Mitsubishi-Last Dealer in City Closing Shop

[Spector]

Just received notice from last dealership in the area that they are closing up and moving service to one of their Kia locations. Saw the handwriting on the wall months ago as visits to service department noted slow activity, few customers, showrooms empty.
now my issue is what to do with mine, I have been debating selling it for a few years now (great car but maint cost is high, 97 3000GT VR4 with 52,000 miles) and few independents will work on it so I may head to a local lot that will sell it on ebay as well as advertise in all the sites and see what happens. Not sure I trust a Kia dealer to service it although some would day a good tech is a good tech regardless of the shop they work at. It is about time for timing belt, tensioner, water pump etc and the estimate is $1,300, mostly labor. I either sell it or do the maint and keep it. tough choice.

Anyone else seeing their Mitsubishi dealers going away?

 

[aquariuscsm]

DO NOT sell your VR4,you'll regret it,trust me,unless you wanna sell it to me

Get on some 3000GT forums and ask about some good shops in your area,or if you have a spare car,do the work yourself. It'll be rewarding,educational,and will save you some $$.

Yeah,I've noticed Mitsubishi seems to be disappearing. You used to see their cars everywhere.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Saab is gone in Stratham, NH; now we have a new Mitsubishi dealer. Man Mitsu need to step up the idiotbox marketing in the US. The lancer is one of the nicest looking compacts - esp since you dont see them coming and going. IIRC the trannys dont take well to being brutilised unless you have the EVO monster.

 

[vtecboy]

theres a how to on youtube about timing belt job in the 6G72. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIiAviUnIgo
Do it yourself for around $200.
Don't sell your 3000GT...Do manteinance yourself. Working on this cars is time consuming,but it is fun and you'll learn a lot!

 

[harbor]

Mitsu's been on the ropes for a long time in the US, and rumors of their demise intensified when Suzuki exited the US market a couple months ago. Tough for dealers to stay afloat with slow sales & service business. Only 2 Mitsu dealers currently in the Detroit metro.

A lot of the vacant Suz/Saab dealerships may pick up Mitsubishi, so one may reappear in Richmond. I'm with aquari, hang on to the 3000. Chances are your outgoing Mitsu dealer moved a couple techs to the Kia dealership.

 

[JTK]

There's only one dealer fairly close to me. The rest are 50+ miles away. There used to be around 3 local dealerships.

If the vehicle was much newer and still under warranty, that would scare me. Given yours is ~16yrs/old, it's not much different than getting parts/service for any somewhat rare vehicle.

Joel

 

[Tdbo]

Around here, there are three Mitsubishi dealers, and two are housed in former Saturn dealerships. When Saturn went kaput, the owner of the Saturn stores had a lot of unused real estate. In two of his locations he went Mitsubishi (probably the only option) and put Saab in his third. When Saab went belly up (and he couldn't go Mitsubishi because there was a franchise down the road), he put that real estate up for sale (not sure if it sold or not.)

Those who had Mitsubishi dealerships around here for years dropped them like hot potatoes. Probably had to do a lot with lack of product and/or dealer/company issues. The dealers here seems to do a lot of advertising/discounting and you don't tend to see a lot of Mitsubishi's around here.

 

[FADEC]

Still have a Mitsubishi dealership here in Fredericksburg VA, if your willing to drive 60 miles up I95.

 

[antiqueshell]

Be nice to see Mitsu step up to the plate and offer a broader range of products like the great little Colt sold in the RoW. I think the only market they are not sold in is North America.

 

[bigjl]

A lady had one of these at work, she used to live 60 miles from work and her boyfriend used to do all the servicing.

He was a professional motorsport mechanic though, but she had has the car for nearly 10 yrs now and god knows what the mileage is, it must be more than 200k.

She now lives closer to London and has split with that boyfriend butter time I saw her she still had it.

She loves that car and I don't think she will ever sell it even if she buys something smaller to get to work.

It was a Japanese Import, which was more powerful than the UK version apparently.

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

Does it come as a surprise to anyone?

Except for the Evo their product range is dated and lackadaisical. There's next to no marketing. Add to that, they have "will disappear soon" written across their forehead, and I would be surprised anybody would want to buy one.

 

[Silk]

More likely an American market issue than Mitsubishi product issue. We sell the Colt (now Badged Mirage) Lancer, ASX, Outlander, Challenger, Pajero and Triton and L300....there will be an electric iCar and Outlander if there is demand, but doubt it. No big 6 cyl anymore since Aussie shut their plant. Then with the Japanese Imports we have Dingo's, Chariots, RVR, Grandis, Legnum, Dion and a bunch of other stuff never heard of.