For the short version, scroll to the bottom and read the all-caps closing statement. For a detailed explanation of my grief with this place, carry on...
This was the first time I bought a used car from a dealership instead of from an independant owner... biggest mistake of my life! I ended up with more mechanical problems than any PROJECT car I've ever owned, and I've owned some rickety projects...
First off, on Bandera you can't test the car at highway speeds. On the way home I discovered a hideous vibration over 60mph and during hard braking. I figure it's a tire or brakes thing, no biggie, "I can fix that!" I thought. When I go to jack the car up to take the wheels off and diagnose the vibration I discover that the frame rails are rusted and they just crush from the jack straight through to the passenger compartment! After I find some barely suitable jack points, I find that many of the brake components are rusted and one caliper is warped. So I replace pads and calipers and get the rotors machined and the vibration is almost gone (probably just need to get the rotor machined a little more).
Then I take it to Autozone to find out why the test engine light is on and of course there's a misfire in the most difficult to get to cylinder (thanks Mitsubishi!). On the way home from work that night (just a few days after buying the car), the car overheats and leaves me on the side of the road until my family can bring a couple gallons of water out to me. Usually I fix my daily (a Nissan) whenever I can, but I just didn't feel like working on this Mitsubishi that I had JUST BOUGHT! So I take it to a local mechanic, who's a good guy who does good work and won't cheat us, to fix the overheat and misfire. Like anyone would, he tests and determines what the most likely cause is and replaces that first... but no matter what he did both the overheating AND the misfire persisted to be a problem (and I had agreed with him on the next logical cause every step of the way). So here I am after replacing about 8 parts and out almost a grand in parts and repairs. I bring it home to attempt to diagnose it myself, and just before I get home the transmission stops moving forward (and it has full fluid still). I had to drive the last mile home in reverse, and when I arrive the temperature gauge is through the roof... so I ended up with more major problems than it even went in with!
Of course, Panda Motors told me "Yeah, everything is good on it! It runs really great! I've outrun Mustangs in this car!" Not to mention when I arrived to look at the car it was out for cleaning, and when it got back it was obvious why. They had left the windows down the night before when there was a downpour, and they were going to try to hide that from me until I got in the car and figured it out from the intense humidity inside the car. Oh yeah, and they were very sure to always open the doors for me... so when I stop at Walmart after having just bought the car I find out I can't lock the car cause ALL of the door locks are JAMMED! I later find that they had tossed in some battery they had lying around (I know cause it had Panda written on the side), which of course had a dead cell in it and wasn't even the right type of battery for that vehicle! The effect of which was whenever the car overheated on me, after I would fill her with water and got back into the car, it wouldn't start and left me stranded...
Need I go on? This is, without a doubt, THE WORST POSSIBLE PLACE YOU COULD BUY A USED CAR FROM!!! PERIOD. read more