My car has been to three different auto mechanics over the last ten months and now is sitting at a Mitsubishi dealership. The engine has had a complete rebuild done, yet when the car is put back together it throws the belt again and the mechanics cant figure out why. I have paid over $5,000.00 to fix this car and $3,000.00 in rental car fees, not to mention almost $600.00 a month for car payments and insurance on a car I havent been able to drive.
The dealership quoted me $5,800. This would put the grand total at $13,800.00, more than the car is actually worth. I cant afford to come out of pocket more money to fix this vehicle. I contacted Mitsubishi again by letter. Their legal department informed me that there was a powertrain warranty up until 60,000 miles. Had I known that it would have gone straight to a dealership and been fixed. Mitsubishi Motors will not assist me in any way because the car didn't go right to a dealership, even though the timing belt broke before scheduled maintenance.
I believe Mitsubishi is wrong on many counts. First, the timing belt breaking before scheduled maintenance and destroying the engine is absurd in a $25,000 car. Second, after repeated attempts to find out about a warranty I was either ignored or given false information. Third, by denying any liability and stating word for word "that they can't justify helping me because the car didn't go to the delaership and that they had never heard of a problem like this before".
Every mechanic I have talked to has said that this is a very common problem with Mitsubishi cars. On a smaller note, both door handles have broken off this car (I think Tonka is made better) and the car leaks when it rains. You might expect something like this from a $9,000 Hyundai, not a $25,000 car.
