From Car And Driver

Evo Owners Decry Warranty Rejections

In June, several Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution owners began posting notices on Evo-enthusiast Web sites saying their warranties had been canceled because they’d participated in timed racing events or installed aftermarket goodies on their cars. Owners complained that Mitsubishi used the Internet to dig up names of these offenders. Owners found out about this when they visited dealers for repairs and were told that their warranties had been restricted because of the two activities …


The article goes on to describe how owners believe Mitsubishi is trolling web sites to find the offenders. Mitsubishi denies using that approach. However, they do admit searching sites after someone comes in with an issue they attribute to misuse or aftermarket parts.

I know I’ve seen posts on this subject over the years, but this is the first time it’s been validated by a journalism resource.

Mitsubishi has a lot of problems right now, wonder if this is simply an attempt to cut costs.

You know what I could never understand. Why do car manufacturers make cars like the 8, evo and a number of others with sporty performance in mind, advertise these cars performance capabiliities, test them on tracks, show pictures of them on tracks, race them, give them to car magazines to do timed events with, then get pissy when the customer uses them for that purpose. Where are we supposed to use these capabilities, on the roads. Is mitsubishi encouraging untimed street races. What are they trying to say.

Yup, I was just driving to work at 35mph, making easy starts off of lights, letting my engine warm up nicely and cool down before turning off the ignition.

And a friendly hello to anyone from Mazda who may be reading this.

I think the Mistu warranty issue stems from the fact that they are about to crash and burn as a company...they need all the money they can get right now, and if that means beaing A**Hats, then that is what they are going to do...

New Car + No Money Down + 0% Interest + Leniant Credit Requirements = One Dieing company.

I wouldn't worry about it - you'll get caught even if you don't post a message here.

Most modern ECU's record various details about how often you've hit the limiter etc... In the event of a warranty claim your garage will be able to check whether you've been thrashing the car too much. Also, any aftermarket add-ons will be found by a competent mechanic.

If you are planning to do track days or have modified your vechicle you should always check with your insurance company and the manufacturer regarding the effect on your warranty/insurance. It's not worth taking the risk unless you've got money to burn.

What doesn't make sense is that the Evo was rally inspired... How can they build a car and not expect a person to drive it how it's meant to be driven?

Mitsubishi is getting a little too cheap!

If manufacturers are reading forums like these, I hope they also pay attention to complaints about sales and service departments, bogus claims for gas mileage and horsepower, likes and dislikes about certain vehicles, what we want and don't want in a car, etc. Maybe then they'll learn to do certain things in a positive manner, instead of looking for ways out of doing things they (and we) know they're supposed to do.

-djb

If manufacturers are reading forums like these, I hope they also pay attention to complaints about sales and service departments, bogus claims for gas mileage and horsepower, likes and dislikes about certain vehicles, what we want and don't want in a car, etc. Maybe then they'll learn to do certain things in a positive manner, instead of looking for ways out of doing things they (and we) know they're supposed to do.

They do read these forums - I know Mazda reads this forum and the www.miata.net forums. They also do use the informations as you suggest.

Mitsubishi is simply desperate. Aside from chronic lying and deception (4 years ago, they were caught hiding vehicle defects that should have been subject to recalls. They promised to stop - this year, they got caught still doing it), they have substandard products, and products that get a lot of press (like the EVO) are problems because the production versions aren't built nearly well enough to stand the hard use they advertise. You can be damn sure that the WRC Mitsubishis have extremely little in common with the production EVO cars!

Regards,
Gordon

I also read an article recently speaking of warranty cancellations due to racing.In the article they we spaeking of a mitsubishi,but also wondered why Subaru of america will issue owners of new WRX's a one year membership to the SCCA.I also read that if you race the WRX that they will void your warranty.Now what does SoA expect you to do with the 1 year membership to the SCCA?Look at it?Poke it?Drool on it?Stroke it?HMMMM...

I know what I would do with it.

Chris

It's funny that Mazda has time to play big brother yet no one at their dealership knows anything about the 8.

I took my car back to the local Mazda Dealership and handed them the TSB and told them my car was flooding.

I had to pick it up after hours and return the loaner. They left no service ticket and there is no sticker for the M flash. I did the flood test and the car will flood.

It is a disgrace. I am going to have to drive 40 miles to take it to the next nearest service center.

Dean

if this is true that sucks for the mitsu. owners

uhm, i shift at 3500k. i check oil every 500 miles, and i still grind my gears HELP MAZDA

didn't someone mentioned that mazda promoted autocrossing with the rx8 or was I dreaming?

The current Service Manager of the my Mazda dealership came from the Mitsu dealership as their SM.

He told me there was a world's difference between how Mazda deals with warranty issues compared to Mitsubishi.

i woulkd suggest that you dont on purpose kill your nav and then try to get it fixed for free. mazda read those threads about it and let it be known as we have mentioned here in the past. but they also read the info on here that people posted about having trouble getting Mflash and released MSP04 so that there wouldn't be any more headaches with that issue. it's a two way street.

Well let me tell you, I found out first hand how thoroughly Mazda reads these forums.

Right after I bought the car, I was upset b/c the ordering process of my agreed-at-time-of-sale options seemed to be taking forever. I was told it would be 4 days, then it was a week, then after a week I was told they hadn't been ordered yet.

I came on here and railed the dealership, basically venting. I got a call at HOME from the dealership quoting my post here, and asking me what the deal was and why I was slandering them.

I told them what happened and they corrected the problem, so kudos to them. However, it does go to show just how "anonymous" you are posting online.

uhm, i shift at 3500k. i check oil every 500 miles, and i still grind my gears HELP MAZDA

why are your gears grinding? are you pushing the clutch all the way in? i only grind reverse cause i am slightly retarted....

what does checking the oil have to do with grinding gears?

^^^
I believe he's implying he does everything to take care of the car and it still has problems. I'm having grinding as well--syncros on order.

Cheers,

Ben

One of me is Stealth, with the Acura TL and the Blinders and the federally banned ARC Interceptor. ;)

and one of me isn't. :rolleyes:

get a life....

or better yet, get TWO!

S :cool:

So, I guess it is a mistake for me to be posting using my REAL name!?

:eek:

I hope they don't find out my real name, or what location I live at.

I hope they don't find out my real name, or what location I live at.

LOL! :D

I wouldn't worry about it - you'll get caught even if you don't post a message here.

Most modern ECU's record various details about how often you've hit the limiter etc... In the event of a warranty claim your garage will be able to check whether you've been thrashing the car too much. Also, any aftermarket add-ons will be found by a competent mechanic.

If you are planning to do track days or have modified your vechicle you should always check with your insurance company and the manufacturer regarding the effect on your warranty/insurance. It's not worth taking the risk unless you've got money to burn.

I challenge anyone to distinguish an autocross run from driving on the street using only ECU information. Driving on a closed track at high speed is a different story...

didn't someone mentioned that mazda promoted autocrossing with the rx8 or was I dreaming?

See mazdarevitup.com

It was with their cars (Mazda 3's) for the competition part. When I was there they also had RX8's (one auto and one 6 speed) plus a Mazdaspeed Miata. Anyone with a drivers license could drive those cars on a separate track.

Will the real Mazda Corporate member please stand up? Oh, sorry I can't see you.... :rolleyes:

If Mazda would pay me, I would be more then happy to stand up. Here that Mazda! PM me we'll work it out.

uhm, i shift at 3500k. i check oil every 500 miles, and i still grind my gears HELP MAZDA

I would guess that they are grinding because they don't like 3,500,000 RPM's. :D

I've wondered about this quite often myself, what with all the people in the CZ forums talking about burning coils, yanking it out, and then going down to their local dealership. Its all right there in writing...pretty easy to see.

bad business practices and mitsubishi is almost synonimous. im sure you guys have heard of all those scandals where they hid defects that effected over 100k vhiecles over the years. They have a really bad coporate culture that trickles down to the dealorships. People I know from the DCEvoClub have had many bad experiences with warranty and many other issues. Hopefully Mistubishi goes out of business and get bought by a successful company, and experience a turn-around like what happened to Mazda under Ford and Nissan in partnership with Renault.

Mazda Day at laguna seca .. sponserd by Mazda USA.. all Mazda's only..
hummm I guess they know i am comming :)

I didn't realize Mitsu was so bad on service. I bought Turbo eclipse around '92 or '93 and they covered every problem under warranty. However, the clutch and brakes on that car wore out in no time.

However, Mitsu has offered no nice sports car in many years. The EVO VIII is great performance but uglier than a outhouse. The body style changes on the eclipse make it undesirable.

Dean

Hopefully Mistubishi goes out of business and get bought by a successful company, and experience a turn-around like what happened to Mazda under Ford and Nissan in partnership with Renault.

No such luck - Mitsubishi is already part-owned by Daimler-Chrysler (27%, IIRC), and DC recently announced that they had been asked to give Mitsu more money for their turnaround plan, and DC refused to sink any more funds into Mitsubishi! They did raise a few billion from new share issues etc., but no major automaker will touch them. They're dying.

Regards,
Gordon

I don't give a chocolate-covered rat's turd that Mazda reads these boards. I've done nothing to my vehicle which would concern them...

Besides, I know the folks at Mazda are compassionate, intelligent, responsible, understanding, considerate, energetic, loving, trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, cheerful, obedient, brave, clean, thrifty, dedicated, reverant, mindful, deligent, creative, attentive and uh....omnipresent.


:D :D :D

Besides, I know the folks at Mazda are compassionate, intelligent, responsible, understanding, considerate, energetic, loving, trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, cheerful, obedient, brave, clean, thrifty, dedicated, reverant, mindful, deligent, creative, attentive and uh....omnipresent.



Sounds like Mazda has everyone from Santa to the Boy Scouts working for them.... :p

No such luck - Mitsubishi is already part-owned by Daimler-Chrysler (27%, IIRC), and DC recently announced that they had been asked to give Mitsu more money for their turnaround plan, and DC refused to sink any more funds into Mitsubishi! They did raise a few billion from new share issues etc., but no major automaker will touch them. They're dying.

Regards,
Gordon

If this is true, then I suppose Mitsubishi Motors is done for. If MM goes under, what do you think will happen to its fanbase? Lest ye not forget about the Eclipse, Starion, GTO/3000GT, and the EVO #, all of which are very established cars. I hope Mitsubishi Motors doesn't go the way of AMC. A lot of people are going to lose their jobs if this does happen.

Big companies like that don't die...they go into bankruptcy, give all of their execs multi-million dollar bonuses for "retention," shaft the shareholders and restructure.

Gee, posting all your phat mods and time slips/etc. on a PUBLIC forum then being all surprised when your warranty is jacked. I'm sorry but that borders on idiocy.
As for the whole 'why do they show the car being raced, but we can't race it'. Just think about it for 2 seconds. Racing puts alot more stress on the car than it was really designed. Before real race teams take a car to the track it is fortified with things like extra cooling/etc. to handle the extra stress. The typical 'pay to play' applies for people that want to race their cars..