Galant v6 competes with the maxima. and the i4 can go against the altima, maybe. though much bigger with a nicer interior. if you are talking the 2002 altima, then i agree completely.
  • ultratechultratech Member Posts: 142
    If you're thinking about keeping your car uo to 100k miles, then yeah go for it !! ... It can't be over $1000 though !! .. Warrantygold has this $475 off on their diamond .

    Put it this way, my sister's protege had to replace head gaskets at 80,000 which cost her $600 !! ... but then my cousins Camry is at 140k miles without majors !

    ------------------------
    www.TheGalantCenter.com
  • mattbartmattbart Member Posts: 12
    am i the only galant-owning smoker who has all kinds of cigarette burns on the stupid velour on the driver's side door? the first time i realized this was a problem was when i rolled down the windows with a cigarette in my hand. that left a nice big burn... this car was obviously deigned by a non-smoker.
  • mattbartmattbart Member Posts: 12
    why the galant, you ask? here's why for me.

    1. Depreciation. As a salesman who typically puts 50k a year on my car, depreciation works to my advantage. I picked up my 2000 Galant with 15k for about $14,500. 2000 Accords and Camrys with comparable mileage are in the $16's. Since I drive my cars into the ground, resale value is not an issue to me. Drive it for 4 years and 200k, and sell it to a high school kid for $1500. Works for me.

    2. Styling. Camry and Accord... bland, bland, bland. Galant... sporty, sophisticated. BMW-ish styling. And the fog lights are cool. My only complaint is that from far away the tail lights look like an old Taurus.

    3. Fast four-banger. After recently totaling a two-year-old Explorer and costing my insurance company over $20,000, I needed to buy a four cylinder vehicle. I'm expecting my rates to skyrocket at the next renewal, or at the very least I'll lose my safe driver discount. Didn't want a V6 bumping me up into sports car rate tables. Anyway, my four-banger automatic Galant is actually quicker than my brother's 98 Accord 4-cyl 5-speed. The Accord is faster off the line but once the Galant gets up past around 25 mph it really takes off.

    And a comment regarding some of the warranty discussions from a couple pages back, I purchased my Mitsubishi from an independent used car dealership and found a Mitsubishi dealer who bends over backwards to take care of me, even on recalls and warranty repairs. Anyone in Connecticut, try Tony March Mitsubishi in Hartford. Best service department I've ever dealt with.
  • marcinmarcin Member Posts: 64
    with my 49k mi, i'm getting close to buying new set of tires. i was looking at Gyear's Aquatred 3, with 80k mi warranty. the weird thing is that '99 Galant ES came with 195/60/15 but the 2k model came with 65s. should i stick with 60 or 65? i'm not a race-boy and i don't have any aftermarket rims. i just want a nice ride :) what do you guys think?
  • blf2blf2 Member Posts: 38
    Goodyear makes very good tires, the Aquatreds would be a good choice, especially if you live in a wet part of the country. I'd stick with the 60's, they're a little wider profile and a more common size. Michelin is also a great USA made tire, I doubt they have an 80K warranty though. Usually when a tire has a real high mileage warranty it means the rubber is of a stiffer compound, which usually translates into a rougher ride. Personally, I'd go with a 40,000 mile medium treadwear tire by Goodyear, Michelin, or Yokohama, and make sure the tire has at least an H speed rating, stay away from the S rated tires. Just my 2cents!
  • har1bushhar1bush Member Posts: 207
    A couple reasons I can think of are that the Galant looks better than the competition, and there arent as many Galants as there are Accords, Camrys, and Maximas. Other than that, however, I'd much rather go for a Hyundai XG300L at this price range if I wanted those things. Afterall, even though Mitsu might be slightly more reliable than a Hyundai, at least Hyundai has a long warranty. But other than the exclusivity of the XG and the Galant, I'd say in general, go with an Accord or wait for the '02 Camry, Altima, and Maxima.
  • pesho75pesho75 Member Posts: 2
    Five months ago I bought a 2001 Galant ES-V6, only option is sunroof, and I really like the car. Unfortunately, I must travel to Europe for a year and now I need to sell it fast (within a month). It has 7K miles on it and is in excellent condition, almost new. Could anyone please give me some insights on selling the car - realistic price I can get, how and where to advertise, etc. Thanks!
  • sebring95sebring95 Member Posts: 3,241
    That's gonna be a hard one because of the incentives on the new ones. Someone that wants to finance is going to pay a much higher interest rate on your car. The payment would be the same if they paid you around $17,000. So considering it's used, they are gonna want to pay much less than that. You'll probably be very lucky to get $15,000 on a quick sale. You may want to store the thing for a year if you can possibly swing it. You take a severe beating by selling a new car so quickly.
  • ultratechultratech Member Posts: 142
    It's so bad that you have to sell your galant so soon .. you'll definately loose a lot of money ...

    To beging with, you already lost around $2000 of tax and license fees .. On top of that add depreciation, which is very bad the first year !
  • vadim_stvadim_st Member Posts: 13
    Here is a question for techies: I know that some ATs, with overdrive off, "stretch" the remaining gears, upshifting later. This gives more control, sportier ride, etc. Anybody knows if the same applies for Galants (say, driving in third instead of Drive), of will it just exclude the fourth gear?
  • mpevznermpevzner Member Posts: 41
    Mitsubishi forgot to tighten the steering on some Galants.
    Mitsubishi installed faulty transmission coler lines.
    Mitsubishi installed faulty headlights switch.
    The car is a rattlebox scince day one - lousy interior materials used.
    The depreciation is BAD.

    Why Galant - because intelligent people sometimes do stupid things.
  • mattbartmattbart Member Posts: 12
    although i do love my galant, you do have a point, i have more rattles than a car with 25k should have (actually, a car with 25k shouldn't have ANY rattles) but my glove box rattles over bumps and there is this annoying rattling coming out of the driver's seat belt housing. it only does it sometimes and of course it wouldn't do it for the dealer when he looked at it. oh well.
  • marcinmarcin Member Posts: 64
    mattbart,
    i have exactly same problem. from the first mile i drove until now, 50k. glovebox and seat belt housing. at least i know it's not just me :)
  • cbnearlacbnearla Member Posts: 28
    Why are you people just putting up with rattles that irritate you? You've got a 3 year /36K warranty on that stuff. My glovebox also rattled over bumps. Took it back and they replaced the glovebox lock - rattle gone. The complaining owner gets the rattle relief :)
  • blf2blf2 Member Posts: 38
    The dealer changed the lock cylinder on our GTZ(about 6 mos ago) and wa-la, no more annoying rattle, in fact the car is very quiet now, and we have 20,000 miles so far. One thing that really got my blood running though....The gas tank lid is very chintsy, one of the PLASTIC parts holding the spring clip just broke and now the lid doesn't close and just kinda hangs at an angle, pretty embarassing on a 24,000 dollar machine eh?
    The dealer is obviously taking care of this, but my '88 Accord had a metal tank lid w/ a remote lock, and it's still good as new. Not having a remote tank opener, not to mention not being able to lock the cover is pretty inexcusable in a car that is supposed to be in the Camry-Accord class. And while I'm venting.....WHY can't we get the entire rear seat to fold down, that worthless folding peep-hole is a JOKE. Oh well, no other complaints, and car still gets ALOT of compliments from strangers :o)
  • mpevznermpevzner Member Posts: 41
    The bottom line is that I got completely frustrated and the rattles are still there.
  • PAmanPAman Member Posts: 207
    My friend has a '96 Galant S with just over 100K miles. His automatic transmission is dead, and the shop is quoting $3600 for a rebuilt transmission. I'm not familiar with Mitsubishi products, being a Detroit fan, but I told him to call the shop back and get a price on a tranny out of a salvage yard.

    In the meantime, is this transmission a weak spot on Galants in the mid to late 90's? If so, did Mitsubishi do anything to remedy them, like replacing them with an upgraded transmission??

    Like I said, I'm not up on "furrin" cars, so any help from other Galant owners would be appreciated.

    Joe
  • sebring95sebring95 Member Posts: 3,241
    I'm guessing the car is at a dealership. Fist off, most dealers don't have anyone that knows jack about trannys. You need to find a good, reputable tranny shop (not AAM#O) and let them fix it. Most dealerships just ship in a factory rebuilt tranny and swap them out, because any idiot with a wrench can swap one. Most likely a good tranny shop can rebuild that one for around $1500. If not they can find something more reasonable.

    The weakest link in pretty much all cars is the transmission anymore. They've (auto manufacturers) have figured out how to easily get 200K on the engines but the trannys are so sophisticated now, they don't last as long.

    I used to work for a big co. that had over 3000 cars in their sales fleet. Of those, not over 30% made it beyond 130K miles without a new tranny. These were mainly Luminas and Taurus. What was hilarious was that Chevy promised us in 95 (when they redesidned the lumina) that the tranny problem was resolved. Except they fixed one problem and created another. The 95's started dropping their trannys around 60K to 70K miles. In 97 we started switching to Malibus, and as of my last day we hadn't lost more than a couple of those, but the mileage was mainly under 100K. I put a few Camrys in the fleet and they did terrific, but the cost factor was too high even without any repairs. You have that many cars, you've got to go with the absolute cheapest to operate. The execs all had 5-series Bimmers, now you wanna talk about expensive to operate!
  • joathletejoathlete Member Posts: 25
    How often should brakes pads be changed---I live in NYC
    Have a bad screech on front drivers side wheel when driving--stops making sound when brakes are applied
  • blf2blf2 Member Posts: 38
    That screech you're hearing is the brake warning spring that rubs the rotor when the pads wear down. It lets you know that the pads should be changed, it's OK to drive the vehicle, but you should tend to the brakes pretty quick, the pads will eventually wear enough that the rivets (unless they're "bonded" pads) holding the pads to the mounts, will grind into the rotors, and then you'll have to replace the rotor along w/ the pads, which will add about 100.00 per rotor to the brake job! You didn't mention your mileage, but I usually get about 30,000 miles on my brakes before service, not sure about our GTZ though, it's only got 20,000 miles, and the pads still look pretty good! Hope this helped ya!
  • joathletejoathlete Member Posts: 25
  • joathletejoathlete Member Posts: 25
    Thanks for feedback blf2

    by the way my mileage was low only 18k
    had it fixed at dealer which i should not have done because it ran me $200

    anyway problem fixed and no annoying screech.
    what future maintenance should i look forward to besides oil changes
    how often should i have a tune up and other advice would be appreciated

    thxs---joe in ny
  • gman35gman35 Member Posts: 1
    Rotors are warped after only 13k miles. Dealer won't fix under warranty. Airbag light goes on and off. Had to replace defective speed sensor. Glove box lock fell out on floor. Trans cooler lines had to be replaced. Some wiring harness was recalled. I have owned the car all of 5 months. Needless to say, I am not happy with the quality of this vehicle. Good luck to you all, you are going to need it.
  • blf2blf2 Member Posts: 38
    Do you have any other dealers within a reasonable proximity? I know it can be a judgement call as to getting rotors covered under warranty(since they're considered a "wear" item) but I'd definately try another dealer, or go higher up, try calling their main headquarters. If they really want your business they'll fix them. I'm a bit dismayed about the quality aspect as well. These cars are still a large improvement IMO, over domestic brands, but Honda-Nissan-Toyota, and anything German, are still ahead in the quality game. I compare Mitsu to Mazda, good overall cars, but cut a few too many corners to be in the same league as the aforementioned makes.
  • jdbtensaijdbtensai Member Posts: 122
    Where'd all the Galant owners go???
  • marcinmarcin Member Posts: 64
    we all went to local dealers fix the rattles, recalls, leaks, you name it :)
  • vac23vac23 Member Posts: 118
    Correction. We are all out enjoying out Galants.
  • sebring95sebring95 Member Posts: 3,241
    800 miles last weekend.
  • 4u24u2 Member Posts: 17
    I am still in driving bliss with my Galant. It is absolutely wonderful. The V6 is smooth and silky. Still driving like new at 12,000 miles.

    Happy Driving!
  • jfb7jfb7 Member Posts: 11
    Last November, I decided on a 2001 Galant LS with the V6 engine and fully optioned. At that time, I considered it to be a great value for the money , while also getting all the features I wanted at a price I could live with. Nine months later, this car is getting on my LAST NERVE! The trunk release doesn't work( I still can't believe that it can't be opened using the remote!), the weatherstripping around my headlights is just hanging down at the sides and slapping against the fenders and now the CD player is skipping constantly. While this poor workmanship is unacceptable in any car, I think it's particularly inexcusable on a car line's high end model. It used to be that $25K got you a car with quality workmanship that you could enjoy driving with a minimum of problems. I guess $25K doesn't get you much any more! At least not at your Mitsubishi dealer! My black LS with Tan leather interior is a beautiful car. Unfortunately, as the expression goes, its beauty is only skin-deep! I thought I had done everything right - I read all the drive reports and reviews I could get my hands on before I decided on the Galant. I am so disappointed with this car and I definitely plan to replace it as soon as possible. Rest assured, it will NOT be with another Mitsu product. Thanks for listening and, for those who are in the same boat as I am, I feel your pain!- John
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