Hi. I'm a newbie here and I posted in the new members area and I don't know if I can repost here. I've been going through the forum and have been getting some knowledge about Mitsu and the Outlander. The wife and I are looking to buy a new car and it started with the cr-v, then the rav4, the vue and finally the outlander. We test drove all four and from that, we shot down the cr-v, it was nice looking inside & out, but no power &hefty pricetag. The rav4 was nice but for the price? The vue made sense (good motor & warranty). And then came the outlander. I've seen it on the streets but never up close. We took one for a drive and it wasn't too bad. We liked the way it looked, handled and the warranty was sick. None of the others can touch it with the exception of the vue (5 yrs/100,00miles). I never owned a mitsu, always had a honda or toyota. I drive a acura cl and the lease on my wife's corolla's up so we thought it was time to get a small suv/cuv.I don't know too muchabout mitsu but I read that the company was having some problems and wasn't doing to good.The outlander is our first choice but even with the 10 yrs/100,000 miles warranty, will the company be there in 10 yrs? It probably will but I guess that's one of our worries. The front suspension "clunk" and the wind noise, those things can be fixed. I knowevery vehicle has its pros and cons. I wanna pull the trigger but.... the vue's starting to look better. Anyone with some insight? You guys seem to love your outlander even with its slight problems so that's a plus.Sorry for the long babble.....just wanna make sure I'm buying the right vehicle. Thanks in advance!

 

Welcome to the forum! Personally, I would highly recommend you the 2007 Outlander. You don't have to worry about the front end clunk. If you buy a car build after January, chances are that yourcar will not have it. Mine is a January build and it did not have it. The wind noise is aquick and simple fix. See the "biscuit" fix on this forum. It works guaranteed.
If you like it in and out, everything else is good. The Outlander is a joy to drive, problem free sofar and packed with features for very decent money.
Just a happy owner's opinion if this matters.

 

I like you had narrowed my choices to the Santa Fe, RAV4 and CRV. Ditched the CRV for exactly the same reasons. Was favoring the Santa Fe over the RAV4 based on price difference mainly. Until I saw an ad for the Outie - did some research, drove it and loved it from the get go. The clunk and wind noise isues have been fixed - the dealer has a service bulletin which outlines the VIN's that are affected - you can get this info to ensure your VIN is not on the list. As for Mits suriving - well its been stateside for 25 years, I don't think they are going anywhere - the Outie, new Eclipse and Lancer are the new flagships of their fleet. They have never designed vehicles with such a focus on what the North American consumer wants - until now. You won't beat it in terms of value for money currently. Not to mention best in class warranty and check the history of Mits recalls - virtually none.

Its taken Mits a long time to come to terms with the NA market - they have and continue to make significant investments and it will be a number of years before they see if it really pays off. No doubt they must be happy with the early sales numbers in NA.

FWIW. Best of luck.

 

I dont think there is anything bad to say. The loaded XLS has everything. In dash navigation, 9speakers, fast key, privacy windows, sun roof, HID lights, power leather heated seats, steering wheel controls, the rear seats adjust, I can keep going and say 100 things. I checked out the honda crv and when I seen the seats they looked bad. I didnt like how the interioir was layed out and never looked back. The toyota was a hassle. I went to 2 lots and had the worst customer service ever. That was just trying to look at one. I went to mitsubishi just to look at one and the guy showed me the modified LS inside the show room and brought another up from back for me to drive. I told him from the start I wanted to just look at an XLS and that was it I wasnt buying today. He was like you have to drive it because once you do you will buy one. He was right. I drove one and searched for a hard to find loaded XLS and bought it quick. The outlander is awesome and eveyrone I talked to or dealed with have been above and beyond 100%. Its not just the car your buying with a 10 year warrenty you have to see what kind of service you are going to get too.

 

Mitsubishi is here to stay in the US.

Outlander and Lancer sales are way up, Eclipse too. They're advertising a bunch on the top TV shows.

 

I just bought an XLS 4WD with all the bells and whistles except the DVD/Entertainment package.

Build date was January 30, and no front end clunking for me. The General Manager and Service Manager both knew of the wind noise/side mirror issue and they fixed it free of charge, even though it is not yet an official bulletin like the front end clunking noise is.

After 8 days and 500 miles of ownership, and after the suspension seems to have loosened up a little, I couldn't be happier with it. Had 21.8 mpg on the first tank which matched exactly with what the trip computer said. About 80% highway driving of which half was at 65 mph and half about 77 mph. My guess is that at a flat terrain, no wind, 65 mph drive will result in about 24 to 25 mpg. Probably even better after the car has a few thousand miles on it.

I was looking at the Acura RDX and nearly bought one. It would have been about 20-21 mpg and would have been with premium fuel.

Bud H

 

I get about 26.7 to 29 on the highway... hills kill you though.
great car, I have a large family, (wife, three kids, and a baby on the way... )
we needed the space, and didnt want anything large, so we went with the outlander... we had some issues, none of which MMA (mitsubishi motors america) didnt go out of their way to fix. The local dealer didnt exactly do a good job, or I guess its better to say they did a horrible, terrible job, and nothing they did was right, it took MMA getting involved, and towing the car for us to another dealer, and them going over it from bumper to bumper, inside and out for it to be right. There was nothing inherintly wrong with the truck, and we have had no problems that made it unsafe to drive by anymeans... As a matter of fact, the only build issues that I have had other than the front end clunking, and the wind noise, was the factory missed a body retainer clip in the rear bumper, and it pulled the lower valence off... the second dealer fixed everything satisfactorily, and I couldnt be happier... My wife loves it, and the kids dont have any problem getting into and out of either the second, or third row... The only problem that has arisen with that little bit, is that the smallest child (4) has a hard time pulling the door closed when its in its fully open position, its just to much of a reach for her, but that is by no means a real problem.
we have almost 6000 miles on ours, and have loved every minute of it... just a great truck...
and by far better than any of the competition... we looked at all the ones you were looking at, and settled on the mitsu... glad we did.

 

Soundcolor. Can you let us know which dealerships those were? It may well help those in your area browsing this forum, I think. Not sure about the forum rules regarding that. But in my opinion good service needs to be acknowledged.

 

I have an '06 Saturn Vue and can tell you the Outlander is a better car overall. The drivetrain on the Vue is awesome but overall build quality and workmanship are seriously lacking. Wind noise, squeaks, rattles and clunks come standard with the Vue (oooo, at no extra charge to boot!). I was very impresswed with the Outlander and will more than likely get one at the end of my lease. My advice; get the Outlander.

Also, I noticed the Outlander has roof rails but are cross bars available? Per the Canadian website they are not. Any thoughts?

 

dont worry about that dealership... they closed down, and now sell used cars for rivergate nissan.
they used to be rivergate mitsubishi...