Sadly we've decided to sell our beloved MX5

[Edbear]

One word. Mitsubitzy

Almost inevitably if you see a car broken down beside the road it will be a Jap import Mitsubishi. The only way to get reliability from a Mitzie is to buy new and service it by the book. The only new Mitzie I would buy would be the L300. Although the 380 was actually a good car.

[unstuck]

I have owned a few mitsiz, this was the best one 83 L200, Had it for 10 yrs on the road and It was a brilliant workhorse. Now it spends its days playing in the forest.

[Edbear]

I have owned a few mitsiz, this was the best one 83 L200, Had it for 10 yrs on the road and It was a brilliant workhorse. Now it spends its days playing in the forest.

Tough as nails, but of course NZ new too. The L200's and L300's earned their reputation as tough and reliable.

[unstuck]

I have some bad memories of a flooded coramandel river and a L300 van. Someone was looking out for me that day.

[ducatilover]

Although the 380 was actually a good car.

No they weren't. Horrid heaps of trans exploding junk. Don't even drive that well.
They were good looking on paper...

Tough as nails, but of course NZ new too. The L200's and L300's earned their reputation as tough and reliable.

They tend to be fairly decent, the 2.6 utes were fairly solid old things. Have seen a million electrical issues though, one of my favourites is late model L300s deciding to let capacitors in the dash unit leak

[Edbear]

No they weren't. Horrid heaps of trans exploding junk. Don't even drive that well.
They were good looking on paper...

They tend to be fairly decent, the 2.6 utes were fairly solid old things. Have seen a million electrical issues though, one of my favourites is late model L300s deciding to let capacitors in the dash unit leak

A mate bought a 380 new and has had nothing but a great run out of it. They both love it and have the opposite view to you.

Are you speaking from personal experience?

The older Diamante's were known for computer and trans problems.

[SVboy]

Thread drift alert!!! I think we have covered Mitzis and their patchy reliability in previous threads. I think they could be summed up as japans answer to the european car!! And Ed-those 380s were about as popuar as aids!

[ducatilover]

A mate bought a 380 new and has had nothing but a great run out of it. They both love it and have the opposite view to you.

Are you speaking from personal experience?

The older Diamante's were known for computer and trans problems.

I've had to fix the scungy buggers the older ones were also shite.
I struggle to think of a Mitsi that I'd trust these days

What can we bash next? 4 cyl BMWs? They're impossibly shit

[Edbear]

Thread drift alert!!! I think we have covered Mitzis and their patchy reliability in previous threads. I think they could be summed up as japans answer to the european car!! And Ed-those 380s were about as popuar as aids!

Yeah, they didn't exactly set the world alight. Wrong car at the wrong time.

I've had to fix the scungy buggers the older ones were also shite.
I struggle to think of a Mitsi that I'd trust these days

What can we bash next? 4 cyl BMWs? They're impossibly shit

4Cyl Beemers? Run away fast if you're ever offered one, especially the 1600's.

The most reliable of the Euro's are the VW group, but second hand vehicles can give trans trouble. Main issue wuth the Euro's is their electrics which are notorious for playing up and everything is electronically controlled. Ask Classic_Z, he's a Euro expert and often gets to fix botched attempts by other garages to sort the problem out. Audi's first attempt at CVT was a disaster, too.

Off topic? Well, at least it emphasises the attraction of our MX5, which at 19 years old and 185,000km is dead reliable, great to drive and would run rings around many newer and far more expensive cars.

[ducatilover]

4Cyl Beemers? Run away fast if you're ever offered one, especially the 1600's.

The most reliable of the Euro's are the VW group, but second hand vehicles can give trans trouble. Main issue wuth the Euro's is their electrics which are notorious for playing up and everything is electronically controlled. Ask Classic_Z, he's a Euro expert and often gets to fix botched attempts by other garages to sort the problem out. Audi's first attempt at CVT was a disaster, too.

Off topic? Well, at least it emphasises the attraction of our MX5, which at 19 years old and 185,000km is dead reliable, great to drive and would run rings around many newer and far more expensive cars.

The 4cyl BMWs of late are horrible poo I really hate them. My '73 520 was a good car though, one of the few 4cyl BMWs worth owning

In my experience, 6 cylinder BMWs and older Mercs are the most reliable of Ze Germanic cars. Had to do a million ABS units and whatnot, do feel very nice to drive though

I've also noticed that everything has electrical issues these days, Toyotas are fast becoming cheap junk.

[Edbear]

The 4cyl BMWs of late are horrible poo I really hate them. My '73 520 was a good car though, one of the few 4cyl BMWs worth owning

In my experience, 6 cylinder BMWs and older Mercs are the most reliable of Ze Germanic cars. Had to do a million ABS units and whatnot, do feel very nice to drive though

I've also noticed that everything has electrical issues these days, Toyotas are fast becoming cheap junk.

Manufacturers are cramming more and more electrical stuff into cars these days and trying to do it at a cost point. Many would like to go to 48V electrics and battery makers are cramming more plates into their batteries to try to cope with the demand. That's why I don't recommend Shorai for modern cars until they come out with a greater reserve capacity. They'll start any car, but don't have the reserve for the likes of 10-way electrically adjustable heated seats and all the other paraphenalia.

[SVboy]

Talk me through that last Toyota statement-what have your experiences been and with what models?

[unstuck]

Never had a toyota I did not like. Never had one later than a 95 though.

[ducatilover]

Talk me through that last Toyota statement-what have your experiences been and with what models?

Many small niggles with late Yaris', Corollas (had a few trans issues, and a fair few oil eating issues on many, many post 2000 Toyotas), there's the ol' Hilux injector/pump problems, doing reverse gears in Hiluxs, gear linkages, shit brakes forever cooking. They did a lovely trick I've been happy to work with, the snap on steering boots, fantastic idea.
A few oil pump leaks on middle aged FE motors (3S, 5S etc). Tie rods in Altezzas (not really a big issue, but very common), auto boxes throwing their guts everywhere.
Etcetera etcetera
They're no longer superbly reliable. I think the best engines they made (petrol, boring, reliable wise) were the late 4AFE and 5SFE, these have by far been the most trouble free ('cept for all the oil leaks) and seem to do bonkers milage (see my reply to Unstuck)

There does seem to be a theme of mid 2000s fouyr cylinders using significant amounts of oil though

Never had a toyota I did not like. Never had one later than a 95 though.

This might be the key, mind you we have a '96 Corolla that'll pop half a million by half way through the year, only thing that's been replaced that isn't a service item is a radiator. Still original clutch, shocks, motor, box... horrible car, but it's reliable and okay on gas

[Edbear]

Many small niggles with late Yaris', Corollas (had a few trans issues, and a fair few oil eating issues on many, many post 2000 Toyotas), there's the ol' Hilux injector/pump problems, doing reverse gears in Hiluxs, gear linkages, shit brakes forever cooking. They did a lovely trick I've been happy to work with, the snap on steering boots, fantastic idea.
A few oil pump leaks on middle aged FE motors (3S, 5S etc). Tie rods in Altezzas (not really a big issue, but very common), auto boxes throwing their guts everywhere.
Etcetera etcetera
They're no longer superbly reliable. I think the best engines they made (petrol, boring, reliable wise) were the late 4AFE and 5SFE, these have by far been the most trouble free ('cept for all the oil leaks) and seem to do bonkers milage (see my reply to Unstuck)

There does seem to be a theme of mid 2000s fouyr cylinders using significant amounts of oil though



This might be the key, mind you we have a '96 Corolla that'll pop half a million by half way through the year, only thing that's been replaced that isn't a service item is a radiator. Still original clutch, shocks, motor, box... horrible car, but it's reliable and okay on gas

Latest news is that Toyota's recalls will top the million vehicles for a variety of issues.

Our '99 Nissan Pulsar was still going as good as new after just under 200,000k. One CV joint replaced only. Not common, though for them. Only sold it because of my accident and the seats were uncomfortable after the surgery.

Our Kizashi is just coming up 42,000km in 20 mths and only had a minor chip upgrade a few months ago to improve starting fueling. Running upgrade with no issues. CVT is great and I expect another ten years trouble free. Had the Pulsar from new for 12 years, too.