2000 Mitsubishi Montero

I owned a 2000 Mitsubishi Montero until this past year when I finally decided to move on to a new car. Throughout the years I owned the Montero I had some issues with it and overall I would say it was a below average car to own.

The inside of the car is roomy and comfortable. The space with the back seats down allows for the driver to load the car with a lot of cargo. I used this car to move on more then one occasion and for many purchases of items such as wood. The controls are in logical places as well. I prefer the leather seats and they held up very well to normal wear and tear. The sound system was above average and performed very well. The noise from the outside however, permeated into the car and the result was a very noisy ride.

The ride was never smooth even after upgrading the shocks. The 4 wheel drive was troublesome on more then one occasion. I was driving in half an inch of snow once and the car would not go into 4 wheel drive. The tires slipped all over the place and when I slowly tried to stop the car it slid more.

The gas mileage on this car was horrible even though I had regular maintenance performed on the car. Taking a trip about an hour away would use up 1/2 a tank of gas each way!

In addition I only used only synthetic oil on this car which seemed to have assisted in the car making it to over 100,000 miles. The extra money for the synthetic oil was well worth it.

Right before I got rid of my Montero the alternator needed to be replaced. When I went into the shop to have it replaced there were two other Mitsubishi cars there whose alternators needed to be replaced also. These other cars were much newer then mine but it made us all think and commiserate about Mitsubishi cars. This was the third time I was replacing my alternator.

Another issue I had with this car was the doors locking. The doors were on a timer and would lock automatically. So, before I realized that I had been cleaning out the car and shut the front door. Before I could open the back door, all the doors locked. My keys were inside and I had to get someone to bring me a spare set. This was an annoying "feature" that apparently could not be turned off.

My Montero also had many different issues with the electrical system. There seemed to be a short someplace however, no mechanic could locate the short. Some issues that I had because of this were if you plugged in a cell phone car charger then the horn would continuously honk. Definitely very annoying.

I would consider going with a better car manufacturer such as Toyota or Mazda. I have not owned either but the general reputation of these cars are that they are well made and retain their value.