My "new" car in waiting... a 1993 Mitsubishi Galant
 

My dad runs the power routes around here and so he's constantly driving through neighborhoods off the beaten path. Just so happens he found this Mitsubishi Galant on the side of the road with grass grown up around it. He went in and asked the lady if she wanted it, and she said no... so we have a free car!

Only a couple of things wrong with it. First, it needs a new head gasket, and secondly it needs a new back window. But for free I guess we I can afford to help him fix it back up. It has a sunroof, cruise, power windows, and a lot of other amenities... best of all it gets better MPG than my V6 Eagle Vision and has only 66,000 miles on it. Anyone else here had one? Any comments or opinions on Mitsubishi in general? I've never had one before.

my brother had a galant not sure on the year maybe 99ish but it ran like a champ and was pretty fast. not sure on the fe tho. good luck with the head gasket thats prolly why it hasent been fixed yet

I almost bought one when I got out of college but went with a 626 instead. Great find! Congratulations! Best of luck with it.

You may have uncovered a sleeper ! It should have the 4G63 engine and parts are definitely available . The back window just may be the deal breaker - its going to be a salvage yard only part . Around my area any car older than 6-7 years is crushed . There *supposedly* isn't any demand for older car parts !?? Best of luck reviving Ol Mits !

Gloomy gus
 

I've seen some early 90's Galants do well at Rally -- takes a beating. My '03 Evo was a piece, though (engine was fine, everything else stunk -- especially the transmission) -- the 98-06 range is when Mits had some big money problems. Lately they've been a bit better after they've broken away from the dedicated DSM relationship (still some engine sharing). But the early 90's were the good years.

But a free one beats all! Have fun working with it -- should prove to be a good ride.

RH77

lets hope just the headgasket failed. if the heads cracked well. that would be a costly repair (and a new head if you can find one, if it is try like advace autoparts. they sell heads blocks, fully rebuilt engines, etc)

I've owned a few Mitsubishis and grew up around them during th egas crunch of the 70's - dad worked for MOPAR and got my mom a Dodge Colt that she loved dearly, green with wood stickers...a wagon. When the crunch was over it was traded for a shiny new Cadillac :(. I think they're great cars all around. Not on the same level of greatness as most Toyotas or Honda but I'd line one up against a Nissan or Suzuki anyday. Of course that is only my opinion and otehr may vary.

Well for now the engine will crank up and run, but it's a rough go and it's only running on 3 cylinders. I took it down the road a little ways, it shifted fine up to 4th gear and didn't run hot.

I'm not sure what that means (I'm the only one in my family who doesnt know anything about mechanic work) but it sounds better than we had initially thought.

lol u can have a cracked head and it will run but very crapplily. and i wouldnt be driving it untill you get it fixed, oil and coolant dont go good. especially when the coolant thins the oil so much that its liek water and your engine seizes from no lubrication. ive seen it happen and its not pretty.

The oil and coolant weren't mixing. I'm not driving it around either. I'm keeping to my Eagle and Metro for now. I only drove it once for half a mile or so.

When we got it, they told us it had the head gasket problem. My dad thought it needed a valve job because it wasn't running hot, but who knows. We're going to have it worked on by someone who we know will do it at a good price, so only a few hundred bucks in this car at the most.

Again, I know nothing about mechanics, so no need to 'lol' at me... heh. Maybe one day when I finish learning all the trivial garbage the school system and colleges teach I will have enough time to learn something applicable to real life.

dont do it

dont

i drive a 92 gallant to work with 140k miles on it and its falling appart. it was very well maintained, but mitsubishi just isnt that great. i have never gotten better than 30mpg. and that is straight 60mph for 5 hours in a 65mph zone. they are trouble and there is a reason you got it for free!

i cant let my wife see this, but the car is probably the only car i really dispise, aside from my first. a 1995 saab 900

Well, I just found out it is actually a 1994 model.

It looks exactly like this one, color and all.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...x-P1030389.JPG

Don't do what? Don't take the free car? If I could get this car to last from 66k to 140k miles for only a few hundred dollars (the price required to fix it back up), I'm absolutely going to take it. My car right now would never even get close to 30 mpg, even on highway drives. The best I've been able to get out of it where I live is 21 - 23 mpg.

Besides, I'm only planning on driving it for one or two years until I can get a substantial car.

edit: mine also has a spoiler

do what you want, the only reason i am keeping nikkis old car is because i havent found a steal on something i will be happy with. if your ok with that then go ahead an jump in my boat, but i am warning you, i have never loathed another car more.

out of curiosity where was the car primarily driven?

Savannah Georgia.

lol i love those little useles spoilers on fwd cars....

yea my dad bought a 86 celebrity for $100 and gets bewteen 26-27 around town. its a 4cyl auto. looks liek absolute crap but half runs(my lawnmower sounds smoother) and hes put maybe another $100 in parts for it. if its a car just to get you from work to back and you dont plan to have it long, id say drive it till it blows then sell it for cheap or before it blows trade it in, maybe enough for a down payment.(prolyl not but maybe)

My mom had a celebrity station wagon years ago. She said it drove like crap, and apparently the wagon got really poor FE.

She said she felt like a boat captain trying to steer it. So much for responsive handling... lol

you will do better with that car than i will with my wifes ex-car. the northeast made it rust pretty bad.

congrats on a free car, i have to admit i posted after only reading the title and not knowing it was free, then i edited the post later.

just be smart with it and dont put too much $ into it.

i dunno the engine is noisy but it gets up and goes when it wants to. shifts at good points, doesnt downshift unecesarry. rofl how can you have trouble steering it? i can turn ours with just my pinky finger (ive tried) while parked. maybe yours was in bad mechanical condition.

now the car that ive driven that has the most annoying steering in the world is my moms 97 tarus. so light to turn. i swear i could turn the car by blowing on the wheel. geez down the highway you put a penny on one side of the wheel it would turn it. it has no resistance whatsoever. what wonder people oversteer in a skid nowadays