Mitsubishi Diamante - problem car?

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LittleGreyCat

153 posts

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#75276 15-Jan-2011 16:00

Being in an off topic mood I thought I would ask:

At the auctions in November there were a few Diamantes at what looked like low prices and nobody seemed to be bidding.

Now Japanese cars are usually reliable and these looked O.K.

Is there a known problem with these cars or was it just coincidence?

Cheers

LGC

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#427439 15-Jan-2011 16:30

I would like to think it's just a case of being a popular car. I was planning to upgrade my old Mitsi Magna to a Diamante however as the kids kept coming my chances of upgrading to one became a little less likely hehe. I have not heard that they are problematic though although there certainly is a few Mitsi's to be avoided (like the Mitsi Chariot's for one).

richms

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#427443 15-Jan-2011 16:44

GDI - Avoid like the plague since so few places understand it, and there are issues with manifolds needing excessive cleaning on them.

Richard rich.ms

alasta

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#427445 15-Jan-2011 16:45

The Mitsubishi GDI engines were notoriously problematic, but I'm not sure whether those engines were fitted to the Diamant? or not.

jillann

102 posts

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#427447 15-Jan-2011 16:48

We've had a 1996 Diamante for 9 years and its never missed a beat.

jtbthatsme

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#427448 15-Jan-2011 16:50

Not sure if it was a GDI but when we had issues with our Chariot the first question they asked was is a (possibly) GLX or GLXi and yeah it was unfortunately they then pretty much told me they were very problematic and very expensive to fix.

I no longer have a Chariot (or come for a similar reason a Mazda MPV) my now exwife drives a Honda Odyssey now which has had (touchwood) no problems as of yet.

richms

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#427449 15-Jan-2011 16:51

There are some, and they are all tarred with that brush.

plus they are thirsty frontwheel drive poorly handling oldman wagons. Also they are all getting really old now as well.

Richard rich.ms

scuwp

3886 posts

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#427455 15-Jan-2011 17:14

they are thirsty frontwheel drive poorly handling oldman wagons. Also they are all getting really old now as well.

I suspect that this is probably the case rather than anything specific. Mitsubishi's of that era typically had excessive oil useage problems.

Lazy is such an ugly word, I prefer to call it selective participation

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LittleGreyCat

153 posts

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#427469 15-Jan-2011 17:51

richms: There are some, and they are all tarred with that brush.

plus they are thirsty frontwheel drive poorly handling oldman wagons. Also they are all getting really old now as well.

As a thirsty old man who is getting long in the tooth this might not be too much of a problem.

Thirsty is quite possibly the main reason.

The 1999 Camry we got seems to be reasonably economical and the handling is certainly up to the power output :-)

Cheers

LGC

Batman

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#427485 15-Jan-2011 18:30

i have owned a 98 3L diamante GDI - avoid like a plague!!! it's never missed a beat but is so incredibly costly to repair! (err ... or you could say - avoid MIDAS like a plague, they charge through your nose!) it's also paired with a hopeless first version of INVECS 5 speed auto which some say is very unreliable, but for me, apart from a trembling 5th gear at low speed and incredibly slow gear change (and exceptionally poor throttle response) never missed a beat.

HOWEVER! the post 2001 ones are made in australia (in lonsdale) and are incredibly reliable. (and incredibly CHEAP!) buy the 'bug eye' looking one - it was the final version and therefore most fine tuned. very very good power output ...

sbiddle

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#427488 15-Jan-2011 18:37

My uncle has had a couple of Diamante's (Aussie models) and now an 380 and never had any significant problems at all with them.

gzt

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#427577 16-Jan-2011 10:36

Any secondhand car over 2.2L seems to be going at a discount these days. Not much demand. Petrol Prices.

billgates

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#427584 16-Jan-2011 11:17

sbiddle: My uncle has had a couple of Diamante's (Aussie models) and now an 380 and never had any significant problems at all with them.

Same. I have the 2000 model magna which I imported from Aus and no issues with it.

Do whatever you want to do man.

NonprayingMantis

6434 posts

Uber Geek

#427818 16-Jan-2011 23:49

3.5l engine is pretty gas hungry.

If you want a mitsy with decent space, but a bit less hungry, you could try a lancer wagon. A coule of friends have them and they seem pretty good.
you can pick up a lancer from circa 2007 for a pretty good price these days (often less than the price of a 2004 diamante if you are willing to go over 100k kms), or even a 2009 one for under 20k with hardly any kms and still some new car warranty.

2.4l engine, so not a beast, but still plenty for the size when most similar sized cars (mondeo for example) top are 1.8 or 2.0

Geese

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#427884 17-Jan-2011 10:10

joker97: avoid MIDAS like a plague, they charge through your nose!)

My one and only experience with them, caused me to avoid them for life. I took a car in there as it leaked brake fluid (only) on days there was a frost. They did a "free" check, and I still cannot believe this, but they gave me a written quote (and I wish I still had it!!), they said every component of the entire braking system needed replaced! Master cylinder, brake lines, hoses, front discs, pads, rear drums, drum shoes, wheel cylinders. The quote was 2 and 1/2 times the value of the car! I assume it was a case that I was 18 and they hoped I would be dumb enough just to accept what they say and pay? The car was low kms used on open road, garaged at night apart from the 6 month period when the brakes started leaking, so I don't see how the brake system could be anywhere as bad as they made out.

On the subject of Diamante, my boss had one, and recently the CV was playing up so he went into supercheap to replace it, and they said there wasn't one listed. They rung the supplier who said that was in fact correct, however if he removed his worn out CV, they could recondition it, and I think it was around the $500 mark to get this done. He also had broken engine mounts and trouble getting the right ones for it. It was a 3L V6 version, maybe 1995?

Jaxson

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#427910 17-Jan-2011 10:50

alasta: The Mitsubishi GDI engines were notoriously problematic

Yup sure were.

gdi engines should be avoided in my opinion. They were clever and popular in the 1999/2000 era.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline_direct_injection

They were quite popular and are in the RVR's as well. They were never released here that I know of (according to Mitsubishi garage man) and really need to run on the higher octane/higher price 98 petrol. They were configured for a different climate so didn't work out very economical here.

Speaking of engine size you really have to watch the gearbox it's fitted to. I sold a 1.6l Honda civic I purchased to commute from Feilding to Palmerston North, (about 15 mins open road driving and then 15 mins in town) as it was hugely expensive to run. Was far more economical to make that run in a larger engined car that wasn't reving it's guts out at 100 kms. The final gearing in top gear made all the difference.

I had a Diamante once and it was a really nice and solid car. Very soft suspension but spacious inside. Polished it up and made money on it when I sold it too

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